The Orchard Coffee House

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a fan of a play park where you can't get a coffee. Cake? That's a bonus! A toastie or a nice picky ploughman's lunch to share? Perfect.

The Orchard Coffee House, built by Gorsley Baptist Church, is part of the village hub. There's free parking, a picnic area where you can eat your own food, an outdoor seating area for the coffee shop (coffee shop food only there), and a post office and store. Then there's a great playground with swings, sand play, toys, slides and a great wooden ark that E loves climbing all over.

Next to the hub there's a football field, which bigger kids often use to run around and kick a ball about.

It's easy to set up at a table and keep an eye on wherever they run off to in the play areas, so you might actually get to finish your latte before it goes cold.

Both the shop and the coffee shop sell treats and ice cream too.

The café does great coffee, and I only say that when the first sip gives me that “mmm, that's nice” feeling. If you're lucky, you might see a special on the menu alongside their usual sandwiches, toasties, paninis, jacket potatoes and so on. It's all very nice, but I love it when there's a ploughman's on. The last time we had one, every element was extremely good, and at around a tenner it was good value, as E just shared mine.