Eating and shopping on Brownsea Island

Couple sitting in the Villano Café garden with views over Poole Harbour. — Couple sitting in the Villano Café garden. | © National Trust/ Lynne Burningham

The Villano Café is the perfect spot to refuel, relax and enjoy the views across Poole Harbour. Afterwards, pick up a Brownsea Island souvenir from the Trading Post, or browse the second-hand bookshop for a literary gem.

Eating on Brownsea Island

The Villano Café

The National Trust Café serves a range of savoury treats, including breakfast rolls, freshly made crab sandwiches, pasties, sausage rolls, soups, sandwiches and jacket potatoes. There are lunch and snack options for little ones, including special lunchboxes to take away. The café offers a variety of vegan and gluten free options too.

After exploring the Island why not settle down with a freshly baked scone, or a slice of cake, washed down with a choice of hot or cold drinks. Or cool down with an ice cream.

The Villano Café garden is a picture-perfect spot offering views across to Sandbanks, Shell Bay and the Purbeck Hills. Sit back, unwind and watch the comings and goings across Poole Harbour.

A table full of different types of sponge cake sliced and presented on cake stands ready to eat — A selection of delicious cakes. | © National Trust Images/Oskar Proctor

Bring your own cup for takeaway drinks

To help reach our sustainability goals, we're phasing out single-use cups by the end of 2026.

In the UK, 2.5 billion single-use coffee cups are discarded every year – that's 7 million every day, or 5,000 per minute. This is causing harm to our environment.

To support this change, all you need to do is bring your own reusable cup for takeaway drinks. This will get you a 25p discount on your hot drink.

If you don’t have a reusable cup, you can:

• enjoy a drink in one of our cafes/restaurants using a ceramic cup.

• purchase one from our shop/café and you’ll get your first hot drink free.

• borrow a returnable cup from the café or kiosk.

If you borrow a returnable cup, all we ask is that you return it at the end of the day by placing it into one of our dedicated collection points.

By bringing your own cup, or borrowing one from us, together this small change can have a huge impact. Thank you. Find out more about our initiative to phase out single-use cups by 2026.

Allergen information

Most of the food and drink served is prepared on site in our kitchen, using a wide range of ingredients. As a result, we can’t guarantee that any of our food and drink products are completely allergen free.

If you have an allergy or intolerance and would like ingredient information about the food and drink served, please ask the staff, who will be happy to help.

Always check when you visit

Visited before? We sometimes change our recipes to improve quality and flavour, including the ingredients. When you visit, please speak to one of our team to check the current allergen information for your favourite dish.

Shopping on Brownsea Island

Reception

There is a small selection of retail items for sale in the main Reception area, they are on display in the glass cabinet and include notepads, pens and postcards. If you are interested in purchasing any items, please ask one of our friendly team to help you. We recommend making the purchases on the way back after your visit, otherwise this can hold up the queue of people arriving on the island.

The Outdoor Centre

The Outdoor Centre is the home of Scouting and Guiding on the island. Here you can find the Trading Post, which sells all sorts of Brownsea Island goodies, including postcards, red squirrel toys, as well as all your Scouting and Guiding-themed souvenirs.

If you're coming with your Scout or Guide group, why not plan ahead and browse the selection of goodies the Trading Post has to offer on its website? You can find a whole array of woggles, neckerchiefs and cloth badges for Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Rainbows, Brownies and Guides.

Going camping? Whatever the weather throws at you, your adventure will be covered with our range of essentials, including rugs, torches, cutlery, tea, coffee, milk and more. Please note: These items are only available when the campsite reception is open. The campsite season for 2025 runs from 28 March to 28 September.

View through trees of the wooden Trading Post with a fence line in the foreground and trees in the background. — View of Brownsea Island Trading Post. | © National Trust/ Mike Henton

The second-hand bookshop

Nestled against the walls of the Engine Room, just by Reception, is our second-hand bookshop. We have something for everyone, including children and adult fiction, all categories of non-fiction, biographies, and books about the outdoors.

We receive frequent donations of books, and regularly restock our shelves, so there are always new gems waiting to be found. To keep up with our fantastic collection, we're always in need of book donations. If you're looking to clear some space on your shelves, we'd be delighted to receive your books; just pop them in at reception upon your arrival.

Other Brownsea Island essentials

You can find our Brownsea Island guidebook and postcards in the Villano Café, which is located near the entrance to the island.

Brownsea refreshment kiosk

During the school holidays we run the Brownsea refreshment kiosk, which is open for business from 11am - 3.30pm, you can find it parked up by the campsite. The Kiosk stocks a wide range of pop, crisps and chocolates but you can also grab a latté and a croissant. Sandwiches are available and there is even Brownsea beer and cider to sample, but the ice creams are the most popular item on the menu.