Look at this amazing Dad’s Army inspired coastal cafe

Fans of the 1940s and a lovely cuppa? Well, don’t panic!

A Dad’s Army fanatic has turned this Horsey cafe into a haven for lovers of wartime nostalgia.

Darren Stride and his brother Dean run the Poppylands tearoom which is filling up with Second World war memorabilia and aims to become a museum.

As people enjoy cups of tea and treats they are surrounded by some of Mr Stride’s own collection of wartime artefacts and donated bygone items, such as a pilot’s cockpit suit, a record player and posters.

There is also a strong Dad’s Army presence thanks to Mr Stride’s love of the programme from when he was aged four and used to watch it with his grandfather, who started his grandson’s wartime collecting hobby by giving him war medals.

Mr Stride is well known for having his own museum based in the garden of his home in nearby Scratby and he is slowly transferring items to the Horsey tearoom with the ultimate ambition of creating another museum.

The brothers have run Poppylands, which is off Waxham Road, for two years and they say people are enjoying the chance to have cuppa and food such as toad in the hole and bubble and squeak and a mardle in such a tranquil and fascinating location.

And visitors still express surprise at the tearoom’s wartime look.

Mr Stride, who dresses up as Corporal Pike from his favourite show, said: “When people come through the doors they don’t expect what they will see. It is like the programme Goodnight Sweetheart with Nicholas Lyndhurst. It is a snapshot of the 1940s.

“People like it here because they want a place to have a nice conservation and enjoy saying something to someone else without mobile phones going off and people talking loudly.

“I am still bringing items over from my home in Scratby and would love to set up a museum by the entrance. People have also been fantastic in donating items, someone came in this week with a Lancaster bomber radio.”

Mr Stride’s museum in California Gardens had been entered for the Shed of the Year national contest in 2011.