My Favorite Coffee House Caffe Nero (Review)

One of my favorite addictions, yes, I have addictions, is the most lovely blends coming out of a well known coffee shop chain in England. I've never had straight up coffee or cappuccino, or  whatever. But I've had a penchant for either flavored coffee, French Vanilla etc. 

I've gone to England three times in the last eight year, and on my visit in 2010, I had the bright idea of having hot chocolate to combat the cold of weather of England. I eventually tested all of the major coffee chains in the United Kingdom being Caffè Nero, Costa, M&S Cafè, Pret and Starbucks. I was immediately hooked by the sweetness and the texture of the hot chocolate from Caffe Nero. And eventually every Caffe Nero I passed, I had to go in to buy a hot chocolate. 

By the way, I love the service I got from all of the Caffe Nero's, one located in Camden Town I think it was, even quite kindly stamped my loyalty card twice for one purchase, I felt so special. It's the little things I tell you. 

So, over the three visits, I probably spent close to 100 pounds on hot chocolate, with most of it going into Caffe Nero's pockets. Well worth it though. 

(Picture taken from Caffe Nero's website)

History

Caffè Nero (Italian for black coffee) or Caffè Nero Group Ltd is a European style coffee house brand with its headquarters in London. It was founded in 1991 by Ian Semp the original branch was at 66 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington. Currently, the company runs more than 825 coffee houses worldwide and is established in eight countries: the UK, Ireland, Poland, Cyprus, Croatia, Turkey, the UAE, and the United States.

Caffè Nero in March 2001 joined the London Stock Exchange under the symbol CFN. After a highly successful period on the London Stock Exchange, in early 2007, Caffè Nero was taken private in order to give it more flexibility to grow the business. From 2007 onwards, the company has been expanding internationally: in Turkey in 2007, in the UAE in 2009, in Poland in 2012, in Cyprus in 2013, and in Ireland and the United States in 2014.

Caffè Nero has won many accolades for its high quality coffee. It was rated by Allegra Strategies as having the highest coffee quality among coffee brands in the UK for eight years consecutively. 

(Picture taken from Caffe Nero's website)

A bookshelf bar at one of their oldest London coffee houses (Picture taken from Caffe Nero's website)

Coffee with a view at Bebek store, Istanbul. (Picture taken from Caffe Nero's website)

And if you don't believe me, independent sources are always the best, don't you think so?

In 2013, Caffè Nero's coffee was rated best tasting among five major UK brands by experts at the independent consumer magazine Which? Which Coffee Shop tastes the best?

Caffè Nero has a loyalty card programme in which customers may be given a piece of blue card with 9 white circles (designed to look like empty ceramic cups viewed from above). Whenever they buy a drink, they can ask for a stamp in one of the white circles. A card with all the circles stamped can be used to pay for any Caffè Nero drink.

Probably, my greatest disappointment, for all my three trips, I was never able to complete the loyalty cards, I left all three for my sister to enjoy. 

Warning, Not Lilliput But Bekonscot Model Village :) (Review)

Sometimes when one is going to a foreign country, the best way to get recommendations of what touristy things to do is from the locals, because more often than not, the most interesting places are found off the beaten path where all the tourist guides go. When it was recommended to me by my brother, I said okay, as he has never recommended a place I didn't like before. 

Bekonscot, I should mention is a beautifully adorned place, well kept but it's difficult to spend more than two hours here as the actual village is small. The site is approximately two acres of which just over half is a miniature 1:12 landscape. Buildings are constructed in natural materials, concrete, or dense foam-board; many are originals from the 1920s.

There are six model villages set within the miniature landscape. These are entirely fictional towns, but many buildings within them are based on UK prototypes. Successive generations of model-makers, gardeners and craftsmen have left their mark on their subjects, which display a wide range of vernacular architectural styles.

Bekonscot in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, is the oldest original model village in the world.

It portrays aspects of England mostly dating from the 1930s. Bekonscot has been run by the Church Army since 1978 and donates large amounts of money to charity. It has raised the equivalent of almost £5,000,000 so far and has been visited by more than 14,000,000 visitors.

























Bekonscot was first created by a Beaconsfield resident, accountant Roland Callingham (1881–1961), in the 1920s. He developed the master plan for his miniature empire as an addition to his large back garden, drawing in help from his staff: the gardener, cook, maid and chauffeur. Together they developed the model landscape portraying rural England at the time. The swimming pool became the first "sea" and the undulating rockeries were built up as hills. Bassett-Lowke, the large-scale model railway manufacturers, were commissioned to build an extensive Gauge 1 railway network for the project. Bekonscot's Gauge 1 outdoor model railway is among the largest public garden railways in the UK, at ten scale miles.


The models were very charming and quaint at the same time and it is a wonderful way to gain an appreciation of the amazing detail and the thousands of hours of work that was spend in putting together the design. I should mention it is worth the time, the money just to visit it. As well as, they are constantly refining and gradually, albeit slowly expanding the village putting in more and different structures. It was a wonderful way to spend a couple hours lazily enjoying the village.

YAY Cricket! 

I was most excited by the model trains running throughout the village. Hmm reminds me of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. :)

Important Details! 

How does one get here? See link for their website. 

Postcode for Satnav: HP9 2PL

By Car
We are signposted from the motorway, please follow the brown signs.
1. Take A40 to Beaconsfield Old Town.
2. Take A355 towards Amersham, passing over railway line.
3. Turn left into Ledborough Lane.
4. At end, turn left into Beaconsfield New Town.
5. After 100 yards, turn left again into Warwick Road. Bekonscot’s free parking is 200 yards on right, please note we have a limited number of spaces. There is a small pay and display car park very close by as well. Our car parking marshals will be able to help you find somewhere to park. Parking is also available at nearby St Teresa’s Church.

By Rail
Chiltern Railways run regular services to Beaconsfield station (5 min walk) from London Marylebone (25 mins), Aylesbury, Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon, High Wycombe and beyond. You can be at Bekonscot in less than 45 minutes from London’s West End. Book your train ticket to Bekonscot here now!

By Bus
There are several local routes from surrounding areas, there are also national routes which run to High Wycombe where you can easily change to a local service such as Arriva’s.

Coaches and Mini Buses
We welcome coaches to “set down” and “pick up” from our car park, our car park marshals will direct the driver where they may go in the interim. Please enter the car park by driving down by the side of Waitrose supermarket and turning left into St Teresa’s Church car park. Please remember to contact us first if you are proposing to come by coach or mini bus. You can find out more information about Coach Groups here.

Standard Ticket Prices
Adult : £10.00
Child : £6.00 (aged 2-15)
Under 2’s : FREE
Family : £29.00 (2 adults & 2 children)
Family : £20.00 (1 adult & 2 children)
Concessions: £8.00
Carers: £4.00
Special Prices : 3.30pm-5.30pm only

Adult : £6.50
Child : £4.00 (aged 2-15)
Under 2’s : FREE
Family : £19.00 (2 adults & 2 children)
Family : £13.00 (1 adult & 2 children)
Concessions: £5.00
Carers: £2.50
No discount vouchers or any other offers (2for1 etc) will be accepted between 3.30pm-5.30pm