Only very slightly weather obsessed. Drove down the M5 in drizzle, and through Devon in thick fog, got into Cornwall and the sun came out. It's always good to be home. Quick trip up to Glos to see the folks - somehow always seems to involve either a Garden or a Garden Centre. From a cafe perspective I prefer a Garden - often very good I've found, cafes at Gardens. The RHS Garden at Harlow Carr has a branch of Betty's of Harrogate and you can't get much better than a Betty's afternoon tea. Sadly Garden Centres, in my opinion , aspire to mingle gardening and cake but often seem to fall down on delivery, with cakes that look large and self-consciously mass-produced home-made. So this time a trip to the Garden Centre in Cirencester. A wander around the very large collection of plants was preceded by an anodyne panini. Next time I think we'll go to Westonbirt arboretum http://www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt and see very fine trees, and real cake.
Noteworthy tho - the Costa at Taunton Dene services. Stopped for breakfast early-ish on Monday. I ordered a Latte but when it came it was suspicously light. 'Are you sure this isn't a cappucino' I said to the young gal. I opened the lid, gave it a bit of a stir, and was about to say 'this is a cappucino you know' but before I could, one of the othe Baristas said ' I've made you another latte' I was very impressed - I hadn't complained - she'd just noticed. I thanked her but I didn't get her name sadly. People like to bang on about poor customer service - it's good to wave a flag for the guys that go un-noticed, so well done Costa. If thats part of your training programme - it works, and if it's just that she's good, I hope you promote her.
Well done on mentioning Costa cafes. The one at Sedgemoor is great too.
ReplyDeleteGood cake is hard to find, too many of them are very synthetic tasting.
Almost as good as actually being in Cornwall, can almost smell the sea!
ReplyDelete