Samford has become a popular destination for families wanting to catch up for a coffee or weekend meal. There are many great Samford cafes to choose from but if you’re looking for a stand out child-friendly experience, we recommend heading to Cafe Lagarto Samford. This cafe is situated in the middle of the Samford Lifestyle Centre which includes a playground, animal farm, lakeside walk and boutique stores – enough variety to keep everyone happy.
Cafe Lagarto Samford
The hub of the lifestyle centre, Cafe Largarto is situated on a covered outdoor deck, allowing you to enjoy the peaceful garden surroundings and the lifestyle Samford is popular for.
This cafe serves breakfast, lunch, cakes and coffee. You can choose from any items on the breakfast or lunch menu throughout the day. This Samford cafe is open from 8 am – 4 pm most days of the year.
We visited while their spring menu was on offer. The breakfast menu included a great range of meals including eggs on toast, savoury mince, bircher muesli, smashed avocado and pancakes. Items ranged from approximately $7 for
Lunch items included a greek salad, steak, burgers, salmon, and chicken schnitzel. Prices ranged from approximately $19 to $28.
There is a small kid’s menu which included eggs and toast, and pancakes for breakfast or nuggets for lunch. All options are $10.95.
Samford Lifestyle Centre
As well as Cafe Lagarto, the Samford Lifestyle Centre houses a number of businesses, centring around home, health and wellbeing. This includes a nursery, homewares, landscaping, and furniture stores, psychologist, nutritionist, hairdresser and dog grooming amongst others.
On Saturday mornings a farmers market offers locally grown fruit and vegetables.
As soon as we entered, our son was quite taken with the nursery displays – he was quick to gravitate towards what looked like Peter Rabbit on the verandah, and pointed out other little treasures amongst the plants.
Within the lifestyle centre’s courtyard is a little playground – suitable for pre-school aged children. Featuring slides and a fort, this kept our son happy while we enjoyed a coffee under the Balinese gazebo located just outside it’s gates.
Paddock Walk and Lakeside Walk
Past the nursery, cafe and playground
Entry to the paddock walk is by gold coin donation. Visitors’ generosity is appreciated, as donations go towards feeding and caring for the animals.
All of this is situated on a typically pretty Samford property, making you feel a million miles away from the city. There are even a couple of Tonka trucks and sandpits for little ones to play in.
If you’d like a slightly longer stroll, the new lakeside walk has recently opened. Here you can take a walk around the lake and spot more ducks and geese. It’s a nice distance for little legs – only taking around 15 minutes with places to rest along the way.
Good to Know
Cost: Entry to the Lifestyle Centre and Paddock Walk is by gold coin donation.
Location: 225 Mount Glorious Road, Samford.
Getting Here: Located just past Samford Village on Mount Glorious Road, the Samford Lifestyle Centre is only a 20 minute drive north of the Brisbane CBD.
Open hours: Cafe Lagarto is open 8 am – 4 pm Monday to Sunday. Reduced hours on public holidays (usually 9 am – 3 pm). Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Parking: Off street parking is provided some of which is shaded.
Thank you for your beautifully written post about our cafe, and The Lifestyle Centre. We are so pleased that you keep visiting and enjoy your time with us. Just one thing – the cafe opening hours are 8am – 4pm, 7 days/week – reduced hours on public holidays (usually 9-3). Closed only Good Friday, Christmas & Boxing Day. So pleased you had a chance to check out our new Spring Menu!
Also, while the farm walk is technically free, they do appreciate donations. There is a white bucket on the left as you enter – there are plans to move this to a more noticeable location – as you can imagine, with the poor weather conditions (lack of rainfall) feeding these cute animals is becoming increasingly expensive (not to mention things like vet care and trimming hooves, worming, etc), and all donations help to reduce the cost of having the farm walk. If all visitors could donate a gold coin on entry, it would make a big difference to keeping the costs of the farm walk down.
Thank you so much for your comment. I have updated my post to reflect this information!