Brockweir And Hewelsfield Village Shop And Cafe

We stumbled on this place by sheer chance when taking a back road from Forest of Dean to Tintern. As someone who lives in a village in Cornwall that has a small community shop, I know how difficult it is to run an operation like this particularly on the scale of Brockweir. It has an amazing range of produce and a delightful cafe. Well done to all the volunteers and committee responsible for it. To anyone else who happens to be in the area, do make sure that you call in and see what they have to offer. Bob from Grampound, Cornwall

This is a very popular cafe and so is obviously doing something right. The coffee was excellent, but the sandwiches were just ok. We were annoyed by wasps outside and the staff confirmed there was a nest. Not sure why they haven't dealt with it?!

Lovely to use the local shop while staying in Brockweir- fresh local produce- friendly staff- enjoyed a coffee before our walk back.

We visited once on Saturday for lunch and again on the Sunday. Based on Saturday 's visit I 'd have rated the cafe a straight five. Sunday 's visit however didn 't go quite as well so we 're stuck on three stars. Let me explain: I 'm a vegetarian, worse than that though I 'm a discerning vegetarian (fussy is another pejorative term used). I take what I eat and drink seriously as I train hard and want to know the provenance of my food and drink. I 'm also allergic to caffeine so finding a good decaff coffee feels more or less like a quest for the holy grail at times. This was my first visit to this lovely cafe on the outskirts of Brockweir near Tintern, and I was impressed by the range of eco products, organic veg and the quality of the goods in the store. More than that though I was struck by the fact the place was run by volunteers. Our lunch on Saturday consisted of one of the best bowls of home made soup I 've ever tasted, a roasted vegetable baguette (equally tasty), and a cherry tiffin washed down with a fabulous decaff coffee the sort you want to order again, but you know it would never quite taste the same. The place wasn 't busy, but neither was it empty. Marks out of ten an easy 9+ Fast forward 24 hours it 's a long time in both politics and cafes and we 've only ordered hot drinks; a pot of breakfast tea and a large decaff cappucino. I 've got into the habit of emphasising it must be decaff as I 'm allergic blah blah and I 've been caught out more than once in the past. We 've arrived around 1300 and it 's probably less busy than Saturday by some 20% but 20 minutes comes and goes before I have to check where our drinks were. The staff (different from Saturday) are clearly struggling under the weight of dishes and the fallout from what may have been a busy lunch, but I 'm told drinks are on the way I again reiterate it must be decaff (you already know where this is going) and ten minutes later a pot of tea and a small cappuccino arrive. With a mental sigh I reminded the young lady I ordered a large cappuccino which almost seemed to break her spirit (who is supporting these amazing volunteers is my question). Another ten minutes goes by and a large coffee arrives. 'It 's decaff? ' is my well worn question to her to which she replied 'yes '. Fine. I 'm good to go. Not quite as good as yesterday 's, but tasty all the same. Ten minutes later I 'm in the prodromal stages of my usual response to caffeine shakes, heart palpitations, generally feeling odd. So that 'll be a caffeinated decaff then... I didn 't raise it with the staff as a) they were already under the cosh, and b) no one will be able to confirm it was decaff or not. Yep, I know it 's a first world problem, and I 'm a bad person for dissing volunteers trying to do their best, but you 're either running a business or you ain 't. Continuity is key, and in less than 24 hours we went from a sublime experience to a fairly mediocre one that got 50% of an order containing just two drinks wrong. The guys on Sunday were either short staffed, or under trained to cope with the demands on them. That 's not fair on staff, or on their customers... It 's a great resource, probably much needed in an area where, to be frank, other cafes aren 't even close to the standards of this place, so I really hope our next visit and I will visit again goes like it did on Saturday...

We have been visiting for 10 years and this is a consistently good place. The coffee is normally excellent and the light lunches are very good value. In addition to the café the shop itself provides and wide range of really good quality produce. A definite must for anyone walking the Wye.