The Old Barn

A dash through leafy Cheshire towards Macclesfield leads to pretty countryside and breakfast or lunch at The Old Barn. Housed in a red-brick stable block, the cycle-friendly café is bright and unfussy with oak beams. Parasolled tables are hemmed in by troughs of lavender and greenery.

The menu is simple but tasty, making good use of the farm produce: cooked breakfasts, sandwiches and deep-filled pies, as well as quiche, pie and soup of the day – perhaps carrot and red lentil soup, or stilton, bacon and mushroom quiche. The counter is loaded with cakes beneath shiny glass domes, with flavours from Ferrero Rocher (sublime) to cherry frangipane. You can pick up groceries from the shelves in the café – milk, bread, meat, eggs, and some of those delicious pastries – so you won’t have to go without a cuppa on arrival at your destination.

Next door, the old farm shop has been converted into a game café, so if you’ve had enough of I Spy, select a board game and pull up a chair!