Walnut Cottage Cafe

Went out of my way with my 3 year old after dropping a rescue cat in for a spey at the local vet. Was informed by a gardener that this café is shut every Monday and Tuesday.
Outdoor tables shabby and covered in bird poo and kids sand pit left uncovered so most likely would have cat feces in it since it is a residential area.

We went here hoping it would be a nice place, as it was hard to find any information about it. We were desperate for a proper café before we headed off to Orewa beach. I chose it before other cafes solely on the name. «Walnut Cottage» — it had to have some personality.
And we weren’t disappointed!
Just outside the town, the café itself is down a driveway, at the end of a health shops. It had tables and picnic tables outside, and the sun was showing the place at its best. Inside it was lovely, looking more like a boutique shabby chic restaurant — with all the tables «reserved». It must be a popular place.
My wife had the chocolate pancake, which was lovely, she said. Not too sweet, right amount of chocolate, but didn’t need the cream. We also had tea and a scone with jam.
The garden area was clearly kid-​friendly, with a large sandbox full of abandoned, well-​used, weather-​worn toys. The two boys running around didn’t care about the condition of the toys — they were toys.
A couple of ducks were wandering around, picking up the bits of food on the grass. The sparrows were more aggressive, though. One jumped onto our table and started picking on the scone. On the other table, a squad of them started attacking a small dish of cream, until someone shooed them away.
We will definitely come again, when we visit Orewa or Wenderholm again.