Woodworks Café

Covid-safe one-way system Attractive outdoor seating Garlic pasta with shredded chicken

Delicious warm panini

Home-cooked delights in Mold

We visit the Woodworks Garden Centre & Café to find out why its lunches, specials and afternoon teas are so popular

The café has a brand new kitchen

The café at The Woodworks Garden Centre has a reputation for good “home-cooked” food prepared by professional In addition to the afternoon tea, the café’s warm panini was delicious, grilled Head chef Richard Skelton chefs in the on-site kitchen. Customers are increasingly turning away from mass-produced food filled with preservatives, and the staff at the Woodworks know that home-cooked tastes better – especially when prepared by a professional chef!

“The garden centre created a café based on good, wholesome home-cooked food run by local people,” says manager Fiona Coke. “The café got very busy, and they wanted to move the business on, which is where I came in seven years ago. The café was made twice the size and now we also have a new kitchen.” Fiona and her team, which includes head chef Richard Skelton, know from experience what their customers like. “We’ve got natural flair in our kitchen, Garden centre surroundings and over the years we’ve tried different recipes. Now our menu is full of the dishes that are the most popular.”

Among those is the afternoon tea. “We’ve got lemon drizzle cake, carrot cake, cherry bakewell, and a fruit and a plain scone, as well as a selection of finger sandwiches including cucumber, which we’ve just added because it’s more traditional – and really popular. We offer takeaway boxes as very often people don’t finish it! The afternoon tea is popular when people want to celebrate something special like Mother’s Day or a baby shower, but also just for catching up with friends.”

We agree that the Woodworks Café afternoon tea is a marvel. A selection of beautifully made crustless finger sandwiches are arranged on the top tier of a serving stand, with cakes, scones and strawberries below – everything about it says fresh and homemade, with great attention to detail. The sandwiches are quintessentially British – we had forgotten how nice a cucumber sandwich with real butter is – and each cake is an individual delight. You can now buy these in the garden centre shop too. properly with the brie melted, and we were impressed with the size of the chef’s special – a creamy, garlic pasta with shredded chicken and thick slices of homemade garlic bread. As it was for all other cafés, lockdown was tough for the Woodworks, but it has worked out a reliable Covid-safe system that has helped make it more popular than ever. “We have a one-way “The afternoon tea is a system, and there are dividers between all the tables,” says Fiona. “People can book to sit marvel… outside, and they’ll be allocated everything their own gazebo surrounded by beautiful flowers, or to sit fresh and inside on cooler days where it’s nice and cosy. We allocate homemade” an hour and half for each sitting, which gives us plenty of time to sanitise for the next customer. During track and trace we took addresses, and we could see how far people were coming to visit us – and a lot of people reserve their next visit when they leave. And we’re now seeing a lot of new people coming back as they notice how safe it is here – that is our priority.”

The bill

are arranged on the top tier of a serving Afternoon tea for two: selection of sandwiches, cakes and scones, served with tea or coffee £28.95 Smoked bacon, brie and cranberry panini £6.75 Special for the day: chicken and broccoli in a creamy garlic £8.95 sauce with fusilli pasta, served with homemade garlic bread Turn to page 72 to see a Woodworks Café recipe you can try at home!

Woodworks Garden Centre & Café

Wrexham Road, Mold CH7 4HE

Café opening times

Monday-Friday, 9am-3.45pm (last orders) Saturday, 9am-3.45pm (last orders) Sunday, 10am-2.45pm (last orders) Breakfast is served until 11.45am each day Book online at www.woodworksgc.com A classic afternoon tea or call 01352 752555