I have a slight obsession with cafes. My dream is to one day open my own; a flower-shop-come-coffee-shop-come-gallery, all under one white-washed, rustic roof. I still can’t get over the fact that it took me a whole year to discover Worton. After moving from the South of France to Oxfordshire three years ago I was desperate to find somewhere special that I could escape to; somewhere beautiful with proper coffee and cakes. I made do with character-free coffee shops for months until one wet morning I found a postcard advertising Worton Organic Garden. I was there in a flash.

After getting very lost (it’s hidden down a long, bumpy track, almost in the middle of nowhere), I pulled up in front of a small, grey, wooden hut. Behind closed doors was the most delicious looking organic fruit and vegetables I’ve ever seen, eye-wateringly beautiful, home-grown flowers and steaming towers of freshly baked breads and croissants. And even better still to come was the cafe which sells, hands down, the best coffee I’ve ever tasted.

The weekly changing menu is full of organic, locally-grown, quite ‘girly’, Ottolenghi-style food and everything I’ve ever tried is absolutely delicious. We take ‘the Cubs’ on a Sunday morning. They pretend they’re still in France and order hot chocolates and croissants with Jostaberry jam while I work my way through as much of their patisserie section as time will allow. Sitting still and small boys don’t go hand in hand, but Worton is perfect for them as they’re free to run around the garden, talk to the chickens and throw sticks for the owners’, David and Annekes’, dogs. It’s upsettingly only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (if I could, I’d be there all day, every day) but it’s a relatively hidden gem that I cannot recommend highly enough.

Images by Willow Crossley