Two sausages, two bacon, hash brown, scrambled egg, grilled tomato, mushrooms, coffee, orange juice + a small continental breakfast too!

I love Youth Hostels. There’s a purpose to the people staying there, especially at breakfast time. A sense of adventure fills the air. In the communal self-catering kitchen, hikers are preparing their sandwiches for the walk ahead. Outside, cyclists are packing their panniers and taking one more look at the map. As for us, we were enjoying the last couple of hours before the drive home to Ipswich after a short stay exploring the Ironbridge gorge. But one thing united all of the residents; the need for a good breakfast.

The first Youth Hostel was opened over 100 years ago and the organisation now has over 200 hostels, bunkhouses and camping barns throughout England and Wales. Anyone can stay at a Youth Hostel (there is no age restriction despite the name) and annual membership costs just £22.95 for a family. Since 2005, you don’t even have to be a member to stay however non-members pay a slightly higher rate to stay per night.

Youth Hostels have changed in recent years. Gone are the days of chores and curfews. Many of the larger hostels provide meals and they are generally excellent value. For £4.25 we were allowed to pick virtually what we wanted from the cooked and continental breakfast items on offer. Unfortunately in this case, quantity isn’t better than quality. The croissants were rock hard and the toast was more like crisp bread.

The breakfast itself was good albeit a little cold – the downside of cooking everything and then dishing up as and when diners arrive. This method works well when there is a high turnover of diners but when just a trickle of people are arriving for breakfast, someone is always going to get the stuff cooked 20 minutes ago – those people were us. On a positive note, we didn’t have to spend five minutes cooling the food for our toddler who was eager to get stuck in.