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On a beautiful Spring day I set off to New Brighton with my good friend Julia aka Rainbeaubelle, her little girl and my twins.

We haven’t had much sun round these parts for a while and so the blue skies and warm (ish) day was a real treat.  We took the girls scooters, parked up near the Black Pearl Pirate Ship  and scooted down the carless parade.

The Black Pearl pirate ship is just on the beach and has been created as an Interactive Art Sculpture for kids to play on, there is another one in Hoylake too that we go to quite a lot, but this one in New Brighton is a little more substantial and easier for the kids to play on.  It’s also easily accessible as you can see from the photo below:

The views over to Liverpool were so clear and to be honest I could have spent much longer just staring into the distance and being warmed by the sun. However the attention span of the kids is a little less than that, so we continued on our journey and made our way to Vale Park and the collection of fairy doors.  The fairy doors are a collection of little characters and people seem to top them up regularly when  the elements blow them away. I want to take back a lot of our different bits and pieces as it feels like a nice way to ‘clear’ the playroom! Maybe next time.

The daffodils and crocuses were out and the whole park definitely had that feel of Spring.

We spent just over half an hour in the fairy park until the Sun went in a little and it started to get a bit chilly.  Luckily we had been invited to try out the fairly new cafe-bar-restaurant in New Brighton (4 months old and counting) Blackberry Grove.

Blackberry Grove sits just off the seafront so doesn’t get any passing trade but is already getting itself a very good reputation.  It has recently been shortlisted for Outstanding Customer Service at The Wirral Tourism Awards 2016 and it is well worth a visit.

Don’t get me wrong I do love Marine Point and all the offerings there but if you want something a little different you are unlikely to find it there.  Blackberry Grove has a very homely feel serving breakfasts and brunches from 11am, cocktails and snacks in the evening with lunch and dinner in-between.  The menu is extensive.  Brave for a small cafe, and I was concerned that the size of the menu may mean our food was quite slow in coming.  The menu will be particularly popular with vegans, vegetarians and gluten-free eaters, but there are also substantial burgers and chips to suit others.

I ordered halloumi chilli fritters and artisan bread with dips, Julia the Tofu Kebabs and the kids ordered Burger and chips; home made chicken dippers, chips and beans and sausage and chips.

The food did take maybe twenty minutes to come, maybe slightly longer but in fairness to the team at Blackberry Grove they were a staff member down due to illness.

The food however when it came was worth waiting for:

The kids chicken dippers contained no salt at all being hand made and were delicious. It was a large portion so I felt it only fair to help Isobel finish.  Evie polished off her two sausages and chips and beans without any assistance, and made good inroads into my bread.  The bread if I’m being picky was a little harder than ideal, but my halloumi chilli fritters were divine and Julia loved her tofu kebab. Flo’s kids burger was huge and again we all had a little taste (for review purposes..).

At £5.95 including a drink and dessert (ours all had ice cream) the price was very competitive and for much better for them food than you find at most chain restaurants.  They also do a really good lunchtime offer of a sandwich and soup for £4.95. Others in the restaurant had those and they looked substantial and delicious.

The food was very much served with a smile like the sign on the wall said it would be.

Whilst waiting at the counter to say thanks for such a lovely meal, I eyed up enviously the spirits and cocktail options and vowed silently to return one evening to try out cocktails and those burgers too which had seemed a little substantial for lunch but would be perfect for dinner.

The test is whether we would go back to this cafe, tucked away and off the sea front in New Brighton next time we return.  It won’t be our default go to, just because I have kids who can’t get enough of Pizza Express, but when I want something different and want to make sure me and hubby get what we want too, then we will be returning.  It’s also somewhere that I think Julia and I will return to through the summer on after another scooting, pirates and fairy day.  When you spend that much time in the fresh air you need some lovely food for lunch.

Thanks to Blackberry Grove for feeding us all in exchange for this honest review.

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