Strawberries and cream. (White House Farm PYO cafe, Norwich)

White House Farm PYO Cafe,

Sprowston,

Open Tue-Sat 9:00-5:00, Sun 10:00-16:00,

 Recommended

With Andy Murray playing at Wimbledon today I decided I needed to get some emergency strawberries to accompany the match. Rather than just pop down to the local supermarket I thought it would be a good opportunity to go to White House Farm PYO to get some fresh fruit and also check out their cafe.

I managed to drag today's cycling guest, Peter (student son), out of his bed as we set off at the apparently ridiculously early time of 11:30 on what was left of a beautifully sunny morning.

As White House Farm PYO and cafe is on the other side of Norwich to where I live we decided to use the Norwich pedal way cycle routes which weave their way across the city. Despite having to deal with a number of roadworks and traffic lights, that were not in our favour, we safely made it across to the White House farm PYO and cafe turning.

It is at the end of a very long drive and after a while we started to worry that we had turned down the wrong track. However just as we started to despair a useful and informative rhyming sign put our minds at rest.

Useful and informative sign

On arrival we parked our bikes in the racks provided in the outdoor seating courtyard area and headed inside.

In the courtyard outside the White House PYO entrance

It was important that we earned our cake so the first matter to deal with was the strawberry gathering. We each took a punnet and headed for the fruit fields. I had not strawberry picked for a long time and Peter was a novice but once we had located a good area my punnet was soon brimming with berries. However Peter's punnet was barely half full as he claimed he was going for quality not quantity. Using my lower standards I soon had his filled up too as we headed back to the cafe.

My Strawberry picking skills soon returned after many years

Once inside I checked out the cakes so as to award my effective cake selection (ECS) rating. There were only 3 to choose from, Victoria, lemon drizzle or chocolate brownies but all looked very good so got the highest ECS score that number of cakes could have.

Small but good looking cake selection

As neither me or Peter drink tea or coffee we both went for hot chocolate, mine accompanied with Victoria sponge and Peter's with a brownie. We took our seats in the nice and light indoor seating area as we didn't fancy sitting outside in the hot sun after the exhausting 10 minutes we had spent in the strawberry fields.

Nice bright indoor seating area

We both thought our hot chocolates were good solid examples and scored appropriately. Our cakes were also both very nice and still moist on such a hot day so got our collective thumbs up.

Cakes and drinks ready for reviewing

The White House farm PYO cafe was a good venue with nice drinks and cakes and definitely worth a visit especially if you need some emergency fresh fruit as well. 

With the bike panniers full of our precious wares we headed back on a different set of pedal way routes to prepare for the big match were at time of writing the strawberries are performing a lot better than Andy Murray who is two sets down. Maybe another bowl will help.

Note: on my most recent visit in Spring 2018 the cake selection was very good

Scores based on two visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.1	6.80	6.30	7.30	7.40	6.78

Did I mention the Ironman? (Elveden Estate Cafe. Elveden)

Elveden Estate Cafe,

Elveden,

Open Mon - Sat 09:30-17:00, Sun 10:00 – 17:00,

Recommended

"How do you know if someone has recently done an Ironman triathlon, you don't have to know as they well tell you all about it."

In case I haven't mentioned it I completed the Frankfurt Ironman last weekend. Now that it is out of the way I can once again concentrate on cafe cycling. I have lots of rides, sportives and special events planned over the next couple of months as I continue on my quest to find the best cafes to cycle to. 

To start with I thought I would explore some new cycle path. Like lots of people from the Norfolk area I have been stuck in many a traffic jam while watching the Elveden duelling project being built over the last few years. However now that it is open I have noticed that included in the plans appears to be some cycle track which I have been itching to check out. Therefore myself and today's cycling guest, Big George, set off for a trip to Elveden Esae Cae to see what it was like.

I got up early to rebuild my bike from out of the bike box I had packed it in to in my Frankfurt hotel room a couple of days earlier (just after completing an Ironman triathlon). 

Bike in pieces in Frankfurt Hotel ready for packing

I completed this task just as Big George arrived and we set off with my handy work untested. I was therefore mighty relieved that it had appeared to go back together correctly without introducing any new clunks or rattles.

Big George told me how keen he was to hear about my Ironman experience. I think his exact words were 'just tell me how long you took and spare the stories' which I assume really meant 'please go through every part of the race in excruciating detail' which I did for a while until, surprisingly, Big George started to cycle ahead of me just out of earshot. He had clearly not realised I was still tired after the race and unable to keep up.

We continued to cycle at some pace as I tried to catch him up in order to tell him all about the ironman nutrition plan I had used but he kept increasing the speed so I'm not sure if he got to hear that much. With plenty of ironman chat left to tell him we arrived at the start of the new duel carriage way just outside Thetford and found the cycle path.

New cycle track along the A11

The cycle path runs a few metres from the road on a nice smooth surface and continues for a couple of miles. Then, as the new A11 curves away, you re-join the old A11 all the way to Elveden. It was a bit weird cycling on a very familiar near empty road that would have been impossible a few months ago. This took us to Elveden Esae Cae our destination for the day.

Appears to be shortage of t's and f's or just poor spelling

We were able to take our bikes into the smart court yard outdoor seating area where there were lots of tables available for us to rest them against. 

Outside entrance in courtyard outdoor seating area

I propped up my bike and went inside, which had a more formal restaurant style indoor seating area, to check out the cake selection and award the effective cake selection (ECS) rating. There were the four traditional classic sponge cakes, Victoria, carrot, chocolate (with or without gluten) and coffee available but nothing else on display. I explained to the waitress lady that I was checking out the cake selection and she said they also had scones and teacakes as well. I decided not to point out that despite teacake having the word cake in it they are not a cake but a fruit bread and therefore do not qualify in my ECS rating system. 

The traditional 4 classic sponge cakes were available

I immediately ordered hot chocolate, plus chocolate cake (with gluten) and a cheese scone, as part of my cheese scone serving temperature research. The speed and decisiveness of my ordering put Big George into an ordering panic as he blurted out that he wanted a white coffee. To make things worse he was given the choice of a flat coffee or and Americano with milk on the side. Big Geroge had no idea what any of these terms meant. He went pale, glazed over and asked for a cheese scone. The nice waitress lady suggested she would bring him a black filter coffee and some milk in a jug to go with his scone. He just nodded.

Relaxing courtyard outdoor seating area

Sitting in the relaxed courtyard out door seating area Big George soon recovered but when our food arrived he announced that he didn't know why he had ordered a cheese scone because he doesn't even like them but it had been the first thing that came into his head when put under such ordering pressure. Although I noticed that he still ate it.

Drinks and cake

We thought our drinks were excellent and both scored well. Sadly the cheese scones were served cold but still nice. I found my chocolate cake was tasty but slightly dry for top marks.

All in all the Elveden Esae Cae had scored well in all categories and I recommend a visit especially if you want to check out the farm shop as well or have some proper food which looked excellent.

We had decided to return by train so set off for Brandon station to catch the 13:44. On the way I was shocked that the famous Elveden traffic lights had been removed but was pleased to see the quite cycle route continued south. I will have to explore it further on a future ride.

With Big George again bombing along out of earshot we arrived at Brandon station in time for our planned train.

Train at Brandon station like the one we caught back to Norwich

Once on board I had a full 45 minutes with Big George as a captive audience to tell him about my Ironman Frankfurt results analysis that I had been undertaking over the last couple of days. Sadly he must have been tired after his fast pedalling as he seemed to fall asleep from almost the point we sat down. I will have to email him further ironman details instead so he doesn't miss out.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.50	7.50	6.00	6.50	7.50	7.00

route

Click here to download 47 mile Norwich to Brandon GPX file for your GPS

Delays. (Fairland Diner, Wymondham)

Fairland Diner,

Wymondham,

Open Mon - Sat 08:00-18:00,

Sun 10:00 - 14:00

I'm meant to be mainly resting (or tapering as we like to call it) this week in preparation for my Ironman triathlon at the weekend but as it was such a beautiful morning I thought I would sneak in a quick ride and hope that my Ironman training plan didn't notice.

I felt it would probably be best to limit the event to a 25 mile loop via Wymondham and asked today's cycling guest, Big George, to promise to keep things to a leisurely pace, although in his case that shouldn't be a problem.

This is one of my favourite short routes and although you don't go far it still takes you down lots of quiet lanes. see map route map at bottom post.

One of many little lanes covered on route

It had been a day of delay's. First Big George texted me to tell me he had over slept so would be late. I said it was fine but then had to text him back as I had run out of hay-fever pills, on a very hay-fevery sort of day, to delay things further as I had to pop out to buy some more. When we finally set off we saw the traffic jams as people were getting delayed in the Royal Norfolk show traffic. 

Traffic jams on A47 on way to Norfolk show

Fortunately we were not delayed by Royal Norfolk show traffic and laughed at the poor people stuck in the cars while we were out in the sunshine on our way to the Bridewell museum tearoom in Wymondham. 

We arrived into Wymondham with no further delays only to discover we should not have been so quick to laugh at people delayed by the Royal Norfolk show traffic as the Bridewell Museum tearoom was shut due to it being Royal Norfolk show day. Not really sure what the connection is but apparently there is one.

Although I still have a very long list of cafes or tea rooms that need visiting my Ironman training plan would be furious if it discovered I had gone on an even longer ride so we racked our brains for an alternative. Big George remembered that he used to go to the Fairland Diner on his bike rides until he had a falling out over a fried egg sandwich (which was ordered twice, never turned up and then got charged for) and had not returned since. However as he believed they were now under new management he was prepared to lift his lifetime ban for this emergency.

Outside the Fairland Diner

The Fairland Diner was only 2 minutes away and on arrival I was pleased to see there was an outside seating area, which is always a good sign, creating that continental cafe feel. Inside was more cafe than tearoom in style but it was all shiny furniture and the staff were friendly so I felt a reasonable atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) score was appropriate.

You could have been in France with the sunshine and continental style outdoor seating area.
 But we were in Wymondham

The cake selection was rather small with a choice of scones or rocky road as the only qualifying offerings so it had to be a low effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

Small cake selection

I ordered hot chocolate, always a good choice in temperatures of 30c plus, and a cheese scone as part of my cheese scone serving temperature research. Big George went for cappuccino and a bacon roll (no sauce), which I thought was high risk after his previous fried egg sandwich incident. We decided to share a piece of the rocky road.

Drinks and cakes 

Our drinks both got top marks for heat and my hot chocolate was a good drink but Big George found his coffee rather on the weak side. I had been offered the option of cheese scone hot or not and obviously went hot. Despite this it only had cheese on top (none inside) and wasn't the best so I was pleasantly surprised when the rocky road turned out to be excellent and was disappointed we hadn't gone for a piece each.

With all the delays experienced so far today it was with much relief when Big George's Bacon sandwich (no sauce) arrived so that another sandwich incident could be avoided and his lifetime ban could be fully revoked.

Big George's Bacon sandwich (no sauce) which is clearly not cake 

All in all the Fairlands Diner had done well, stepping in at short notice while the Bridewell Museum tea ladies sunned themselves at the Royal Norfolk show. 

The short way home was even hotter. When I got back I explained to my triathlon training plan I was just doing some heat acclimatisation ready for the hot temperatures in Germany at the weekend so I think I got away with it.

Ratings

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.50	5.0	3.50	7.0	5.5	5.50

Route

Ckick here to down load 25 mile Norwich Wymondham loop GPX file for your gps.

More power. (Smallsticks cafe, Happisburgh)

Smallsticks Cafe,

Happisburgh,

Open Mon to Thurs 10:00-16:00,

Fri 10:00 – 19:00,

Sat and Sun 9:00-17:00
Highly Recommended

I first visited Smallsticks cafe in June 2015 when, as you can see from the post, Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) was at his most hard to please. I returned again in August 2016 with cycling guests, Chris (Mrs Crusader) and Dom (old school cyclist) who felt Andrew was completely wrong and really liked the cafe. I have therefore updated the post and ratings to reflect their views as well. For the record I thought it was great on both visits.

Back in June 2015 I followed up on a blog reader cafe recommendation to go to Alfresco tearoom in Ludham (see A series of mistakes) which was a success so I thought I should try another blog reader recommendation. This time it was from Steve who said

'Suggest you try Smallsticks Cafe, Cart Gap, nr Happisburgh,  

I haven't cycled there, but regular mid dog walk stop, courtyard to put bikes in, good cakes and breakfasts' 

All sounded very promising and I fancied a trip to the seaside so arranged to meet up with today's cycling guest, Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please), at his house in Alysham where we set off towards the coast.

On the way I told Andrew about my new bicycle power meter. I was very excited about it as it would give me lots of new interesting ride facts (such as my average watts per ride, the balance of my pedalling between left and right foot, smoothness of my pedalling) so lots of new spreadsheet opportunities and post ride data crunching fun. I even explained to him the science behind power and how the meter worked. This led to today's cycling guest cycling top tip.

Cycling guest cycling top tip No 33. For the safety of your cycling guest make sure you don't bore them to sleep whilst riding as they will fall off their bike and could injure themselves.

After Andrew woke up and got back on his bike we continued to Happisburgh via the back roads through the dunes at Sea Palling, a very pleasant route. (I took a similar route on national cycle way 30 on the ride in August 2016 as well but this time it was 65 miles from Norwich).

Route 30 through the dunes

We found Smallsticks cafe down the road towards the lifeboat station at Cart Gap. I was curious why it was called Smallsticks so was pleased to see an explanation was available on the website. Apparently it is named after the field next door which is called Smallsticks field. Unfortunately Smallsticks field doesn't have a website explaining its name derivation so none the wiser really.

Andrew took the obligatory photo and complained he couldn't really see what he was taking as the screen was dirty. Foolishly I didn't check the photo but it turned out he couldn't really see what he was taking as he had his finger over the lens.

Smallsticks cafe and close up of Andrews finger

On my visit in August 2016 the priority was to get a proper photo taken which this time was a success.

Photo of smallsticks cafe minus any finger

As Steve suggested we took our bikes round to the courtyard area where there was a lovely walled outdoor seating courtyard area. Inside was a glass fronted indoor seating area but as it was a rare warm day we sat outside.

Outdoor seating courtyard area

The staff were very friendly (on both my visits) and the view across to Happisburgh lighthouse was great so I awarded a high atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) score. 

Great view of Happisburgh lighthouse and church

Steve had said there were good cakes but unfortunately there seemed to have been a rush on them so only Victoria or chocolate sponge cake, cupcakes and flapjack on offer. I enquired about scones but the fruit ones were just out the oven and the cheese had only just gone in. There were muffins but they were wrapped in cellophane and cake reviewing rules clearly state anything in cellophane will not count towards the effective cake selection (ECS) rating so sadly I could only give a low ECS score. I suspect it could have been much higher on a different day.

Rather sparse selection of cakes

My suspicions proved correct as there was a much better selection on my next visit upping the ECS mark.

Larger cake selection on a different day

We ordered hot chocolate and cappuccino for drinks plus a slice of both the cakes. As it was lunch time we also went for a cheese ciabatta roll as well. I know a cheese ciabatta roll is not cake, so plays no part in my ratings system, but I mention it as when it arrived it was served on top of its serviette. I was worried this would not bode well for when the cakes arrive and impact my 'keep cake off serviettes' campaign.

Ciabatta served on serviette rendering it useless

I had been given a choice of dark, milk or white hot chocolate which is always a good sign. I went for dark and was very pleased with both my choice and the drink as it had an excellent chocolate taste and good temperature so scored well. On the other extreme Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) did not like his cappuccino at all. I questioned him further and he just didn't like the taste and lack of coffeeness so refused to budge from a very low guest hot drink quality (GHDQ) score. As a good reviewer I have since checked trip advisor where there is only positive comments on the quality of the Smallsticks coffee so maybe it was just an off day (for Andrew or Smallsticks or both).

Very good hot chocolate and not so good cappuccino

Again I was right about the coffee as when I returned with Chris and Dom (who can also be hard to please and are certainly no pushovers) they both thought their coffee was excellent pushing up the guest hot drink quality (GHDQ) mark. My hot chocolate was even better than before.

Cakes and drinks from my second visit in August 2016

Steve prove to be spot on about the cakes as they were both top draw and got high cake taste quality (CTQ) marks and much to my relief they came with separate serviette wrapped round a cake knife. As my mother told me never to eat food off my knife I had to request a cake fork to eat the cake with, so she will be very pleased with me.

Good quality cakes

All in all Smallsticks cafe was a good recommendation, thanks Steve, and I could have spent sometime sitting in the outdoor seating courtyard area enjoying the views but it was time to return home. It was equally hard to persuade my 2016 guests to get going as we had already cycled 40 miles to get there and had another 25 to go. However I decided it was worth it and highly recommend a visit.

I also now have over a year of power meter data that I have spent many happy hours analysing although I still don't really know what it all means (graphs available on request)

Scores based on average on three visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.0	6.5	6.33	7.17	7.83	7.17

Route

Click here to download 43 mile Alysham Happisburgh loop gpx file for your gps

A series of mistakes. (Alfresco Tearoom, Ludham)

Alfresco Tearoom,

Ludham,

Open Every day 10:00-18:00

I always like it when someone contacts me about a cafe or tea room they have visited and recommends that I check it out. This happened a few weeks ago when Martin dropped me a line and said

"opposite Ludham church there is a good cafe called Alfresco tearooms where they serve real tea in a pot with a strainer, well its important to me, and other good stuff too. Open 10-6 7 days". 

Today seemed like a good day to see if Martin was right and a visit to Ludham would also fill a gap in my cafe locations map in the Broadland area. So hopes were high of a top quality cafe cycle ride. However I should have spotted that Martin was a tea drinker whereas my cycling guests today, Chris (wife) plus Barry and Helen and their tandem were all coffee drinkers and this proved to be a critical mistake.

It was a grey and cold day as we set off out through the Norfolk flatlands but as it was mid June I was determined to wear my summer cycling gear. This was my second mistake of the day as I was soon freezing. Chris (wife) had made the same mistake although I got the distinict impression that both her choice of clothing and the coldness of the day were my fault.

Cold and grey Norfolk day

One problem with visiting the broads on a bike is that there are not many roads to chose from as the areas where the roads should be have been taken up by rivers and lakes so it was going to be tricky to find a route that avoided main roads. I had hatched a plan to avoid getting the blame for the route as well as the weather by sneakily asking Barry to plan it for us and I made him acting lead navigator for the day (although he didn't get to wear my special leader hat). 

Despite having to go on a series of busy roads we got to Ludham safely and headed for the church where, exactly as Martin had said, we found Alfresco tearooms opposite it.

Outside Alfresco tearoom looking at Ludham church

Alfresco tearoom is the converted front of a house and once inside we were in what must have been the living room area. There were several tables available and another two in a mini courtyard outdoor seating area, but it was too cold for anyone to be using them today. The décor was traditional tea room with large cheque table clothes, some beams, a welsh dresser etc. It was obviously a popular destination as by the time we left people were waiting for tables. I therefore awarded a good atmosphere and ambiance (AAA) score.

I went to check out the cake selection so that I could award the effective cake selection (ECS) score. Martin had not said what he had thought of the cakes although I assumed they were a subset of the 'other good stuff' he had referred to. There were three nice looking sponge cakes on display. 

3 sponges cakes on display, less blurry in real life

Plus, the 'on wall blackboard style menu system' suggest there were three other types of cake available as well so I awarded a reasonably good ECS score.

on wall blackboard style menu system

I ordered my hot chocolate and some lemon and sultana cake. Chris and Helen had mochas plus chocolate cake and more lemon and sultana cake and Barry went for cappuccino and ploughman's lunch. As a ploughman's lunch is not cake Barry played no further part in any cake rating activity. 

My hot chocolate was good and got a good hot chocolate quality score. The cakes were nice too although we all agreed the lemon and sultana was particularly fine and the better of the two. 

Cakes

The cakes had been served on a doily which itself was on top of the serviette. At first I didn't know how I felt about  this in terms of my 'keep cake off serviettes campaign' but as the serviette could be removed with out any cake soiling I decided it was ok.

Cake on doily on serviette conundrum

As an aside we all had some form of 'light lunch' which reinforced the 'other good stuff' remark. 

So up to this point everything Martin had said about the Alfresco tea room had been spot on. I just needed to find out what my cycling guests thought about their coffees. Unfortunately this is where things unravelled as all three of them were more than disappointed with their drinks which were exceptionally weak missing any evidence of the key ingredient needed in a good cup of coffee, namely coffee or the chocolate needed in a mocha. There was plenty of froth and milk but this didn't seem to help with their scoring. I was forced to award a rather poor guest hot drink quality (GHDQ) score.

Very weak Mocha with no sign of coffee or chocolate but lots of milk and froth

Unfortunately the GHDQ rating dramatically dragged the Alfresco tearoom score down. However if you are a tea drinker, like Martin or Hot chocolate drinker, like me, then it is worth going on a visit if you are in the area, especially for a light lunch.

On the way back Barry took us down two miles of the A1064 which was particularly unpleasant. I kept pointing out that Barry was lead navigator today but to no avail and it led to days cycling guest cycling top tip from Chris.

Cycling guest cycling top tip No 33. If you have planned a cafe cycle route that goes on busy A roads then, for a more relaxing ride, find a cycling guest who isn't your wife to accompany you.

The rest of the route back was quieter both in terms of roads and criticism but there was still time for me to get a puncture. As an experiment I tried fixing it with a can of puncture fixing spray which you squirt in the valve. It is meant to both seal the hole and inflate the tyre at the same time thus saving you much time and effort. It just about did this and I managed to limp home on a fairly soft tyre without having to change the inner tube. However at over seven quid a can I think I will stick to fixing it properly in future.

About to try out the can of puncture repair spray to fix my puncture

For cafe cycle puncture statistic fans this was my 4th puncture this year but first since February which is a puncture per ride coefficient of 10.5. Not bad.


I have several more recommendations to follow up on but if you know a good venue then please let me have yours, and thanks to Martin for his.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.0	3.0	6.0	7.50	7.0	6.10

Route

Click here to down load 36 mile Thorpe End Ludham Loop GPX file for your GPS