UPDATE TO POST 31/08/14
I wrote this post having not visited Gibby’s myself, and a reader kindly took the time to email me her feedback after going for a cream tea there. Here are her comments:
Very unkempt, grass up around your ankles, around the house needs a good sweep to get rid of dirt and snails, cups need a good bleach… Certainly wouldn’t go there for a proper meal. Animals don’t look too happy either stuck in poky little cages. Microwaved scones as well! Poor, poor, poor!!!
In the name of transparency I am keeping the post up, but with the reader’s comment. This is the last time I write a post about somewhere I’ve not personally visited!
At the end of my post about rolling along at Cuckmere Haven, I mentioned that we timed everything badly.
Well, despite that, we also took a longer route home for some weird reason. I think the sun got to us.
Actually I’ll admit it: we were arguing about whether we could fit in a pint of prawns at the Tiger Inn as we went up the steep hill you ascend when you turn left out of Seven Sisters Cycle Co. I thought we could, but by the time we got to the top I had conceded, and we were heading home. Via Polegate.
This route took us through some very pretty villages I’ve never heard of. All the tearooms along the route home were newly open for the season, and one called Gibby’s between Jevington and Wannock stood out as it’s also a mini farm for rescued animals! According to their website, these include some mini pigs, two giant rabbits called Wilma and Wilf, and a wallaby named Billy.
ANYTHING that allows me to have a cup of tea in peace by keeping my boys busy gets a vote. And I have drunk tea in some entirely un-chanting places to this end.
Sadly, due to the aforementioned crap timing of the entire day, we couldn’t stop and indulge at Gibby’s. So I haven’t tried the fare and the atmosphere may suck. But they do a cream tea and a toasted teacake and the garden looks pretty inviting. To my mind tea + cake + animals = peace. Not rocket science.
It’s on my radar now, but if anyone goes you are officially tasked with whacking out your iPhone and taking some pictures, sending them to me and then writing me a guest post. Please.
THE ESSENTIALS
Drive: 22 mins
Address: Jevington Road, Polegate, Nr Eastbourne, BN26 5QA
Tel. no: 01323 482 484
Website: gibbystearooms.co.uk
Hours: Tue-Sun + Bank Hol Mon, 10am-5.30pm
Disclosure: No financial compensation was offered or exchanged for the writing of this post. We drove by Gibby’s, I thought it looked good, I thought I’d share. End of story!
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Very untempt, grass up round your ankle’s, round the house needs a dam good sweep of dirt and snails, cups need a good bleach, certainly wouldn’t go there for a proper meal. Animals don’t look to happy either stuck in pokie little cages. Poor poor poor!!!
THANK YOU for you for the comment E Farley. I am SHOCKED! As I said in the post we didn’t go here – if I had experienced anything like what you describe it would not be on the blog. I’m unsure whether to copy your comment to the top of the post or whether to remove the post all together! Poor, poor, poor indeed! I feel badly now that my post lead you there!
Your email just cropped up as I looked to complain about gibbies so I used your website! I’ve passed this place many times over the years my daughter even spoke to me about taking the kids there during the holidays, so glad I didn’t. I drove past the other day with my husband and an elderly friend who fancied a cup of tea, we decided to each have a cream tea. Because of the wind we chose to sit next to the house. The cream tea came out, cups stained weak tea, 1 pot between three, 1 jam between three, 1 cream between three. The scones were hot and dry. There were snails and cobwebs all over the wall and windowsill right next to us. None of us could believe it and it’s still in season. I think people should be warned. Oh and it cost me £16.50.
Microwaved scones too!!!