Days Out NI
Farm Shop Knockbracken, Belfast

Hilltop Dairy Farm

A family dairy farm on the edge of the city, selling its own milk, butter and yogurt straight from the farm — with the cows in the fields beside you.

5 photos
8am–8pm, 7 daysEvery day of the week
Free to visitPay for what you buy
Knockbracken RoadEdge of Belfast, BT6
Get directions Official website
15–20 minHow long
All agesBest for
BothShop & fields
On siteParking
7 daysEvery day

A working dairy farm ten minutes from Belfast city centre, selling its own milk, butter and yogurt out of a fridge on the farm — with the cows that made it standing in the field beside the car.

  • What you'll do — buy Moo Cow milk, butter, cream, yogurt drinks and milkshakes straight from the farm that produced them, and let the children look at the herd over the fence on the way in.
  • How long — fifteen or twenty minutes. It's a shop on a farm, not an attraction — but it's a genuinely lovely five minutes for a small child who has never stood beside a cow.
  • Open 8am to 8pm, seven days a week — which for a working dairy on the edge of a city is remarkable, and makes it an easy call on the way home.
  • This is raw milk. Hilltop sell unpasteurised (raw) milk products. In Northern Ireland that can only be sold direct to the customer at the farm gate by producers registered with the Food Standards Agency, who are inspected and must display the statutory advisory notice. Read the label, decide for yourself, and ask them anything you want to know.
  • Over a hundred years — the family have been supplying milk from this farm for more than a century, which is a long time to be doing one thing on one hill.
  • Worth knowing — 4.9 out of 5 across 108 Google reviews, and the Moo Cow milkshakes are the bit children ask to go back for.
Plan your visit

A working dairy, ten minutes from the city

Hilltop opens 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, on the Knockbracken Road at the top of the hill above south-east Belfast. You buy from the farm's own fridge — milk, butter, cream, yogurt drinks and the Moo Cow milkshakes — and the herd is in the fields either side of you. It costs nothing to pull in and look at the cows, which for a family with twenty spare minutes is a better stop than it sounds. We have not been able to confirm a phone number we trust for the farm — the one on the public listing is not a valid Northern Ireland number — so use the website rather than ringing a wrong number.

8am–8pm · seven days Their own Moo Cow range Free-range herd in the fields Milkshakes & yogurt drinks Parking on site
About the raw milk, plainly:

Hilltop sell unpasteurised milk. That is legal in Northern Ireland, but only direct from the farm by a producer registered with the Food Standards Agency — registered farms are inspected, have to meet microbiological standards, and have to carry the statutory advisory notice on the product. We are not going to tell you it is better for you or worse for you; that argument is louder than it is settled. What we will tell you is where it comes from, that the rules exist, and that the label is there to be read. Ask the family anything you like — they will not mind.

What's on site

What comes off this hill

  • 🥛Moo Cow milkTheir own free-range milk, bottled on the farm and sold from the fridge. Unpasteurised — see the note above and read the label.
  • 🧈Butter and creamUnsalted Moo Cow butter in 200g blocks and cream from the same herd. The butter is the thing regulars come back for.
  • 🥤Milkshakes and yogurt drinksFresh chocolate and strawberry milkshakes in 250ml bottles, and a natural yogurt drink. This is the children's department.
  • 🐄The herd itselfFree-range Holsteins in the fields around the shop, and a view south over the countryside that most of Belfast never sees.
Good to know

Everything before you go

Cost
Free to pull in and look at the cows. You pay for what you buy.
Opening
8am–8pm, seven days a week.
What's stocked
Moo Cow milk, unsalted butter, cream, natural yogurt drink, and fresh chocolate and strawberry milkshakes.
Raw milk
The milk is unpasteurised. In Northern Ireland raw drinking milk may be sold only direct to the consumer at the farm gate by producers registered with the Food Standards Agency; registered producers are inspected, must meet set microbiological standards, and must carry the statutory advisory notice.
The farm
A family-run farm that has been supplying milk for over a hundred years, with a free-range herd.
Best for
A quick, real stop — and a first proper look at a dairy herd for a city child.
Parking
On site.
Toilets
None that we can confirm — this is a farm rather than a visitor centre.
Dogs
It's a working dairy farm with livestock. Leave them in the car.
Accessibility
Level parking and access to the shop area. For anything specific, a quick call is the surest answer.
Reputation
4.9 out of 5 from 108 Google reviews.
Contact
hilltopdairyfarm.company.site — we have deliberately not printed a phone number here: the one on the public listing carries an overseas dialling code and is not a valid Northern Ireland number.
Questions

Before you go

Is the milk pasteurised?
No — Hilltop sell raw, unpasteurised milk. In Northern Ireland that can only be sold direct from a registered farm, which is inspected and has to carry the statutory advisory notice on the product. Read the label and decide for yourself.
What time is it open?
8am to 8pm, seven days a week, which is unusually generous for a working dairy farm.
Can the children see the cows?
Yes — the herd is free-range in the fields around the shop. It's not a petting farm with a timetable, it's a real dairy farm you can stand at the edge of, which some children find far more interesting.
What should I buy?
The unsalted butter and the milkshakes are what people come back for. There's also cream and a natural yogurt drink.
How far is it from Belfast?
About ten minutes from the city, up the Knockbracken Road above south-east Belfast — close enough that most people are surprised there's a working dairy farm up there at all.
What else is nearby?
Let's Go Hydro and its adventure island are three minutes away, Mount Ober footgolf is closer than that, and Forestside is a couple of minutes if you need a proper shop.
Getting there

Hilltop Dairy Farm, 64 Knockbracken Road, Belfast BT6 9SL — up on the hill above south-east Belfast, about ten minutes from the city, with parking on site.

Directions on Google Maps Official website See it on our map

No phone number we can verify — see their own site for stock and contact.

Nearby

Make more of the day

Let's Go HydroWater park · 3 min Mount Ober FootgolfFootgolf · 2 min Knockbracken Activity CentreOutdoor activities · 3 min ForestsideShops & cinema · 4 min
The story

A hundred years of milk, ten minutes from the City Hall

There is a working dairy farm on the hill above south-east Belfast, and most of the city has no idea. The family have been supplying milk from it for more than a hundred years — through everything that happened down the road in that time — and they are still doing it, with a free-range herd in the fields and the milk bottled on site under the Moo Cow name.

What changed is who they sell it to. Rather than send it all away, they put a fridge on the farm and opened it to the public from eight in the morning until eight at night, seven days a week. So you can buy milk, butter, cream and a yogurt drink from the farm that made them, roughly a quarter of an hour from the City Hall.

It is raw milk, sold under the rules that govern raw milk here: direct from a registered farm, inspected, labelled with the advisory notice. We think the honest thing is to say that clearly and let you make your own decision, which is what the label is for.

Take the children. Stand at the fence for five minutes and look at the cows. Buy the butter, which is the thing everybody ends up going back for, and drive home the short way.

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