Casual comfort food in the Virginia Piedmont.

Welcome to Hayfields in Little Washington, Virginia—officially known as Washington, Virginia (pop. 100 or so)—a rural kitchen and market serving extraordinary coffee, breakfast and lunch, and named for the golden fields and rolled hay bales surrounding the village we call home. Twenty years ago, in the kitchen of my farmhouse just up the road, I created a nationally-acclaimed destination bakery. It launched two locations, shipped thousands of cakes nationwide each year, and inspired the rebirth and food renaissance of a forsaken Main Street. In that farmhouse, I wrote both The Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook and the Red Truck Bakery Cookbook (Clarkson Potter/ Penguin Random House, 2022 and 2018). Now here’s my true passion coming to life in Little Washington, Virginia: casual comfort food and local products in a beloved village nestled against the Blue Ridge mountains, just nine miles from Shenandoah National Park. 

At Hayfields, our casual counter-service café starts with excellent coffee, breakfast sandwiches and biscuits, and a daily selection of our own pastries. At lunch and throughout the day we'll have a tasty array of sandwiches, soups, salads, and our own cookies, brownies, pies and cakes, with ice cream in the freezer. Enjoy your coffee, breakfast and lunch inside or on our patio, or take it back to the office, your home, or your B&B—we’ll offer online ordering for pickup orders. 

You’ll discover a thoughtfully-curated market stocked with farm-fresh locally-grown fruits and vegetables, breads, locally-raised meats, and condiments galore, including unique regional and national honeys, jam, syrups, olive oils, crackers, chips, salsas and more. Shelves are filled with a variety of locally-roasted Hayfields coffees, with last-minute dinner and entertaining items including pastas, sauces, cheeses, our own line of nuts and granola, and desserts. Our freezers and fridges feature unique ice creams, cheeses, pates, salamis, sausages, our daily quiche, and our own pot pies and entrees—frozen and ready to bake at home.

Visit us soon at 17 Leggett Lane at Rush River Commons in Little Washington, Virginia, across from the town's new post office and just off of Route 211. We’ll be open daily except for major holidays from 7 am to 6 pm, and once a month we’ll have our Sunday Family Suppers—communal tables groaning with large platters and bowls of seasonal cooking served family-style to you and your neighbors. Lots ahead for all of us, and we’re excited to be serving you soon. 

—Brian Noyes, proprietor and town resident

Follow our progress on Instagram @hayfieldslittlewashington or sign up here.