Tim Heaton, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Eat and drink
Greenhouse Cafe, Wardington
The café at Barn Farm Plants garden centre, Upper Wardington, near Banbury, serving homebaked cakes and freshly made food with indoor and outdoor seating, on the Jurassic Way and beside an antiques centre.
Family-friendly · Walker-friendly
A garden-centre café that earns the detour if you combine it: browse the plants and the antiques centre on the same site, or stop on the Jurassic Way, then sit down to cake or lunch. It closes at 4pm, or 3.30pm on Sundays, so it is a daytime stop.
- Good: Homebaked cakes and food prepared daily, with weekly specials
- Good: Gluten-free and vegan options
- Good: Indoor and outdoor seating, and plenty of parking
- Good: On the Jurassic Way, and popular with walkers and cyclists
- Worth knowing: Closes at 4pm, or 3.30pm on Sundays, before the garden centre does
- Worth knowing: The site does not mention dogs; ask first
About
The Greenhouse Cafe is the café at Barn Farm Plants, a family-owned garden centre at Upper Wardington, north-east of Banbury. The business traces itself back to a wooden hut built at the farm as a shop in January 1996.
The café keeps to homebaked cakes and food prepared each day, with weekly specials, gluten-free and vegan options, and lunchboxes for children. Photographs on its page show brownies, carrot cake, quiche and sandwiches, though it publishes no prices. You can sit indoors or outside within the garden centre.
The location is what makes it more than a tea stop. The Jurassic Way long-distance path passes by, and the café says it is popular with walkers and cyclists. Barn Farm also has plenty of parking, plants, free gift wrapping for plants you buy, and an antiques centre on the same site, where dealers and collectors trade. The antiques centre keeps its own hours, and we could find no current record of them, so ring the garden centre on 01295 758080 if it is the main reason for the trip.
The garden centre runs a programme of events through the year, listed month by month on its site, including a Christmas Charity Evening with free visits to Father Christmas from 6pm to 8pm on Wednesday 18 November 2026.
Opening hours and season
| Monday | 09:30 to 16:00 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 09:30 to 16:00 |
| Wednesday | 09:30 to 16:00 |
| Thursday | 09:30 to 16:00 |
| Friday | 09:30 to 16:00 |
| Saturday | 09:30 to 16:00 |
| Sunday | 10:00 to 15:30 |
Café hours. The garden centre is open 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.
The details
- Food
- Café food
- Dietary
- Vegan dishes · Gluten-free dishes
- Features
- Café · Parking · Shop
- History
- Barn Farm Plants began with a wooden hut in January 1996, by its own account
- Parking
- Plenty of parking on site, the café says.
Photos
Cakes on the counter 
Eggs and avocado on toast 
Filled rolls and salad 
Tray bakes
Location
Places to stay nearby
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The Brasenose Arms, Cropredy
Pubs · Cropredy
A 17th-century inn on Station Road in Cropredy, with four refurbished bed and breakfast rooms, a bar and garden, and its own music fringe alongside Fairport's Cropredy Convention each August. The pub says it is the only one in the country with the name.
Verified Nov 2026
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The Three Pigeons, Banbury
Pubs · Banbury
A Grade II listed 17th-century inn, partly thatched, on Southam Road, Banbury, with real ales and ciders, a courtyard, Smash Cow street food from Thursday to Saturday and three en-suite rooms.
Dog-friendly · Car-free
Verified Nov 2026
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Whately Hall Hotel, Banbury
Hotel · Banbury
A Grade II listed 17th-century inn, now a 71-room hotel on Horse Fair in the middle of Banbury, with gardens, an oak-panelled restaurant and six EV chargers.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Hare and Hounds, Wardington 1.0 km away
- The George and Dragon, Chacombe 2.1 km away
- The Brasenose Arms, Cropredy 2.7 km away
- The Griffin Inn, Chipping Warden 3.1 km away
Sights nearby
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Cropredy Bridge battlefield
Sight · Monument · Cropredy
The registered battlefield of 29 June 1644, where Charles I's army beat Sir William Waller's across the Cherwell meadows at Cropredy. Farmland now, seen from the bridge, public footpaths and the Battlefields Trust's trail.
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Cropredy Bridge
Sight · Bridge · Cropredy
The bridge over the River Cherwell at Cropredy, north of Banbury, where a royalist army beat Sir William Waller on 29 June 1644. This is a 1937 rebuild faced in old Hornton stone, with an inscription on its south side. Free to see at any time.
-
Arbury Banks, Chipping Warden
Sight · Hill fort or barrow · Chipping Warden
The low bank of a probable Iron Age enclosure, and the ridge and furrow around it, on a hill south-west of Chipping Warden. A scheduled monument on private farmland, mostly ploughed, seen from public footpaths nearby.