Marital Bliss. (The Garden Tea Rooms, Wymondham)

Garden Tearooms,

Under New management, Now the Nest Egg Cafe

Apparently yesterday was my 25th (silver) wedding anniversary. Unfortunately no one had told me until it was too late so the day had passed off card and gift free, which I'm told is wrong. What better way to make it up, I thought, than to invite Chris (Mrs Crusader) to be my cycling guest on a freezing cold cafe cycle review where I would be buying! I certainly know how to win a lady round.

As it was -2 C it was necessary to hold an early morning pitch inspection to make sure conditions were safe enough for the ride. I decided if we left it an hour it would be fine and was rewarded when we set off in crisp conditions with a lovely winter sun and sky.

An 8.3 on the winter crispness scale

As it was so cold I decided on a short ride down to the newly opened The Garden Tea Rooms in Wymondham.

On the way I asked Chris for her cycling guests top cycling tip.

Cycling guests top cycling tip no 11. To avoid an even frostier cafe cycle ride try to remember the date of your 25th wedding anniversary and act on it accordingly.

Freezing cold we arrived at the Garden Tea Rooms and I spent sometime locking our bikes using my new super strength unbreakable lock, which is the rubik cube of bike locks, and we went inside.

The Garden Tea Rooms were nice and light and the owner was also very cycle friendly. She explained that on request cyclists can take their bikes round the back to the outdoor seating area rather than leave them out on the street. This was good news and would save me having to solve my puzzle lock on future visits.

Outside The garden Tea Rooms about to unnecessarily tackle locking bikes
with my new super strong Rubik bike lock.

I tried to take a photo of the cake selection but was blocked by a lady who wanted coffee and cake but turned out to be allergic to eggs. She insisted on the ingredients of each cake being listed before deciding it had eggs in it and was therefore unsuitable. In the end she went for soup which, being a bit of an expert on the subject, I can confirm is not cake and a glass of water, which is not coffee. I immediately decided not to invite her to be a guest on a future cafe cycle ride as she would be a useless reviewer and probably didn't have a bike.

I eventually got to judge the effective cake selection (ECS). There was a small but effective collection featuring a Devils chocolate cake as the star offering. I therefore awarded a reasonable ECS rating.

Cake and scone selection, all made with eggs

With my Hot Chocolate I obviously ordered the Devils chocolate cake plus a cheese scone (as part of my cheese scone hot, fruit scone not research. See cafe cycle tour 2015 goals). As it is a rule that we can't both have the same cake Chris went for a brown fruit scone with her Semi skinned Mocha. However as it was our anniversary I kindly let her have a small bit of my chocolate cake (you can see why I'm a keeper).

Cakes, scones and drinks ready for tasting

Chris found her semi skinned Mocha a bit on the weak side which didn't help my cause. However the Hot Chocolate, Devils chocolate cake and scones were all good. As another 2015 goal I was pleased the Devils chocolate cake was correctly served to the side rather than on the serviette. I was also pleased the cheese scone had been correctly warmed. The only downside was that Chris's fruit scone had also been hotted where I believe it should have been notted but apart from that we both liked the The Garden Tea Rooms and wish them success for the future.
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We returned to the Arctic conditions and were soon frozen once more before we made it back home. Although the ride had gone well I'm not entirely sure it had made up for yesterdays anniversary faux par so I plan to try harder for our Golden Anniversary in 2040 and maybe let her choose her own cake on that ride.

Scores for Garden Tearooms on 3 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.25	5.25	6.75	7.75	6.63	6.53

Route

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