Scorchio! (The Barn, Stanfield)

The Barn Cafe,

Stanfield,

Opening times 10-4 everyday 

Recommended 

As today was forecast to be the hottest of the year I couldn’t miss the opportunity for a cafe cycle ride. But where to go? Now we were in the school holidays the seaside was out of the question, towns would be too hot and I have virtually run out of new cafes to visit in the countryside. Fortunately I remembered that the Barn cafe at Stanfield had changed hands last Autumn so decided to go there.

It was closer to get to from Aylsham than Norwich so met up at Hard to Please House with today’s cycling guest Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please).

I had asked Andrew to prepare a route so knew we would do more than the 40 mile round trip that google maps predicted and would probably get lost servers times. I can report I was right on both counts.

On one of our many map checking breaks I waited at the aptly named Nowhere Lane. I was impressed by the shiny new signs and remembered that last time we were lost here the old sign had been nicked. I wonder how long the new batch will last.

Lovely new signage

It was very hot and for once we were pleased to be cycling into the wind in order to get a bit of cooling breeze. After a few more wrong turns we found ourselves at the Barn cafe Stanfield. This is my third visit here (although first under new management so old scores have been wiped from the records) and so far I have never found the actual village.

Outside The Barn Cafe

It was good to see that everyone, except us, had taken heed of the warnings in the media to stay indoors on such a hot day as we were the only customers. With so many tables to choose from it took some time to decide on which one but we obviously opted to stay indoors. While checking out the reasonably good cake selection I thought I spotted the dreaded catering tin of Cadbury’s drinking chocolate. You may recall my new policy is not to bother if it’s Cadbury’s and give a 5 out of 10 hot chocolate rating before opting for tea. I was just implementing this approach when I spotted a sign for speciality hot chocolate so swapped to that leaving Andrew to have my pot of tea and the staff bemused why anyone would want a hot chocolate on the hottest day of the year.

Cake selection in the shade

Andrew had the unusual avocado and pecan cake which he was informed tasted like carrot cake while I had a more traditional coffee and walnut.

Todays refreshments

I was glad I had changed to the hot chocolate as it was very good and Andrew thought his tea was excellent (for a cup of tea). Our cakes were good and Andrew’s did indeed taste just like carrot cake. I thought it would be easier just to make a carrot based version in future but didn’t pass on my feedback.

The ‘new’ Barn was still a good cafe but now without the home and garden section of the previous version and I recommend a visit.

Did I mention it was hot as it was and it got a lot hotter on way back especially as Andrew had made our 40 mile ride into a 47 mile one with none of the extra 7 miles being in the shade.

View showing just how hot it was today

 Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.9	7.0	6.1	7.3	7.1	7.08

Route

Click here to download 48 Mile Aylsham Stanfield loop gpx file to your gps