The Country Cafe @ Stanton St John Rectory Farm

It would have been easy for Graham and Penny Corbett to pack up shop and return home defeated, to put their feet up and watch daytime TV for the foreseeable future.

After all their hard work, what had they to show for it? Nothing. Seven years of selling cakes and sandwiches to an adoring public, and running one of Oxfordshire’s most popular cafes, to then be smothered in red tape and forced to close their thriving business.

Their Country Cafe was on green belt, despite being open for seven years previous to that, and part of Rectory Farm’s enormously popular PYO in Stanton St John. Yet it still contravened planning regulations apparently . . . meaning curtains.

But that would have been too easy. And knowing what a long, frustrating and at times brutal business it would be to take on the planners and try to find a solution or even a middle ground, to enable The Country Cafe to remain open, the couple took a deep breath and rode out on to the battlefield with heads held high.

After a fierce local campaign was launched by its endless loyal customers, the case ended up in court, but finally a compromise was reached and the cafe reopened hurriedly in May, half in and half out of the Rectory Farm produce shop. The new marquee-style cafe is where the butchers and then the deli was, so gone is the former con-verted calf birthing shed/mobile catering caravan next to the kids’ playground and bouncy castle.

With 100+ lunches a day to cater for at weekends, they have their work cut out, but Penny and Graham love it and are delighted to be back. Their clientele is family focused and if you are a parent or grandparent you have probably whiled away many an hour sipping coffee there while watching your little ones, although the cafe seating area is now fenced in. Children can still enjoy the wonderful children’s picnic boxes made up on the spot with a choice of pizza, ham/cheese or jam sandwiches (the ham baked by the Corbetts using local pigs), a jelly, fruit juice of choice, Pommy bear crisps and some party ring bis-cuits all enclosed in an animal style cardboard lunchbox, which always goes down a treat at £4.50 a pop.

Having picked enough strawberries to keep Wimbledon fed, we wandered into the cafe for lunch a few weeks ago, nabbing the last available table and marvelling at the wonderful array of cakes behind the bunting clad counter.

But then Graham was head chef at Gees and then at the Bank Hotel so I should not have been surprised really, as his menu boasted home-made sausage rolls, pork pies, pâtés, platters, sandwiches and daily specials. In the end we opted for the salad of the day, a wonderful sound-ing watermelon and Yorkshire fettle (a Northern version of feta cheese) with sesame seeds and a piquant dressing (£7), although I was sorely tempted by the beefy tomato salad with pesto and mozzarella, and when I glimpsed the enormous bowls of big slices of juicy, dressed tomatoes being carried out, I almost regretted my choice.

I needn’t have worried, however, because my salad was novel, refreshing and filling all at the same time. The Asian noodle salad on the specials board, a surprising addition, was also delicious, as were the individual vegetable tarts (£3), dependent on whatever is in season when you visit (asparagus and cheese) for me, now beetroot and goats cheese, all authentically tasty.

We were back at the weekend with the entire clan, the men immediately ordering the Farmer’s platter (£7.50) complete with pork pies, pâté, salad, bread, cheese, gherkins, pickled onions and homemade relish, rendering any ploughman immediately envious, while Mr Stanley’s salad was made up of boiled egg, broad beans, potatoes and asparagus, with pulled ham or Yorkshire fettle cheese, everything picked that day, which for £7 was also perfect for such a blousy summer’s afternoon.

My son’s BLT was another masterpiece, the crispy bacon laid out on top of the large open sandwich, which kept him quiet for a rare 20 minutes.

We couldn’t fit any cakes in by the time we had finished, but as Rectory Farm and the Country Cafe is open until September, when the picking season ends, there’s still plenty of time. Because there isn’t much in life that can’t be sorted out with a cup of tea and delicious slice of cake, is there?

Thank God Penny and Graham stayed to fight their corner.

The Country Cafe Rectory Farm
Stanton St John,
OX33 1HF
rectoryfarmpyo.com

Opening times: 10am-5.30pm seven days a week.
Parking: Lots (two fields full)
Key personnel: Graham and Penny Corbett along with their daughters, Chessie and Sophie
Make sure you try the... Rectory Farm smoothie made with fresh fruit of the day: ours included strawberries, raspberries and red and whitecurrants.
In ten words: If you have got kids, emigrate there for the summer