I picked up a copy of Ride Magazine this week and in it was a places to go feature, you know the kind of thing, places marked on a map of the UK, with pointers out to the side giving you the descriptions.

Well normally those sorts of things make me grumpy. Why?

Well because something marked as being close by is normally about 200 miles away and therefore not a Sunday jaunt! However Ride Magazine came up trumps when they recommended Ma Larkins. I’m already liking the name by the way with its reminiscences of Darling Buds of May and mountains of home-cooked food.

Yesterday was a skimpy t-shirt weather day, the last we’re probably going to get this year, so out came Boris and a pleasant bimble was had down the Fosse Way and the Stow, finally cutting across country to Chipping Norton.

Ma Larkins is on the roundabout junction with the A3400 and the A361 from Banbury click herefor a map.

There were a fair few bikes in the car park, which conveniently borders the roundabout and outdoor seating looks out over the car park. Being such a lovely warm day this provided the perfect vantage point to enjoy a cuppa and watch lots of different motorcycles being ridden past and the odd boy-racer entertaining the crowd by getting his knee down and going for it.

There were plenty of comings and goings in the couple of hours we were there and both the café staff and the punters were very friendly.

So what about the nosebag?

Well there were lots of things on offer at a reasonable price from large bacon and egg rolls to tea and cake to Sunday dinner, so something for everyone. We enjoyed a cream tea with home made scones, yummy!

On the way back we took the A361 back to Banbury and then the A423, which are great biking roads and were noticeably smoother than the outbound route.

So, Ma Larkins, definitely worth a visit plus great biking roads to boot, we’ll definitely be going back. Opening times are 8.30am in the week and 9.30am on Sundays.