Trainee cycling guest. (Alysham Garden Centre cafe, Alysham)

Alysham Garden Centre Cafe,

Alysham,

Opening times Mon-Sun from 09:00-16:00

If I'm going to be able to maintain my status as the self appointed number one cafe cycle reviewer (in the Norfolk area) then I need to be able to continue to expand my capabilities.

One area that I'm often short in is qualified cycling guest which I require to accompany me in order to be able to give a rating for the guest hot drink quality (GHDQ) category on a cafe visit. I was therefore excited when Andrew (old work colleague) contacted me after stumbling across my Cake Crusader blog whilst trying to find a good cafe to cycle to in North Norfolk whilst on Holiday here earlier this year.

We had not seen each other for many years but as we were now both keen cyclists Andrew agreed to undertake a three and a half hour drive from the peak district over to Crusader Towers in order to join me as my cycling guest on a ride.

I have not always had good experiences with new cycling guest reviewers so before coming I made Andrew undertake an extensive cafe reviewing correspondence course. He also had to send me full write ups and photos from any cafes he visited on his bike in his local area. I finally made him sit a number of on-line tests and review my full library of cycle cafe reviewing computer aided training (CBTs) modukes.

Today's ride would complete his training by first visiting the top rated cafe, Black Apollo in Holt (see stick to the brief), where he could try out his reviewing skills in a safe environment before going to a new cafe to properly assist on a review.

We started from our agreed meeting point, the car park of the luxury hotel he had stayed at overnight, before setting off on the first leg of our ride which was 30 miles up to Holt.

Excited trainee cafe cycle reviewer Andrew,  ready to set off from the car park of his luxury hotel

As we had not seen each other for absolutely ages time flew by as we went for a trip down both a literal and metaphorical memory lane.

On arrival at Holt we locked our bikes beside the Black Apollo outdoor seating area and went inside so I could see how my student would perform.

Outdoor seating area at the back of the black Apollo Coffee House

As always there was a warm welcome from the staff as we selected from the cake selection before taking our seats. 

I got out my cafe rating spreadsheet and asked Andrew how he rated the Atmosphere and Ambience. Like many a new recruit he started waffling on about what he liked, how the staff were, etc, etc, blah, blah, yawn, yawn. I quickly started to glaze over, 'out of 10' I said impatiently. When will people ever learn that my cafe rating spreadsheet only works with numbers? 

It was now time to order our drinks and cakes. As always I ordered a hot chocolate but this time with fruit crumble cake (fruit crumble cake fruit of the day was plum). Then to my horror Andrew too ordered a hot chocolate (with Orange and Almond cake). Had he learnt nothing, a cycling guest must order tea or coffee as the guest hot drink otherwise what's the point of bringing them along. So as not to make a scene I waited for the waiter to go before giving Andrew a severe ticking off and official written warning.

Fabulous cakes and drinks, sadly both hot chocolate

Our refreshments soon arrived and we were busy enjoying the fabulous hot chocolate and excellent cakes when the nice lady who served me on my last visit came over. She had remembered me and wanted to clarify a couple of points from my blog review. However before she started she did a double take as she noticed that Andrew had ordered a hot chocolate and not coffee as his guest drink which, unlike him, she immediately knew was wrong. I explained he was a new trainee cycling guest and had now learnt his lesson so she agreed to let it go.

She was curious to understand why, after several months since my visit, her cafe didn't appear when you clicked on cafes in Holt or show up in my current top 10 list, (where it should have been). I embarrassingly explained that I was a bit behind in keeping everything up to date but would sort it out as soon as I got home (which I have done plus cleared my diary to get everything else up to date next week).

I thanked her for her excellent feedback but wasn't sure if I was disappointed to have been caught out or excited to have met a coffee shop so knowledgeable in the ways of the Cake Crusader, I decided on the latter.

Andrew did well with the rest of his practice ratings and we were both happy that the Black Apollo Coffee shop was still a top cafe after a second visit. So now he understood what good looked like we were ready to set off to Alysham for a new cafe review at Alysham garden centre cafe.

On the way to our new cafe to be reviewed

On arrival we parked our bikes outside and went through to the cafe at the back of the centre but what would I find once through the door? 

What would I find behind the Alysham garden centre cafe door?

There was a normal inside seating area, a conservatory based one plus and an out door seating area to chose from, we went conservatory.

Sadly there was a disappointing looking cake selection with not a great choice plus the hot chocolate and more exotic coffee choices came from a push button machine which is never a good sign. Andrew sensibly opted for a straight forward filter coffee which any experienced cycling guest would always do in these circumstances.

Cake selection

After trying our cakes (carrot and coffee) and drinks it was fair to say we had covered the full spectrum of the cycle cafe continuum today which was excellent news for Andrew's future usefulness as a cycling guest.

Drinks and cakes

We had now covered 45 miles and were beginning to run out of steam as we rode the final 15 miles back to Crusader Towers. On our return I took Andrew to the debrief area where I gave him a full appraisal of his efforts but was pleased to let him know he had been promoted from trainee cafe cycle (TCC) reviewer to junior assistant cafe cycle (JACC) reviewer. He was very excited by the news which now means he is allowed to send me some peak district cycle cafe reviews which I promised that I might even possibly publish.

Scores for Alysham garden centre

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5.0	4.0	4.5	5.0	5.5	4.80

Route

Click here to download 63 mile Norwich Holt Alysham GPX file to your gps

Newbies. (Purdy's tearoom, Aylsham)

Purdy's Tearoom,

Aylsham,

Open Daily 10:00 -16:30

Recommended 

Today was a great day for a bike ride, clear blue crisp sky's and the perfect cycling temperature. I was therefore very pleased I had arranged to go on a cafe cycle to a new cafe. However cafe cycle rules clearly state that a ride only qualifies if it has at least one cycling guest in order that the guest hot drink quality (GHDQ) can be rated. Fortunately due to a series of diary and communication mishaps I had managed to triple book and invite 3 different sets of cycling guest on today's ride so I wasn't exactly sure who was going to turn up.

I started to get nervous after one of my potential guests Chris (Mrs Crusader) had to pull out at short notice and then realised another, Barry, was currently refusing to partake of hot drinks and cakes so was useless on the cafe reviewing front.

I was therefore mighty relieved when Mick turned up on schedule with two newbies, Jenny and Roberta, in tow. As with all new riders they were keen to learn the ways of the cycle cafe reviewer and would be prepared to enthusiastically join in with coffee and cake rating. Obviously once they had come on several rides they would soon get bored, like Barry, with my insistence you eat cake and rate everything but for now it was good to have some new people on board.

It was also good to have some new cycling guests who hadn't heard the story of my Ironman triathlon (which I may have mentioned before) and I was therefore able to bore Jenny with the tale for many miles.

With the combination of fantastic biking conditions, keen new riders and Ironman chat I was amazed how quickly we got to today's venue especially as I had only got as far as the swim section of my Ironman story so still had the bike and marathon parts to cover after the cafe stop.

Today's stop was Purdy's tearoom at Woodgate Nursery which is just outside Alysham and near the Marriotts Way cycle track on the way to Reepham.

We pushed our bikes through the nursery plants where we found Purdy's Tearoom and a large outdoor seating area. We parked our bikes amongst a collection of pumpkins and selected a table for later use. 

Today's group parking bikes in pumpkin corner

Then it was inside the wooden cabin to check out the cakes. There were four available plus cheese and fruit scones and although not the largest selection it was still an interesting one and I therefore awarded a reasonable effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

Cake selection

I ordered chocolate and orange drizzle cake plus a cheese scone (as part of my cheese scone serving temperature research, it was served cold). This was Mick's 4th time as one of my cycling guests and he had always chosen coffee and walnut cake on the previous excursions. I now considered him my go to man on the coffee and walnut front and knew I could now trust his expertise on the subject. With coffee and walnut cake available today I was both surprised and disappointed that he went for chocolate and orange drizzle as well as me. He said he didn't want to become predictable but I considered having a self proclaimed coffee and walnut specialist on the cake crusader reviewing panel to be a real asset and will make sure I direct him back to the ways of the walnut on future rides.

As usual Barry refused to become involved and had a diet coke and sausage roll so he would take no further part in any remaining reviewing activities today.

We returned back to our outdoor seating table and on such a stunning day awarded a high atmosphere and ambiance score.

Cakes and drinks pre reviewing

The newbies had both selected filter coffee and scones (one cheese and one fruit). Hopefully they will become more exotic in their choices in the future. They also had some work to do on their reviewing skills. The coffee was 'nice' as were the scones on the basis they 'weren't hard' which they seemed to think is the only scone quality differentiator. They have much to learn especially as I couldn't work with their descriptive style of input, I NEED NUMBERS!

The pressure was now on Mick (coffee and walnut cake expert) as my only credible cycling guest left and he didn't disappoint. Despite chocolate and orange drizzle not being his specialist subject he was able to give a full rationale for his rating. Moist sponge, good amount of chocolate but lacking enough orange tang which equated to a solid seven. I was in full agreement and felt my cheese scone, although cold, was a good one.

My hot chocolate was a bit on the weak side but, after further questioning of the cycling guests, it was felt the coffees were good and worthy of a high rating.

Overall Purdy's tearoom was a good stop and in an excellent location for a bike ride so worth checking out if you are riding that way.

I was looking forward to the return ride home as I could now talk Jenny through the Ironman bike and run legs but disappointingly she kept getting involved in conversations with the other cycling guests, if I didn't know better it was almost as if she was doing it on purpose. Still I can save the story up for next time which will surely encourage her to come on a return ride.

Scores based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5	7.25	6.35	7.40	7.7.00	6.74

Route

click here to down load 40 mile Norwich Alysham loop GPX file for your GPS