The Garden Cafe - Crawl #36 Revisited

It's been a rough couple of weeks for many of the Crawl regulars, including yours truly, as we fight off the cough/cold/flu bugs that have plagued PE during July.  Our last Crawl took place on Thursday, July 10 at The Garden Cafe at the Sherwood Garden Centre, 16 Walker Drive in Sherwood.  Since I was well in the throes of sickness, my intent was to go to the cafe early, take a few pics, get some quick info then leave before the rest of the Crawlers arrived.  My best laid plans were not to be though.  The Garden Cafe's owners, Carmel Wolf and Sean Merrick were so enthusiastic about hearing about the Crawl/blog that before I knew it all the Crawlers had arrived and were seated around the table that the cafe staff had so beautifully set for us.  So, I stayed, but sat far away from everyone so as not to spread too many germs. : )

Meet the Owner
Carmel Wolf

The next Revisit on our docket was to be Tiffany's, shop #35 (see Oct, 2011 post).  Word is that the shop has closed but that renovations are in the works there.  We will check it out sometime in the the future.  On to Shop #36....

We first visited The Garden Cafe in October, 2011.  At that time the coffee shop was located in the large conference venue on the Sherwood Garden Centre property.  When new owners Carmel and Sean took over in July, 2013, they moved the coffee shop to the nursery building where it is now "tastefully" incorporated into the garden shop area.

The Garden Cafe offers a menu of light breakfasts, lunches and cakes as well as a variety of cold drinks and Pavin coffee beverages.  All staff members are trained as chefs, baristas and waitrons......quite the talented bunch!  Nono happened to be on barista duty on Crawl Day....superb job with my cappuccinos!  And to whoever did the baking that morning, the scones were outstanding....enough to give the Lake Farm baking crew a little competition!

Meet Thursday's Barista
Nono

The Garden Cafe seats a total of 48 customers at inside and outside tables.  The shop's hours are 9-4, seven days a week.  With Spring just around the corner, many of you will be out shopping for all your gardening needs.  Stop in at Sherwood Nursery, pick up a few things to spruce up your garden, then have a quick bite to eat at The Garden Cafe!

This Week's Crawlers
Elize, Dale,Sylvia, Beth, Nomusa, June,
Stella, Beryl, Margaret, Arthur,
not pictured - Leanne, Luke

So, with all my coughing and sneezing I couldn't participate much in the conversation at the table with Crawlers Nomusa Nkomo, June Nash, Leanne and Luke Waller, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Beth Vieira, Dale Mitchell, Elize Pretorius, Sylvia Mynhardt, Margaret and Arthur Marshall on Thursday.  I did catch some discussion about the Knysna Half Marathon that June's son was training for.  Along those same lines, the Crawlers asked how my daughter and husband are faring in their marathon training.  Liz and Lou (both of whom have joined us on many Crawls) are planning to run a marathon together in NY State in October.  Unfortunately, Lou has been suffering from the same cold/flu that I have, so his training has taken a bit of a back seat the past few weeks.  As I write this post, though, it looks like he is on the mend.  Many of you local readers may see him running around the streets of PE!   As for Liz, she is right on track, training in Washington, DC, and will be raring to go in October!

A note to the PECC blog readers.... I have visitors from the States arriving soon.  The Crawlers will continue to visit our favorite coffee shops around town but I may not get to post until mid-August.  For those who would like to join us we will be at Capellini's, King's Court on July 24 and Sacramento on July 31.  Hope to see some new faces there!

~Thank you to Carmel and Sean....love that you have moved the coffee shop into the nursery!
~Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband, Louis! - July 26
~Happy Birthday to Crawler Colleen LeRoux - August 1

Until next time,

Ellen