As with most cafes at Equine events they arise from the need to stick an afterthought into the ‘ what have we got’ building, that was designed for a completely different purpose usually an old cow shed. This is understandable and acceptable with the need to expand at a realistic budget and Field house has done as good a job as any. What bugs me about most designs is when new builds are designed by lazy people too incorporate these poor design features, or even worse when a great design is butchered by later owners who lack vision of the original architect And there are quite a few of those in this country.
So the cafe at Field house has the feel of a tidy and well kept 1970 working mens club museum with its cool old green velour theatre seats and church pew which comes crashing down by the orange plastic chairs all added into an old cattle shed with a lick of paint to tidy it up. The glass wall into the arena has a quaint concept of glazing which must have involved the elastic tape measure used by some of the arena crews but does give a full panoramic view of the arena. Cake quality is good . Service was a good level of mum efficiency, polite and precise. Kitchen looked like a fussy well kept home kitchen that would produce a decent family meal for the whole show. The seating and eating area looks out onto a clean well kept and well lit arena. An arena that cowers in the shadow of the gorgeous Andrews-Bowen outdoor grassed coliseum but it must not let it’s shiny new sibling make it feel inferior it is a nice compact place to enjoy the practises of horse worship. Heating in the viewing cafe area was nice albeit a noisy source heater. Not many places can match the hot radiators by the window seating area of Southview but its much better than a cold unwelcoming shed on a brisk Sunday morning. Standard coffee was a nice brew and access to the cafe and seated viewing area is easy from the well organized car park which to assist the ‘ parking ability challenged’ average horse rider sports a one way system and parking instructions.
overall a quaint place to sit and read the kindle waiting for the 2 minutes of pole kicking and emergency stops by the trixie woo display team.
(165)