The Potting Shed Cafe

Visited Insole Court today and had a delicious meal in the cafe.We had a wonderful Welsh rarebit accompanied by a delightful salad.The service and food was excellent and will definitely be returning.

Lovely day spoilt by a very rude and aggressive man called John at the Potting Shed. He was so unhelpful. Very upsetting. Charged me £4.50 for a bread roll. Shocking. His attitude spoilt the whole experience.

Lovely surrounding gardens, dog friendly and service food and drink. Food is very over priced but claims to be “homemade”. Drinks aren’t cheap but can be nice. Really hit and miss depending on the staff. Some of the staff are brilliant and very polite but others couldn’t care less, cold drinks with no flavour. Good luck Ver carta

The surrounding gardens are lovely so is the Manor House. The cafe is dog friendly and serves food with hot or cold drinks. Food is over priced but is claimed that it is “homemade”. Drinks are a lucky dip. Depending largely on which staff are working. Some of the staff are fantastic, very helpful and polite. Sadly not all the staff are like this, as some are happy to serve watered down drinks both hot or cold.

Rude staff who ruined the trip. Had friends visiting from Chicago and went to visit the old house as I had heard wonderful things. After we stopped for a late breakfast. With two two year olds and four adults we were keen to try the food, as again, friends and family had said how wonderful the place was. However the man at the desk was BEYOND rude, abrupt and blunt. Really disappointing. We decided to leave as it was completely uncalled for an not needed.

The food at this restaurant was delicious and served promptly, however, the staff were unwelcoming and unfriendly. As young mothers with two pushchairs, we tried our best to keep them out of the way, but three different staff members rolled their eyes and one even pretended she couldn't pass through when there was clearly enough room. Two of them asked us to move the pushchairs to different locations. While we understand that pushchairs can be cumbersome, there is a better way to communicate this to customers. It's unfortunate that the service overshadowed the otherwise pleasant atmosphere of the cafe. Ver carta

I’ve given this cafe the benefit of the doubt several times but unfortunately it remains the same. The staff (particularly the older man) are just so unprofessional. He gives off an air of ‘lazyiness’ tbh. I order a slice of cake and they produced an old piece from behind the fresh cake and handed it to me. He then scoffed ‘oh, this is yesterdays cake, we didn’t sell much!’. Handed me a tea in a shallow coffee cup with barely any water and a floating teabag. I think nowadays there are so many fantastic coffee shops with lovely staff this sort of attitude doesn’t go unnoticed. I’ve given it several chances but sadly won’t be back and certainly won’t be recommending.

We enjoy Insole Court and wish it continued success. During our recent visit, we were impressed by the second-hand bookshop. However, we found that The Potting Shed has lost some of its previous charm. The café still uses paper cups, giving off a lingering Covid-era feel. While our coffees, sausage rolls, and carrot cake were satisfactory, they were not exceptional. Despite the bustling mid-morning crowd, sitting near the counter was not very relaxing due to the loud conversations between staff and customers - reminiscent more of a casual diner or beach cafe rather than a place of heritage and culture. Perhaps it is better to visit in the summer when outdoor seating is available.

I have never seen such an unwelcoming group of staff who were working serving the food and drinks in this rather attractive cafe. The only person who had a smile on her face was the girl on the till. Due to the unfriendly staff we decided not to be tempted by the cakes. We ordered a hot chocolate and a double espresso; the hot chocolate was a very dark cardboard cup full of tasteless dark brown liquid, (I suppose most people don't see this because they have cream and marshmallows). I would challenge anyone on a blind tasting to say what the liquid was supposed to be. I only drink double espresso and I have enjoyed it all over the world but not at The Potting Shed; here it was bitter and unpl... Ver carta