Tearooms open in Mettingham

THE traditional English cream tea is well known as a treat popular with visitors to Devon and Cornwall. Now a tearooms in Waveney is to open that will offer sheer indulgence to anyone with a weakness for a fresh scone with Cornish clotted cream, strawberry jam and a pot of tea.

THE traditional English cream tea is well known as a treat popular with visitors to Devon and Cornwall.

Now a tearooms in Waveney is to open that will offer sheer indulgence to anyone with a weakness for a fresh scone with Cornish clotted cream, strawberry jam and a pot of tea.

Easter Saturday will mark the transformation of one of Waveney's landmark pubs into an authentic Victorian tearooms.

The Tally Ho Tearooms in Mettingham is a bright and airy haven where staff in Victorian dress serve cream teas in fine bone china cups and saucers.

Owner Sunday Lamdin said: “I had the discussion years ago about there being nowhere to get a cream tea unless you want to go to Southwold or Walberswick, which are very busy in the summer. The idea is that it's a Victorian style place where people can come and relax.”

Mrs Lamdin and her family, who moved into accommodation above the tearooms in December, have spent three months remodelling the interior of what was the Tally Ho pub until it closed at the beginning of last year. The venue has been recorded as a pub since 1775 and is a familiar sight to drivers on the B1062 between Beccles and Bungay.

“This could well be the very first time in 225 years that it has been something other than a pub,” she said. “It's a landmark, that's why we kept the name.”

Mrs Lamdin said she hoped customers would appreciate the emphasis on quality and the extra special touches, such as the variety of original tea sets that will be used by customers which have caught the eye of her husband Miles through his work at Durrants Auction Rooms in Beccles. Much of the menu, which includes a range of light lunches, homemade soups and a selection of cakes, uses locally sourced ingredients.

With the space to take larger groups and plans to open a tea garden in time for the summer, Mrs Lamdin said she hoped the hard work on the tearooms would pay off.

“Everyone has said that they are really looking forward to it opening,” she said. “They really think that it needs something like that around here. They've been amazed.”

Although the official opening is on Saturday, staff have already served their first few customers as they put the final touches to the venue this week.

The tearooms is open 10am-5pm daily (closed Mondays except bank holidays). Visit www.thetallyhotearooms.co.uk