This England’s Finest Tea Rooms
Sussex, taking over the premises of Ditchling Tea Rooms. It is a real traditional tea room with tables inside and in a walled garden, with an extensive menu of beautifully presented food served by friendly waitresses in traditional costume. We go there re
In this issue, our Finest Tea Rooms Awards go to a pair of establishments who are sticklers for tradition and offer a “good, old-fashioned” experience! If you ever get the feeling that time is racing by, the comfort of a traditional tea room can go far beyond the tea and cake, becoming a place where the mind goes quiet and one can truly reflect and relax.
Following this theme, Old Bank Tea Rooms and Antiques, 8 Market Place, Bungay, Suffolk NR35 1AR, is Winter 2018’s first winner.
“‘The room has a lovely oldfashioned feel,” says our reader. “All the cakes are home made, as are the sandwiches, and a large china teapot completes the lovely experience.”
A highlight is the afternoon tea which is served on a vintage 3-tier cake stand, while all the tea served is loose leaf. The tea room is set up with embroidered linen and tablecloths, and owners Dave and Sue play “foot-tapping music from the 1920s and 1930s which creates a wonderful atmosphere.”
Eight Market Place was a bank from the mid-1920s, hence the lovely wood panelling inside. Downstairs in the strong room, antiques and collectables are displayed and for sale.
“The staff are kind and helpful and altogether it was a memorable experience,” our reader summarises happily.
Fine praise indeed – and if you’re wondering if praise comes as high as that elsewhere, look no further than our second winner: The Nutmeg Tree, 6 West Street, Ditchling, East Sussex, BN6 8TS.
Reader David Richardson tells us: “On our occasional visits to Tunbridge Wells we would always lunch at The Nutmeg Tree, a wonderful traditional tea room attached to the Victoria Place Mall. Sadly it closed last year to make way for redevelopment.
“Fortunately, it then opened in the next village to us, Ditchling, East