Layering. (Old Hall Farm, Woodton)

Old Hall Farm,

Woodton,

Everyday 09:00-17:30,

Highly Recommended

Yesterday I continued my mission to try and get 250 visited and reviewed cafe on my locations map. Unfortunately the last couple of weeks have gone badly as it has been too cold and wet to visit any new ones and as part of my ongoing cafe audit I had found some more closed down cafes that I have had to remove from the map. My mother did say she had recently heard of a new cafe but on further questioning it transpired it was from reading my last blog post so didn't really help take my mission forward. 

However the good news was that although yesterday was rather cold the roads were frost free and there was no rain so I was able to arrange a trip. I was joined by Mrs Crusader, regular cycling guest Alastair and renowned trouble maker Jenny on a ride down to Old Hall Farm near Woodton.

Due to a poorly arranged dental appointment then renowned trouble maker Jenny could only cycle for an hour before she would have to return home. After an hour we were only 3 miles from the target cafe but she decided not to risk being late and to avoid causing trouble at the dentist she turned round as the rest of us continued for the last few miles to the farm.

The cafe is part of diary complex selling milk based products although we didn't get to see any cows today.

Outside Old Hall farm but no sign of any cows

There is an outdoor patio seating area be we opted for an indoor window seat with lovely views across the fields. The decor inside is rather functional in nature and not particularly bovine themed but still very pleasant on a cold day.

The indoor seating area in action

There was a good cake selection with the biggest, creamiest victoria sponge I've ever seen but none of us stepped up to the monster cake challenge as I went for carrot cake, Mrs Crusader had a Brownie and Alastair Cherry and Chocolate Cheesecake. (Note: Despite having the word cake in it I struggle to think of cheesecake as proper cake so his input would not have a big influence on today's cake taste mark). 

A fine cake selection featuring a huge Victoria Sponge

As well as the excellent looking cake selection there were fruits scones available which I took away for taste testing in my secret underground bicycle worksop back at Crusader Towers (Note they were extremely nice and could yet make it into fruit scone of the year finals day at the end of the month).

Mrs Crusader had a very nice americano, Alastair found it hard to find anything bad about his flat white so a high guest drinks score was awarded. I was initially delighted to see my hot chocolate was twice as big as their coffees but as a result it was a little on the weak side although still a good offering. The cakes were right up at the top end of my cake rating continuum even if Mrs Crusader thought her triple chocolate brownie was too chocolatey. As being too chocolaty is not a real thing I ignored her input.

Great cakes and drinks including my supersized hot chocolate

All in all Old Hall Farm cafe had really delivered on the refreshments front and the staff were very helpful and friendly too so I highly recommend a visit.

On the way back my cycling guests spent a lot of time stopping and faffing as layers started to come off as the temperature warmed up. This lead to today's Cycling Guest cycling top tip.

Cycling Guest Cycling Top Tip No. 71. To avoid spending your winter cycle ride putting on or taking off layers, whilst annoying your cycling host, then just wear a really good base layer and winter cycle jacket as with modern fabric technology this will regulate your temperature much more effectively. (Multi layering is so old school).

As I had followed cycling guest cycling top tip No. 71 I was toasty warm, without overheating, for the whole ride back home.

Scores based on 2 ratings

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.5	8	7.5	8.3	7.0	7.86

Map of route

Click on link to download 31 mile Norwich Hedenham loop GPX file for your GPS

Celebrity ride. (Every Days a Picnic, Hedenham)

Every days a Picnic,

Hedenham,

Opening times Mon-Sat 09:00-17:00, Sat 10:00-16:00

Highly Recommended

Today was the first time it had been possible to arrange a ride with Big George since our epic ride to Paris a few weeks ago (see London to Paris by bike day 1). As well as catching up with him we were going to start thinking about a possible route for next years trip.

Due to Big George having a dentist appointment we only had time for a morning ride. Fortunately last week I noticed a new cafe, called Every Days a Picnic, on the Norwich to Bungay road just outside Hedenham so this seemed an ideal opportunity to check it out.

Once again I had my new Sat Nav which had failed spectacularly to navigate correctly on its first outing earlier this week (see Garden Delight). I thought I had worked out what was wrong so confidently set off. Unfortunately once again it must have got confused as it made me follow a different route from the one I planned and we were soon going in totally the wrong direction. When I eventually realised it must have gone wrong again I switched it off and corrected ourselves using the old fashioned method of following sign posts. However we had to speed up to make sure that Big George would get to the dentist. We eventually arrived at Every Days a Picnic cafe. Note to self 'open and read Sat Nav instructions before next ride'.

Outside Every days a Picnic cafe in outside seating courtyard area

Every Days a Picnic cafe has a well presented outdoor seating courtyard area where we parked our bikes before going inside to check out the cakes. The staff were very friendly so we got chatting and I happened to mention my cycle cafe review blog. I was extremely pleased when they seemed to know all about it and had even forwarded a post to a biking friend of theirs. Big George was getting very excited and didn't want to miss out. He leapt forward to introduce himself. 'I'm Big George'.he said, 'and I'm often the star of the blog'. After much more Big George led blog chat I reminded him of our time constraint and was eventually able to check out the cakes. There were lots of tempting ones to try but I was persuaded by Mrs Picnic to go for the Chocolate and Guinness cake (although I was very tempted by banana and walnut). I therefore awarded a good effective cake selection rating.

Some of the cakes on offer,
which were all made on the premises and looked very good

Now that Big George thought he was a celebrity he clearly felt he no longer had to pander to my cafe reviewing needs and instead of ordering a cake he went for a bacon ciabatta. As a bacon caibatta is clearly not a cake, celebrity or not, he would be playing no further part in any cake related reviewing activity today.

We sat outside where Big George wanted to know if the other visitors to the cafe wanted his autograph (they didn't).

Cakes and drinks ready to taste.
 Note the extra bit of home-made cake with the drinks which was a nice touch
 and makes a change from a pre wrapped biscuit

The chocolate and Guinness cake was superb and would be a definite contender for the 'Norfolk cafe cycle tour cake of the year 2014' award (if there was one). (Note there is now and it did win!!) As the barista had promised, Big George's Cappuccino had excellent froth and he thought it was a very good guest drink. My hot chocolate was nice but not as chocolaty and thick as the best ones I have had.

Mrs Picnic quizzed me on what I thought of the cafe as they had only been open 10 weeks. I said it was right up there amongst the best cafes but the hot chocolate could be a little stronger, she assured me that next time I came I would get an extra spoonful of powder. I look forward to coming again soon and recommend a visit.

On the route back I tried to arrange a date for the next ride with Big George but he only wanted to discuss image rights and his new 'Big George' merchandise range. He made it clear that in future I was only to deal with him through his agent and he set off for the dentist, I assume to have his teeth whitened.

(note I also visited EDAP on sportive 7 and again in November 2016)

Ratings for Every Days a Picnic cafe based on 3 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.33	7.83	7.5	8.5	7.42	7.52

Map of route

Click on link to download 31 mile Norwich Hedenham loop GPX file for your GPS