Pillars Of Hercules Organic Farm Shop & Cafe Reviews Summary

Cafe and Shop

Pros:

• "Fantastic vegan/eco-/environment/dog friendly coffee, farm shop and rest stop - perfect for all ages, especially walkers and visiting families."
• "Nice cafe with a wide range of mouth watering organic food, much of which is vegan."
• "Great cafe and a really good shop with a huge range of organic, vegan, free-from products as well as fresh vegetables."
• "A lively farm shop selling organic food which I could have spent a fortune in as everything looked so tasty."
• "Cafe food (all organic vegetarian and vegan) was delicious with very friendly staff."
• "The coffee cake is fantastic."
• "The food is fantastic, reasonably priced and organic."

Cons:

• "£20 for 2 baked taties and latte is horrendous overpriced really awful."
• "Shop was quite pricey and a bit out of my budget."
• "£50 for sub standard food... £24 for 2 raw pizzas, a cold soup and crepe is pricey."
• "The extremely poor standard of the food and the extortionate prices totally confirm this."
• "Ripoff prices for absolute minimum quality food."
• "On our last visit the prices were supremely overinflated, the food mediocre."
• "We spent nearly £20 for two coffees and two pieces of very sugary vegan cakes."

Facilities and Maintenance

Pros:

• "The site was beautiful and well maintained."
• "Very good facilities and fantastic cafe."
• "Facilities clean with hot water and well lit in the evening."
• "Facilities fine and clean, and no queues are a slight walk away but there are portaloos for nighttime use."
• "All the facilities were clean and the site was beautiful and well maintained."
• "Showers piping hot, water topped up."
• "Very clean heated bathrooms."

Cons:

• "We were told no cars on the tent field, but we seemed to be the only ones which stuck to that."
• "It seemed that there was only one shower."
• "The facilities were ok but felt like an afterthought to the cafe, no cold tap for teethbrushing was odd!"
• "No freezer facilities for keeping ice packs."
• "The grass onsite required cut, as it was constantly wet due to rain."
• "There was only 1 male and 1 female shower which is not enough if the site is busy."
• "The showers weren’t very hot or powerful and washing up facilities didn’t have hot water."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Great and reasonably priced products, lovely staff!"
• "Friendly staff and relaxed atmosphere."
• "Most staff friendly and engaging though it can get busy."
• "Really friendly and helpful staff."
• "The staff was friendly and helpful, and it was an overall wonderful experience!"
• "All the staff were extremely helpful and so welcoming."
• "The staff are the best thing about this place - always super friendly, chatty and helpful!"

Cons:

• "Needless to say we won't be back and I advise others to give it a miss too."
• "Firstly, we stood in a queue for about 25 minutes... to be told no pasties available and no hot potatoes available."
• "Today's staff were all young, disinterested and slow."
• "Food is expensive, not that great and service is slow."
• "Certain members of staff could do with a smile training session."
• "Food was great but the two women serving were very rude."
• "Due to long wait times to order several guests left."

Environment and Location

Pros:

• "Quiet site with beautiful views across to East Lomond hill."
• "One of my favourite places for a stroll followed by lunch outside, surrounded by nature."
• "This place is so peaceful and has some amazing walks through the forest."
• "The environment around Pillars is fantastic for long walks, with a variety of scenery, length of walk and difficulty depending on which direction you head out."
• "Loved all the bird song and the friendly blackbirds."
• "Very scenic, available facilities clean, easy walk to Falkland from campsite through woodland."
• "Beautiful surroundings and nice woodland walks."

Cons:

• "It’s also a good camping spot but they no longer allow dogs to stay so we stopped camping here."
• "WHY OH WHY ARE YOU SELLING ANIMAL FLESH IN SHOP FRIDGE??? That needs to be stopped sooner rather than later."
• "Very much disliked that dogs were allowed in the cafe."
• "I seriously worry about the lack of sanitizing being carried out on tables, chairs, etc, in between customers leaving and new customers arriving and sitting at unsanitized tables."
• "The sound of sitting in a poly tunnel with a fire actually sounded quite nice but the reality of it was the fire gave off no heat in a wind tunnel."
• "Unfortunately had to leave without lunch as dog was not allowed inside neither in shop nor cafe."
• "Apparently it's acceptable to have your over-paying customers sit outside in the cold and rain because it was full inside."