Review: Jolly Nice, nr Stroud

We found Jolly Nice three years ago. Someone had bought a defunct petrol station on the A419 and turned it into a bit of a farm shop. Only it was a surprising little farm shop because they made a really good flat white, astonishingly gorgeous salted caramel milkshakes with their own ice cream, and sold burgers from an old airstream parked to one side.

You wouldn’t recognise it today. There’s still a farm shop, but it has grown. And the coffee has moved across the forecourt to a dedicated coffee bar. There’s also a dedicated kitchen for turning out the burgers, a separate butchery counter, two yurts full of tables and chairs, a fenced off pasture with picnic seating for summer days, and just this season a little homewares shop has slotted in alongside the butcher. So… is this a sad tale of sell-out and rampant commercialisation? Well, the homeware nook did make me twitch, just a little. But this is a million miles from Daylesford Organics, purveyors of mightily marked-up produce to the Chipping Campden set.

For starters, the seating is mostly bistro chairs and old benches. And you can’t get your burger on a plate, it comes in a little cardboard box whether you’re taking it away or “eating in”. And if you stand back and squint, you can still see the old petrol station forecourt hidden under what feels like organic and natural growth. Just a year ago there was only one yurt! Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bargain farm shop such as you might find in a lonely corner of Shropshire. They’re selling produce from small and artisan producers, it’s priced appropriately but not eye-wateringly.

Their burgers are grrrrrreat though! Cooked pink (don’t tell the flippin’ inspectors!) with a bit of cheddar and smokey bacon on top, in a good brioche bun with an appropriate bit o’ lettuce and mayo, it’s really splendid meat from their own shorthorn herd and juicy enough to have the bun dissolving in your fingers if you linger too long. And under a tenner. I also need to give a good shout-out to another of their staples: the KFP. Kentucky Fried Pheasant in a bun, that is. What a brilliant idea. Delicious too, the strong meat really succulent in seasoned breadcrumb.

I can’t really say more than this: given we live 30 minutes away in Cheltenham, it’s ridiculous the number of times we manage to find an excuse to wind up pulling into Jolly Nice, for a burger or maybe just a coffee and a cake.