Tebay Services Farmshop & Kitchen

About

We are a motorway services business owned by a Cumbrian farming family.

John and Barbara Dunning opened Tebay Services in 1972 after the M6 motorway was built through their farm. They invited the world to this once-remote stretch of Westmorland to eat a good meal, enjoy a heartfelt welcome and relish the upland landscape. Their vision is the foundation of everything we do.

We still farm lamb, Herdwick mutton and native-breed beef in the place where it all began. Our Farm surrounds Tebay Services; our livestock can be spotted in the pastures adjoining our buildings.

We have our own butchers, whose traditional skills and commitment to excellence set the standard for every other item we sell.
Our Farmshop brings together thousands of the finest foods, crafts and clothes from our locality, our region and further afield. We champion a wide community of farmers and makers and nurture a team of dedicated colleagues who share our commitment to handmade and authentic produce.

Our Kitchen serves tasty food, made from scratch just as you would make it at home. Our chefs use locally sourced real ingredients, including our home-reared beef and lamb.

When you pass through, you will know that you have arrived somewhere, not anywhere. As you catch a glimpse of our place, which we are so proud to be a part of, we hope you will feel part of it, too.

How We Got Here

In 1969 the M6 was built through the Lune Gorge and over Shap summit, cutting across Orton Low Moor on John and Barbara Dunning’s farm
When they learnt that the Department of Transport wished to build a motorway service area on the moor, these young farmers, recently married, boldly put in a bid for the lease to build and run it.

Tebay Services opened in 1972 on the northbound carriageway.

We were the UK’s first family-run motorway service area, a friendly refuge sheltered behind a plantation of Scots Pines from the sound and fury of the motorway. We cooked simple good food in a 40-seat restaurant and kept a small shop selling locally sourced crafts alongside drivers’ essentials.

Tebay Southbound opened in 1992.

Having extended Northbound three times and built our Hotel and Caravan Park beside it, we seized the opportunity to create a new building that reflected our values in its architecture. Built using limestone and reclaimed timber in a hollow that we carved out of the ground beside the motorway, Tebay Southbound immerses visitors in our upland landscape while making a minimal impact on the views from surrounding hills.

In 2003, we opened our Farmshop.

It was a time of burgeoning farm diversification and kitchen-table enterprise in the wake of the 2001 Foot and Mouth crisis. First at Northbound, then at Southbound, our Farmshop was a showcase for local makers of handmade authentic foods. Today we work with more than 70 producers within a 30-mile radius.

After building a cutting room at Tebay Southbound in 2004, we began to butcher and sell lamb and beef from our farm direct to customers.
The close relationship between our farm and our butchers ensures a year-round supply of 100 per cent traceable home-produced lamb, beef and Herdwick mutton to our Farmshop, Kitchen and Hotel.

Through our exceptional colleagues and network of food producers we are deeply rooted in our place. We are proud to celebrate and support local people through our supply chain and community activities. Since 2015 we have been recreating this unique model on other motorways in the UK.

In 2021 we starred in A Lake District Farmshop, a four-part documentary series on Channel 4.

Filmed by Purple Productions and enjoyed by millions of primetime viewers, the series celebrates our colleagues, our Farmshop producers and our unique relationships with the people and places around us.

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