In these times of economic hardship, people are thinking creatively about how to make money. Sunday supplements (a necessity if ever there was one) bulge with suggestions about how to get the cheapest cuts from Waitrose, whilst getting the Volvo to go a few extra miles. This, of course, is nothing new to our farmers, who have been diversifying their businesses for years.

The latest to do this on the Island has been the Griffin family, at the award-winning Briddlesford Lodge Farm; who have been adding strings to their collective bow with holiday accommodation and now a café.

Matt and Cat had heard that this new venture was very popular. The farm café market is really taking off on the Island, and M & C are always keen to be part of the zeitgeist. So, one lunchtime, they offered to take a little old lady to the new Briddlesford café as a special treat - only to discover that she had already been! She praised the place highly and didn't take much persuading to go again; so off they all went.

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Approaching the farm made M & C recall a very different café that they visited some years ago. Also at a big Island dairy farm, this establishment (now no longer serving food) really had some difficulty in reconciling the needs of an active dairy herd with the customer experience. Problems there included flies, dust, farm machinery and noise. Could the Bluebells Café overcome what is undoubtedly a tricky compromise - integrating visitors and a café into the working farm? Pleasingly, they appeared to do just that with considerable success. Visitors can drive right into the farmyard and park in amongst the sheds and silage clamps, giving a real taste of the less glamorous bits of an actual farm; and yet careful arrangement of the space means that there's no danger of getting muddled up with all this stuff. A few steps from the neat parking area the new café awaits in what appears to be an old milking parlour, beautifully converted. As if to emphasise the point, a big viewing window at the end of the dining area looks out onto a line of stalls where appealingly-arranged calves gaze doe-eyed at the diners. You can even go out later and pet them if you're so inclined. A remarkably well-integrated visitor and farm experience.

Matt and Cat, with their friend, chose a table and looked through the extensive menu. Breakfast, light meals, sandwiches and main courses were all on offer. All areas of the menu included - and specified explicitly - local ingredients, often very local indeed. A specials board added even more choice. Matt soon made his: a simple Isle of Wight beef casserole served with chips took his fancy. Cat went for one of the several veggie options: stuffed field mushroom served on toasted focaccia bread filled with sautéed spinach and a blue cheese rarebit. The aged guest was content with the traditional and wholesome-sounding homemade cottage pie. An impressive range of cold drinks tempted M & C from their usual lunchtime cuppa: Matt had Isle of Wight tomato juice, and Cat had Sharon orchard apple juice, from nearby Ryde.

It turned out that the calves were a welcome diversion, as the food was obviously being well-prepared, taking over twenty minutes to arrive. When the very friendly waitress finally rolled up with the plates, the diners were more than ready for their lunches. The waitress coped gracefully when M & C's friend recoiled in horror at her cottage pie - this lady won't eat cheese, and had forgotten to say so. The cottage pie came with a copious cheesy hat. Within a few moments and with good grace the meal was whisked away, and returned shortly minus the cheese - although looking a little the worse for wear.

At this point the now cheeseless lady also noticed that the generous salad which came alongside her meal lacked a dressing. She asked if any such thing could be found, and this time the waitress looked troubled. It wasn't clear what the problem was - was there supposed to be dressing, and it had been missed? Or was there just none to be had? The waitress went off and eventually returned with a small jug of balsamic vinegar that, she confided, she'd filled herself rather than bother chef. Perhaps the débácle of the cheesy cottage pie had upset chef to such an extent that she didn't dare trouble him further. Anyway, vinegar isn't entirely a dressing but it's a good approximation, and also served to supplement Matt's chips. So the diners accepted it without demurral.

So, to the food. Matt's casserole looked a bit the worse for wear. The photo above shows it just as it came. Had it been ladled into the bowl from a great height, or did the well-encrusted streaks of casserole down the outside of the bowl mean that it had - surely not - just come from the microwave? Nothing garnished the meal - just a bowl of casserole and a similar bowl of chips, although to be fair there had been the options of veg or salad. Still, any concern about the presentation was dispelled when the first mouthful was eaten. This really was a very good casserole indeed, and the huge, chunky chips fresh from the fryer were perfect to soak up the rich and flavoursome sauce. A real traditional treat. Matt was satisfied.

The cottage pie, once the offending cheese had been removed, proved to be a success. M & C's friend ate it with pleasure. Cat's stuffed mushroom was also an enjoyable morsel. The promised toasted focaccia appeared to be nothing more than a slice of white farmhouse loaf, although toasted it certainly was. A generous dollop of the sautéed spinach filled the mushroom, and the 'blue cheese rarebit' topping it was certainly creamy, but if it had any blue cheese - or indeed any cheese at all - this was subtle enough to be almost undetectable to Cat's tongue.

Having eaten up, it was time to get back to daily life, and leave this oasis of agricultural charm behind. As they left, Matt and Cat could not help but pay a visit to the wistful-looking calves who suffered themselves to be patted and petted in the cause of agricultural diversification. Let's hope they couldn't look through the window and see the next steaming bowl of beef casserole arriving...

Visit the website: http://www.briddlesfordlodgefarm.co.uk