Spade And Spoon Cafe in Wealden

update 2025; This is now very much a run-of-the-mill garden centre cafe, which is such a crying shame as it was SO special when Spade and Spoon ran it in the old (pre-fire) building. We used to drive miles out of our way to pop in for their extraordinary cakes and proper barista coffee. It was very hard to find that level of excellence outside of city centre fancy cafes. Cecil's kitchen is perfectly fine but the menu, food, service and experience is very canteen like. Hard not to be disappointed now we know what we're missing!

Disappointed. So missed the wonderful toasted sandwiches . No Sausage Rolls . Cafe very noisy ..sat outside ..Preferred the Temporary set up .. very poor selection

I Attended Cecil,s cafe yesterday with friend & myself. We had jacket potatoes , I am sorry but the potatoes were not good, I had a cheese topping which was placed on the top & heated through , no butter in the potato & to be honest I prefer just plain grated cheese in no way was it a baked potato it was more like a steamed potato, very bland & solid , my friend ate the filling chilli con carne with cheese but said the potato was inedible. On the upside the staff were friendly & polite . For the amount of people who visit there I feel you need more choice in cakes etc. Please note this is about the New Cecil,s NOT the Spade & Spoon

We have visited Stavertons Cecil’s cafe twice now for lunch and have enjoyed it both times. It is very busy when visiting garden centre which is a good sign. It is a really good refurbishment with plenty of tables. The system works well of ordering with table number at the till and there is even an area to take your dogs. The food was very good with excellent sandwiches served with a fresh salad and crisps, together with good service. We also tried the thin and chunky chips, both of which were good. The menu is very good and has items like quiche of the day, pie of the day and fish and chips. The display of cakes looked excellent. Lovely big pot of tea to accompany. Nice seating area outside will be nice when warmer.

Sadly, this cafe will close in July 2024 and it seems there won't be a replacement on site. Hoping that a new restaurant will open at Stavertons as it makes a trip to the garden centre an extra pleasure. The best garden centre in Sussex deserves a great cafe!

The food here is SO much better than your average garden centre! All totally homemade with premium ingredients. Not cheap as a result, but completely worth it. Fantastic barista made coffee. The set-up is still basic after the fire in the main building, but I’d still far rather come here than most cafes locally. Always super friendly too. Our family’s favourite

I hope this cafe is better when it is no longer a temporary set up after the fire. Given that coffee is served in disposable cups, there is no table service, nor even trays to carry food, I think the prices are very expensive. Friendly staff, but in a very spartan setting, NOT a very enjoyable experience, and the scones not even warmed. Will visit again when a permanent fixture, but I fear eating out now is so expensive it is beyond many people's purses to pay £7.00 or more for a sandwich!

Bad attitude from staff, a lady was feeding her dog from the cutlery that she was using when I asked a member of staff to ask her not to I was told to tell her myself as she was busy, another member of staff said it was outside and what could she do and everything was washed after use. If people must take dogs to food facitlies they should be treated as animals not humans. We will not be returning.

I have visited spade and spoon on a number of occasions and always been impressed by the quality of the food and service. But this 'shout out' is heart-felt - they made a birthday cake for my friend's birthday (pear and almond) it looked beautiful and was absolutely delicious. But in addition they made the occasion fun - I supplied candles which they lit and brought to our table leading a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' it was a lovely surprise for my friend. Thank you all so much!

The temporary out side cafe due to main building fire is very poor,food average but not value for money to what they are charging ,I ask for a extra hot coffee which was only warm ,I ask to re do but no difference,they are charging top prices for food and coffee which are below standard to their indoor cafe they had ….to be sitting outside in a make shift tent in the coffee for the cost they are charging is ridiculous . Won’t be returning to main building cafe is rebuild.

Normally one of our favourite places for lunch and looking round the shop and plant areas . Today was very disappointing . Food was not that good. The coffee was like hot milk . I don’t expect to eat with flimsy plastic cutlery. Not that cheep for a not so nice experience

Can I give ten stars? The food is really stunning; proper fresh ingredients, the cakes are out of this world. Ten times better than your average garden centre cafe! Beautiful, top spec coffee. Friendly staff. We go as often as we can. Thanks team

absolutely the best experience i’ve ever had in a garden centre cafe. friendly staff, great food and a lovely atmosphere. would definitely come back

Visited today- I decided to go into the new cafe where there was a sign about a reduced menu due to staff shortages - that can't be helped but one of the few things on the menu that seemed to be available was toasted sandwiches. The woman behind the till immediately told me they couldn't do those- seemed simple enough to me but obviously beyond the capabilities of the staff that were there. I wonder how Costa manage? No alternative offered so I opted for a coffee, nearly £4 for a smallish cup which was bitter. I won't be going back to this cafe.

We visited today to see what the new cafe at Staverton Nursery was like. VERY disappointed. The food, which was pretty basic anyway, was very expensive, £7.90 for a cheese and tomato toastie with an extra £2 for gherkin was exorbitant. Had to order drinks first before being moved along to order food. The girl then rung it all up at the till but did not include the latte that has been ordered. This has not been requested by the lady dealing with the drinks!! No apology offered. After paying, the credit card machine offered a receipt but when requested it advised that the machine was out of receipt paper. I pointed this out and was told “we don’t have any, shall I write you a receipt?” When I said that I would like one she wrote the date and the amount on a post it note! Not much good had I been claiming on expenses. The table we sat at was soaking wet and we had to dry it ourselves and other tables were left with crumbs after a cursory wipe by a waitress. So disappointed that such a great nursery, that had been crying out for a coffee shop, should be let down like this. We will not be returning.

We have been a couple of times for coffee and a sweet or breakfast. Lovely setting inside and out. Great service. Excellent food. We plan to return tomorrow!

Owners passionate about food and it's quality. Staff very friendly and motivated. All ingredients of our Grilled Coronation chicken salad were absolutely top notch