[Ad- gifted experience] Belvoir Castle is a lovely estate that contains a beautiful gardens and castle itself, which you can explore. Just outside the walking path to the castle, however, you can find The Engine Yard – a collection of smaller, independent specialty shops and places to eat, which provide a really day out. Recently, they have opened their first Estate Farm Shop and a Brasserie at the Engine Yard, which has the aim to showcase local produce from Leicestershire estate, highlighting brands and businesses that are local, to support them further.
We spent the day wandering around the Engine Yard and castle itself, exploring these little shops first. All of these shops are on the smaller side, creating a sort of collection of little shops, full of unique finds and quality products. The new Farm Shop has jams, chutneys, dressings, pet treats, wines, dried fruit, fresh veggies, meats, and even a little bakery out the back. I was quite impressed with the way that the dried nuts and fruit were presented, as a bag your own and pay your weight, in an attempt to get rid of needless packaging. These small touches really make a difference from businesses! All of the produce for the Farm Shop is organic and locally sourced, through a partnership with Wild Jacks – a local company. The building itself has a large upstairs, where they are planning on running days where children can learn how to bake bread or do Lego building competitions, making the Farm Shop something that gives back to the community. This shop also has a picnic hire service, offering different hampers and boxes for those who want to eat in the gardens or the surrounding areas, as well as lots of products for children!
The new Brasserie is on the top floor of the Fuel Tank. This restaurant has a select menu of freshly made foods, aiming to be a premium experience. The menu, which we had a look at, had lovely starters, mains and desserts that felt like traditional British foods with a bit of an upscale twist. The menu features seasonal items, so will be changing all through out the year, and there is going to be a monthly game dinner and wine pairing night during the shooting season, which is interesting if you are looking for something a little bit different. This restaurant place is perfect for fancy dates or special occasions. Inside the Fuel Tank on the main floor, you can find a cafe which serves pasteries and coffees – if you are interested in getting something smaller to tie you over, and below the main floor, you can find the Balloon Bar.
The Balloon Bar is a beautiful bar which has a bunch of different spirits, gins, cocktails and more, if you’d like to extend your evening beyond dinner. The lighting and general decorations throughout this bar (and, to be honest, the rest of the venue) is simply amazing. I really loved the Hot Air Balloon theme, and the bar really delivered from the stairway from the cafe (which features hot air balloons hanging) to the light fixtures inside the bar itself.
In the Engine Yard, you can also find a gun makers, a day spa, a deli, an interior design shop, chocolatier, butchers, jeweler place, a garden shop and an outdoor woodfire pizza restaurant. We dipped our heads into the butchers shop, which had so many hand-made pies, beautifully cut meats and jarred items to take a look at! Along with the chocolate shop, which smelled of delicious chocolate – who can resist – and features a variety of options to go plastic free or waste free. There are ice creams and hot chocolates that can be purchased there, which are so tempting! The garden shop had a mix of indoor and outdoor gardening supplies, with many, many plants on show and a shop dog that seems to be roaming around. The toy shop features some interactive areas for children, as well as a variety of educational toys and simply fun toys for children.
The Engine Yard has free parking onsite for the first two hours, with paid parking afterwards. The little shops and locally sourced items are all very lovely – creating the feeling of a little local village full of charm and quite fancy items, that you can find yourself shopping at, eating lunch, and even taking dates too. The sheep in the distances and touches all around the yard provide such a fun place for the family to explore – and with classes coming soon above the Farm Shop, it’s well worth a full day out!
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!
This looks like such a fun, interesting place to spend time. You could really learn so much!
It is a lovely place.
It sounds like you had a lovely day out. We need to arrange a few day trips. The farm shop sounds great, I’ve not been to one in ages now. Miss all the bits you can get.
There are so many fun finds at these sorts of shops.
This looks like an absolutely fantastic place to spend a day out. I have to admit I would definitely have to pop into the restaurant, freshly made food is always the best.
It is the best!
I enjoy going to places where the shops have locally sourced items, nice feeling to buy local. Looks like a nice and interesting day out x
It’s such a big plus!
This is exactly the type of place that I would love to explore. Hopefully we will get to go one day.
I hope you do!
It sounds like you had a lovely day, I do love visiting farm shops and could spend a fortune in them. I have added this to a list of places to visit
I hope you can get along to them!
This definitely sounds like somewhere I would love to spend a day! I love little shops and bars like this and could spend hours there!
Spending hours shopping is so easy to do!
This looks and sounds lovely. looks like they have a great selection of food to choice from
The menu sounded really lovely too!
We’ve heard about Belvoir Castle before but the Balloon Bar sounds amazing! I bet they do really nice cocktails there!
It’s such a cool place, and so close too!
looks totally worth exploring! and a lot of fun for everyone
It is a great place to explore.
This looks live a clever combination of a castle owner joining forces with smaller business owners. Kudos!
It really is!
This looks like a wonderful place and a fantastic day out. The balloon bar looks amazing and I like the sound of lots of little shops to browse around.
The bar was really lovely in theme!
Looks like a very cool place to stroll around and explore. Quite wonderful that so many of these old estates and castles can be visited by the public now.
It is! This castle nearby is actually active – people still stay in it!
I love to visit places that are full of charm. We are hoping to get out somewhere in July.
There is so much charm! Hopefully you can. x
This looks a great place to get out too, never been to anything like this before
It was really fun!
Wow! We don’t have anything like this gorgeous place in my city. We do have gorgeous architecture, but the unique and fun facilities is definitely what makes it so special. Love that bar and restaurant too!
It’s such a lovely looking place!
What a fun and interesting place to visit. Would love to go for the day.
It’s a lovely day out.