A modest brick cafe, an hour's drive from the centre of Nottingham, has become a destination on the food lovers' map deep in the heart of Robin Hood country. Eaters with a passion for flavour, freshness and something a little out of the ordinary, can find it at the Harley Cafe, which is currently basking in the glory of being named one of the top three farm shop cafes in the UK.
Don't just take our word for it. Acclaimed travel writer Alastair Sawday included the cafe in his book The Extra Mile, a guide to delicious alternatives to motorway services. Just 11 minutes from junction 30 of the M1 in north Notts, it's worth the diversion if you want something better than a Gregg's sausage roll or a Burger King Whopper.
Wiping food miles from the slate, many of the ingredients used by chefs at the Harley Cafe are either reared, grown, baked or brewed on the Welbeck estate, once the ancestral home of the Dukes of Portland. Open six days a week (don't visit on a Monday or you're be sorely disappointed) the day begins with breakfast and no fewer than 13 different options.
The full English comes with the cafe's award-winning own cured smoked bacon, homemade black pudding and toast from bread made at Welbeck's bakehouse. French toast, made with the bakehouse's fruit loaf, is given a seasonal twist with forced Yorkshire rhubarb, homemade lemon curd and ginger crumble.
The all-round favourite and biggest seller of all though is mushrooms on toast, a vegan option, which can have a Cacklebean egg added. What's a Cacklebean egg? Although much of the produce is sourced either from the estate or very close by, sometimes the cream of the crop has to come from further afield.
The eggs - said to have a great reputation with the country's top chefs - are laid by a free-range rare breed flock on a farm nestled at the bottom of a hill in the Cotswolds. An idyllic setting for happy hens.
Granola is homemade, the croissants - the biggest we've ever seen - come from the nearby bakehouse and the freshly baked scones are always popular.
Specials on the menu change depending on the season. The day we visit venison tagine has been conjured up from deer on the estate.
Head chef Ricky Stephenson said: "Part of looking after the land is culling venison so this year we've had four times as much as we've had in previous years. The gamekeepers bring it to us. We generally use the shoulders, the butchers (in the farm shop) use the rest of it.
"It's such a fabulous meat. Venison is every buzz word in food. It's grass fed, it's got no steroids or antibiotics, it's low in saturated fat and really good for you. By cooking it in Moroccan flavours like we've done it takes the gaminess away and introduces people in a really nice way. We send samples to people's tables."
Vegans and vegetarians aren't stuck with boring, unimaginative options. Miso braised onions is a unami-packed dish, bolstered by leeks, carrots, on a bed of white bean puree with shards of crispy kale.
Sandwiches (the salt beef is exquisite), salads and soup all have some kind of homemade and seasonal element. The array of cakes is every sweet-toothed fan's heaven. Choose from the ultimate chocolate brownie, blueberry and pistachio cake, or our personal favourite, a deep-filled custard tart made with the Cacklebean eggs, the richest and silkiest custard you'll probably ever eat.
Going to work is a joy for Ricky, who has worked there for three- and-a-half years. "We use the best ingredients possible. We work directly with the farm shop and they only sell the best. All the pork is free range from Clumber Park. Lamb is off the estate, from that field where the trees are," he said pointing in the distance. "Everything is really high quality and what's amazing for me is as a chef is we're encouraged to use the best.
"It's such high quality stuff you don't need to do a lot with it. You almost forget how good it is as you're using it day in, day out. I am spoilt. We are really encouraged if there's something I want to try or a dish I've seen on TV we make it.
"Before a dish goes on the menu we've tried five or six versions of it. We want to make it perfect. It's not complicated food, it's just tasty food. The main philosophy is using really good quality ingredients, not doing too much and just making sure it tastes good. That's the thing - you can make sure things look good and sound fancy but actually what you want is for them to taste good."
Ricky strives to make veggie dishes interesting like the cauliflower and samphire bhajis with a zingy chilli zhoug. "We have a really good following for things like our veggie dishes. A lot of our regulars, being meat eaters, will try them and know that it's going to be really tasty. Salads - it's not just like it's tomato and cucumber - can be made really hearty." And colourful, like the halloumi and pomegranate salad.
Last year a new head gardener set about growing fresh produce on the estate. The ground hadn't been used for a while, so he's experimenting to see what will work but it did yield a bumper crop of pumpkins last October. Whatever thrives is sure to turn up on the cafe menu.
We visit mid-week when it's bustling with couples, families with babies, and Lycra-clad cyclists. The sun's out so the wooden benches outside, with room for 84, are fast filling up. That said many of the 36 seats inside are also taken.
The cafe shares a courtyard with the farm shop and the Harley Gallery, which shows the work of contemporary artists. Factor in the Portland Collection Museum displaying treasures from the aristocratic dukes who owned Welbeck from 1755 to 1977, a new trail to Creswell Crags or Clumber Park, and a garden centre next to the car park, you could easily spend the day there.
And an important factor when money's tight for a lot of people, the car park, galleries and trail are all free. History buffs might be interested to know that the building that houses the cafe dates back to 1893, when it was constructed as a lime store adjacent to the Victorian gasworks.
Thirteen years ago it was transformed and originally the Limehouse Cafe until the name was changed to Harley, after Edward Harley, who married Lady Henrietta, the great great granddaughter of Welbeck’s first owner Sir Charles Cavendish, in 1713, and one of the wealthiest women of her day.
Hilary O'Donnell, who first opened the cafe, later went on to open the Atrium Bar and Kitchen in Radcliffe-on-Trent. Today the cafe is managed by Darren Phillips, who said: "We're always busy. The menu changes every four and eight weeks. We have a lot of people who come two to three times a week so it keeps it interesting for them.
"Eighty per cent of our customers are regular. Although they like their favourites they like to see a bit of variety as well. The reason we've got a lot of regulars is that it's like a family affair.
"My team so welcoming, and so friendly. If you come regularly the staff will know you and we have a laugh and a chat when we have the time. It's like having a party in my house but people pay when they leave. That's what we try to create and it's not that difficult to do when you're at a place where people smile when they turn up at the car park."
The cafe made it to the finals of the Farm Retail Awards 2022 and even though it was pipped at the post by the Lambing Shed in Cheshire - a much bigger commercial enterprise - the staff are still extremely proud. Darren said: "People come from all over. People who were regulars and move away come back periodically.
"On the estate we have holiday lets now so we're getting quite a few people who are tourists on the estate. They turn up as newbies, we chat to them about the estate and they become regulars as well.
"We are a drive to destination. Most people who come here probably pass four or five places that are adequate to go to. We need to make sure they want to come to us. We seem to be a very good place for people to come from north, south, east or west. It can be a trek but we are genuinely happy that we're providing something they're wanting to come to."
The Harley Cafe is open Tuesday to Friday and Sunday from 9am to 4pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm.
