You don’t have to cycle to the new Velo Cafe but it does seem a very appropriate way to journey there. This is Brighton’s first bike themed cafe and a new community hub for commuters, Brightonians, visitors and cyclists of all persuasions. The whole Level area has been redeveloped recently with an imaginative new children’s play area, landscaped fountains, a popular skate park for the teens and this fabulous new cafe. The wooden single storey structure comes with loads of sustainability credentials from the green wildlife friendly roof and solar panels to its rain water harvesting system.
Outside there’s an abundance of south facing seating on the terrace to catch the sun and plenty of bold red bike parking. You can spot the Velo banner flapping in the breeze with the ubiquitous logo ‘Eat Drink Ride’. Inside there’s a buzz about the place and its not just for cyclists with young families, laptop workers and curious passers by all taking a look. Queuing up for my coffee I admired Velo’s distinctive red and white logo emblazoned across their coffee machine and the cups and mugs with cyclists on bikes design. The open kitchen lets you see some of the delicious looking food being prepared. Breakfasts are served until 11.30 then it’s toasted sandwiches, burgers and salads. Velo pride themselves on using local artisan producers including Small Batch Coffee and Flour Pot Bakery. The cakes on display certainly looked enticing as was the display of red and white cyclists’ water bottles and other cycling paraphernalia that every cyclist likes to check out.
Being a bright autumn day there was tons of light flooding in with glass windows on three sides of the building as well as along the apex of the roof. A large flat screen shows a loop of great cycling moments from history and I can imagine that this will be a popular spot for cycling fans to gather when the Tour de France and other cycle races are taking place. There’s an open workshop to the back where you can get your bike serviced or even get that infuriating puncture repaired where the price includes a tea or coffee. So it’s all very civilized and puts the ease back into cycling.
The web based Velo Strava Club allows Velo regulars to tot up and publish their miles, altitude and time taken for journeys ridden. Being a keen cyclist myself it’s wonderful to see the symbiosis of cycling and cafes come together with such conviction. Maybe there will be some osmosis with the non cycling customers imbibing some of the cycling vibe down on the Level and deciding to have a go themselves. And where better to start than at Velo.
Central park has just as much buzz as the rest of Manhattan albeit in a more spacious setting. The park is a massive patch of green space in the heart of the city and the New Yorkers come here to jog, cycle and play baseball with typical zeal and earnestness. After all this is their small slot of time and space to exercise and they’re going to make the most of it. Then there are the horse and carriage rides and the bike carriages too taking tourists on trips around the park’s inner route adding to the general throng. All of the city, as well as the park, has an air of familiarity about it somehow, probably because New York has been the backdrop to so many films and TV series.
A morning visit to The Met, which sits on the east side with its breathtaking views over the park from its roof garden, satisfied any cultural urges. A more prosaic need was to find a cafe for lunch. There are a few cafes dotted around the park and after getting slightly lost in this vast area with its woods, rocks, tiny paths, reservoir and turtle filled lake we came upon Le Pain Quotidien. This is an artisan bakers with a great array of tasty sandwiches and pastries. The outside terrace is perfect to take in the Manhattan skyline behind a foreground of trees. The park’s huge perimeter mean that you can’t hear or see the traffic on the nearby Avenues.
For observing a different side of Manhattan, a prime spot on the cafe terrace held my attention for ages. From young Latino girls pushing their privileged charges about in their prams while mom is out working to the young women in their gorgeous designer shift dresses immaculately poised and groomed with their Chanel handbags hanging effortlessly over their arm. Preppy boys actually exist, coiffed and sporting dashing blazers with the requisite brown brogues and straight legged chinos direct from a J Crew advert.
I remember reading in Alain de Boton’s wonderful Art of Travel about a philosopher who liked to just sit at train stations or ports rather than traveling through them himself. It was more about sitting and observing and imagining the stories about all the lives moving in and about the scene before him, thereby saving himself all the stresses and discomfort of travel. I can identify with his point of view and observing Manhattan life from the parks, High Line walkway and cafes were some of the best parts of my trip.
Spotting what I thought looked like a film shoot just a short way away I wandered over to see that it was Kevin Bacon doing a jogging scene for an upcoming Warner Brothers production. So my impressions of New York being like some huge film set are not so off target. Real life will seem very tame on my return home.
The Brighton Festival is now over but one of the best exhibitions I went to was The Blue Route at Fabrica Gallery. The Finnish artist Kaarina Kaikkonen strung a load of colourful shirts along clothes lines and with sleight of hand turned them into an art form. I like to think that when I occasionally hang out my washing it looks pretty good on the line too though hardly worthy of gallery space. Washing hanging out on lines was recently one of the subjects on the Today programme on Radio 4 and how it’s become a dying habit. It seems most people now use tumble dryers or hang their wet laundry around indoors avoiding the vagaries of the British weather. The interviewee waxed lyrical on the joy of sleeping on sheets dried outdoors. I know I benefit from a good dose of fresh air and the outdoors too and also eschew the unpredictability of the climate and that’s why I took myself off to a walk around Stanmer Park the other day.
There’s a great well laid out footpath that takes you the several miles around the perimeter of the park. You get to have a satisfying tramp through the woods and when the path opens out at its highest point you get some lovely views towards the South Downs Way and beyond. Just at the point where you start to turn south towards Stanmer village there’s a bench carved from a fallen tree where you can sit and rest for a few minutes before the last stage of the walk down to the tea rooms.
Stanmer Tea Rooms have been trading 
in the village at the edge of the park for as long as I’ve lived in Brighton. It’s changed hands several times but always seems to keep more or less to its winning formula. This is a stop for walkers, cyclists and dog walkers to pause awhile and take in the peacefulness of the village location but which is amazingly still within the city boundary of Brighton and Hove. The fare is simple here but wholesome with the breakfasts and toasted sandwiches the favourite options. When the weather is good enough outside is the best place to be to catch a bit of sun whether in the garden area or out on the patio.
There’s a lovely old oak tree now in leaf just opposite the tea rooms and the pink blossoms are now out by the village church.
Benefiting from fresh air is enriching not just for washing but for people too and if there’s also the enticement of a country tea stop so much the better.
I’d always thought that Wish Park was in need of a cafe. And now it has one. Last year Carla saw the potential of the sports pavilion and set about transforming part of it into an inviting and popular park cafe. There’s already an abundance of regulars who stop by to spend some time in this haven of scrumptious treats.
Carla is Italian and is a real powerhouse of energy bringing all her native passion to creating a great neighbourhood cafe. When she’s not working as a member of the cabin crew with British Airways and jetting all over the world she’s here in Hove coming up with new ideas to develop her cafe further. She brings her natural friendliness and flair for customer service to everyone she meets. Chatting to customers comes so naturally to her you feel as if you’ve known her for ages.
There are blackboards chalked up with everything on offer and its worth taking your time to choose. Unusually Wish Cafe bakes all their own cakes on site. There’s a tiny kitchen where amazing baking aromas waft through with wonderful orange & vanilla upside-down cake and lemon & yoghurt cake being just two of Wish’s specialities displayed on the counter.
Breakfasts are rather special too with choices including baked egg and beans on sourdough toast or creamy mushrooms with poached egg on toasted ciabbatta with Parmesan shavings. There’s fish finger ciabbattas too for the big kid in us all. Teas served are Clipper and I’m told the coffee is pretty good too.
There’s both indoor and outdoor seating so if 
it’s a bit chilly you can sit inside and browse on the pile of magazines with windows overlooking the park. This space is painted bright white with fresh red tulips on the plain pine wooden tables. Or sit outside on the small decking area on a sunnier day and watch the trees come into bud and be more part of the park’s life.
I’ve been watching the Arena documentary of George Harrison’s life called Living In The Material World made by Martin Scorsese. It’s been fascinating to observe the complete span of this ex-Beatle’s remarkable life from young teenager until his death in late middle-age. His journey from cocky adolescence to spiritual sage was compelling given his supreme musical talent to express his understanding of the world.
I suppose we all would wish to know and understand our own talents so well and use them to such accomplished effect. Seeing people in full flow of their inherent talents such as Carla with her energy and affability is both uplifting and inspiring. As George Harrison said “All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece but not too much.” Wish is as good a place to start as any to taste a bit of what the world has to offer and make sure you have a slice of their delicious home made cake while you’re there.
You can follow Wish Cafe on Facebook at Wish Park Cafe
To read more about the early days of Wish Park see Wish Park history
One of the first signs of spring in Brighton is when the cafe in Pavilion Gardens opens up again after its winter shutdown. During the bleak winter months Pavilion Gardens always look as if something is missing, not quite complete, somehow rather bereft. I spotted the cafe’s tables and chairs getting their annual Spring clean and the staff getting the cafe ready for business for the new season the other day as I was walking along New Road. Sure enough a few days later cafe life had blossomed in the gardens again.
You get a front row view of the Royal Pavilion’s splendour from the cafe across the grass lawn. Living so close to the Royal Pavilion its easy to become complacent about this eastern style palace with its minarets and domes plonked right in the middle of town. Seated at the cafe you get a chance to appreciate it anew.
The cafe describes itself as ‘an oasis in the heart of the city’ and that’s just exactly what it is. As much as I love all the buzz of Brighton I’m often to be found just a stone’s throw away from all the crowds, shops and traffic in the gardens between the Royal Pavilion and New Road. The cafe has been there since 1941 and has been run by the same family making it as much of a Brighton institution as the Royal Pavilion opposite. Its cream painted art deco style building is just as an iconic structure to Brighton cafe lovers. The engaging history of the cafe over the years is told on the two boards on the cafe’s southern wall.
On the cafe patio a friendly squirrel 
will be after your cake if you’ve got some. though its their fruit and coconut rock cakes that the cafe is best known for. There are always a few free newspapers to read and a loyalty card has been introduced for regulars. Not quite sure what the hedge elephant is all about but it appeared a few years ago and seems to have found a home on the patio.
Life slows down a pace when you’re sitting here but there’s plenty to see as people cut through the gardens for a leafy short cut between the museum and the Lanes. The international students are here in their hoards now too flocking through the gardens on their way to see the Pavilion as part of their itinerary. For a bit of musical diversion there’s always a busker or two playing in the path that winds through the gardens. There are at least fifty two types of tree in the gardens all ready to start budding another season including Magnolia, Pride of India, Weeping Cherry, Sugar Maple and Oriental Plane. Some of them offer dappled light while you enjoy your tea or coffee in the fresh air on the terrace. All the seating is outdoors so this is a cafe for those who embrace the outdoors. That and its peaceful ambience are probably the main reasons I return especially in those first budding days of spring.
A while back Queen’s Park Books published Tea Time Tales featuring regulars recounting their stories of the cafe over the many years that it has been in business.
The recent Fresh Air Meet-up I went to was a presentation by Charlotte Austin who knows a thing or two about communication skills. She comes from the Dale Carnegie school of ‘How to make friends and influence people’ and she certainly came across as someone who knew what she was talking about. It was a fascinating workshop and gave me plenty to think about into how we can improve our skills of communication in all areas of life. Sitting at a cafe is a great place to ponder on life and what I’d been learning so I cycled over to Preston Park on the other side of town to Floriana’s.
There’s something about cafes in parks that the other cafes just cannot match. Something to do with the space, the greenery and the unhurried, relaxed feel of the park setting. In Preston park Floriana’s Rotunda cafe has been there as long as I can remember sitting at its southern tip. So called because of its circular build. The terrace filled with tables and chairs follows the curve of the building on an elevated position looking over the wonderful rose gardens and pond. On a late August day the rose gardens that front the cafe were in full bloom with the heady perfume to match.
Inside its bright and spacious should the weather turn but the reason for visiting this cafe is for settling yourself at one of the outdoor tables on the terrace. Seated away from the hustle and bustle you can hear the rumble of traffic on nearby Preston Road and spot the green Southern trains rumbling high up over the viaduct ahead but all of that is far enough away not to intrude on the calm. Customers gradually began to fill up the terrace as the morning wore on making the most of the early morning sunshine. On offer there’s the usual cafe fare of jacket potatoes, sandwiches and cakes all at reasonable prices, nothing fancy but nothing pretentious either.
Afterwards I had a look around the rose garden. 
A sign lists the locations of the beds of over a hundred varieties of rose. Try Rosa Mundi, Scarborough Fair, Ipsilante, Sceptr’d Isle, Buff Beauty, Wildeve, Sweet Juliet, Sophie’s Rose, Getrude Jekyll, Camerieux, Amelia, Leander and Teasing Georgia for a few to be getting on with. Then I had a peak at the impressive community allotment site, which is just behind the cafe, with its cornucopia of healthy vegetables coming into season.
So I’d had a dose of Fresh Air with plenty of inspiration and practical ideas for living well the previous evening at the meet up workshop. Followed today by a ponder on what I’d learned in the intoxicating air of the rose garden by the Rotunda cafe.
It’s an easy cycle ride from my home in West Hove to St Ann’s Well Gardens. On such a scorching day I didn’t want the glare of the seafront but instead fancied the dappled light and shade of some trees so I picked my way through the quieter roads as much as I could and found this oasis of calm in the heart of the city. The park was busy with local office workers on their lunch break so I found a quiet corner to eat my home made sandwich while I read more of the book I’m absorbed in at the moment. The Power by Rhonda Byrne, the follow-up to The Secret, most definitely gives you something to think about. Her premise is essentially that the more love you give out then the more you receive back whether in work, relationships, health or money. Even more so if you believe and visualize that you are abundant in these areas already. She talks about being as positive as you can be and withholding any negativity and how important it is to show gratitude for everything you already have.
Now mid afternoon the office workers have moved on and its the young mums with kids, the students, the retired and those not at work like myself who populate the park. The Garden Cafe is fronted by huge City Council planters brimming with tall pink tulips and a myriad of other blooms. Inside there are fascinating blown up photos of the park in earlier years including one from Empire Day in 1908. There’s loads of seating, both wooden tables and chairs and comfy sofas too.The food seems very reasonable and is served up by a friendly bunch of women. The sun was just coming over the roof onto the north facing patio so I picked a table outside still in the shade to drink my tea. I could see the the local bowling club, dressed smartly in their whites with a flash of blue, playing a game just through the trees.
The Power talks about showing gratitude and love for what you have. Well I’m loving the sunshine, the cafe and the park. I really appreciate not being in the workplace and having time to sit around this lovely park on a gorgeous day and I’m loving writing. I don’t even mind the kid who has just started whining and am getting used to not having as much money as before – life is great!
Cafe Dharma 