An Edible Voyage

May 2021 Not just your standard village cafe, this Cotswolds hub is owned by a cooperative of more than 650 villagers, and sits alongside a well stocked shop, the result of a successful fundraising campaign. By day, there's an array of baked goods far more elaborate than I was expecting from this tiny cafe - ruby chocolate cruffins, pistachio and rosewater buns and deliciously gooey Black Forest friands, all courtesy of Cheltenham's Baker and Graze.  Breakfast is served with Mark's Cotswold Bakery sourdough; for lunch, colourful salads and fat sandwiches feature alongside more hearty offerings such as Cotswold goat tagine with Israeli couscous, pomegranate, pistachios and harissa yogurt.  New Ground, Oxford's specialist roasters who provide training and employment to ex-offenders, provide the coffee beans, and for dinner, this quaint cafe transforms in to a chic dining venue, creating impressive dishes from seasonal, locally sourced produce. The village itself is rather...

January 2021 Having living in Melbourne for several years, the coffee bar was set high and I became a bit of a coffee snob.  This definitely has it's disadvantages as it makes finding a coffee that I really enjoy tricky.  I had sort of given up on finding one in Banbury, satisfying my cravings on visits to Oxford, London or in the nearby village of Great Tew at Quince and Clover (you can read all about that in a separate post).  One day I was cycling to the swimming pool early in the morning when I passed a coffee cart.  It was still closed at that time but I stored it in my 'to be tried at some point' part of my brain (although I must admit, I didn't have particularly high expectations) and then promptly forgot about it.  A few weeks later, an article popped up on my phone about it.  Reading that Harriet had worked as a barista in London for 12 years got me excited - it seemed she could be the one to make me a great flat white! From her small cart, The Bar...