The café was packed with people and is clearly a popular spot

Garden centres are a quintessential part of British culture. With multiple departments selling everything under the sun alongside large offerings of plants and gardening equipment, it is easy to spend a whole day at a garden centre when you need to escape from daily life.

To draw customers in, many garden centres now have their own restaurants and cafés as well as farm shops or play areas to keep children entertained. Cambridgeshire has plenty of garden centres with lovely cafés to test out, so I decided to head down to Scotsdales Garden Centre in Horningsea to see what its Sunflower Café had to offer.

The CamBites series sees our reporters travelling around Cambridgeshire in search of the best food on a budget. Before heading to the café, I managed to get swept up by the range of items on offer at the garden centre.

I spent half an hour drooling over all of the food in the shop and enjoying the bright displays of flowers before dragging myself away to the Sunflower Café. It was completely packed with people. Even though it was a weekday, I was told I’d either have to wait to be seated inside or I could choose to sit outside. Considering it was a fairly nice day, I picked the latter.

I was handed a menu before I picked a table in the garden and had a look through what was on offer while enjoying the peaceful surroundings. The café has a range of classic British dishes to choose from, including both breakfast and lunch options, as well as an extensive drinks list.

To order, I went to the counter and passed by an impressive display case of cakes, brownies, and cheesecakes that looked mouth-wateringly good. If I hadn’t been on a budget, a few slices definitely would have been coming home with me.

I ordered the quiche Lorraine that came with chips, coleslaw, and a side salad, costing £12.99. I collected some cutlery from the island by the counter that had a range of sauces available.

Before long, my food had arrived and I was ready to see what all the fuss was about and why this café was so busy. After taking just one bite, I was impressed by the quality of the food. The slice of quiche was perfectly soft and creamy with chunks of bacon dotted throughout, encased in a light and crumbly pastry.

The side salad was crisp and fresh packed with cherry tomatoes, slices of red onion, and cucumber that came on a bed of mixed lettuce leaves. While it was very refreshing, I felt like the salad would have benefited from a light dressing or balsamic glaze to bring it together.

I was hugely surprised by the coleslaw, which was velvety and rich, and went wonderfully with the side salad to help with its lack of dressing. The chips were homely with a crunchy outside and a fluffy middle to top off the meal.

The whole experience was enjoyable from the lovely service and seating area to the strikingly good food. It is easy to understand why so many people flock to garden centres when they have almost everything you could need in one place. When paired with a fantastic meal for an affordable price, you cannot go wrong with a trip to Scotsdales.

The Horningsea branch of Scotsdales can be found on the village high street. The store is open from 9am to 5pm on Mondays to Saturdays and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays.

All of our food reviews are paid for by the writer. The establishments do not know we will be reviewing their food, allowing us to make fair judgements on each place.

It was nice to see how much respect was paid to those who fought in World War Two

Cambridgeshire has a strong RAF history, with many former bases now seeing new lives as museums or housing developments. At a former RAF base, a restaurant pays homage to those who once served at the base.

Recently, I visited Alconbury Weald, a 10-year-old housing development where new homes are still being built. Although it only had one shop, there was an interesting restaurant I wanted to check out. This was The Watch Office.

What made it stand out is it served as an operational hub for RAF Alconbury during the Second World War. The restaurant resembled a bunker, and its current camouflage decoration harks back to the days when the building was used by the military.

As I stepped inside, I was faced with more decoration inspired by the war and the RAF, with different planes painted on the walls, alongside their names. It was endearing to see the respects paid to the former RAF base, with the history of the area part of the fabric of its incarnation today.

It was when I stepped into the main restaurant I realised how much the RAF was respected. On the back wall of the building was a mural painted with two soldiers looking to the skies as planes fly above them. I sat down and scoured the menu.

For a small place, I was impressed with the large selection they had on offer. Seeking a warm drink, I firstly ordered a hot chocolate topped with marshmallows and cream.

When my drink arrived, it was a welcome sight. It was smothered in cream and covered in marshmallows, with a nice surprise of cinnamon sprinkled on top.

As I sipped, the cream melted in my mouth, while the marshmallows were soft and squishy. Once I got through the heap of cream, the hot chocolate itself had a creamy and silky taste.

For food, I opted for the breakfast sandwich. This contained a sausage patty, crispy bacon, and chimichurri fried egg, all in a garlic buttered bun. It was served with two hash browns.

I was very impressed with the hash browns, due to their crispiness and large size. However, they were very salty.

I took one big bite of my burger to get all of the toppings in, as there was a lot packed into this bun. As I bit in, the crispy bacon stood out. The rashers gave an indulgent savoury taste. The sausage patty was flat and grilled to a nice standard.

Despite being so much packed into the bun, the sandwich was easy to eat and not as messy as I thought. The only thing was there was a lot of salt on all of the toppings – I would have liked to be able to season it to my taste.

Overall, I admired the RAF-inspired decor at The Watch Office, and found it sweet that so much respect was paid to the history of the place.

All of our food reviews are paid for by the writer. The establishments do not know we will be reviewing their food, allowing us to make fair judgements on each place.

I found to coffee too overpowering, but I absolutely loved the cinnamon buns

I wasn’t impressed with my coffee from a café that’s considered to have the “best pour” in Cambridge – but I loved its cinnamon buns. Cambridge has so many cute cafes on offer, so it makes the choice of picking one to go to a hard choice.

Some popular ones across the city are Bould Brothers, which have three sites in Cambridge. Seeking a late morning treat and drink, I headed to the Bould Brothers on Hills Road.

The outside of this café was so sweet, with wooden benches and comfy cushions on them. If it wasn’t as windy, it would have been a cute place to sit and sip a coffee, while watching the world go by.

Going into this café, I had high expectations for its coffee as Conde Nast said it had “arguably the best pour in the city”. Before ordering, I admired the Persian-inspired décor inside.

There was artwork dotted around the space that looked like mosaics, and the mix of orange and light brown colours reflected this as well. For my order, I got a cinnamon bun that cost £5.20, and an iced latte that cost £4.90.

Initially, I did want a vanilla latte, but I was saddened to hear they don’t offer vanilla. Instead, I was offered honey, but I rejected this option.

I sat down and munched on my cinnamon bun whilst I waited for my cold refreshment. The bun looked tasty from the get go, and I was excited for the sugar flakes on top of this sweet treat. I bit into it and fell in love.

The bun wasn’t overly sweet and had a lovely cinnamon taste, which made it a delightful treat to eat. It was slightly sticky, but all good cinnamon buns are a bit sticky.

The sugar bits on top were a welcome addition, as they added to the sweetness. My iced latte then came.

I took a first sip and it had a smooth and creamy taste. However, the more I drank it, the coffee taste became quite overpowering.

At times, it felt like I was drinking an espresso. I’m not sure what the milk to coffee ratio was, but it felt like the coffee was overpowering the milk.

Maybe it’s because I prefer a milkier coffee, but the taste was too much for me. However, bringing it back to my sweet treat, I cannot fault the cafe’s cinnamon buns.

If I wasn’t full, I would have loved to try another one of its bakery items, as I’m sure these would taste lovely as well. I’m sure people who love strong coffee will appreciate the drinks, but for me, it was too overpowering.

All of our food reviews are paid for by the writer. The establishments do not know we will be reviewing their food, allowing us to make fair judgements on each place.

Alchile is loved by locals who say the food is ‘outstanding’.

The last thing you want to do after a long day at work is cook a full meal – especially if you have to commute. Luckily for those travelling to and from Cambridge station, there are a few food trucks perfectly placed along the road outside the pubs and shops.

If you fancy treating yourself to some tasty food after a day in the office, you have a couple of options ideal for a post-pint snack. It is quite hard to miss the bright pink food truck in front of the Old Ticket Office and you will definitely not want to miss the food found inside.

Alchile describes itself as a “gourmet Mexican” food spot. Its name is from Mexican slang that means “something real and honest”, which is exactly the kind of food Alchile serves up.

The CamBites series sees CambridgeshireLive reporters go around the county in search of the cheapest places to eat. None of Alchile’s main dish options cost more than £11.50 making it a more affordable spot for some expertly made food.

The food truck has received a lot of praise from Cambridge residents who say the food is ‘outstanding’ and the staff are ‘delightful’. I received a warm welcome from the staff, who waited patiently for me and my friend to decide what we wanted from the wide variety of options on offer.

I ended up choosing the burrito and picked the pork carnitas as my filling, which cost £11. My friend chose the quesadillas and the al pastor filling, which also cost £11.

We decided to try a side of tortilla chips for £1.30 and a range of dips that each cost 70p. While waiting for our food, my friend and I sat on the tables and chairs placed next to the truck that are also bright pink to match the brand’s theme.

You could watch the food being put together in front of you and it was easy to tell it had been lovingly made. The burrito came wrapped tightly in tinfoil and was packed generously with fillings.

Alongside the tender pork carnitas, the burrito was also filled with black beans, rice, pico de gallo, lettuce, cheese, and jalapenos. All of the ingredients were wonderfully flavourful and worked well together to create a warm and satisfying meal.

My friend got three quesadillas topped with the al pastor beef and melty cheese. On the quesadillas, you can choose two extra toppings from things like cilantro, red pickled onion, and queso sauce.

Even the dips were incredible. The salsa had a strong tomato flavour that had been seasoned with a few herbs.

I don’t usually enjoy guacamole but the Alchile dip was so smooth and flavourful. The sour cream was wonderfully fresh, wasn’t too heavy, and would be great to calm down any spicy sauce you might add to the meal.

The tortilla chips added a lovely crunch to my meal and were great when smothered in the different dips. The whole meal was well balanced and homemade using high quality ingredients to create clean and refreshing dishes.

Considering the food truck’s location, the price is fairly reasonable and can be maximised depending on what meal you go for. If you are ever having a post-work drink in the Old Ticket Office or are too tired to cook for yourself, you should definitely try Alchile.

Alchile can be found outside Cambridge station. The food truck is open from 11am to 9:30pm on Mondays to Fridays and from 1pm to 9:30pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

All of our food reviews are paid for by the writer. The establishments do not know we will be reviewing their food, allowing us to make fair judgements on each place.

The café was filled with people chatting and laughing away.

After a long walk around Ely, I was keen for a drink and a sweet treat. Strolling along the high street, I came across independent café Marmalade and Jam.

As I entered, there was one table left in the middle. I was lucky to get a seat, as only a few minutes after I entered, a group of people followed me in but couldn’t stay as there were no seats left.

I sat down and admired the cafe’s décor. It instantly gave me a cosy feel, with the eye-catching yellow feature wall that exuded happiness and positivity.

Before ordering at the till, I scanned the menu. This café offered a vast range of food and drink, ranging from large breakfasts to a range of bakes and cakes.

It was later in the afternoon, so although the breakfast dishes were very tempting, they weren’t quite right for that moment. So, I opted for a cream tea.

Instead of the pot of tea, I chose a raspberry lemonade, which the server was more than happy to replace. My drink came first, and it was a welcome sight. As I took a sip, the lemonade was cold and crisp – just what I needed. The raspberry sweetness came through straight away, with a refreshing edge.

Only a few minutes later, my food arrived. On my plate was a huge scone, with a dollop of jam and a dollop of clotted cream, each in its own pot. The scone was much larger than I thought, and I instantly knew this snack would tide me over until tea time.

I cut it in half and spread cream and jam on one half. The thick cream meant the scone, which crumbled in my mouth with its soft texture, wasn’t too dry but instead rich and comforting.

There were plenty of juicy raisins baked within the scone, giving it an extra sweetness. Combined, the thick, buttery scone with jam and cream was a perfect treat.

While I enjoyed my food, another thing I admired about the café was the chatter and laughter that surrounded me. There were friends catching up, but also couples enjoying an afternoon out together.

It showed me this was a friendly place where anyone and everyone can come. Anyone who is looking for a cosy café with a cute vibe should head to Marmalade and Jam.

All of our food reviews are paid for by the writer. The establishments do not know we will be reviewing their food, allowing us to make fair judgements on each place.