Annoying squeak. (Ravenous cafe, Raveningham)

Ravenous Cafe,

Raveningham Centre, Raveningham,

Open Wed-Sun 10:00-17:00,

 Recommended

After exercising my democratic right by staying up to watch the election results, I had to delay the start of Friday's planned cafe cycle ride while myself, and today's cycling guest Big George, had a lie in (but not in the same bed!).

When Big George did eventually turn up he once again informed me of a time constraint which would mean we would have to pedal pretty hard to make it round my planned route in time for his appointment. We would we heading to Raveningham near Hales near Loddon but as we went to Loddon on our last ride I decided to take a longer route round to mix things up a bit. I decided not to tell Big George in case it made him nervous in making his appointment, but once I have a route planned there is no shifting me.

We set off and busily got down to the business of discussing the election. This consisted of quoting what the experts and politicians had said on TV the night before and pretending they were our own in depth analysis and views. I like to think that it sounded like we knew what we were talking about when clearly we didn't. This kept as amused for many miles and time flew by on our way to the Ravenous cafe at the Raveningham centre.

The only issue on the way was that my bike started to squeak like a door badly in need of oil. I have had a similar problem on other bikes which led to today's cycling guest cycling top tip.

Cycling guest cycling top tip no 28. If you bike squeaks like a rusty door than it is probably, and surprisingly, your saddle post that needs lubricating.

We easily found the Ravenous cafe at the Raveningham centre where, as well as the cafe, there are some other interesting looking units including a kite maker.

At Ravenous cafe in cluttered outside eating yard area

Big George immediately announced he like the look of the Ravenous cafe.  I wasn't quite as keen as one man's rustic charm is another man's tidy up the front drive project, as it looked to me like the outdoor seating yard area could do with a bit of a de clutter and lick of paint. 

Big George enjoying rustic charm
while I wanted to know what the random table behind us was for

Inside there was a welcoming looking, and consistently cluttered, indoor seating area. For some reason the owner had got the walls and floors confused as they had hung rugs where you would have expected wallpaper to be. After much debate I awarded a high (but not as high as Big George wanted) atmosphere and Ambiance (AAA) score.

Inside where rugs had been mistaken for wall paper

Also inside was the cake selection. It was one of the smaller selections but there were several I really like the look of it making it very effective and therefore getting a decent effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

Cake selection in dark area near light window making photographing difficult

I went for a baked cheese cake and big George the coffee cake. As we hadn't had any lunch we both also had a sausage roll although as these were not cake they played no part in the overall cycle cafe ratings. However the sausage rolls were very good and Big George even said it was the second best sausage roll he had but was unable to produce a spreadsheet or any other empirical evidence to back up his claim. (see black Friday for best sausage roll, apparently).

We sat outside in the outdoor seating yard area so we could enjoy the sunshine and I could start planning how I would go about tidying it up. It was not long before our food and drink arrived. My hot chocolate looked very interesting and was a nice drink. Big George also enjoyed his cup of l filter coffee commenting on it's excellent flavour.

Drinks and food

On the cake front we had the same difference of opinion as with the AAA. My baked cheese cake was excellent and one of the best cakes I have had this year. However Big George found his coffee cake a bit dry which pulled down the overall cake taste quality (CTQ) score.

We both very much enjoyed the Ravenous cafe at the Raveningham centre and I recommend a visit, It is certainly a venue I will be taking one of my group sportive rides to in the future.

On the way back I once again took us an unusual way to mix things up a bit but we both agreed it was a very good route and thanks to a high average speed plus helping wind we made it back in plenty of time for Big George's appointment. The only problem was that my squeaky bike was impacting on our enjoyment of the peaceful countryside. Therefore as soon as I got home I followed cycling guest cycling top tip no 28 and greased my pole.

Scores based on last 3 visits of many. Last visit April2022

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.33	6.67	7	7.42	7.5	6.98

Route

Click here to down load 45 mile Norwich Raveningham loop GPX file for your GPS