Tom O’Dwyer and his family make the most of a special offer on children’s lunches at Flourish in Saltford
‘Kids eat free’ or ‘kids eat for less’ often sounds better than it is. Too often, children’s food feels like an afterthought: a small plate of something beige, included because families expect a kids’ menu rather than because anyone has thought carefully about what children might actually enjoy eating.
Flourish has turned that idea on its head. Throughout the summer holidays, more than 10 breakfast and lunch dishes for children under 12 are available for just £3 at its Glenavon Farm and Farleigh Road restaurants.
It feels like a genuinely thoughtful response to how expensive eating out as a family has become. The food is not cheaper because the quality has been stripped out; it is proper, freshly made food served in smaller portions.
In the case of the burger, it was essentially the same dish as the adult version, but at a fraction of the price. That makes the whole experience feel not just affordable, but welcoming – as though someone has properly considered what families need and created something worth saying thank you for.
The setting immediately helps. Flourish at Glenavon Farm is in Saltford, only a few minutes outside Bath, with plenty of parking beside the restaurant and lots of space once you arrive. The original Flourish site opened here in 2021 as a people and planet-focused place to eat and shop. It has since expanded to include a Home & Lifestyle store and Pottery Painting Barn, making it somewhere families could easily spend more than just a lunchtime visit.
We sat outside beneath the canopy, surrounded by countryside, at a large round table with none of the cramped, shoulder-to-shoulder feeling that can make eating out with young children stressful.
The staff were excellent from the start: warm, attentive and clearly invested in what Flourish is doing. When our three-year-old decided she did not want a highchair, they brought blankets for her to sit on instead. There were colouring materials, which are always welcome, as well as a box of toys to keep her occupied while the food was cooked from scratch.
The adult menu is genuinely varied, with something for almost everyone, including burgers, steak, flatbreads, salads, sandwiches and fish, alongside more unusual dishes such as wild mushroom gnocchi.
I had been thinking about a burger all day, so ordered the butcher’s burger with hand-cut chips. Granny chose the flat iron steak, which was cooked perfectly. Even the salads, filled with bulgur wheat, pomegranate, seeds and crisp leaves, felt fresh, colourful and properly considered.
The children’s menu is equally well judged, offering real choice rather than the usual handful of predictable options. Breakfast choices include scrambled egg or beans on toast, while the lunch menu features bolognese and tagliatelle, Margherita pizza, sausage and chips, sandwiches and a falafel and houmous grazing plate.
There is also a £6.50 summer lunch deal, which includes a children’s lunch dish, a carton of juice and a homemade cookie from the Flourish Production Kitchen.
The kitchen opened in 2025 and supplies both Flourish sites with homemade favourites including sausage rolls, Scotch eggs, sponge cakes and cookies, produced using locally sourced ingredients where possible.
My daughter chose the Flourish beef burger, which was essentially a slightly smaller version of the adult dish, made with the same butcher’s beef and served with cheddar, salad and hand-cut chips. It was not an inferior children’s substitute. It was simply good food in a child-sized portion – and she ate every bit of it.
That is what makes Flourish such a strong family option. It takes everything people enjoy about a good farm shop – quality ingredients, local sourcing and interesting produce – and translates it into a restaurant that feels generous, thoughtful and fairly priced.
The Flourish house rosé was excellent too – good enough that we bought a bottle from the farm shop afterwards as our inevitable little treat.
Eating out is expensive, so parents want confidence that the experience will be worth it. Flourish provides exactly that: easy parking, plenty of space, excellent service, freshly prepared food and an exceptional children’s offer. It turns lunch into a genuinely enjoyable family outing rather than another holiday expense. We’ll be back.
The £3 children’s menu is available throughout the summer holidays at Flourish at Glenavon Farm in Saltford and Flourish at Farleigh Road in Norton St Philip.
