Caffeine & Machine, Morgans and Diddly Squat Farmshop.
We spent 3 days last week touring round the countryside south of Birmingham. We had tickets to a tour of the Morgan factory at Malvern and to make the journey worthwhile we decided on a couple of other stops.
The first day saw us at Caffeine and Machine just south of Stratford Upon Avon. In their words they are a ”Coffee house, licensed bar and restaurant, boutique b&b, and living art gallery, C&M is designed very simply as a place to go, a destination if you appreciate moving things.”
Although it was quiet when we visited I think it would be an excellent day out when there are events on. The pizza I had for lunch was superb!
We stayed at a hotel near Kidderminster and the next day saw us going to Malvern to visit Morgan Cars.
The tour is around 2 hours and is an extremely interesting and absorbing time. We also enjoyed an excellent afternoon tea. As a day out I would recommend it.
We also saw some early production cars, the Super 3. This is a new version of the 3 wheeler with a 1.5 ltr Ford 3 cylinder engine. This engine replaces the Vee twin motorbike engine, apparently it could not conform with current emission regulations.
The cars we saw were being released to the press. The tour guide said that soon it would be possible to hire one for the day; yes please! Despite the small engine it promises to be hairy and lairy.
Our third day saw us venturing to Chipping Norton, the home of Diddly Squat Farm.
Now to be honest I was a little disappointed, the shop was really small and crowded, of course. The ‘Big View’ cafe would be quite pleasant on a warm day but I think it could lose its appeal in a blustery wet weather. It didn’t deter the crowds of Clarkson groupies though (me included).
So we bought some Clarkson Sausage, case of Hawkstone beer, an empty milk bottle and 3 tea towels. Almost £70. The chap on the till informed us that as they could only sell ‘local’ produce and the tea towels were not local then we should buy a potato and get the towels free! Genius.
The beer’s not bad though!
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