Craigie's Fruit Farm

 Daddy jumped out of bed on Saturday morning, and suggested going out for breakfast.  Craigies Fruit Farm had been advertising a "nature weekend", and some how this is where we ended up.


Daddy certainly seemed more miserable than usual (you remember how he feels about farms anyway!).  "It's just a cafe, except it is in the middle of nowhere" he moaned.  He certainly had a point.  Why would anyone want to visit a fruit farm outwith the bypass in the middle of winter?   Certainly not for the "Nature Weekend" - 2 miserable looking tents with a handful of leaflets each, and a spot the paper egg decoration competition (which was free to enter, but not terribly clear about what the prize would be).


The cafe is passable- even pleasant - with an open aspect out onto the Firth of Forth and the odd comfy sofa.  There's a tractor to clamber over, if that takes your fancy - and although the car park is heaving, the new extension has ensured sufficient capacity, so you don't actually have to queue for a seat any more.  But it's pricey.  Quaint, I give you - as this cheerful chicken pecks around your feet at the garden tables, but a portion of scrambled egg for me (and I'm only 9 months old mind!) was £3!


The adjacent deli is good for a wander, and has a new butchery - but the purpose is almost entitely defeated by the extraordinary pricing.  £2.95 for the tiniest tub of rice pudding!  75 pence each for a frozen scone!  That would make half a dozen £4.50, for a plate that wouldn't cost more than 40 pence in ingredients.   "Surely everyone can make a scone and bake a rice pudding" Mummy mumbled under her breath.  If only she had noticed that the breakfast pancakes were 50 pence each, when she often makes twenty or so in the morning, then she probably would have had a coronary.  Yet, entrepreneurial types take note - you might not think their Nature Weekend is up to much, but their business acumen is spot on - the place was heaving.


After buying absolutely nothing, we headed outside to say hello to the pigs.  There were tractor rides, but we didn't bother.  It was blinking parky up there on the hillside I can tell you.  All in all, if you want to cuddle a chicken and see a pig, and a lot more beside, and you don't fancy using a gallon of petrol, the community cafe at Gorgie Farm is a better bet, and they won't charge you 75p for a frozen scone either.


Come the strawberry season, we will be back at Craigies though!


Craigies Fruit Farm is amazingly open every day, whether there is fruit to pick or not!