Bits and bites: Cirencester’s top 5 connected cafes

It was pretty chilly outside the other morning, and in our case, it was pretty cold inside too. The central heating had not come on because the boiler pressure was too low. Well, non-existent, actually. There then followed frantic Googling for the instruction manual: one of the few unheralded joys of the web is being able to find a manual online to replace the one you know you have somewhere but are unlikely to find. After some more faffing, um-ing and ah-ing, and an abortive attempt or two to fix things, we finally got it sorted. Problem solved, and the prospect of having to spend a day at home waiting for an engineer to come and fix it, was gone.

Sticky toffee pudding at Toro Lounge

Proper milkshake thanks to He Says She Waffles

The fabulous apple pie waffle

That prospect of having to stay home, or close to home, in order to accommodate an imprecisely-specified appointment with an engineer, had led me to wonder about where I might usefully base myself in order to remain local and get some work done. Home is the obvious option, but what if I wanted to be in town, and need to be connected? Where could I sit, order the occasional drink and perhaps my lunch, while all the time continuing my Canutian struggle against the inexorably rising tide of email in my inbox. If that doesn’t strike you as a pressing concern – and there is no reason why it should – then perhaps you just need to find some WiFi to keep those special teenagers from predicting the apocalypse if they can’t open their latest Snapchat. Either way, the idea of checking out the WiFi in the various hangouts around town took root and grew and has led to this.

In a lot of our posts we talk lovingly – with good reason – about the location, the food and drink, the atmosphere, etc., that we are really very fortunate to get to enjoy. But also being able to be connected while enjoying such places is important to many, so if it is something you care about, hopefully you’ll find it useful. We’ve already started with our research, with the first couple of results below.

NB: For upload and download higher is better; for the ping, lower is better. While they’re not super controlled and scientific – for example, one place might be more crowded than another, the grading system used by the app gives a good idea.

The WiFi List (with a little nod towards the food and drink!):

1. The Cafe at the New Brewery Arts: we’ve written about the Brewery Cafe before, and that we are big fans, not least of the salads and the cakes. Now it turns out that the WiFi is pretty good too, proving to be in the top quartile in the UK. As if there was not already plenty to like about the Brewery Cafe – did you try the mince pies over Christmas – it turns out it is a place you could happily stay all day and stay connected all day.
   
2. Caffe Nero: probably our favourite out of the three High Street coffee mainstays. It is also a popular hangout for those needing to crack on with some work while wanting to be in a social environment. The espresso is passable, the panettoncino always a nice accompaniment, and the WiFi courtesy of The Cloud is pretty good too.
   
3. Waterstones Cafe: somewhere we’ve been meaning to pay a visit, not least because of their focus on local suppliers. With suppliers like Whiddett’s and Lavender Bakehouse you know you’re going to eat well, and the comfy chairs do encourage you to linger. There is free WiFi, too, although according to the numbers, it does lag the Brewery Arts Cafe, being in the slowest 20% of hotspots in the UK.
   
4. He Says She Waffles: this has always been one of our favourite places to go for a treat – the apple pie waffle that drips with caramelised apples and sultanas while the whipped cream slowly melts over it all is a thing of beauty just to behold, let alone eat. The new additions to the savoury part of the menu mean we’ll be going back there for a full waffle-based meal. WiFi is essential here for me, as Blackjack Street contrives to cut me off, so the fact that they have it is a big plus. It’s not the speediest, but it’s more than functional – we worked there without issue and even posted content. Also worth a mention is that this is just a great place to hang out – there’s invariably a fun vibe that feels great to be a part of.
   
5. The Toro Lounge: we’ve always had an ambivalent relationship with the Toro Lounge; it’s not somewhere we make a bee line for, yet it is somewhere we keep returning to and thinking: “actually, this place does have a lot going for it.” While the decor – particularly the dim lighting – is not to my personal liking, I am compelled to admit that the places as a whole does have a rather nice “hangout” vibe that leaves you happy to linger for much longer than you might have planned. And they’ve plenty of space, so you never have to worry that you might be depriving others of a place to sit and eat. Add to this the all day menu, a decent standard of coffee and tea and of course the complementary WiFi and you have the makings of an excellent place to install yourself should the need (or the fancy) arise. The WiFi is not super-speedy (see below), connectivity is relatively simple, quick and stable.
   

Baker and Graze

There are parts of Cheltenham that just feel nice. Well off, too, of course, but wealth is by no means a guarantor of niceness. Around Suffolk Road in Montpellier, however, the immediate neighbourhood just felt, well, nice. The small terraced houses, white – or pastel – washed to perfection stood out against the grey backdrop, many of their facades, curiously different in height to each other considering they were terraced houses. A hundred years ago, you could see this place having quite a different atmosphere, but today it looked spick and span. And this was despite a downpour that seemed never-ending, the sort of rain that doesn’t seem so bad from indoors, but can soak you through in seconds. It was thus we arrived at Baker and Graze.

Stepping through the door, though, one felt bathed in the orange glow of the antique feel lightbulbs – I keep promising myself I’ll get some  – and instantly encouraged further in by the delicious aroma: it’s the one where you can smell pastry, fresh bread, sweetness and coffee all at once. Talk about reassuring: it’s an aroma that lets you know that barring a catastrophe, you’ve made the right choice, and that [insert meal here] should be a treat. If the aroma was not enough to convince you, the array of breads, pastries, and other baked treats perched handily by the till  – just in case you want to extend to Baker and Graze experience father into your day – would settle things.

It was still early, so the place was nowhere near full, the the usual screen of condensation that masks a humming and thriving eatery like this had yet to form, so I took my seat and gazed out at the Farrow & Ball opposite. First things first, though: coffee – I could have downed a bucketful – and a hot chocolate for young Miss Cirencetera. The understanding smile that greeted my very hasty order, was still there a few minutes later to accompany the delivery of my flat white and even before taking a sip I felt warmed still further. The coffee was good, though frankly I was in such need of something warm, milky and caffeinated, my critical powers disappeared as rapidly as the contents of my cup.

The menu, delivered attached to a clipboard – I do wonder whether clipboard manufacturers are seeing a resurgence in demand these days, or whether these were procured merely from an office clearance – offered much promise and no little dilemma. There was nothing on there that I did not want to eat, not least because the prospect of sourdough as part of your breakfast is never a bad thing. The ubiquitous avocado was accompanied by streaky bacon and a poached egg, but there was also the option of spicy Nduja with poached eggs, or roasted field mushrooms with spinach and a poached egg, but I went for the fennel sausages on sourdough with anchovy butter and kale on the side. With a poached egg on top. Little Miss Cirenetc. had a sausage sandwich upgraded to the fennel variety – I admit to feeling I felt a teensy flush of pride when she asked if that was possible. Other dishes we sampled were the shaksuka baked eggs and avocado, hummus and roasted peppers on toasted pumpernickel.

As we waited for our breakfast bangers and the other dishes to arrive, hungry diners did also and the place was very soon full and alive with a satisfying buzz – all the better to conceal the rumbles emanating from my stomach. The wait was well worth it, however, as dishes to warm up the heart as well as everything else started to arrive. I can’t pretend to have sampled the sausage sandwich but having opted for the fennel sausage on toast I feel safe in recommending it as an option. As a twist on the boring/traditional – pick your adjective – fennel sausages are to be recommended. My sausages, on toast with anchovy butter, were delicious with the softness of a poached egg and some of the kale. While the addition of the kale may seem unnecessary and faddish, it works, definitely adding to the dish as a whole, rather than being a mere extra.

Good as the sausages were, the other two dishes were probably better. The coolness of hummus, avocado and roasted pepper on the hot, nutty pumpernickel, was a genuine surprise. The poached egg was a good extra hit of protein, but the dish would not have missed it. I’m not entirely sure why toasted pumpernickel should be so much of a revelation, but it was and I can see us having that more often at home. Ditto the shaksuka – a Tunisian dish in case you were wondering – two baked eggs looking so wholesome they might just have been at Sunday School, sitting in a spicy and fragrant tomato and pepper sauce, finished with chopped coriander leave and a couple of pieces of toasted sourdough, wedged at the side. It was fragrant, spicy and immensely satisfying, not least that combination of tomato and pepper with a bit of velvet egg yolk just to cool the heat. It seems to be a regular on the menu, so if you get a chance, I recommend you try it.

For breakfast dessert – who says breakfast has to be a single course meal? – we had the granola and greek yoghurt topped with blackberries and poached pear, and a sticky toffee cruffin, that insanely good combination of muffin and croissant. The granola was a perfect follow up to the baked eggs and the sausages: the fruit and yoghurt providing cool softness as a counterpoint to the sweet cinnamon tastiness of the granola. And that cruffin, OMG. Even after all I had eaten, those mouthfuls I was permitted to enjoy, were moments of pure, sweet, flaky, buttery joy. I’ve always views the cruffin – alongside its portmanteau pastry sibling the cronut – as gimmicks, but count me among the converted now.

When it came time to leave, so sated were we after so much deliciousness, we were deaf to the pleas of those tillside treats to take them home for further pastry indulgence. Baker and Graze has only been in situ for less than a year and is in good company considering some of the eateries it has as near neighbours. And from our relative outsider perspective, it feels like it is already an established part of its neighbourhood that is set to stay should its owners wish to do so. They’re on to a good thing and, I think, so are we.

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The Burford Garden Company

The first thing you should know about the Burford Garden Company is that it is not a garden centre. I feel I would be misleading you to call it so. It is so much more. An art gallery and a home furnishings shop, a gift shop and a delicatessen, a toy shop, a toiletries shop, a kitchenalia emporium, a fine clothing and hat outlet – all under one roof. Perhaps the term ’emporium’ is best suited to give an idea of the wide array of goods and items you can find at the Burford Garden Company. The feeling of abundance you get by walking around, taking in the wonderful displays – not least in the food section – is bound to enduce euphoria. In a way, I’d say it’s like the Harrods of the Cotswolds, the rural, approachable version of the urban, upmarket, has-everything store.

The second thing to note is that everything you will find here can be guaranteed to be top quality, the best of the best. Sometimes, with a price tag to match. But if your coffers are not overflowing or you are on an austerity drive, this place is still for you. You can still spend a delightful couple of hours here without spending anything. It is a visual delight, a journey of discovery every time we visit this place; beautiful ornaments for your home you are unlikely to find elsewhere, that speak of style and refinement and inspire you to think up a whole new theme for your dwelling. From candles and carpets to sofas and lamps, throws and rugs, in a variety of opulent hues and styles to delight your senses, there is enough here to turn anyone into a wannabe interior designer. Even the basics like greetings cards, stationery and wrapping paper are different and unusual.

My favourite is the food and kitchenalia section though. With its cornucopia of quality ingredients and treats from all over the world and colourful utensils – it inspires me to embark on a new cooking or baking adventure every time. Talk about transporting. Whether it is the range of mediterranean olive oils or the substantial breads  – from the sourdough to the focaccias or the middle eastern inspired cakes, it is difficult not to end up salivating at the prospect of such a feast. Beautiful olive wood chopping boards and bright crockery and tableware are there too: a great place to pick up a gift for your cheffy friends!

And we have not event mentioned the garden section: that which gives the place its official and perhaps initial raison d’être.  The impressive selection of plants and shrubs and vases and garden ornaments – including garden furniture and paving – mean that all bases are covered, whether you’re merely after a new Cyclamen to sit on the kitchen windowsill or brand new patio complete with shed and conservatory. Me, I love the orchid section: shelves covered with a tumbling display of these plants once considered achingly rare, now so abundant they sit batched together by colour, making you feel like you are in the tropics. And you can pick the best branded wellington boots, gloves and hats, should you wish to look the part while you are communing with nature.

When I was last there, I heard beautiful piano music emanating from the home furnishings section; as I followed it humming to myself, I discovered it came from a real live performance, a lady pianist was delighting us all with her improvisation. What a great initiative! We stopped and chatted for a while, and I dreamt of finding the time to take lessons and learn to play that great instrument. Another one for the retirement list.

When your eyes are full and your legs are tired, you can do worse than to sample the very good food and beverages of the cafe/restaurant there; hot and cold food, roast meat and vegetables, sandwiches and delicious cakes. I do recommend the salads. I had a very tasty quinoa, cauliflower, herbs, fruit and nuts salad. It was both delicious and healthy. My husband and our little girl had roast dinner and the intent silence that descended on the table testified to the satisfaction of all concerned. The cafe is a very nice place to stop and watch the crowds mill around and chat; always lively and looking cheerfully decadent, like the rest of the place.

And as we enter into December and the Christmas season, I am excited to go discover the Christmas section. It is something to behold. The displays are on a grand scale and the range and quality of the decorations are exceptional. Pick your colour theme or your style  – red, white, silver, gold, woodland naif or elegant Liberty? The spectacle can’t fail to put you in the mood for singing Christmas carols all the way back home!

Kemble Station: railway Arcadia

 

Picture this: you are sitting at a station waiting for a train.

What can you see? I’d guess –  shades of grey, a mundane image of utilitarian travel, heavy with cement, metal, and perpendicular lines. Not so in Kemble. Kemble station is the antithesis of your average, functional, uninspiring railway station. It is tranquil, quaint, and fragrant – a place you can enjoy. From its beautiful landscaped garden to the brightly painted wooden trimmings edging the station building, to the delightful ‘Off the Rails’ café – I have never found a station so beguiling to the senses.

And customers seem to respond to the environment and mirror its quiet and kindly, relaxed mood. Set in deep Gloucestershire, Kemble is a busy little station – as busy as the bees that populate its garden – frequented as it is by the daily London commuters that live in the surrounding villages.

Travelling from Kemble takes the edge off commuting, with its comforting, human-size experience. It’s a station with personality, one that acknowledges its heritage and people’s need for amenable surroundings.

The station garden – created and maintained by the students at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, with donations from Dobbies Garden Centre, is a fantastic local initiative. It offers a little quiet haven where to gather yourself ahead of a busy commute – all lavender and lilies and buzzing with bumblebees. Starting your journey here, puts you in a positive frame of mind to face the day ahead.

Kemble keeps its charm all year round: in the summer, you can sit in the RAU garden and watch the trees gently sway in the breeze and in winter, the waiting room has a cosy, welcoming feel with its little heater you can turn on and people smiling and saying hello as you enter. You can take a seat on one of the two wooden benches and help yourself to one of the free papers. Makes you feel like you are waiting in someone’s front room!

The ‘Off the Rails’ café, a quaint, little Aladdin’s cave emanating tempting aromas of coffee and grilled bacon, oozes character and charm and despite its diminutive size, offers a great section of freshly prepared snacks and coffees, not to mention other items like newspapers, magazines, greetings cards and even features a book exchange! Delicious, the freshly grilled bacon baps and the Danish pastries! How refreshing to have a privately-run, local café rather than another faceless chain outlet!

As with all ointments though, the proverbial fly applies. Beware of parking your car in the station approach road. There have been several reports of damage to cars there, mine included, alas. Parking here, although perfectly legal, is not advisable. Car number-plates have gone missing and cars have been bashed. So, use the car park, at least it has CCTV cameras!

Breakfast on Love Lane

Breakfast? On an industrial estate? Oh yes.

It may seem a trifle quixotic having just posted about some of the fabulous eating locations on offer in the Cotswolds – the sort of places that lay on a genuine visual feast as well as culinary delights – to suddenly switch modes and go for a place where the surroundings could not be more mundane if you tried. To top it off, it was raining, and raining hard when we went, turning down the potential visual interest, still further. So there we were, on Love Lane – could there be a more incongruously named industrial estate in the world – surrounded by builders’ merchants, plumbing stores and the like, about to have breakfast. And not from some roadside trailer either, but a farm shop: another oddity. (Call me a traditionalist, but I expect to find farm shops in the countryside, not right across the road from Travis Perkins.) The full car park, however, does give one a small clue as to what locals think of the place.

Once you go inside however – and our entrance was rapid to avoid a soaking – all such notions of incongruity disappear, things all make sense, and you are transported rapidly back to all things food. At first glance, on entering, the Jesse Smith Farm shop just looks like a butcher’s shop – no surprise there, they have been selling meat in the Cotswolds for over 200 years – but look around and it is the genuine article. The thought of eating a meaty breakfast while confronted with the raw materials hanging full length behind panes of glass not far away may not sound terribly appealing, but once at table, this doesn’t figure. The range, by the way, goes beyond meat into dairy, bakery, fruit and veg and more besides, so if you need to do a spot of food shopping, there is plenty to tempt.

The restaurant is round the corner from the shop, and as we were exceeding hungry, we turned left, hardly giving the shop a glance and made a quick grab for a table – there are days when you need the reflexes of a German tourist on the Neapolitan Riviera to get a spot, so popular it can be.  Having made your choices, you order at the counter, giving your table number and trying to resist the siren call of the delicious cakes and pastries displayed alongside. There is something quite nice about ordering and paying all at once – it may just be me, but parting with money before you’ve eaten is preferable, as it means there is nothing to settle after your meal, except the meal itself. You choose, you pay, you eat and you’re done: perfect.

The menu, an A4 sheet decked out on both sides with colourful graphics depicting rather than listing the choices available, reads like part atlas (‘The Vegas’, ‘The Texas’), part bad joke (‘The Mexican’, ‘The Brit’, ‘The French’) and part humidor price list (‘The Monte Cristo’, ‘The Royale’.) And there is more than just the promise of exotic climes to tempt one: the sound of “coriander hash, spicy sausage, avocado, pineapple salsa, chorizo, poached egg” gets more tempting with each reading of it. And if you’re up for it at 10:30 in the morning (and I most certainly was) you can feel reassured that it looks as good as it sounds, and tastes even better. The smoky heat of the spicy sausage patty and the chorizo is tempered a little by the smoothness of the poached egg and avocado, while the sweet freshness of the pineapple sits on on top like a gilded flavour tiara.

My dining partner had the Spaniard (as it were). This is essentially a breakfast burger, although I confess I think I’d be happy eating it irrespective of time of day. The beef patty is served with crispy chorizo, avocado and topped with a fried egg and all in a brioche bun. The crispy chorizo is particularly good, like crunchy, spicy pennies, they offer a textural as well as a flavour lift to the dish, and if you have not tried a fried egg in a burger, then this might be a very good place to start. I came across the notion of fried eggs in a burger “stack’ many years ago on a trip to Portland in Oregon and have been a big fan ever since. The US may have many gastronomic faults, but they certainly – particularly in Portland – know how to do breakfast too. Try it: I don’t think you’ll regret it.

While I did not have the ‘Vegas’, I couple made their way out to others as I was ordering at the till and they did look every bit as colourful, decorous  and tasty as their hispanic cousins on the menu. The pancakes – not too thin, but not too thick – were perfectly dressed with yoghurt, fruit and granola. It looked so good, that were a smaller portion available, it would be a fine follow-up to the savoury splendour of the dishes above. Or you could fill any gaps with one of the glistening cakes or buns that are at the counter, ready to oblige should your will power fail you (and whose wouldn’t, frankly?) The full ‘English’ looks equally splendid, and having enjoyed food from Jesse Smith’s butchers shop, I feel I might be on pretty safe ground vouching for that as well.

All in all, there is little not to like about Jesse Smith’s Farm Shop. From the eclectic furniture choices to the cosmopolitan menu, this is a place where you can do breakfast properly and with a difference. With the usual gamut of hot drinks available it does have all you need. There is a small exception to this, and that is the coffee, which I find to be quite harsh and lacking in just a touch of care. The reason I call this out with Jesse Smith’s Farm Shop in particular (after all, they’re hardly alone as an eatery serving average-at-best coffee) is that Rave Coffee is just up the road where the beans are not only available,  they’re actually roasted there. The cognitive dissonance of this is something that jars. We are lucky to have two excellent coffee outlets in Cirencester, but as yet none come with breakfast, and while I hardly suffered through the pot of light and fragrant green tea, I can’t deny that I found myself wanting a nice clean hit of filtered coffee or an espresso chaser to be part of what was an excellent excellent breakfast.

The location may seem odd, the views uninspiring to anyone but a 90s brutalist architecture buff, there is plenty to recommend the Jesse Smith Farm Shop, firstly as a shop, but also – and most definitely – as a prime breakfast destination. Alongside Rave and Dolcetti just a few steps up the road, Jesse Smith’s makes quite a nice little gastronomic enclave in an area where you’d least expect it. It is certainly well off the tourist – or even the casual Saturday shopper -track, but if you happen to be visiting the town on a weekday or weekend and are in need of coffee, ice cream or a delicious breakfast or brunch, head on up to Love Lane (yes let’s call it that, rather than just the industrial estate).

 

Top seven for brunch in the Cotswolds

Brunch, what a great institution. It has become popular in recent years and it makes a lot of sense. If you get up too late for breakfast and too early for lunch at the weekend, and you are ready for some sustenance, you can enjoy a healthy feast and still virtuously declare you skipped a meal and you would not be lying. It has such a festive and convivial feel to it, and what better way to catch up with family and friends! Ensure the atmosphere is right for you – whether cosy and intimate, rural and picturesque or elegant and refined – the Cotswolds have something to offer to the hungry but discerned diner. I wish we could make brunch an official everyday tradition!

Enjoy the superb sourdough and stroll by the river at Lynnwood & Co in Lechlade, delight in the organic feast and the relaxed vibe at The Canteen in Nailsworth, pick yourself up with a super-hearty meal at Jesse Smith’s Farm Cafe in Cirencester, enjoy the elegant ambiance and excellent food at Made by Bob in Cirencester, join the genteel Cotswold folk in the bright & airy Lavender Bakehouse in Chalford or go boho and celebrate the weekend in a relaxed fashion at Blue Zucchini in Tetbury.

Smashed Avocado with Feta and Mint

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1. The Canteen (Nailsworth)
2. Lavender Bakehouse (Chalford)
3. Lynwood & Co (Lechlade)
4. Jesse Smith’s Farm Shop & Cafe (Cirencester)
5. Cafe at the Gateway Centre (South Cerney)
6. Blue Zucchini (Tetbury)
7. Made by Bob (Cirencester)

The magnificent seven – for location

 

The Black Horse, Amberley. Luscious views over the Stroud valley.

The Lock Cafe in Stroud. A canal-side haven.

The Crown at Frampton Mansell. Cotswold bucolic splendour

So you are not content with good food, quality coffee and luscious cakes. You want somewhere that will feed your eyes and soul too. Green pastures, shimmering water and verdant valleys dotted with cute stone cottages, plumes of blue smoke rising from their chimneys…Not a problem, in our picturesque region – all you need to do is know where to go – and we are glad to point you in the direction of a few beauty spots we treasure…

1. The Crown at Frampton Mansell. A delightful traditional pub with excellent food and a lively atmosphere, perched on a beauty spot with remarkable views and a sunny terrace. True bucolic splendour.
2. The Black Horse in Amberley. A pub full of character, just off the spectacular Minchinghampton common, set in the enchanting village of Amberley. the terraced garden has amazing views over the Stroud Valley. Well frequented by the local rural elite!
3. The Upper Lock Cafe in Stroud. A charming, cosy hideaway cafe with personality, an organic vibe and a canal-side setting. Lovely cakes and healthy salads!
4. The Campden Coffee Co in Chipping Campden. Set in lovely Chipping Campden, one of the jewels of the Cotswolds, Campden Coffee Co is light and bright – a lovely relaxed environment where you can relax over a decent coffee and some delicious cakes and snacks.
5. The Bell at Sapperton. A refined pub and restaurant serving excellent food in a  charming village location with a delightful garden area. A top choice with the Cotswold elite!
6. Gusto in Cheltenham. In fashionable Montpellier, the Italian inspired cafe serves tasty food in the leafy part of town, overlooking the park and next to some of the best boutiques for some choice shopping!
7. The rooftop restaurant at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon. Fancy some refreshments before or after your Shakespeare fix in Stratford? The rooftop restaurant at the Royal Shakespeare Company affords great views over the river Avon and is perfect for your pre-theatre dining or indeed for a post-shopping treat! Elegant surroundings and food alike.

Veloton: of bikes and coffee

 

The Velominati. You may not have heard of them until now, but they are out there. They are the dedicated hard-core cyclists that we see out on the road in increasing numbers. They take their cycling seriously. Very seriously. So much so, in fact, that they have their own set of rules about the sport they love. You can tell how seriously they take these rules by reading rule #1: “Obey the rules.” They are a great read, highly entertaining even if you are not in to cycling yourself. It governs everything to do with cycling: the clothes (colour, type, how to wear them), behaviour (etiquette is very important), and even what to drink. There is even a rule about coffee – rule #56 – which states which espresso-based coffee drinks are acceptable to be worn while in cycling gear. That rule in full: “When wearing cycling kit and enjoying a pre or post ride coffee, it is only appropriate to drink espresso or macchiato. If the word soy/skim latte is heard to be used by a member wearing cycling apparel, then that person must be ceremonially beaten with Co2 canisters or mini pumps by others within the community.”

As you can see, combining coffee and bikes is a serious business, but when done well, it is a pleasing thing. And that is exactly the theme at Veloton: a charming, small coffee and bike shop in Tetbury. At Veloton, the two go together like Ol’ Blue Eyes’ proverbial horse and (non pedal-powered) conveyance.

What’s attractive about Veloton? First off, I like the themed coffee shop thing – it adds interest. Although I am no professional cyclist (no cyclist at all, in fact), I find it interesting to marvel at the latest silhouettes, features and gadgets  – watching the expert repairs going on in the workshop at the back.

What’s more, the coffee is gooooood, Eddy Merckx good in fact, and the healthy snacks – particularly the flapjacks – are the ideal refuel for the keen cyclist or, why not, for a busy shopper like me. The cakes are robust and tasty and served in generous portions. Seriously – what’s not to love?

The service deserves a special mention: it’s friendly, attentive and personal. It always comes with a smile – these guys really make you feel like you are part of their club, and I have not been near a bike in at least a decade. I have to say, I did like sitting at the bar, looking out over Tetbury’s town centre and watching my fellow Cotswoldians go by.

Afterwards, you may perhaps decide to pop into the Highgrove shop for a quick marvel at their exquisite (if pricey) gardening and homeware accessories. What is more likely, though, is that you’ll feel you were much more at home with a coffee and the cog-noscenti (no apologies for the pun). In doing so, you may decide to create your own new rule: “If you think you need to leave the cafe, don’t. Once you’ve found a good coffee shop, stay there as long as you can, and then a bit longer still.”

 

Campden Coffee Co.

Chipping Campden, a quintessential and genteel Cotswold village amid bucolic splendour, is definitely worth a visit. Explore its picturesque streets and discover enchanting spaces, impressive mansions, refined restaurants and fine boutique hotels, all behind a rustic Cotswold stone facade. Should you require refreshments, the Campden Coffee Co. will provide a charming, rustic, and intimate environment where you can relax and enjoy some decent beverages, tasty and imaginative cakes and savoury food snacks. What I find delightful is that at the Campden Coffee Co. you can never forget you are in the Cotswolds – the stone walls, the unvarnished wood furniture, the cottage garden views from the windows – are all consistent with the local environment.

The cakes are innovative – try the red wine and fig cake, so flavoursome and redolent of the region’s Roman connections, that you could almost imagine it being served in one of the triclinia of the roman villas that dotted the Cotswolds a couple of millennia ago. The paninis and sandwiches are tasty and made with local ingredients and the atmosphere is one of village conviviality. Light and bright with friendly service, the coffee shop is situated in the Old Silk Mill – also home to the Gallery at the Guild – a cooperative of artists and craftspeople exhibiting their work in the historic home of the Guild of Handicraft. You can delight your senses for a while and browse through works of pottery, painting, jewellery and more.

The coffee is their own brand and when you look at the beans in the grinder they are a tantalising dark brown. Dark roast coffee is not my personal favourite, but this is still a coffee that is a cut above your average Costa or Starbucks. A guest roast might be a nice addition, perhaps. The hot chocolate received approval from the youngest in our party, doubtless won over by the calorific addition of cream and marshmallows, but still, who would blame her. A nice touch, and one that I always take time to appreciate, is the bottle of water, complete with glasses for you to help yourself to. There are lovely soft drinks as well: two – yes, two – variants of Elderflower Pressé, and the Folkington’s juices are spot on, and cloudy as ever!

This may sound like a place for the sophisticates, but it really is somewhere for the whole family, kids and all. There is a lightness to the place, and the presence of some broad games on the shelves, definitely makes Campden Coffee Co. a place to take the whole family. Our junior reviewer said it was nice, and the cakes were “very interesting”. While we did not get to sample the hot food, we will be sure to head back there for lunch some time this summer. For now, if you’re there, pay it a visit, and see what you think.

Made By Bob The Deli

Deli spin-off of one of Cirencester’s best loved eateries.

Made by Bob is an institution in Cirencester, so much so that when the restaurant closed for refurbishment last year, it was instantly missed. While closed, up sprung The Deli whence, happily, we could all still retire to get our Bob fix of the fine salads, charcuterie and cakes. The restaurant has of course now reopened, but The Deli has remained, and that is unquestionably a good thing. Now, if all you fancy is tea and cake or a light bite to eat, you can do so in much more apposite surroundings, rather than contending with diners who are in the mood for a more genuinely lunch experience.

The menu at Made by Bob the Deli retains the Mediterranean influences of its restaurant sibling.

You lose none of the quality of experience in The Deli that you enjoyed in the restaurant; indeed with a frontage actually exposed to oodles of natural light instead of being sequestered in the Corn Hall, the aspect is arguably better, particularly for what is a casual eatery. And when the sun comes out it gets even better still, and you can enjoy your food al fresco or while basking behind those enormous plate glass windows watching the Corinium world go by. The menu, too, is as light, sun-kissed (as much as it can be) and Mediterranean, staying close to that of its restaurant sibling with, among other things, immambayeldi, Greek salad, olives and much more to tempt one with. While the setting, even with the sun out, will never come close to anywhere on the Med., the menu and locale team up to provide one with a very decent spot to have lunch.

The salads remain as fresh, varied and as enticing as ever, with combinations of ingredients that have you at times salivating at the mere thought of eating them. The paninis and sandwiches are a nice option too, again with fillings that are generous, and alive with flavour. Made By Bob is known for its use of quality ingredients, and it always shows, from the everyday to the more exotic. This of course extends to the sweeter end of the menu spectrum as well, with pastries and cakes that are so light and emollient you don’t know whether to eat them or plump them up further to lay your head upon.

Drinks are good too. There are decent espresso-based coffee drinks made with good coffee, although don’t expect flavours at the level of Rave or Cotswold Artisan Coffee. This is not a criticism; this is still good coffee with a distinct flavour, but the evidently darker roast does have a more linear flavour. If you like tea, more precisely green tea, then this is the place: the green tea at Made by Bob has always been, to my mind, the best green tea in town. Scented with a hint – just hint, nothing cloying – of wild strawberries and pink pepper corns, it is delightful, whether lightening the palate mid-summer, or taking off the chill of our now-all-too-common perma-autumn days. We have not tried the freshly made smoothies, but the flavour combinations, when you read them, make abundant sense and are likely equally full of flavour.

In short, Made By Bob The Deli is a welcome addition – if ‘addition’ is the right word – to the town centre. The quality has not diminished with the absence of formality, and having an outside area and some good daylight pouring through the windows is really very pleasant. While we didn’t expect it to stay, we are unequivocally glad it has.