The Tin House

I haven't found it necessary to use my GPS here for quite a while.  I dusted it off and plugged it in, though, when I received a Coffee Crawl recommendation to visit The Tin House at 35 Cuyler in Central.  So, Thursday morning I arrived at 35 Cuyler to find no coffee shop and, far worse, no Crawlers!  I sat in my car for a bit waiting for someone to pitch and, shortly, June Nash pulled up next to me.  Well, it didn't take us too long to figure we were definitely in the wrong place.  Fortunately, the very pleasant occupant (though her dog was not so happy) of 35 Cuyler CRESCENT pointed us in the right direction of our intended destination, The Tin House located at 35 Cuyler STREET, just a few blocks away.  It seemed no one else had difficulty finding the shop.... when June and I arrived we found Crawlers Beth Vieira, Gail Darne, and Stella and Beryl Dawson waiting for us.  Soon afterward we were joined by Margaret Zoetmulder, Margaret and Arthur Marshall, Colleen Le Roux and Anne Marie Rankin.

This Week's Crawlers
Colleen, Anne Marie, Beryl, Beth, Gail,
Stella, June, Margaret Z., Myrna, Neti
not pictured - Margaret and Arthur

The Tin House is owned by Desere Price of Dessie's on Main Rd. in Walmer (see Sept, 2011 post).  Though the basic breakfasts and lunches served at The Tin House are made on-site the baked goods and food for any catered events comes from the Main Rd. shop.  The Tin House  has been in operation for about a year with Cecilia Cadle as manager and Joy as barista.  The business is actually a combination art gallery/coffee shop that is open Mon-Fri, 8:30-4. 






Meet the Manager
Cecilia Cadle





Meet the Barista
Joy

 As customers enter the establishment they step into a room filled with pottery, jewelry, picture frames, beautiful scarves, and other gift items made by crafters from all over South Africa.  Adorning the walls of both the front room and the adjoining coffee shop area are paintings by the featured artist-of-the-month.  The shop continues on into a shaded courtyard, a beautiful setting when the weather is nice.  In all The Tin House seats about 35 people, 20 inside and 15 or so in the courtyard.  There was a bit of a chill in the air on Thursday so we had barista/waitress Joy serve our delicious Pavin coffees inside.

Inside dining

The courtyard

A funny thing happened as we were settling in for our 99th Crawl..... two very curious ladies stopped by the table to ask what we were celebrating.  We explained the Coffee Crawl/blog and asked them to join us.  Brand new Crawlers Neti Tayler-Smith and Myrna Bakker were a delight to have at the table.  It took no time at all for them to fit right in as we discussed plans for our 100th Crawl (which is to take place on May 9).  Unfortunately, Neti and Myrna are unavailable for coffee that day but I'm sure this is not the last we'll see of them!  Welcome ladies!

Other talk at the table centered around traveling in Africa and going on safari.  I have to say that Lou and I (along with two of our adult chilren) have been very fortunate to visit many places in Africa that some locals haven't had the opportunity to see.  Isn't that how it always is?  We've seen much of South Africa and have visited Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, and have plans to see the Great Migration in September.  We've had a few harrowing close encounters with large animals on safari making for good stories and great pics!  After those experiences I usually need something a bit stronger than coffee!!! 

~Thank you to Cecilia and Joy for welcoming us to your wonderful coffee shop.

~Thank you to the resident of 35 Cuyler Crescent for saving the Crawl on Thursday!

~To local PE Coffee Crawl blog readers- Our 100th Crawl celebration will be held at the Boardwalk Hotel

   restaurant (not a coffee shop but we figured this is a very special occasion) on Thursday, May 9 and

   10:00 a.m.  Join us there!  All are welcome.

~A belated Happy Birthday wish to Crawler Kathy Roppel - May 5

~Happy Birthday to Crawler Vicki Minnaar - May 14

~Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers, Grandmothers, Godmothers - May 12

Until next week,

Ellen