The Brewhouse — Restaurant in Basingstoke and Deane

I made a quick visit to the National Trust’s The Vyne in Hampshire. Partly to have a coffee, but also to see the house.

A former Tudor powerhouse turned 17th century family home, set in gardens, woodlands, and wetlands.

The house was an interesting mix of medieval cellars, Tudor palace, and a 17th century family home.

After visiting the house and walking around the grounds I headed to the café for a coffee and something to eat. I went to the café, with the intention of having lunch, but the choice wasn’t inspiring. I didn’t fancy the cream of celeriac soup either. As celeriac, tastes like celery, and I really don’t like celery I knew I probably wouldn’t enjoy the soup.

So, I had a flat white and a cheese scone. The coffee was expertly made, and it was really nice. I enjoyed it. I was pleased it came in a proper china cup. The scone was okay, a little small I thought, but it was...

Very long, slow moving queue for service. Other NT cafes don't seem to have this problem so persistently. We visited several times over the last 10 years and always had a long queue. It must have been a known problem but doesn't seem to have been addressed in all the refurbishment. Also found a limited choice of special diet options for cakes. There were good options in the adjacent NT shop - can you please stock them...

It's a lovely building but the size is nowhere near big enough to facilitate even 50% of people at lunch even in January. We joined a que that had at least 15 families waiting in front of us and the line didn't go down in the 10 minutes that we waited. Luckily there are some nice country pubs close by which got a coffee on the table in 10 minutes. That aside I'm sure the food would have been lovely...