Poppylands Cafe,
Horsey,
Wed-Mon 10-4,
Highly Recommended
After my recent trips to the Pyrenees and South coast the time had come to return to bread and butter cycle cafe reviewing with a trip nearer to home. To demonstrate my outdoor activity flexibility then next weekend I will be walking part of the Norfolk coast path with 8 rambling guests. I had recently put Mrs Crusader in charge of catering for this expedition but, despite not doing any research, claimed she was struggling to find an option for Saturday lunchtime. As Norfolk’s number one self appointed cafe expert I suggested that Poppylands at Horsey could be a good choice. The only problem was I had never actually been there to test out it’s suitability.
I therefore teamed up with Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) on a 50 mile round trip from Hard to Please House to check it out.
I can’t remember if I have mentioned that I had recently been on a 450 mile, 11 climb (4 of which on the current TdF) ride across the Pyrenees with Andrew. But I have and as such we were both feeling pretty fit so enjoyed our fastest ever ride until we found Poppylands cafe just pass Horsey Mill on the coast road.
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| Poppylands is 1940's themed |
I hadn’t realised that Poppylands was 1940s themed and hoped that tea and cake won’t be rationed. I became less worried as there was a good cake selection which would have used up several ration books. I had lemon sponge and Andrew chocolate cake.
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| Sponge cake selection |
Andrew was clearly worried about rationing to, so demanded that his tea was strong. We returned to the 1940s themed courtyard and waited for our refreshments.
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| Refreshments |
They soon turned up but as Andrew poured his tea I could see a rant brewing (pardon the pun) as it looked a bit on the weak side. Before he could get started another lady came haring out with extra tea bags, hot water and mug apologising that the tea had not been delivered to the necessary strength and he was welcome to make it up to his desired strength. Andrew was most impressed and we agreed Poppylands was an excellent stop. The cakes were also fabulous and we were both impressed that the chocolate one had retained its moistness. I would highly recommend a visit.
Now fuelled with cake and with the wind behind our return ride was even faster and we started to believe that we were actually good cyclists (we are not) as we started to plan next years over ambitious trip to ride all the big climbs in the Alps. To round off an excellent day then on my return to Crusader Towers I was able to submit a report to 'head of catering on long walks' that Poppylands would make an excellent stop for our forthcoming bike free adventure.
Scores
Guest Hot Drink Quality
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Effective Cake Selection
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Cake Quality
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Ambiance and Atmosphere
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Café Rating
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6.5
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7
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6.8
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8.71
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7.8
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7.36
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Route
Click her to download 52 mile Aylsham Hemsby loop gpx file to your GPS
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