The entrance to the cafe is straight off the street with no steps; inside is spacious and uncluttered and would not be difficult for parents with pushchairs or wheelchair users.

The toilets are located outside, and you need to go up two small steps and through a garden area where there is a nice seating area. A sign on the door informs that disabled access can be provided on request.

The walls of the cafe are painted magnolia, with stencilling to give more interest, and there are plenty of wellspaced tables with some very large ones to cater for bigger groups.

Most of the seating was wooden chairs, which proved adequate, but there were a number of tables with large, well-padded leather seats for those who wanted more comfort. Overall the cafe was spotlessly clean.

Food had to be ordered from the counter where the staff were polite and friendly.

We both decided to order a breakfast, and requested beans as an extra, but were told that they do not cater to individual requests.

The menu has a range of salads, toasties, jacket potatoes and more substantial meals, ranging in price from £3.50-£7.95.

The range of drinks was quite limited; however there should be something to satisfy most tastes.

Our food arrived very quickly and the ample portion compensated for the disappointment over no beans. It was accompanied with a plate of toast with butter and marmalade.

The breakfast consisted of three rashers of bacon, two sausages, two eggs, mushrooms and grilled tomato. The bacon was thick and lean, the sausages were outstanding, short and plump and incredibly tasty and very filling. Convinced they were not your standard frozen fare I asked where they were from and was pleased to be told they were locally sourced from Glaves butchers in Brompton.

Not long after I'd finished my plate was cleared by a friendly member of staff.

While reading the menu I noted that the cafe made its own ice cream, and the mango sorbet has even scooped the gold medal at the UK national ice cream awards.

At £2.95 it seemed a little pricey, but the wide range of flavours on offer (Turkish delight, cappuccino and amaretto to name a few) will see me return with the kids to try some.

As usual, despite being full I once again succumbed to the tempting array of sweets at the counter. The cake menu states they are baked on the premises to a traditional family recipe. We shared a fresh cream sponge drop, which was tasty and more than enough to share between two.

There was a thick layer of fresh, whipped cream, but we felt it was let down by the artificial looking fruit syrup; it would have been nicer with a fruit jam.

Rating (out of five)
Value for money ***
Overall rating ****