Postcard from Dorset: checking out the Hive Beach Café
Posted by Lucy on March 27th, 2009You might remember a couple of weeks back we spent a day raving about some of Britain’s Best Beach Cafés. As threatened promised at the time, Mr & Mrs Smith paid a visit to some of them, for – ahem – research purposes (nothing to do with the lure of knickerbocker glories, marshmallow-pink prawns, fresh lobster sandwiches or crumbly wedges of moist sponge cake, then). Here’s what James – aka Mr Smith – had to say after a trip the Hive Beach Café in Dorset with his Mrs Smith, Tamara…
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Beach cafés have in the past meant (in my mind at least) soggy fish ‘n’ chips, cappuccinos from milkshake machines and glow-in-the-dark ice cream for pudding. All served up by po-faced temporary staff from local student halls.
So, when we were on a seaside weekend away staying at the Bull Hotel in Bridport with our good friends Kate and Robbie, and Mrs Smith suggested we go for a bracing walk (on what turned out to be a typically miserable wet and windy Spring day) and ‘stop off for a coffee at the Hive Beach Café’, I responded by smiling through my gritted teeth and mumbling ‘sounds like a great idea’. Because kicking back and reading the Sunday papers by a cosy fire with a nice cup of tea wasn’t at all what I had wanted to do. Oh no. Heaven forbid.
In fairness, Hive Beach was beautiful, and the Jurassic coast made a refreshing change from the ‘pretty’ Cornish beaches that I’m more familiar with, and when we did eventually arrive at the Hive Beach Café, I have to confess, I was immediately smitten. Toasty warm inside, a fish-shop-style counter takes centre stage: it’s packed with various catches of the day, and chalk boards explain where everything had been line-caught (you can even look up the name of the local fishermen who’ve caught your fish). Bustling chefs behind the counter added a little seaside theatre to proceedings.
You then walk into the adjacent room, and your eyes become wider as you see the home-made cakes on display – and real ‘grown-up’ coffee-making machines with an impressive array of coffees to choose from. The staff even smile. One guy I talked to had worked there for seven years – which confirmed (in my mind at least) this was indeed a special café.
The guy in question then shouted, ‘
Hot scones ready, come and get ’em!’, and as people leapt from their seats to get their sticky mitts on the latest batch, I found myself jostling for pole position. Because (and you might here like to imagine the honeyed tones of Dervla Kirwan) this isn’t just any old beach café; this is the ultimate, gold-star, award-winning, like no other, best beach café in the world. Probably.
So I grab my tray (it’s self-service) and start to pile things on top that I don’t even want, but which look too good to refuse, and after all we were on a mini-break, and of course the rules of the mini-break clearly state that you are allowed to eat as much cake and ice cream as you like. And when it’s this good, it’s even worth the walk….
I love the fact that this cafe is open all year round - where locals have their breakfast come rain or shine.
We were told that it gets very busy in the summer - but with the beach right in front of it, there’s plenty of space to spread out.
As I’m going to be spending a lot of time down there this summer, I will report back!
By Tamara
On March 31st, 2009