The Man Bird and I had driven to Bell View in Belford to collect the Zimmer and 4-wheel stroller that we’d hired from them for Mummy Bird for our stay in Northumberland – genius service, by the way, if you ever find yourselves in need www.bellviewbelford.co.uk. All they ask for is a £10 deposit and a donation for using the items - I nearly stopped to do the Yoga class and book Mummy in for the ‘Sit-Fit’ class later in the week! Anyhow, I digress... His Nibs and I had returned with said items and were now feeling a bit peckish, a sentiment echoed by Mummy, so we promptly got the stroller out of the jalopy for her and set off in search of foooooood!!
Literally ¼ mile down the street from us was a place called The Courtyard that serves breakfast, so we headed on inside and grabbed a vacant table. Good job we arrived when we did as, 5 minutes later, the whole world and their Uncle also descended on this cracking little café! One of the team swiftly came over and gave the table wipe, and handed us the breakfast, light-bite and lunch menu.
Mummy and I had a pot of tea for two (£4), His Nibs’ choice of Full English (£10) came with choice of tea or coffee, so he had a coffee. I spied the Vegetarian Eggs Benedict,£7.50 (poached egg and smashed Avocado on Muffins, to us in the ‘Shire!), so I ordered that, and Mummy Bird had the Eggs Royale, £8. With our choices made, The Man dutifully went up to the counter to order and pay for our food.
It wasn’t long before another pleasant young man was coming over with the coffee, tea, cups, and milk for us, shortly followed by his colleague with the plates of food. Plumes of steam rose from His Nibs’ brekkie – no doubt that the Bacon, Fried Egg and Sausage were going to be lovely and hot. The farmhouse Bacon was gorgeously meaty and flavoursome, partnered brilliantly by the quality banger at its side – needless to say these were going down a treat! I was a happy chappy as the Mushrooms got passed over to me; despite his recent adventurousness, the ‘slugs’ remain a step-too-far for His Nibs to eat. Lady Luck was obviously batting for my fella, as the Black Pudding slice he got was the end bit, and therefore slightly bigger than average (rein your filthy insinuations in, folks!). The slice of brown toast came in handy for mopping up every last vestige of Baked Bean juice, as well as rogue bits of rich egg yolk. A cleaner plate you wouldn’t clap eyes on unless it came out of the dishwasher - top effort boyo, top effort.
Talking of good efforts, Mummy Bird was hardly being a slouch in the scoffing stakes! Applying herself diligently to the task-in-hand, mouthful after mouthful of silky Smoked Salmon, rich Hollandaise and creamy egg yolk steadily disappeared into Mummy’s tummy. The only help we’d had to offer was cutting through the toasted breakfast Muffin; it’s not the easiest thing to do with one ‘good’ hand.
My own choice of breakfast was hitting the spot nicely; the Avo was ripe and soft, smushed enough to allow the eggs to top it, but still nicely chunky. The partnership of the creamy, indulgent Avocado and rich poached Egg made this an indulgent brekkie morsel; one that would easily see me through until dinner, with maybe a light mid-afternoon snack – well, I am on holiday!
Whilst we’d been eating, one of The Courtyard team checked that we were enjoying our breakfast and taken the time to ask if we needed more drinks. Whenever a table was vacated, it wasn’t long before someone came to wipe it over and clear away any plates and cups. The food we had was fairly priced for the quality and quantity, so Hot Wings are given to this fab little village cafe.
The Courtyard is also child- and dog- friendly, and if you don’t want to sit inside there are some benches to chill at. Call 07951 405584 to reserve a table or visit the Facebook page ‘The Courtyard Beadnell’ open Tues-Sat 8am-8pm, and Sun and Mon 8am-5pm.
