This, it turns out, is the Aussie dream. To sit with a wine, beer, kombucha in hand on the patio, looking out across Byron’s hinterland, kids running and picking lavender, gawking at piglets and chickens and even picking up a rooster, the smells of whole roasting pork on the outdoor barbecue, and someone else cooking. Look no further, it’s here, and it’s yours for the afternoon.

The Farm Byron Bay is actually somebody else’s dream, that of Tom and Emma Lane who wanted to create a place where children and adults alike could see where food really comes from, a place to interact with produce in its original form. It’s a working farm that shows where it all comes from, but you can eat it as well, thanks to the showstopping food of Three Blue Ducks.

The Ducks, as they’re known – a collective of five mates well loved for their Sydney restaurant in Bronte and its outpost in Rosebery – run the Three Blue Ducks restaurant at The Farm. Led and owned by chefs Darren Robertson and Mark LaBrooy, the restaurant sources as much as possible from the farm itself, embracing other organic, spray-free and sustainable produce further afield when needed.

The farm is real, and damn, the food is good. Start with Western Australian coal-roasted octopus, tender and licked with glaze, and a fennel, radicchio, pomelo and kale salad. It’s enough for a light lunch. But you’d be missing out to go past a side of coal-roasted cabbage with seaweed butter. Served as a couple of wedges, the red cabbage is soft with little charred bits and an umami flavour you want to soak up with bread (by locals The Bread Social no less). “Bigs” move to the more substantial. Think: Darling Downs porchetta with green chilli and smoked garlic, served with buttermilk braised leeks and jus – it’s probably that divine smell you noticed the moment you pulled up in the room-for-everyone car park. The food is deliciously real, packed with varied produce. It’s easy to go vego here, but the menu caters inspirationally to hardcore carnivores as well.

After lunch, the kids are going to beg to stay: stop by the produce store on your way out or grab a coffee, and hang around a bit longer enjoying the well-kept but oh-so-real farm grounds.

Must-eat dish: coal-roasted cabbage with seaweed butter