Turkey time. (Waveney Gallery Coffee shop. Dickleburgh)

Waveney Gallery Coffee Shop,

Dickleburgh,

Opening times Wed- Sun from 10:00-17:00

Recommended 

I had a double mission for today's cafe cycle ride. First was to try out a cafe near Dickleburgh, and second to take a short division to check out a new venue I thought I had recently spotted in the distance on a previous ride. I was joined by Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) as today's cycling guest.

The route down was a bit windy but also very successful. I was able to give Andrew a pedal stroke by pedal stroke up date on my recent trip to find the best summit cafe in the Dolomite's and he was able to rant on a wide number of things that have been annoying him on the news recently. I can now tune out while Andrew rants so I can't tell you what he was currently upset about.

I was excited to find that the place I thought I had spotted was in fact the Farmers Kitchen at the old Dove pub near Alburgh (neither of which I was aware of before today) and was indeed a cafe. I could see cake as I peered through the window so I made a note to return soon as I have pretty much exhausted cafes to visit in that area. It was then on to Dickleburgh where we found the Waveney Gallery Coffee shop at Blacksmith Nursery and Shorelands wildlife gardens. 

Outside the Entrance to the coffee shop and wildlife gardens

It was the last day of the school holidays so the Wildlife gardens, and thus the cafe had not surprisingly attracted lots of small children.  More of a surprise was the group of turkeys who had also appeared to have decided to visit today and they were hanging out in the outdoor seating area. They were clearly also keen cyclists as they came over to check out our bikes even though they had clearly not cycled here themselves.

Andrew showing the turkeys his bike

We went inside to check out the cakes and their was a reasonable selection of 4 cakes and both types of scone so I awarded a reasonable effective cake selection (ECS) rating. I went for chocolate cake with my hot chocolate and Andrew Bakewell cherry cake with a pot of tea. As it was lunch time we also cheese sandwiched.

Part of the cake selection

We went back outside where the turkeys were now mingling with the school children however once our sandwiches arrived they came back to see us and tried to nick our food. I told them to get their own but they wouldn't take no for an answer. I had to resort to shouting 'only 103 more shopping days to Christmas' at them which seemed to do the trick as they hurried off asking each other if they knew what Christmas was, they will find out soon enough.

The turkeys wanting to join us for lunch

Although I only normal comment on cakes and drinks, the cheese sandwiches must get a special mention as we both agreed they were some of the finest we have enjoyed on our rides. My hot chocolate was good but could have been a bit hotter and Andrews pot of tea was, well a pot of tea so got the standard 7 for a guest hot drink quality (GHDQ) when it's tea.

Cakes and drinks

Both our cakes were very good, light and moist so got a high cake taste quality (CTQ) score.

The Waveney Gallery coffee shop was a nice stop with good cakes and drinks. If you like wildlife gardens (unseen by us) and/or turkeys then you will especially like it here and I recommend a visit.

The ride back was going smoothly until Andrew told me, probably in confidence, a terrible confession. He currently couldn't see why he needed more than one bike (he currently only has 3) and had no plans to buy a new one and might even reduce numbers as one of the turkeys had made him an offer for his single speed. This is not the mantra of a cyclist who knows the correct number of bikes you need is one more than you currently have. I suggested he seek professional help before our next ride. As soon as I got home I read the latest bike reviews in cycling weekly. At least one of us is normal I thought.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.0	7.0	6.5	8.0	6.5	7.00

route

Click here to download 53 mile Norwich Dickleburgh loop gpx file for your GPS