The Heart of Tibbs Farm
Nestled near Rye, this delightful family-run farm is a true celebration of food. Embracing the essence of provenance and seasonality, the farm offers a wonderful Pick Your Own experience, boasting a wide variety of fruits grown in their own fertile soil. With the freedom to grow diverse fruit varieties unconstrained by supermarket demands, the farm’s offerings are refreshingly unique. Visitors can also enjoy the farm’s rustic on-site café, serving up hearty breakfasts, lunches, and scrumptious cakes, all enriched by the farm’s own homegrown produce. Join this farm’s enchanting dining experience, savoring the pleasure of sharing seasonally inspired, locally sourced platters, while basking in the simple joys that nature brings.
As farmers food is at the heart of what goes on at Tibbs Farm. Nestled just outside of Rye the family farm run by the Wheeler family grows and rears a variety of crops and livestock retailing much of their own produce, the ambition of connecting consumers with provenance and seasonality is a driving factor behind the family’s consumer focus.
It’s easier to show than tell and in this regard a traditional Pick Your Own takes center stage with a huge array of fruits all largely grown in the soil. The season is short and runs from the beginning of June and squeezing into September with the likes of plums and Blackberries. The farm champions diversity in the fruit it grows and with no constraints as to being dictated what to grow by the supermarkets it grows a variety of fruits you won’t find on a supermarket shelf. Whilst the majority of fruit is sold through the PYO the farm does have a few wholesale outlets with Gooseberries and Loganberries in particular finding increasing popularity in London.
Wanting more control through the food supply chain provided the inspiration for the family’s next venture and in the summer of 2020 the on-farm café opened it’s doors, albeit briefly, before the second wave of Covid hit. Perched overlooking the Tillingham Valley and the family farm below the rustic oak framed café serves hearty breakfasts, lunch, cake and coffee. Everything you expect from a café but sprinkled throughout with the farm’s own homegrown produce. Eggs, jams and apple juice to buy complete the ‘grown and made-on-farm‘ line up.
Farm Feasts:
Theatre, the aroma of open-fire cooking, and the warmth of friendship unite at Tibbs this Summer. Embrace the joy of sharing seasonally led, locally sourced platters with home-reared hogget and woodland pork as the culinary stars. Chargrilled vegetables and vibrant salads cater to all palates, while fruit cocktails add to the convivial atmosphere. Escape the hustle and reconnect with food, friends, and nature at Tibbs — a unique dining experience reviving the essence of life’s pleasures.
