There's probably no finer backdrop to a café in the country than The Bishop's Palace's croquet lawn and medieval Palace building.

And this year sees some updates to the catering offering at the Palace as well as to the return of the Ticket Office and gift shop into the café building, located at the heart of the Palace's free area.

The site and buildings of The Bishop's Palace are owned by the Church Commissioners and operated by The Palace Trust, a registered charity which manages the site as a heritage visitor attraction. 

The Palace Trust has a duty to ensure the long-term sustainability of the organisation and this year's changes have been made following a regular review of trends in purchasing and visitor feedback.

From April a revised menu and seating will be introduced in the Bishop's Table café which will also see the reintroduction of the Ticket Office and Palace Gift Shop in the same building.   A new on-site food and beverage outlet will also be introduced in the gardens to provide visitors with welcome refreshments during their visit as well as the option to purchase produce grown in the Palace gardens.

Merryn Kidd, Interim CEO at the Palace, says "Our data tells us that, post-covid, café customers are buying a smaller number of items. The menu changes will reflect this and will also provide our customers with a faster and more efficient service in the café. The introduction of our new food and beverage outlet – which will also carry a range of plants and produce from the Palace gardens - has been introduced following the success of the very popular pop-up in the gardens during the Christmas Illuminations event.

It's also exciting to see the return of the on-site gift shop and we're looking forward to stocking a new range of items for our visitors."