Christmas/New Year openings.

On The Sands cafe is changing hands on Dec 23rd, being taken on by the current chef, but is closing for a refurb, probably for the whole month of January, so worth checking before you next go there. There is nothing on their website about this at present.

Managed to visit this place today, another regular of Phil‘s Wednesday group. It’s a great setting, right in the centre of the village and easily approached by country lanes, without having to go on any main roads. We came down through Ragdale and Hoby. There’s plenty of room, with seating for probably 30 people in total. Bikes can be parked in the outside area at the back of the building. It’s not the cheapest place, but they have good quality ingredients including Hambleton Bakery bread, and it’s no more expensive than lots of other places. I’m not sure how they would cope with a big group, as they were a little slow serving us with our food, and it wasn’t busy, but overall a thumbs up from us.

Me and Sue visited Leadenham Teahouse last week. It’s not very big, seating for probably 14 inside and it was a quite busy when we went and we had to briefly wait for a table. So not really suitable for a group ride at this time of year. There are some outside tables so it would probably be OK for a group in the summer. Not the cheapest, but a decent selection of cakes and they do 200 degrees coffee. It’s near the traffic light junction in the village - and in the same building as the Post Office, so just look out for the Post Office sign. We approached from Fulbeck, but made the mistake of dropping down onto the A17 on the way back, though only for about a mile to Stragglethorpe crossroads. You can avoid it by either heading back to Fulbeck and taking the minor road that runs parallel to the A17 towards Stragglethorpe, or head north to Welbourn then drop down to Brant Broughton and then to either Stragglethorpe crossroads or Beckingham to cross the A17.