Dilemma (Art Gallery tearoom, Acle)

The Studio Art Gallery and Tearoom,

Acle,

Mon- Fri 10:00-16:00, Sat and Sun 10:00- 14:00,

Recommended 

I recently had to buy a new bike after reading in a magazine that any serious cyclist always needs to have n+1 bikes and I only had n. As with any new bike it needs the odd tweak to get it running perfectly and, after its first couple of rides, mine was no exception .

I therefore planned a cafe cycle ride to first visit a new cafe before going past the bike shop; In-a-spin where I could get the tune up done. Mrs Crusader was going to be my cycling guest for the day.

I foolishly told her that for the first stop we would be going to the recently opened Studio Art Gallery and Tearoom in Acle. From the name she quickly deduced that they sell paintings which was worrying as she has been known to make art purchases on such occasions. I had a difficult dilemma to wrestle with. Do I make sure that no credit cards were taken on the ride, which would stop more art turning up, or do I take the credit card for any necessary bike accessory purchases I might need to make? 

On reflection I decided it would be a cash only trip and after a quick body search we set off for the Studio Art Gallery and Tearoom which we found on the high street in Acle.

Outside the tearoom

There were indoor and outdoor seating areas available but we chose a nice table by the door. The cake selection was a very good one so I awarded a high effective cake selection (ECS) mark. As a bonus there were sausage rolls available too. I bought a couple to be tested later for my sausage roll of the year competition #SROTY. (Note, they turned out to be very good ones).

Excellent cake selection

The only slight disappointment was that both my hot chocolate and Mrs Crusader's Mocha were a little week but on the plus side the cakes were very good indeed and my choice of the unusually sounding walnut and courgette was well worth the risk. I therefore gave high cake taste quality marks.

Excellent cakes made up for the weak drinks

The Studio Art Gallery and Tearoom was a good stop and has the added bonus that you can look at (or buy) some paintings as you enjoy your refreshments. 

From here me set off to Loddon meaning a trip on the Reedham ferry, which is always a treat, especially as we had the whole ship to ourselves.

Boarding the HMS Reedham ferry

By the time we got to In-a-spin the slight rubbing noise that I had been worried about had gone away which rather defeated the point of the ride but we popped in anyway so I could start planning my next purchase as I now only have n bikes again. 

With all objectives now complete, and no bike or Art purchases made, we complete the ride safely home.

Scores

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5.0	5.5	8.5	8.0	7.5	6.90

Route

Click her to download 35 mile Norwich Acle loop GPX file for your GPS

Spring has sprung (East Hills Cafe and Bistro, Brundall)

East Hills Café and Bistro,

Brundall,

Opening times Mon-Wed 09:30-16:00,

Thur-Sat 9:30-23:00, Sun 9:30-18:00

Highly Recommended 

After two weeks of wet and windy weather I was delighted to be woken this morning by both the alarm clock and actual sunshine pouring through the window.This was good news as not only was the alarm clock clearly working but I had arranged a cafe cycle ride and didn't want to have to call another one off due to inclement conditions.

Better still, the sun had remained out, although it was still a bit raw temperature wise, as myself and Mrs Crusader mounted our bikes to set off to meet Barry and Helen and their new tandem at their house. When we arrived they were both sitting on their shiny new bike, all ready to go. I asked how my good friend 'old tandem' was but they were rather evasive and I got no response. I am worried there may be a more sinister explanation for their sudden need for a new patio.

One thing for sure was that their new tandem was a lot faster and, with the help of a friendly wind we bombed along the lanes all the way out to Acle. Once here we turned back into the wind where, hindered by a number of unnecessary hills, progress became markedly slower. As tiredness set in, my cycling guests started to repeatedly question how far it was to todays target stop, The East Hills cafe and Bistro at Brundall. I refused to answer as I consider this is bad for cycling morale and I didn't know.

When we arrived in Brundall we turned off the main road and down to the river to find the cafe on the edge of the boat yard.

Outside today's destination

I had been planning to visit here last year only to discover that there had been a fire and the cafe had been shut for about 6 months for repairs. It had only been reopened for a couple of weeks but this didn't seem to have put the punters off as the place was packed, so we opted to sit in the very pleasant outdoor balcony seating area. 

Enjoying the views of the boat yard from the outdoor seating balcony

I had sensibly brought my own fire extinguisher, just incase, and left it with my cycling guests as I went inside to check out the cakes and place our order. There was a good selection of cakes including two of my favourites, pear and chocolate plus baked cheesecake, so I ordered a slice of each which I would kindly share some of with Mrs Crusader despite the fact she had wanted a cheese scone. I awarded a good effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

Part of today's cake selection

I was also pleased to see that their were four sausage rolls available which meant all my cycling guests could join in with rating them for sausage roll of the year #SROTY. My only concern was that it was shaped the wrong way with pastry running top to bottom rather than side to side. I obviously checked the SROTY rules but there was no mention of this being an issue so we were able to continue with our test.

Sausage roll with pastry going wrong way

The consensus was that it was the best sausage roll so far this year and looks certain to make it to the SROTY sausage roll off at the end of the year.

My hot chocolate and the selection of cycling guest hot drinks all scored well too. I was also impressed by the baked cheesecake which led to a high cake taste quality (CTQ) score.

Cakes and drinks

The East Hills cafe had proved to be an excellent start of Spring stop and I would highly recommend a visit (subject to it not burning down again) during the forthcoming cafe cycle season.

Hopefully Spring is now with us proper, as I have gambled on arranging two more rides this week. Although I expect it will now snow.

Scores based on 3 visits, last on 22/01/18

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.25	7.5	7.58	7.78	7.5	7.52

Route

Click her to download 35 mile Norwich Acle loop GPX file for your GPS

Data collection. (Harley's, Norwich)

Harleys,

Norwich,

Opening times Mon- Sat 09:00-17:00,

Sun 10:00-16:00

To make sure I had the best possible statistics for my 2015 end of year report I wanted to squeeze in one last ride this year. Fortunately Big George was in need of a cycle as well so agreed to be my cycling guest. 

Normally we aim to start our rides at 9.00am, then as I wait for his arrival, at about 9.10am Big George will text me to explain why he will be late before turning up at 9.30am ready to start. This morning I got everything in place as usual to set off at 9:00am and waited for his text. However today there was no text and he just turned up at 9:30am thus cutting out the unnecessary texting step. Despite it being the same for over two years he had apparently remembered the start time wrong. I recorded it as a late start in my 2015 cafe cycle statistics spreadsheet and added 'forgot start time' to the cycling guests excuses list.

We were going on a 35 mile loop to Acle and back hoping to find a cafe open there. On the way we compared our Christmases. It turned out we were in exactly the same trouble. Since Christmas Mrs Big George and Mrs Crusader had both sat on their sofas and scoffed all their Christmas chocolate gifts in a couple of binge sittings. After which they had both felt bad about themselves so blamed me and Big George for buying, or allowing people to buy them, something they liked as a present. Apparently it is also our fault that they need to eat so much chocolate all in one go as we have been told it isn't physically possible to spread consumption out over the whole festive period. I know this I foolishly suggested it. Mrs Crusader has now implemented total chocolate lock down at Crusader towers, not just for her, but no one is allowed to bring the stuff into house as if they did she would be forced to eat it against her will.

Apart from this Christmas seemed to have gone well, as was our ride and we soon arrived in Acle. Unfortunately of the two cafes I had lined up one was shut over Christmas and we couldn't find the other one. I updated my 2015 cafe cycle statistics spreadsheet to add one to the shut and one to the missing in action cafe count.

As I was aware of the risk of closed cafes at this time of year I had a plan C which was to continue back to Norwich and go to Harleys, a cafe near the river on the outskirts of Norwich.

Harleys brands itself as the cafe by the river, which is sort of true although there is a busy road separating you from the nearest river bank. However in between the cars going by and assuming no one has parked in front of you, you do get some nice views from the small continental pavement style outdoor seating area. As one of the tables was in use and the others blocked by a parked car we opted for a window seat inside instead.

Harleys taken from the river bank side of the road

Harleys seemed to specialise more in sandwiches and ice cream so there was only a carrot cake and a few mince pies in their cake selection meaning I could only award a low effective cake selection (ECS) rating. 

Cake selection only featuring carrot cake and mince pies

I was glad Big George opted for a latte as it helped boost the poor 2015 guest hot drink (GHD) latte count which continues to languish at the bottom of the GHD popularity table.

Our drinks and my cake arrived. I'm sure you can guess from the photo how disappointed I was to see the cake served on it's serviette further impacting the cake serviette serving coefficient target for the year. Remember #Keepcakeoffserviettes.

Cake, sadly served on its Napkin, and our drinks

My hot chocolate was nice enough and the carrot cake was perfectly fine but neither were absolutely top draw so I was very surprised when Big George declared his latte coffee to be very good indeed and awarded a high GHDQ mark. Further research of other reviews of Harleys concurs with Big George that the coffee here is very good.

Stepping in at the last minute Harleys had done well and looks like a good stop for coffee lovers. It also had the advantage of being close to the end of the ride so we didn't have far to go to get home.

I now have all the 2015 cafe cycle data collected so I can spend the next few days analysing it with a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit, correction plain biscuit.

Scores for Harleys

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.00	8.00	3.00	5.50	6.00	5.70

Route

Click her to download 35 mile Norwich Acle loop GPX file for your GPS

Only 79 days to Christmas. (The Green House Coffee shop, Moulton St Mary)

Green House Coffee Shop,

Moulton st Mary,

Opening times Mon- Sat 09:30-16:30,

Sun 10:00-15:45,

Recommended 

Despite the end of the nice weather and a poor forecast I thought it was worth risking a cafe cycle ride but I needed to find a guest. I quickly discovered that the usual suspects all had prior engagements. My last invitation was to Barry and Helen and their Tandem. Unfortunately Helen was currently having a bionic knee fitted so would be out of action for a few weeks. However Barry (without their Tandem) kindly made himself available so cafe cycle reviewing was on and I planned a route out towards Acle. As well as a cafe or tearoom review, I was hoping that I might find some eggs for sale for my first Egg News update.

I met Barry outside Sainsburys and we set off with wind behind, and once out of Norwich travelled along a lot of windy little country lanes. Good for cycling but not for egg sales. We soon arrived at today's destination The Greenhouse Coffee shop at the garden centre in Moulton St Mary.

Outside entrance to Moulton Nurseries where you can find the
 green house coffee shop

To get through to the coffee shop you have to work you way through the garden centre labyrinthine. The first area we entered was full of Christmas decorations with some of Santa's little helpers finishing off the display. This was obviously a big day for the residents of Moulton St Mary as many of them had gathered here as soon as the decorations had been laid out. It was standing room only around may of the displays with a group of elderly ladies discussing this years baubles selection and another younger group planning their 2014 tinsel needs. I was soon sucked into the excitement and after reviewing the stock I can report that gold and silver are Christmas 2014 colours (or is that every year?)

Christmas display being finished off one day after the end of our Indian summer

Barry had to drag me away from the musical Santas before we fought our way through the Christmas crowds until we finally found the Greenhouse Coffee shop. We made our way past the sheltered outdoor seating area and went inside. At the counter there was a fine display of cakes. I suspect there were even more cakes earlier in the day as some of the sponges only had a couple of slices left. I awarded a good effective cake selection (ECS) score.

Badly photographed cake selection, A few empty slots in cake tower
suggested an even better selection was available earlier in the day

I liked the look of a cake and asked what it was. They told me it was Raspberry and a fruit I quickly forgot cake, so I orderer it and Barry a cherry flapjack. He went for Cappuccino for his drink. As Barry doesn't always have a hot drink or cake on bike rides I was very pleased to see him taking his guest reviewer role seriously.

We sat inside in one of the spacious eating areas. I Iiked the fact that they had got local art for sale on the walls but was disappointed that they hadn't yet put up their Christmas decorations like the rest of the garden centre.

Drinks and cakes to review.

Both our drinks were nice but very very hot. Barry liked his cappuccino although he felt that he makes a better one with his new very expensive coffee machine in his kitchen. As I don't drink coffee I'll never know if this is true or if he was just showing off about his Barista skills and gadget.

Barry liked his flapjack and my cake was nice. I was hoping that I would be able to identify the other fruit in my Raspberry and a fruit I quickly forgot cake but it seemed to be mainly raspberry to me so then I wasn't sure if they had actually said there was another fruit in it or not. It was still a good cake and the Greenhouse Coffee shop was a nice stop.

We went back to the garden centre labyrinthine and after finding we couldn't get out the same way we came in we finally got back to our bikes and set off again for the return home.

When we got to Blofield Heath I spotted a sign for the Sheltered Horticultural Employment Scheme which amongst other things had free range eggs for sale. This was very exciting as it would be my first Egg News update. I can therefore report in Egg News that eggs here cost £1.25 per half dozen (which is a 5p saving from the equivalent cost at Tescos).This makes them the cheapest eggs I have so far found anywhere in Norfolk!

After this excitement it was a quick ride back. Once home I immediately began a Christmas decoration inventory and planning review so we don't miss out on this years must have decorations.

Score for the Green House Coffee shop

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.0	6.0	8.0	6.5	7.0	6.70

Route

Click her to download 35 mile Norwich Acle loop GPX file for your GPS