The Parks Trust have announced a lease has been taken out on their café premises at Howe Park Wood, with Grounds Cafés set to reopen tomorrow (Friday 19th June).
Grounds are a small, family-run company owned by Racheal and Kevin McIntyre, they launched in 2001 with a single café at the back of a bike shop with just one team member and are now managing cafés across the region. The addition of Howe Park Wood means this is now their eighth site.
Howe Park Wood is an ancient woodland located in the west of Milton Keynes, close to the district of Westcroft. The woodland is teeming with wildlife and is often used by The Parks Trust to hold nature-inspired events and activities. Howe Park Wood is also home to an education and visitor centre.
Grounds Cafés will be launching with a reduced menu, to begin with, and serving from a takeaway hatch in order to work within current restrictions of COVID-19.
Strict social distancing measures will be observed, there will be no entry to the public within the café area and a one-way queuing system will be in place. Takeaways will be available on weekdays between 9.30am and 4pm and on weekends from 9am to 5pm.
Grounds have a Cambridge based kitchen where a team of chefs prepare homemade cakes, soups, stews and gelato. Their delicious menu features a variety of options to choose from and caters for vegan, dairy and gluten-free customers.
They will be offering a range of coffees as well as hot chocolate, speciality tea and blended drinks. Alongside this, they will also be serving irresistible handmade cakes and a broad selection of sweet treats from chocolate brownies, to flapjacks and rocky road.
Each week they carefully prepare their soups and stews, the flavours of which are changed daily, from sweet potato and thyme through to the more traditional leek and potato.
If it’s a hot sunny day why not try some of their very own handmade Gelato which comes in a variety of flavours including cookies & cream, very berry, mint choc chip, and salted caramel.
They also haven’t forgotten their four-legged friends as they also serve a very special sausage ice cream especially for dogs!
Ben Allott Head of Property at The Parks Trust said: "We are delighted that Grounds will be running Howe Park Wood Café, they are an excellent company with a solid reputation, and we know they will make the café a great success."
"Howe Park Wood is a stunning location and we are really pleased to be able to provide an additional facility to enhance the experience for our visitors."
Kevin McIntyre, Director, Grounds Cafés & Cycle Centres said: "Grounds are delighted to be opening our eighth café, in this beautiful location. Providing great coffee and great food to visitors of the great outdoors is what we do, and what we are really passionate about."
Howe Park Wood is a really important site for The Parks Trust, it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, so they manage it carefully for all to enjoy and ask that visitors respect the area, help keep it tidy and free from litter and enjoy the opportunity to now visit whilst enjoying all that the new café has to offer.
