The Wandering Kitchen at the Lake is our café near Wallingford in Oxfordshire. 
When we first visited the location at Queenford Lakes we knew instantly that this is where we should be. Although we like wandering we also knew that the lake satisfied our need for fun and adventure. There are two other businesses that share the site with us: Oxford Wet n Wild aqua park and Oxford Wakeboard and Ski club. They are both so much fun for all and it just felt like something that we wanted to be involved with.
On Sundays we open for a swimmers breakfast from 7:30am – 11am and open to the general public at 11am. Our swimmers breakfast is a reduced menu of breakfast baps only. *Our full breakfasts won’t be available on a Sunday morning from 13th April 2025 until the end of September 2025*
*At The Wandering Kitchen we like to cook our food from scratch, using locally sourced ingredients. We use all 14 allergens in our kitchen and front of house. Due to the small size of our kitchen and how busy we get, we can not guarantee that any of our food or drink is allergen free. Due to this we are unable to cater for severe allergies or coeliacs. *
Please visit the menus page to find out more about what food we will be serving.
The Walk around the Lake & Wanda’s quest
Wandering Kitchen customers are welcome to walk around the lake and take part in Wanda’s Quest. Wanda is the hare from our logo and she has to get around the lake and get past 9 mysterious creatures. Each creature has a letter, find all the letters to spell a word, find the word and win a prize. There is an audio story to go with the trail, which you can find here.
Anyone doing the walk must have a visitor’s pass & lanyard. These are available to buy inside the café, along with Wanda’s Quest sheets. Passes cost £3 per person, or £5 for a family of up to four.
The walk is approximately 2.5 km and is flat, it can get a bit muddy as some of it is on grass, so we recommend wellies for the little ones. It is buggy friendly but if it has rained it can get muddy. Dogs are welcome but please read the rules below:
Rules for the lake
- Dogs are welcome but please keep them on a lead at all times
- Please do not allow children or dogs into the water
- Please don’t throw sticks into the water
- Take all rubbish and dog poop with you
- Be aware that there are speedboats in operation at all times
We look forward to seeing you at the lake.*Please note, we are now fully booked for Mother’s Day (Sunday 30th March), with no room for walk ins. Thank you for all your amazing support!*