Albion Farm Shop: Cafe with sweeping views surprised me

I drove passed Albion Farm Shop and Cafe a few weeks ago, and since becoming a parent, I've found trips to farms so much more rewarding.

Yesterday, I took my one year old and my partner to the Oldham Road establishment, and it surprised me.

Albion Farm Shop, on Oldham Road in Delph (Image: Newsquest)

As we arrived, we were met by a flock of ducks enjoying the sun and a German shepherd - not the animals you expect to see at the farm but ducks are a fan favourite for my son, so he was impressed.

Outside by the shop, which has a cafe inside as well as an outdoor seating area with panoramic views of the open countryside, there was an appealing ice cream parlour.

Despite temperatures reaching a high of 13 degrees, we had planned to taste its produce once we had grabbed a bite indoors, but with the bill coming to £40.25 we lost our appetite - or at least my wallet did.

Albion rag pudding meal (front), hog roast sandwich (back) and the little farmer's sausage beans and mash (Image: Newsquest)

First of all, the cafe looked the part, it was rustic, homely and bright with windows overlooking acres and acres of green fields.

We ordered the hog roast sandwich for £13, the Albion rag pudding at £14, a little farmers breakfast for £6.50, a pint of Amstel for £4.30 and a half pint for £2.45.

Each time we visit Manchester's Christmas Markets we get a hog roast, and the German's set the bar high, possibly too high for Albion Farm Shop, as we found its own hog roast to lack flavour - the pork was nice but it wasn't enough on its own.

Slow cooked pork, apple sauce and stuffing made up the inside of the hog roast sandwich (Image: Newsquest)

It came with homemade stuffing and apple sauce on it, served with chips, homemade coleslaw and salad - all went down a treat.

The Albion rag pudding consisted of a homemade suet pudding filled with finely diced butchers steak and Millstone Brewery's Tiger Rut, served with chips, mushed garden peas and a pot of gravy.

I ordered the rag pudding as I've never had a 'suet pudding' before, but while Albion may have missed with the hog roast, it certainly delivered with this dish - you could taste the freshness.

The homemade suet pudding was filled with steak and ale (Image: Newsquest)

Meanwhile, the baby barely touched his food - and it wasn't for the taste he was tired, but I can vouch for the cafe here. The sausages were the real deal, they were chunky, they were butcher's sausages.

The two pints however, were poor, they didn't taste like Amstel but they were well aerated - it was as if the lines weren't cleaned properly.

What was left of reporter Joe Yates and his partner's plates and beers (Image: Newsquest)

They tasted funky, my girlfriend's half pint came in a standard glass and she assumed it was a homebrew, and when I told her that it was supposed to be Amstel it put both of us off it.

The staff were friendly and the place was clean, and while the food overall was good, the beer let us down, and the prices were a bit steep - even for a farm shop.

Would I return? Probably yes, but I'm not itching to go back just yet.