The Bakehouse Cafe - Stratford-on-Avon

The Woodyard café is a typical National Trust café. The sponge cake appeared to be fresh and moist but was actually dry. Both cakes were overpriced. The service was slow, with a young woman bringing out produce as a queue formed. Additionally, the woman at the till was selecting and plating cake as she served customers.

We visited the garden centre this afternoon. After purchasing plants and gifts in the shop we decided to round our trip off with tea and cake at the restaurant. The restaurant was advertised as closing at 5pm. At 4.11 pm we ordered cake and tea for ourselves We were served our drinks and cake at 4.25pm. We were trying to chat and enjoy our tea but the blonde lady started slamming dishes and making rude comments about still being there in the morning at this rate. She locked all the doors put her coat on got her handbag and glared at us. She asked if she could take our cake plates away we enquired what time she closed and she snapped ten minutes ago. I asked why she served us pot's of tea and cake at 4.25pm if she closed at 4.30pm and she said she couldn't win. ?? We have never been made to feel so unwelcome . She seemed to forget that without paying customers she wouldn't have a job. A little humanity and politeness goes along way when you work in hospitality. We would advise you to avoid this restaurant and go elsewhere.

Sited in the Charleston Garden Store (Garden Centre) at the far end of the indoor sales area. Somewhere to sit and have hot and cold drinks and possibly a “lite bite” during a plant buying session. Virus protection measures in operation. All ok.

Today, after purchasing over £60 of plants and flowers in the lovely garden centre at Charlecote, I decided to treat my wife and daughter to a sandwich and cake in the Bakehouse Cafe to round off the trip. After checking the opening times on the blackboard outside (attached picture) I was surprised and confused when at 15:50 the server Nicky informed me that contrary to the words in black and white at the door, the kitchen shuts at 4 and if we wanted to buy anything to eat it would be just cake at that time. Her dismissive attitude made it clear enough to me that there was no point questioning the opening times. As I work in hospitality locally I understand that businesses occasionally have to adjust opening times to suit the needs of the business however when you clearly have staff on hand and customers willing to spend money there is no sense in turning down sales. If your opening times need to change, you could have used the convenient chalkboard to update potential guests rather than alienate them and make them feel unwanted. I will undoubtably return to the Garden Centre, however I don’t think I will bother to try the cafe again, let alone recommend to others!

We were unable to bring our dog inside the cafe, but luckily the weather was nice so we were able to sit outside at a table. We just had a coffee and a scone, which were both delicious. The service was fast and the staff was friendly.