That's what I call Windy 23 (Copper Kettle Cafe and Tearooms at Kersey Mill, Hadleigh)

The Copper Kettle Café and Tearoom,

Kersey Mill,

Mon-Fri 8:30-5:00, Sun 10-4,

Recommended

Having written nearly 400 posts and visited at least that many cafes or tea rooms then this year I have decided to cut down my output a bit. Therefore I have tried to limit myself to one new cafe a week and preferably only go to ones that have been recommended to me. This has given me the opportunity to focus on other cycling activity like Brownie of the year (#BOTY), the Norfolk cycle parkrun challenge, cycling across India, up the pyrenees and along National cycle route 2. However due to some logistical incompetence I have ended up taking on 3 new cafe cycle rides in 3 days meaning I'll be spending much time at my PC over the next week.

The 3 rides kicked off with a trip down Suffolk with Big George. I had been recommended to go to Kersey Mill just West of Ipswich. It sounded very good but a bit far for a ride from Norwich so I collected Big George in the car and we headed to Needham Market for the start of a 50 mile loop.

It was a gorgeous day and looked like the last one we will have this year (which doesn't bode well for my next two rides) but although the sky was blue and sun was out it was once again blooming windy. It is always nice to cycle somewhere new, if a bit hillier than we are used to back in the flatlands of Norfolk, with the new scenery distracted us from the effort we had to put in to battle through the wind.

Battling up a hill and through the wind

It took sometime but we eventually arrived at the Southernmost point of the ride and headed in a more northerly direction towards Kersey Mill. You may remember that on my last ride Big George announced he had taken up Yoga and tried to teach me how to become one with my bike. Today he proclaimed that he had achieved a true Zen like state as pedaling had become effortless. I didn't like to point it that it probably had more to do with the fact the wind was now behind us but at least I didn't have to listen to him as he continued to mediate and chant on the rest of the way to the cafe. 

Big George at peace with his bike, apparently

When we arrived Big George looked concerned as he discovered that todays tea room was called the Copper Kettle tea room. He explained that he doesn't like cafes named copper anything as they don't sound like the greasy spoon type of stops he prefers.

Outside the Copper Kettle Cafe and Tearooms

His senses were right as it was much more tea and cake which is always my preference so at least I was happy. There were 3 seating area options to choose from; the busy indoor main section, the quieter conservatory or the outdoor courtyard. We opted for the conservatory.

The conservatory seating area

While Big George mediated (or sulked) I checked out the cake selection which had some of the tallest sponge cakes I have seen and 4 of the big 5 (Chocolate, Coffee, Lemon and Victoria but not Carrot). I opted for coffee cake while Big George had an americano coffee and a sausage sandwich (which isn't cake).

Some very big cakes in the cake selection

The very charming waitress asked if he wanted his sausage sandwich on white on granary. As she didn't speak scottish she thought he said wheat. She panicked and said she would have to check with the kitchen if they had wheat bread. To avoid her the embarrassment I translated and soon Big George had his white wheat bread sandwich.

Cake and drinks

My hot chocolate was very good but Big George was less impressed with his coffee as it wasn't strong or punchy enough for him. My cake was nice but being so large not the moistest I have had. All in all I liked my Copper Kettle tea room experience and recommend a visit, however I did promised Big George a cafe more to his tastes for our next ride.

Despite kicking off our return with a couple of steep hills we soon got into a good rhythm with the wind pushing us nicely along and back to the car.

On my return home I had the added bonus of trying the brownie I had purchased at the tea room and it was a very good one which I enjoyed before a quick afternoon kip in preparation for my next ride.

Excellent Brownie

Tomorrow (Saturday) will be a 6.15am start as I cycle to Swaffham for the next leg of my Norfolk parkrun challenge. Hopefully it won't be into the wind or it might be a very slow run.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.3	6	7.6	7.1	7.1	7.02

Route

Click here to download 50 mile Needham Market Hadleigh loop gpx file to your GPS