The Soup Dragons Kitchen @ Walford Court Tea Room
THE SOUP DRAGONS KITCHEN IS NOW CLOSED, BUT AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE ADVANCE BOOKINGS
We do apologise to our regular customers, but with a glut of tearooms, and pubs providing lunches in the immediate area, maintaining a fresh cooked menu from our home grown products was becoming increasingly hard to maintain.
You can still enjoy home cooked food in the privacy and quiet of our beautiful garden, or in our lovely old tearoom with logburning fire, but with advance bookings only.
Brunches, lunches and afternoon teas can be booked in advance and tailored to your individual needs. Ideal for small groups, clubs, family and friends, we just ask for a minimum of 6 people.
We can also provide small meeting facilities with catering for up to 12 people.
Please do just call 01547 540570 or e-mail info@romanticbreak.com to discuss your requirements.
Here's a bit about us.....
Walford Court not only has a fabulous interior, but the garden is beautiful and tranquil, and sufficiently far from the road to enable the birds to sing without the need for amplification! As the renovation work on the house continued, we decided another income stream was required, and opened a garden café, placing tables and benches beside the stream, and under the old yew and weeping willow. We based the menu on what we grew, and the excellent meat from our local butcher, and it has, and continues to evolve from customer feedback.
From serving teas in our garden, we now also use our beautiful old dining room, keeping our guests cosy with a newly installed wood burning stove, and we opened up the chimney to reveal an old bread oven.
The benches in the garden were less comfortable for older people, so we purchased more chairs and free standing tables. For more information on accessibility, please see our Access Statement.
The Tea Room Menu has evolved the most; from the range of teas provided – if a tea is requested twice it goes on sale; to the range, and ingredients on the menu.
My AGA and I guarantee home baking allowing the development of a range of gluten wheat and dairy free options after discussions with a number of customers with intolerances.
Our own range of soups is based on our most successful vegetable growing. Tattie scones went on the menu as an option to accompany our soup, when one of our regulars who has a gluten allergy found he also had an egg allergy and could no longer avail himself of my gluten free cheesy herby muffins.
Our Walford Court special was created out of the popularity of the tattie scones - teamed up with 2 rashers of Mr Griffiths the butchers’ best bacon and 2 of “my girls” orange yolked eggs – it never fails to please!
All the fruit we use for our muffins and desserts are home grown – apples, pears, plums, gooseberries, rhubarb, blueberries, tayberries and red, white and black currants – all grown organically. Homegrown vegetables provide soups according to season. In the summer my lettuce, cucumber, spring onion, tomatoes and radish are served.
All our meat comes from the butcher a mile away, who we also use for surplus vegetables, and we are currently experimenting with the range of bread he provides (sourced from a local bakery). My girls provide the eggs so I know exactly what goes into the food I serve – and there are no pesticides or preservatives In addition to buying locally, as a small business surviving in a rural location we appreciate the value of supporting local businesses in the area.
Our customers understand that we are environmentally friendly - all the food is home grown organic, or sourced locally. It hasn’t travelled, and there are no chemicals in or on it!
With the exception of the baking and soup, all menu items are prepared to order, and to taste, and everything does taste good!
We are recommended in Margaret Thornby’s Guide to tearooms of Britain and have just had a second article published in Tea and Tea Room Talk.
Guests to the tearoom read the flyers and leaflets of local businesses, fetes and activities, promoting H-Art, local nurseries, bookshops, artists, even the local school and church activities, and comment on how they enjoy the traditional supportive village feel, from the food to the chat.
We recommend and direct them to the local butcher, nursery, bookshop and convenience store! Our unique selling point is that we know exactly what goes into everything on the menu, and can tailor it exactly to customer’s requirements.