Andrew's tour of the North West Servicing your tastebuds

Date Published:

08/07/2008

Tebay services on the M6 is unique in that it has not only a fully stocked farm shop but boasts a proper butchers counter, cutting room and cold store. That's right, you can get a lamb shank at these services - but more on that later

I'm being guided round by Beverley Turnstall, who's giving me the low down on the place. When the M6 was extended north, the land was purchased off the Dunning family who farmed on it. Rather cunningly, John Dunning kept the land adjacent to the motorway and in 1972 opened a café and services stocking local produce and his own beef and lamb.

Service with a smile

It's grown now into a much bigger enterprise, with a larger café, a hotel, caravan park, a lake with ducks on, children's play area, barbecue shacks and the farm shop. The café features a pizza oven, homemade cakes and breads, soups and sandwiches. It all looks fresh and delicious. It's quite possibly the nicest motorway services I think I've ever visited, with splendid views of the surrounding mountains partly veiled in rain clouds.

And so to the butcher's shop where David Moreland has just finished the days prep. Opened in April this year, this is a proper fully stocked butchers with things on sale including all your familiar cuts of beef and lamb from the Dunning farm as well as Cumberland sausage, Galloway beef burgers, and even offal. David guides us into the cold store where sides of beef are hung up, quietly maturing on the bone. There's also some fine looking lambs which will be processed shortly.

A break from the fake

Back outside and nosing around the deli counter I spot Neil and Penny Chambers' hand made scotch eggs for sale. The cheese selection looks pretty good too. What's more, if you're in a rush you can order anything from the farm shop before you set off then it's ready for collection when you get here.

It would be so easy for this to be a fake farm shop, catering more towards the gift end of the market; you know, things like jams and preserves or biscuits. In short one of those farms shops where you can't actually get all the ingredients you need to make a meal. Tebay isn't like that though. It's a proper food destination, providing an excellent service. It's something different and makes a welcome change from the fast food chains you see at most services stations.

Find out what else Andrew got up to on his tour of the North West.