Forty-five acres of Oxfordshire farmland where you pick everything yourself — strawberries warm from the field, raspberries by the punnet, pumpkins in autumn. One of those places that reminds you what fruit is supposed to taste like.
Rectory Farm has been a family business for generations, and it runs on the simple premise that nothing tastes better than something you picked yourself twenty minutes ago. The farm covers 45 acres just east of Oxford at Stanton St John, with two spring-fed lakes — actually, that's Salford; this one is fields, rows of soft fruit, and the particular pleasure of crouching in the strawberry beds on a warm morning. The season runs from spring through to autumn: asparagus and rhubarb to start, then strawberries and raspberries through summer, gooseberries, currants and sweet peas, then sweetcorn and courgettes, and finally pumpkins in October. There are usually flowers too — gladioli, sunflowers — if you want something for the kitchen table back at the cottage.
The farm recommends coming early in the morning when the fruit is cool and will last longer after picking. Weekend visits through summer currently require a ticket booked in advance — worth sorting the day before rather than turning up and finding it full. The farm opens Monday to Saturday 8am–5:30pm and Sunday 8am–4pm, from March through December. Children are well looked after here: there's a woodland play area and plenty of space to roam between rows.
Once you've picked your fill, the on-site café is run in partnership with Meet Point Coffee — proper espresso drinks, homemade cakes and soups, and ice cream for the children. The farm shop sells their own produce alongside locally-sourced cheeses, dairy, and baked goods. It's the sort of morning that doesn't need much else: pick, eat, buy a pot of their strawberry jam on the way out.
The farm is at Rectory Farm, Stanton St John, OX33 1HF — about 25 minutes from Well Cottage via the A44. Weekend booking is required through the summer months; check the website before you set off as opening hours can change on very hot days. The farm is open March to December. If you're planning a pumpkin visit in October it's one of the better ones in the area, and well worth combining with a walk in the Otmoor nature reserve a few minutes further east.
All of this on the doorstep, and your own thatched cottage to come home to. Sleeps seven, less than a mile from Soho Farmhouse.