A hard days graft (Whelk Copper Tearoom)

Whelk Copper Tearoom,

Sheringham,

Opening times Everyday10-4,

Recommended 

Yesterday was going to be a hard days cafe cycling as I had 3 missions to complete. This was because the first consignment of the The Cake Crusader book had turned up and I needed to start to flog them if I was ever going to get to the top of the best sellers list.They have been flying off the virtual Kindle shelves with 9 copies already sold in only 3 weeks, I was hoping to crack the magic double figures in the next few days, but for now I have real books to sell.

The first consignment of the Cake Crusader book

To kick off the marketing campaign I have organised a ride for this weekend with family and friends before a book signing in the kitchen. I have been told by my literary friends that for such an event you need to provide nibbles. I'm going for cheese scones, flapjacks and sausage rolls as these were my previous things of the year. I would only have time to collect one of the actual winning examples and opted to go for flapjack from The Funky Mackerel in Sheringham. I can always make or buy the sausage rolls and scones.

Therefore my first mission of the day was to get to Sheringham to pick up the flapjack. The second mission was to review a new cafe while I was there. I had invited Big George as today's cycling guest and as one of the key characters in my book I decided to give him a copy. Knowing what I had written about him then the third mission was to keep him on side in order to avoid a potential libel case. I thought the best way of achieving this was to take him to his favourite stop which is the village shop and cafe at Itteringham. If we were really lucky we might come across some brownies for brownie of the year #BOTY but we weren't and we didn't.

It was a foggy morning but not too cold as we set off on our busy day. Big George had sensibly come in his bright orange jacket to make sure he was really visible and he was.

A grey day only brightened by Big Georges jacket

After an hour or so we got to our first stop at Itteringham.

Outside the fabulous Itteringham shop and cafe

I was excited to see there was now a new extended seating area rather than just the one table squeezed in the corner. However Big George is very fond of the table in the corner and insisted on sitting there while I ordered his coffee and sausage roll. I went for a nice cup of tea and some of the excellent tiffin I have enjoyed here before. I was saving my hot chocolate for the new cafe we would be going to in Sheringham.

Tea and tiffin

As always everything was excellent and the tiffin so nice that I nearly forgave the fact it had been delivered on it's serviette! But I couldn't quite and had to tweet a photo. Remember #Keepcakeoffserviettes.

You know what I think of this!

Refreshed we set off on the final leg up to Sheringham and today's new cafe The Whelk Coppers tearooms which we found right on the seafront.

Outside the Whelk Copper tea rooms

The sea views plus the lovely open fire gave it a high AAA. 

Big George was asked to move away from the edge
as his jacket was mistaken for Cromer lighthouse

The cake selection was smallish but still effective and I was informed it was much bigger in high season rather than in the middle of January. I opted for ginger cake and Big George went for a second sausage roll instead of cake so as to avoid having to get involved in any cake rating, which he hates.

Cycling guest cycling top tip No 65. If you want to avoid tummy ache then never ever ever have two sausage rolls on the same cafe cycle ride.
 

Part of the cake selection

Our drinks were fairly ordinary but my ginger cake was very nice and scored well. The staff were very friendly and the setting alone makes it worth a visit.

Half eaten but very nice ginger cafe

With two tasks complete we popped over to the Funky Mackerel where I purchase 8 pieces of giant flapjack for Saturdays big event.

Flapjack in the bag, literally

As it was still very foggy and getting cold we decided to take the train back to Norwich to end a very successful day. It was then back to Crusader Towers to start tidying up the kitchen for the big event.

Scores for Whelk Copper Tearooms

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.05	5.32	6.95	7.45	7.67	6.69

Route

Click here to download 38 mile Norwich to Sheringham GPX file for your Gps