Best for running not cake. (Copper Beech Tearooms, Brandon country park)

Cooper Beech Tearoom,

Brandon,

Opening times Mon-Fri 10:00-17:00,

Sat-Sun 10:00-17:30

(Nov-Feb 10:00-15:30)

After two weeks with no cycle cafe reviewing possible (bad weather and half term holiday.combination) I was glad to be able to get back on the bike for a cycle cafe review. 

Just before Christmas, during a short break to Elveden Forest Centre Parcs, we (Chris: wife and George: son) had ventured out to Brandon Country Park to take in the local parkrun. To explain for those not familiar with the parkrun concept then it is a timed 5k run every Saturday at 9.00 am in your local park. They are great fun and attract many people of all standards. I have now done over 100 (and have the t-shirt to prove it). We really enjoyed this one as it is a lovely run through the woods and the friendly organisers and regulars made us feel very welcome that day. It quickly went into my top 5 all time favourite parkrun venues. Admittedly all my other parkruns have been at Eaton park in Norwich so entry into the top 5 was guaranteed but it was still a great venue. At the end of the run I did notice there was an interesting looking cafe by the car park (Copper Beech Tearooms) and decided that I must cycle back here one day to give it a cycle cafe review. Hopefully the drinks and cake would be as good as the run.

Therefore today I teamed up with guest, Big George, with the plan to cycle to Brandon Country Park (wind behind), review tearoom and then catch the train back. 

Things started badly as when Big George arrived there was a frosty atmosphere. Not only had I not noticed the new tribars on his bike, a bit like failing to miss a ladies new hair do, but something else was clearly bothering him. It transpired that Chris (wife) had been to a parents evening type thing at school to learn about how to make your teenage child do revision leading up to their A'levels (a fairly fruitless exercise). She had been taken in by the presentation and was now convinced this was actually possible so had diligently written up the notes to e-mail to me and our sons. Like most modern families, despite all living in the same house and often being in the same room, we do find e-mail and text the most effective way to communicate with each other and avoid arguments. 

Unfortunately she had mistakenly sent this e-mail to Big George instead of Son George. Big George had taken this as a patronising slur on his parenting skills and criticism of his sons revising ability. Apparently family honour was now at stake. Rather than his original suggestion of pistols at dawn I smoothed over the situation by agreeing to buy him his cake and we spent the rest of the ride discussing the pros and cons of a colour coded revision timetable system.

We arrived at the Copper Beech tearooms in Brandon Country Park and I locked up our bikes, with Alarmio, in the outside seating area which has a collection of octagonal based benches. 

In outside seating area at the Copper Beech tearooms.
 Note octagonal based bench seating 

The outside seating area provides a pleasant view of the woods, however a quick tip, if you choose to sit on the wrong seating oct you end up with a not so pleasant view of the car park so if you choose to have your refreshments in the outside seating area select your seating oct with care to avoid potential view disappointment.

Bikes locked against octagonal based bench. Select your seating oct with care
for optimum view enjoyment.

As it was a bit rainy we headed inside to the cafeteria style indoor seating area. Despite there being a good range of cakes all of them were pre-packaged and therefore not very appealing. There is clearly no place for cellophane wrapped product in any top rated cafe or tearoom so I had to award a low effective cake selection (ECS) score.

Part of the cellophane wrapped cake selection.

To go with my hot chocolate I chose a walnut and date cake and Big George went for cappuccino and cherry cake. Unfortunately the cake appearance first impressions proved correct as the cakes were both very dry and a bit tasteless. If the package had been an attempt to keep the contents fresh and moist then this strategy needs a re think. I was therefore forced to give a poor cake quality rating. 

Frothy drinks and bits of cake ready for rating.

This just left the drinks to try to see if they could save the day. Sadly not as It appeared that the lady in charge of the frothing machine had got a bit carried away and gung-ho with her frothing duties as both our drinks contained far more froth than liquid. Once the drink part of the drink had been uncovered then the hot chocolate actually tasted ok but Big George didn't like his coffee. Not good drinks ratings either I'm afraid. 

I had had high hopes for the Copper Beech tearooms in Brandon Country park but it was a bit of a let down although slightly better than some cafes at other parks and attractions I have been to. I do, however, still suggest you visit the park for the excellent parkrun.

After cafe rating was completed we headed into Brandon to catch the train home and continued planning our London to Paris continental cycle cafe reviewing trip.

Ratings for Copper Beech Tearooms

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5	4.5	5	4	5.5	4.8

This is Map of the route

View 40 miles Norwich to Brandon in a larger map
Click here to down load 40 miles Norwich to Brandon GPX file for your GPS

What no rain. (Tudor Bakehouse and coffee shop, Long Stratton)

Tudor Bakehouse,

Long Stratton,

Closed Down

After waiting for over a week I finally got the necessary combination of no rain and an available guest so that I could once again resume Cafe Cycle reviewing. Today's guest was Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please). With a strong wind from the south we decided to do a loop, down to Long Stratton, so we would have the wind behind us on the way back. We had no particular cafe in mind but I had checked that Long Stratton did contain some actual cafes for our stop.

The ride got off to a shaky start with some confusion when crossing the A140 roundabout. Andrew sensibly choose the cycle path route whilst I nipped round on the road. Unfortunately Andrew didn't spot my manoeuvre and missed the fact I had gone past him and had turned off up the road. When he couldn't see me anywhere he assumed I had gone the other way and set off in the opposite direction. I soon realised there was something wrong, as there was no ranting going on beside me, so I stopped and turned round. Meanwhile Andrew had also noticed a 50% reduction in the number of riders on this trip. We both tried ringing each other to find out what had gone wrong and after a few missed calls, and several voice mail messages, we meet up again at the roundabout and managed to stay together for the rest of the ride.

It was a hard slog into the wind and we were glad when we got to Long Stratton. We slowly cycled down the main road until we came across the Tudor Bakehouse and Coffee shop. This looked like a good stop as it also had a bicycle repair shop attached to it so was likely to be very cycle friendly.

Outside the Tudor Bakehouse with distinct lack of Tudorness but lots of bikes.

After an Alarmio malfunction and piercing car style alarm incident we went inside. On the left of the Tudor bakehouse and coffee shop is a normal bakery type set up and on the right a choice of seating. You can either pick a standard table and chair seating solution or a comfy seating area with a pair of sofas. We went for sofas. Sadly there was no outside seating area although I have hard it rumoured that these are provided in the summer months to create a continental cafe culture on Long Stratton high street.

My coat perched on one of the sofas in the comfy seating area.

The cake selection was basic bakery based; consisting of cakes, scones, biscuits and slices which can be sold in multiples, however there were no big round cakes, so although there was plenty of choice I only awarded a middle effective cake selection score. There were also pasties, pies and sandwiches but as these are not cakes they didn't influence the rating.

Good selection of  cakes, biscuits, scones and slices but no big home-made cakes

With my hot chocolate I had an almond and cherry muffin and Andrew went for a cappuccino and chocolate shortbread slice. My hot chocolate was a good one but Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) found his cappuccino a bit milky although nice quality coffee. Both the muffin and shortbread where also very good.

The Tudor bakehouse and coffee shop was a very pleasant stop with a nice bike friendly feel about it. However one thing was troubling me, there was absolutely nothing Tudor about the Tudor bakehouse and coffee shop: no Tudor architecture, no mock Tudor beams, no dead Tudor kings buried in the car park etc so it seemed to me it should have been named just 'the bakehouse and coffee shop'. 

On my return home I undertook some further investigation which revealed that this Tudor bakehouse had recently become the 5th Tudor bakehouse in the Tudor bakehouse group (the others are in Harleston, Diss and Eye). I can only assume that the first Tudor bakehouse was actually in a Tudor building. Maybe from now on they should either only take on bakeries already in Tudor buildings or rename the company 'various eras of architecture bakehouse' to avoid further confusion. 

The eagle eyed readers may remember when I published the original rules for cafe cycle rating (see there must be rules).  I said I would't be reviewing chains just independent cafes and tearooms. Fortunately only one other of the Tudor bakehouses has a coffee shop as well so I think it's still within the regulations to review them.

With the wind behind on the way back we had a very quick and incident free return trip. 

Ratings for the Tudor bakehouse and coffeeshop

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.0	6.5	6.5	7.0	6.5	6.80

Here is map of route.

View 27 miles Norwich Long Stratton loop in a larger map
Click here to download 27miles Norwich Long Stratton loop GPX file for your GPS

Which way. Introducing the new routes facility.

Due to the bad weather cafe visits have been light over the last couple of weeks. However I have taken the opportunity to update the blog with a new routes facility. 

To enhance your cycling cafe or tearoom experience I have provided a Google map, at the end of most posts, showing the route used to get to the venue being reviewed. I have also added the ability to download the route to your cycle GPS (if you have one). You will see a list of all the routes available on the right hand side of the blog. 

Some routes are circular and some are point to point. On the point to point routes one end is at a train station to help facilitate your way to the start or for getting the train back at the end of the ride.

I have also added some helpful symbols on the maps as follows

Cafe or tearoom on route

Start/end route or instruction

Take care at this point

____    Busy stretch of road, not suitable for two abreast riding.

The routes are all on quiet roads but occasionally have small stretches on slightly busier roads when there are no other options. Hopefully these routes will prove useful and I would be keen for any feedback about the actual route or the routes facility.

If you do download the GPX then some do actually start at my house rather than Eaton crossroads as shown on the google map. However Eaton crossroads is only a short distance away so it should be obvious where to start although you are welcome to start from outside my house if you want.

After downloading GPX I suggest you import it into mapping software like Garmin base maps and then you can easily transfer it to your GPS device.

Happy cycling.

Remember the Herbs. (Spoon Cake Cafe, Loddon)

Spoon Cake,

Loddon,

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

 Recommended

Due to the bad weather and lack of availability of cycling guests, meant that today was the first cafe cycle ride I had done for a week. However I hadn't been idle on the blog front as I have introduced a new useful routes feature. At the end of each blog I'm adding a Google maps version of the route taken plus a Garmin GPS downloadable file. I'll be writing a post shortly with more information on the routes feature.

For this ride I persuaded Chris (Mrs Crusader) to be today's guest and I choose the Spoon Cake Cafe in Loddon as today's venue. Pre Blog I had rated this cafe twice before so I thought it was about time I did a proper review. The ride to Loddon was into the wind and ended with yet another puncture so we were pleased to get to the Spoon Cake Cafe and were in need of our hot beverages and cakes. 
 

Outside The Spoon Cake Cafe, Loddon with punctured bike.
You can easily miss the cafe as there is little signage

On entering we immediately examined the cake cabinet so as to award the effective cake selection rating (ECS). There was a good choice of scones, cakes and chocolate slices. I found it hard to choose so awarded a high ECS. We covered all options with Chris choosing the double chocolate cake and me going for the cheese scone and chocolate cherry slice type thing.

Cake cabinet including scones, cakes and chocolate slices.
All very good looking so high ECS rating awarded

To go with our cakes I had my normal hot chocolate and Chris a skinny mocha. My hot chocolate was very good, especially on the chocolate side but could have been a little hotter to better fulfil the hot bit of the drinks brief. Chris also enjoyed her drink but thought it just a touch sweet however both drinks still scored well.

The double chocolate cake and chocolate cherry slice type thing were both excellent as they had a good balance of chocolate as sometimes these type of chocolate offerings can be too rich. The Cheese scone came with a relish, always a nice touch, but I felt could have been a bit cheesier. All in all very good ratings and consistent with my previous two visits 

Drinks, cakes, scones and slices about to be rated

I did have one concern. The Spoon Cake Cafe have moved away from the standard table labelling approach of giving each table its own number. Instead they appeared to have adopted a system of labelling each table based on the name of a herb. We choose the Thyme table. 

On closer inspection of the other tables it became clear all was not well in the herb based table identification system department. To go with Thyme there was the predictable Parsley, Sage and Rosemary tables leaving 3 further tables to be allocate a herb based name. The next table I looked at was Basil, another good herb choice I thought but then we got to table Lavender. Although not strictly a Herb, more of a fragrant flower, it can be used in cooking so I thought they just got away with it. But what of the last table, to my horror it had a completely off piste label of Nutmeg. This is clearly not a herb or even a plant but a spice and I could see no place for it in any self respecting herb based table identification system.

I believe a Dill, Oregano or Coriander would have been more in keeping with the theme and I can only conclude the tables were haphazardly named after random jars in the herb and spice rack. I just hope no passing school children mistakenly use these tables to learn their herbs and are ridiculed at school for saying Nutmeg is a herb in a classroom situation. 

Despite the disappointment of not having a properly thought through herb based table identification system the Spoon Cake Cafe is one of the best and most consistent cafes I have reviewed and I highly recommend for a visit..

After fixing the puncture we set off home and with the wind behind and were back in double quick time.

These are the ratings of the Spoon Cake Cafe based on 3 visits. Full list of cafe ratings at end of Blog

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
8.0	7.33	7.67	7.8	6.83	7.53

This is map of route

Click here to download Loddon - Norwich loop GPX file to load on to your GPS

On a mission. (Liaison Cafe. North Walsham)

Liaison Cafe,

North Walsham,

Now Closed Down

Today was my first cafe rating commission as I had been asked to recommend a cafe in the North Walsham area. Unfortunately this is a part of Norfolk that I have not yet managed to get much coverage of so I would need to find and rate somewhere new. I was meeting Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) at his home in Aylsham and as that is not too far from North Walsham I asked him to research the cafe we should go to. On arrival he told me he had done thorough research and had picked Liaison cafe as it had had a good review for fried eggs. I suspected his thorough research had not been very thorough as I was rather hoping for a cafe that had had a good review for relevant things like hot chocolate and home-made cake. He explained his logic was that if you can fry an egg you can bake a cake, which seemed fair enough, so we set off on our mission.

Roads started to flood as we went on our North Walsham cafe recommendation mission.

Just as we set off it started to rain, and then sleet and then snow and then the roads started to flood and then we were soon freezing. Andrew wasn't sure if he was enjoying himself and claimed he could no longer feel his fingers. To keep him motivated I reminded him that nobody ever said cafe cycle rating was going to be easy and that we were on a mission. Surprisingly it didn't seem to do the trick so I agreed to take a short cut to North Walsham instead. To make matters worse just as we got to North Walsham I got a puncture but decided to ride on my deflating tyre and mend it after we had warmed up at Liaison cafe.

Bikes, mine with puncture, locked up with Alamio outside Liaison Cafe in North Walsham.

On entering I went straight to the counter to look at the cakes and award the effective cake selection rating. There was a good selection of slices and scones but no proper big cakes so I could only award a middling rating. I went for bread pudding slice and Andrew Bakewell tart slice.

While I was reviewing cakes, Andrew was dealing with drinks and receiving the devastating news that the coffee machine was being repaired. Although this didn't impact on my hot chocolate he had to make do with a mug of tea, not good news for someone who is notoriously hard to please.

Broken coffee machine part way through being repaired.

Although there is no outside seating area at Liaison cafe there is a choice of a formal or comfy indoor seating area. We went for comfy sofas although it was a bit dark. As well as sofas this area also had a useful pole facility which I imagine was there to attract the passing fireman or pole dancer trade in order to make them feel more at home. There didn't appear to be any fireman or pole dancers in today so we sat in the sofas by the pole and got on with rating our cakes and drinks.

Comfy seating area with useful pole facility.

The hot chocolate was a little too sweet but the bread pudding slice was very nice. I quizzed Andrew for a comment on his tea and he described it as 'a standard mug of tea' and said his Bakewell tart slice was quite nice. However he was a bit distracted as he had discovered that his very expensive cycle waterproof was not as waterproof as he thought. Pointing out that my cheap waterproof had kept me dry didn't seem to help. I felt a rant may have been on the way so I suggested he vent his anger with Goretex rather than me and changed the subject.

Cakes and drinks just before rating ,
although 'notoriously hard to please' Andrew was distract
by the lack of water protection from his expensive cycle waterproof coat.

Although Liaisons cafe had a reasonable rating I don't yet think we have found a cafe or tearoom in the North Walsham area worthy of a recommendation so I feel our mission isn't yet complete.

Mending puncture outside Liaisons Cafe whilst being kept dry by my waterproof cycle jacket

After leaving  Liaisons cafe I mended my puncture but because of a lack of inner tubes, Andrews porous jacket and the grey skies we took the direct route back.

I am adding a new feature by showing the cafes ratings at end of each post. The full cafe ratings table of all cafes can be found at the end of the blog.

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance  and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5.5	6	6	7	5.5	6.00

Down the road. (Stephanie's Coffee House, Norwich)

Stephanie's has closed down

Today was planned to be another Friday ride with Big George. However as always seems to happen with Big George something had cropped up so he could only do a short trip. I worked out the shortest ride we could do is 0.30 miles (according to my cycle speedo) to Stephanie's Coffee House in Eaton, Norwich. We both agreed that was a bit too short so we decided on a quick 20 mile loop before returning to rate Stephanie's Coffee House in advance of a very quick ride home.

The ride itself was quite eventful as once we got into the country the roads were far icier than we had realised. After a few back wheel skids we both got very tentative and rode accordingly more slowly. This also cut down on the conversation as we had to have full concentration on not slipping over and our limited multi tasking skills couldn't cope with chat at the same time. With the slow pace, and a puncture thrown in, we arrived at Stephanie's Coffee House later than expected.

In the outside seating area on 'Eaton Common' outside Stephanie's coffee house in Eaton, Norwich.

It was good to see Stephanie's Coffee House provides an outside seating area on 'Eaton common' where one could kick back and enjoy their beverage whilst watching all the action that Eaton crossroads traffic lights can offer. There is also a wooden decking outside seating area round the back of Stephanie's Coffee House, which overlooks the car park, but this seemed to be closed today. As it was cold we decided to sit inside. 

Stephanie's Coffee House's main competition is from the nearby Waitrose which has recently started to hand out free coffee, like a sort of coffee based soup kitchen, to anyone in need of it. However Stephanie's Coffee House provides a far more relaxed location if you want to have a good natter (and there was plenty of that going on in there today). 

As always I went straight to view the cakes and award the effective cake selection rating. It was a rather sparse collection although what there was looked good.

Rather sparse cake selection. Maybe there had been a run on cake today.

The downstairs seating area is a little dark but there is a lighter area upstairs with comfy sofas. We didn't make it that far as the seat by the radiator was free and ready to warm us up.

With my Hot Chocolate I ordered a raspberry and something (can't remember what) flapjack. I thought both the Hot Chocolate and the raspberry and something flapjack were very good and both scored well. The Hot Chocolate had a nice cinnamon (I think) sprinkling on it that gave it an extra spicy taste, which I liked. 

My hot chocolate and raspberry and something flapjack. Both rated well.

Big George went for cappuccino and a Pain Aux Raisin. He felt his cappuccino was a bit weak and needed stronger coffee as it could have doubled up as a latte. The Pain Aux Raisin is clearly a leavened butter pastry and not a cake so even though Big George thought it was good he could not take part in the cake quality rating which had to be based on the raspberry and something flapjack alone.

Overall Stephanie's Coffee House rating came out as a nice middling cafe which seemed about right. A full list of all cafe ratings are at the end of the blog. 

Whilst the rest of Stephanie's Coffee house continued their nattering we had serious biking business to attend to. We needed to hold the first meeting of our working group to plan Big Georges proposed London to Paris cycle ride. This probably explains why Big George selected a Pain Aux Raisin instead of a cake in order to get him into a French mindset. The meeting went well with no decisions made other than to have another meeting on our next ride. It brought back pre retirement memories of how meetings at work used to be, except without the bikes.

On leaving I discovered I had another puncture but at least it was only a very short walk to wheel it home (0.3 miles actually).

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
7.5	5	5	7	6	6.10

Map of route we took

View 20 miles Norwich Wymondham loop in a larger map

Click here to download Norwich - Wymondham loop GPX file to load on to your GPS

Going alone

If you read my post Will it be a record from a couple of weeks ago then you will know I had asked the Guinness world record people to approve and set a target for my proposed cafe and cycling based world record attempt. 

The record was to be for Most cafes visited on a calorie neutral bicycle ride. They said I would hear back in about 12 weeks time after the Guinness World Records experts had reviewed my record breaking bid and set the standard I had to achieve. Well it was actually about 12 hours, not weeks, later that they sent me their decision. I hoped this was good news as they knew a good thing when they saw one so I excitingly started to read their reply.

It started well as they said "We are always delighted when we hear from people who want to break a record and were excited to read your application." Not only were they delighted to hear from me but my application had got them excited, not just "pleased to read" or "glad to read" but actually "excited to read" my application, things were definitely looking good.

But then the bomb shell. "Unfortunately, after thoroughly reviewing your application with members of our research team, we are afraid to say that we’re unable to accept your proposal as a Guinness World Records title." Clearly their delight and excitement had quickly worn off although I'm suspicious about how much thorough reviewing by a whole research team of people could have happened in the short time they had looked at my application. They could have at least sat on it for a few weeks to give a more credible impression that they had really been delighted and excited and it was with a heavy heart that they were forced to turn me down.

Their explanation continued stating that  "Every record verified by Guinness World Records must be measurable by a single superlative, verifiable, standardisable, breakable and also present an element of skill. Also no gluttony records are allowed."

To be fair the record does fall down against most of their criteria even if standardisable isn't a proper word, although I was hoping they could make an exception for such a marvellous idea that had initially caused so much delight and excitement in the Guinness World Records offices.

They did try to raise my spirits by pointing out that "Only a handful of new records categories are accepted every year" but finished by washing their hands of me altogether with a P.S of "If you choose to proceed, then this will be of your own volition and at your own risk. Guinness World Records will not monitor, measure or verify this activity." 

Well Guinness World Records I don't need you to monitor, measure or verify my activity. I can easily do these things with my Garmin training watch and my Iphone camera so I will go it alone. The only other thing I would have got from you is a poxy certificate. 

Therefore later this year I will undertake my own research and have a trial run of 5ish cafes to see what is practical. Based on this I will set a Norfolk Cafe Cycle Tour verified world record target and have pencilled in a date in September for my attempt. 

If I succeed I will make my own certificate with my colouring pencil set.