\n Following its \u00a31m worth of renovations this summer, business has been booming at the Courtyard Caf\u00e9 at Pensthorpe Natural Park near Fakenham.\n<\/p>\n
\n It has been so popular that additional staff are being hired to help cope with the “overwhelming” demand.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ben Marshall, left, managing director, with Ed Chapman, catering and hospitality manager, in the new caf\u00e9 at Pensthorpe (Image: Denise Bradley)\n<\/p>\n
\n Ed Chapman, catering and hospitality manager, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed with the response.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Not only have we seen a significant increase in caf\u00e9 revenue, but crucially, the feedback from our customers has been incredible.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u00a0“Customers are really enjoying the variety of the new menu, and we’ve had a lot of positive comments around the transformation of the space and how modern, light and cosy it feels.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u00a0“We’re delighted with the start we’ve made, and we look forward to a bigger and better 2026.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The site aims to bring the outside in for the customers (Image: Pensthorpe Natural Park)\n<\/p>\n
\n The team had been planning the works for around three years and spent more than seven figures to improve the catering facilities.\n<\/p>\n
\n It reopened in November after the site was extended to make space for a new purpose-built kitchen, also adding around 30pc more seating for customers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Plans were first shared for the site in January, after the caf\u00e9 was deemed to be no longer fit for purpose as its popularity had grown.\n<\/p>\n
\n The counter has been extended (Image: Pensthorpe Natural Park)\n<\/p>\n
\n While it was initially hoped the eatery would open in the summer, it was far from a simple build, as the main walls of the caf\u00e9 are the remains of a 16th-century church.\n<\/p>\n
\n The full refit includes a serving counter that is three times bigger, an additional till to shorten queue times and a new serving hatch to enjoy food and drink on the lawn.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bespoke tables and chairs are currently being built in Italy and underflooring heating has been installed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following its \u00a31m worth of renovations this summer, business has been booming at the Courtyard Caf\u00e9 at Pensthorpe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-316260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}