The Garden at Flint Owl Bakery Café

flint-owl-garden-from-cafe — From now on, on a beautiful day, the inside seating at Flint Owl Bakery Café will be empty

The Flint Owl Bakery Café garden opened last week (209 High Street, Lewes; 01273 472 769). I went along to meet a friend and take a look.

It has high walls, gravel to the ground and built-in ‘zoned’ seating areas made of larch that will beautifully weather to grey. One of these areas is very low, so kid-friendly.

Sitting out there, I could barely hear the High Street, which the café’s frontage faces. It’s an oasis of calm (or perhaps not if we all take our children there!).

But take my children there I did. Today, for a road test.

Here are my tips for a visit to Flint Owl with kids:

One raised area of planting is all herbs, long grasses and the ‘rabbits ear’ plants that we like – so a sensory little spot.
As I’d been before, I knew to take a couple of tiny diggers to keep my sons occupied. They seemed the right fit with the gravel. Luckily I was right about that!
Flint Owl usually have fragments of cookies in a dish by the till. Being quite little, my children are happy with a couple of shards of whatever’s going.
Since I’m saving on buying them food, I feel I can justify the boys having a nice drink (instead of the usual water!). The apple juice Flint Owl stocks is totally delicious – I forgot to note the brand.
I should mention that Flint Owl doesn’t have high chairs.

Flint Owl does kick-ass coffee. And of course beautiful breads and pastries. They use nothing nasty and it’s evident in the taste. On the way out, we snapped up a sausage roll as a treat for today’s picnic. Like almost everything in the café, they look too good to pass by – don’t you agree?

As an aside, if you’re interested in what goes on behind the scenes at the actual bakery in Glynde, have a look at Lewes photographer Carlotta Luke‘s evocative images of owner, proprietor and baker David creating bread magic while we sleep. Some nights he makes over 3,000 loaves by hand!

I’ll do a proper ‘In Town’ piece about Flint Owl Café in future weeks.

But here are some of my own (non-fancy!) snaps of the garden. Just while we’re in the season to enjoy it.

garden-gate-and-table-in-shingle-walled-garden — With its tall garden gate and high wall covered in a climber, the outside space at the Flint Owl Bakery Café feels like a secret garden

various-planted-herbs-and-grasses — Soft ‘rabbits ears’, pungent sage, tickly grasses – a mini sensory spot in the Flint Owl Bakery Café garden

seating-and-the-back-of-a-building-in-a-garden — With its different styles of seating and gravely ground, the garden at Flint Owl Bakery Café feels nicely mismatched and imperfect

tiny-diggers-in-gravel — Taking tiny diggers to scoop up the gravel in the garden was an inspired idea!

tables-and-planting-in-a-cafe-garden — I love the way the purple planting matches the purple table in one corner – and the half-rendered, half-flint wall…

low-level-cafe-garden-seating — Zoned, low-level seating crafted from larch planks, this is a particularly good area for families

a-pile-of-homemade-sausage-rolls — The definition of irresistible. To meat-eaters, that is…

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About Little Lewes

Little Lewes is a blog about things to do with kids in and near Lewes, the county town of East Sussex.

It's here to provide ideas and inspiration about Lewes's own special little places, and about days out and unusual spots to visit within an hour of the town.

I am Kate, a freelance writer, content creator, and editor who once specialised in travel features and books. My feet have been planted firmly on the ground in Lewes since I had my two small sons. Little Lewes is also for me, as an ode to the town that constantly reminds me that I'm lucky to have chosen it as the place to raise my family.