Caversham ~

show and tell

Feeling Better Fed and Watered

Finding ‘fuel’ along the way helps. (Updated August 2026)

NOTE: we’ve also written about places to eat and drink more central to Caversham/Emmer Green (with only a little overlapping with the items below). Click here for details.

Going out for a walk or a bike ride is a well proven route to feeling a bit better in yourself. It’s not just the exercise, it’s getting outside and away from your four walls. Stopping for a cup of whatever you fancy while you’re out, and maybe a bit of something to eat too, is a (reasonably) inexpensive pleasure to include in your excursions.

Below, we’ve pulled together a variety of fairly-local-to-Caversham cafes, coffee shops and more. We’ve visited all of the following since our first post in middle 2024 – and we’re happy going back to any and all of them.

Note that you need to check with each one to find out just when they’re open, details about what they’re offering and so on. It can all change from when we last visited. (Feel free to contact us if anything needs updating.)

  • Binfield Heath post office, village store and coffee shop is newly refurbished. We’ve visited three times thus far and have been suitably impressed.
  • Blue Tin at Ipsden – a farm shop and (in their words) coffee bar.
  • Ela’s – this is at the Playhatch garden centre and is good for drinks and snacks – not least toasties.
  • Loddon Brewery at Dunsden – good for drinks and cakes and of course it’s licensed too; there are also more substantial meals.
  • Pierreponts at The Herb Farm, Sonning Common, is good for food and drinks but has put prices up a fair bit in recent months.
  • Stoke Row village store, on the other side of the road from the Maharajah’s Well, offers a good range of food and drink – and is licensed.
  • The Dock, to be found at the Caversham Lakes marina, offers ‘proper’ hot food as well as hot drinks, and is licensed.
  • The Maker Space, Nuffield, is another one with a decent range of food and drink, and is licensed.
  • Whittington’s Tea Barge, on the Thames near Reading Bridge (on the Caversham side), offers a wide range of food and drink. Of all the ones we mention in this listing, this is the only one we include the website for, simply because they have such a varied variety of options and activities.

Naturally, you’ll need to judge the routes and distances as will suit you best. For route planning, Open Street Map is a good free service. (All the nation’s problems with poor road maintenance remain true whatever mode of transport you’re using, wherever you’re going.)

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