When I woke up and saw brilliant sunshine beaming through my window, it seemed like the perfect day for a walk in the park. That is, until we got in the car and the heavens opened.

Our plans for a springtime walk might have been scuppered but, as we’d already made the trip, we thought we might as well visit Maidstone’s Mote Park Café for a quick bite.

The £2.5m facility, which opened last Easter, was only a short walk from the car park so we zipped up our coats and braved the elements,.

However, we did have to stop and pay for parking. Now, £2 for six hours isn’t bad at all, but I resent paying at a public park - maybe I’m just tight, but a trip to the local recreation ground should be a free day out in my opinion.

Still, life’s too short to get hung up on a couple of quid so we took our ticket and headed inside the café to avoid the early April showers.

Sadly, everyone else had the same idea and all the tables were full. There was even a small queue of people with hungry kids and dripping dogs waiting for a spot to open up.

I wasn’t surprised, given the weather, but it meant that after weighing up our options - including the outdoor picnic benches which were, on this particular day, a no-no - we decided to get our food to go.

It was a short wait while the staff argued amongst themselves - apparently, they were out of sausage rolls and someone had to tell Table 20 that they wouldn’t be getting their order - but once the great pastry debacle was sorted the server behind the counter greeted us with a smile.

We ordered a couple of hot drinks to warm us up, along with a bean and pepper burrito, a cheddar, onion and chutney sandwich and a brownie to share.

It was exceptionally busy, but it still felt like we waited an awfully long time for a sandwich and a wrap that had, essentially, already been made.

When they were eventually handed over, with the rain pouring down, we made a mad dash back to the car, passing the play area which was now completely empty - probably all inside the café.

Finally back in the dry, we opened our food containers to reveal an unexpected treat.

It’s not often you end up with more food than you paid for, but alongside our sandwiches was also a side salad, coleslaw and a handful of cheese and onion crisps. Turns out there was a good reason for the long wait.

The burrito was warm, spicy, cheesy and very filling, while the toasted sandwich had a tangy sweetness from the onion chutney and plenty of gooey cheese.

The only downside was that we didn’t grab any cutlery, so we resorted to using the crisps as utensils for the salad and coleslaw - it was surprisingly good, don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.

We finished with the brownie, which wasn’t quite on par with the rest of our lunch. It was far too dense and cakey, and I suspect it had either been overcooked or left to sit out for too long. Or perhaps it was just a bad batch.

After a quick nip to the loos which, other than being a bit wet and muddy from the weather, were in pretty decent shape for public toilets, we decided that our walk in the park was officially a washout and headed home.

Out of five:

Food: A filling lunch with good flavours and we even had a few bonus crisps thrown in. The only thing I wasn’t keen on was the brownie. ***

Drink: My hot chocolate was lovely at first, although it did get a bit powdery towards the end. ***

Decor: The café itself was clean, bright and modern - it could’ve done with being a bit bigger though as we didn’t really get to spend much time in it. ***

Staff: We could hear some bickering between staff, but the woman behind the counter was perfectly pleasant to us. ***

Price: I thought £22 was a little pricey at first, but when I saw the amount of food we got it made sense and felt like good value for money. ****