Willow & Spoon - 28 Samford Road, Alderly

So the other day being the exciting 3rd child Nash is he practically spent the whole day screaming as his older siblings were not home. What do you do when your baby is bored and won't stop screaming? Go for coffee! I drove around for a bit wondering where I was going to take an anxious, bored and hungry baby... Then I thought of Willow & Spoon as I'd driven past this on a regular basis for months but never stopped and friends had told me about how great it was.

So when I arrived there was plenty of parking and I was met with some very friendly service. The amazing thing about this place is while it looks like your average cafe from the outside with a small eating area surrounding the counter (counter service only)... You can actually walk through the kitchen to another dimly lit area (great for those who love a bit of mood lighting :D) with lounges, tables and fairy lights. But that isn't all because when you walk further out you come to a courtyard with more tables and lounges as well as toilets underneath the building. This part over looks a huge yard with buckets of toys, grass, dirt and totem tennis for the littlies (or big kids ).

   

   

 

 

I think the proof was definitely in the pudding as my little pudding who'd been screaming for hours on end leaving a ringing sensation in my ears all morning, was finally beaming. Nash really loved free ranging it around the 'back yard'. He got stuck in to the toys and dirt and was pleasantly occupied until our food and drinks arrived. He then devoured a ginger bread man, part of my lemon slice and half a banana and apple cinnamon muffin. I think he couldn't have been more impressed by Willow & Spoon.

My experience was so great I wanted to come back with the whole family and try the famed breakfast menu I had heard of. The menu changes on a monthly basis so you best get in quick if anything here tickles your fancy. What we ended up ordering we could not have imagined as not only did it taste fabulous it looked great (for those of you who love visuals as much as I). The older kids also got stuck into the mud and totem tennis straight away and Ruby exclaimed "It's just like a house!" which is what I love about this place. It has that low key hanging out in your friend's backyard kind of feel to it.

 

Wade had 'The Willow' which was bacon and eggs served with watermelon and mint granita and a side of toasted cornbread.

My order of 'Sleeping beauty'Poached eggs, muffin tarragon, mushroom, tomato honey with garden pea sauce not only looked devine but tasted it too.

Austin reacts quite badly to eggs so it was nice to see something on the menu for him that didn't include them. He gave the verdict of delicious for the fruit topped with mango sorbet.

She is my least adventurous with food despite having no real serious intolerance's so she stuck with bacon and eggs with a side of corn bread toasted.

 My two boys can't eat egg but I can so while Nash enjoyed the corn bread and ham I ate the green scrambled eggs and they were delish. Would have got a shot but little Nash got into it before I had a chance.

I'll try not to bore you with too many more words but I really just loved this place for it's humble kid friendly atmosphere and also wonderfully exciting food. Definitely a must visit for those with young kids because not only is it relaxed and child friendly but it has great food and coffee.