The Balcombe Tea Rooms

Balcombe Tea Rooms is a hidden gem, snuck just round the corner on a
quiet unassuming road from where I rode through the quiet unassuming
village for years before I discovered it was there by riding past it on a “I
wonder where this goes?” lost lanes explore. Now they know my sandwich order. It’s been a mid-ride destination on many occasions, a life-saver on a few, we cried when it was shut on that grey damp day and it’s a proper no frills nice place to be. You can sit outside in the summer and warm up in winter while gazing out the steamed up windows wondering if the mizzle’s going to ease. They can do you a full roast dinner with a pudding adrift in custard for afters if you want, but they do a good 70km to go sarnie and the back of the cafe has a vast display of cakes to choose from, I’ve seen people crumple at the very sight. And they do proper tea in a pot, although we have to remember that proper tea is theft. They’re very cycling friendly as they sit right in the middle of the Venn diagram of those pedalling up from the south
and clubs coming down from the big city but if there’s a bunch of you it’s polite to ring and let them know, they’re also very welcoming because they know that cyclists eat A Lot. There’s no dedicated bike parking, you just leave it outside.

Excellent tea and cake stop, highly recommend the flapjack!