The Farmer's Cart, Towthorpe Grange, Towthorpe, York

THE first time I visited The Farmer's Cart, three years ago, it was clear that Margaret and Geoff Sykes had hit on a revolutionary idea. They were going to sell their farm produce direct from their own farm shop, rather than sending it 10,000 miles round the world and back before it could be sold at your local Tesco.

Fresh fruit and veg, sold with the soil still on just hours after being plucked from the fields? What an odd idea.

It was clear early on that it was going to be a success. Who could resist the plump cabbages, the large, earthy carrots with their crowns of foliage, the ripe, luscious lollo rosso lettuce that spilled off the shelves in the purpose-built wooden farm shop? This looked dangerously like real food.

From the beginning, The Farmer's Cart was more than just a shop, however. With the help of DEFRA grants, the farm itself - Towthorpe Grange farm near Strensall - was converted into what was almost a farm park, with animals for the children to see, conservation in the field margins and footpaths allowing visitors to walk around at will.

Then there was the in-house bakery and caf, where you could enjoy freshly-baked bread, scones and tea while sitting on the veranda.

Next came a fully-fledged restaurant, open throughout the day and for lunches (though not evening meals), which was extended this year to double its original size. And with the appointment of two new chefs, this seemed like a good excuse to check it out.

We turned up at about 12.30 one Sunday to find the large car park almost full and a short queue of people waiting for a table. I joined it, while Lili happily browsed around the farm shop.

We didn't have long to wait before a cheerful waitress seated us at a small table for two near a window.

Everything about The Farmer's Cart speaks of simple quality. The restaurant, in a large, spacious room attached to the shop, has rustic, stone-flagged floors, brick and timber walls, and a ceiling from which plants and fruits trail. The windows are big, letting in plenty of light, and draped with simple check curtains. The tables are plain pine, giving the whole restaurant a homely, farmhouse-kitchen feel.

It was heaving when we visited, the tables both inside and on the veranda all filled with happy, chattering families, from grandparents down to toddlers.

The menu is fairly simple - a selection of light bites, a basic lunch menu, and a few specials, mostly made using local ingredients, many from the farm itself.

We both decided to start with the soup of the day - tomato. For her main course, Lili opted for the Mounfield award-winning pork-pie (£4.50) - locally made at Bubwith, and accompanied with Tyrrells crisps and a salad of leaves grown fresh on the farm. I chose, from the specials menu, the pan-fried salmon with roasted Mediterranean vegetables and home-made pesto (£6.95).

We had to wait a while for our soup, and it transpired that in the rush there had been a bit of a mix-up. We were actually brought our main courses before the soup arrived, and had to remind the waitress of our order. The main courses were quickly spirited away, and generous bowls of steaming tomato soup brought, each with a slice of fresh bread and a knob of butter.

The soup was outstanding - rich, thick, with a lovely, coarse-grained texture and a flavour of tomatoes overlain with a hint of what seemed like orange or carrot. We savoured every drop.

Our main courses arrived quickly after that. Lily's pork pie was excellent: a large, crusty slice, filled with meltingly tender crumbles of pork and rich juices. The salad was fresh and tasty, the crisps surprisingly good, containing a variety of potato types, including sweet potato.

My quite small salmon steak arrived on a generous bed of Mediterranean vegetables. The skin was seared and crispy, the flesh tender and fresh. The fresh pesto sauce added a lovely piquant flavour. The roasted Mediterr-anean vegetables were a little oily for my taste but the farm-grown English vegetables which accompanied my meal were outstanding. The potatoes, in particular, had a delicious earthy taste you never seem to get from supermarket spuds.

Lili passed on dessert, but I couldn't resist the summer pudding with Yorkshire cream (£3.50). It was delicious: light, moist, bursting with flavour and topped with a generous selection of ripe, full raspberries, blackberries and other local summer fruits.

Our lunch, including a glass of mineral water each and a coffee to finish for me came to just over £26. Not bad value for what was a very enjoyable meal in pleasant surroundings.

The only slight downside were the loos. They were obviously clean enough - but by the time we got to use them, after an admittedly very busy lunch period, one had run out of tissue paper and in another paper hand towels were overflowing from the bin across the floor.

That won't, however, put us off visiting The Farmer's Cart again.

Steve visited on Sunday October 2, 2005.

The Farmer's Cart, Towthorpe Grange, Towthorpe, York. Tel: 01904 499183

Food: Farm fresh

Service: Pleasant

Value: Good

Ambience: Homely

Disabled access: Yes

Updated: 15:38 Friday, October 14, 2005