Spotlight
Baldersons Welcome Cafe & Bakery
By Jon Cosson · Last checked
On Chestnut Avenue in the middle of the village, Baldersons is a bakery, cafe and gift shop under one roof, with a large tea garden at the back. The bread, cakes and pastries are baked on the premises, and the tea garden is partly covered and heated, which makes it one of the few places in the village where you can sit outside once autumn sets in.
At a glance
- Where
- Chestnut Avenue, Thornton-le-Dale, YO18 7RW.
- Telephone
- 01751 474272.
- Open
- seven days a week, all year round, by the Visit Thornton-le-Dale listing. No opening times are published, so ring before a special journey.
- Food
- a full English breakfast served before noon; lunches, main meals and snacks; cream cakes and hot pasties. A real vegetarian choice and a gluten-free menu.
- Bakery
- breads, cakes and pastries made on the premises, sold at the counter to take home.
- Tea garden
- large and sheltered, partly covered and heated, with a children's play area and room to leave bikes. Dogs are welcome in the tea garden.
- Parking
- the National Park car park off Maltongate (YO18 7SD), a short walk away.
How it works
You take a table and order at the counter, and the food is brought out to you. Groups and coach parties are catered for with a party menu, so ring ahead if there are a lot of you.
Two Baldersons on one street
Baldersons Ice Cream Parlour, a little further along Chestnut Avenue, is a separate business. It makes its own ice cream and opens from March to October.
This week in the village
Mathewsons' October viewing runs from Wednesday 21 to Tuesday 27 October at the Pickering saleroom, about two miles away. The Mathewsons museum and shop at Roxby Garage is here in the village, and on weekdays a free shuttle bus runs from the village to the saleroom, so a Baldersons breakfast makes an easy start to a viewing day. Our auction dates page has the viewing hours and the rules at the door, and our Pickering saleroom page has the shuttle timetable.
The tea garden is the thing worth knowing about. It is large, well laid out, and partly covered with heaters, so unlike most of what the village offers it works in the cold months as well as in August.
Links
Sources: Baldersons Welcome Cafe & Bakery, Facebook page (address and telephone); Visit Thornton-le-Dale, Baldersons Welcome Cafe listing; our directory entry and the editor's own visits, September 2026. Checked 11 October 2026.
Spotlight features are chosen by the editor. Nobody pays to be featured.