It’s not the first time I have attended the Beccles Duck Race with my daughter! In fact I think this was our 4th possibly 5th year. But this year was slightly different as I entered a “Corporate Duck” for The Tally Ho Tearooms! Sounds very posh and CEO and all that, but really it was just a bigger duck! The duck’s broach is made from a photograph of the one I wear in the Tearooms! And we use the little cup and saucers for serving espresso here (although not this one… obviously!)
 Last year’s entry was a little smaller! You know the type you put in the bath! (pictured right)
I managed to get the duck there just in time for the judging of the best dressed duck! I didn’t even realise there was a competition! So we squeezed her on to the bottom row as you can see… just!
I think the “Where’s Wally”-based “Where’s Ducky” Duck won the best dressed!
Fortunately, although rather windy, the weather stayed sunny and dry… although those dark clouds in the picture below were getting closer and closer all the time we waited for the Corporate Duck Race to begin (whcoh was after all the other ducks!) It’s so popular now that there have to be heats and then a final for the smaller ducks! Unfortunately though, in the Corporate Duck Stakes our duck didn’t win! Still there’s always next year, as the say goes!
More information regarding the Beccles Duck Race can be found here.
Taken recently when we had every table in the building occupied… the above picture shows the front of the Tearooms. This is the older part of the building and has lower ceilings. This is also where the Gift Shop area is.
The Caption on this photograph says it all really, apart from the fact that the side and rear of the Tearooms is the most recent addition to the building. By recent, I mean about 40ish years ago! Although that’s rumour as we have no paperwork to show the history of the building, which is a shame.
With regard to group bookings though, we have recently (and this time I mean only a couple of weeks ago!) had the rear fire exit doors removed and refitted into an existing doorway on the side of the building. We have had kind permission of the Church and the Mettingham Bowls Club to cross their adjoining land (only in emergency mind). This means that we can now easily seat much larger tables at the rear of the Tearooms and still have clear access to an exit at all times.
I don’t believe there are that many establishments, such as ours, in this area, that can accommodate such large bookings.
And Finally a photograph showing the fresh flowers on display. I will admit to having ‘a play’ with this photograph slightly to bring ‘forward’ the vase of flowers and recede the customers enjoying their lunches and cream teas behind.
We were delighted to welcome 37 people from the Co-Op Ladies Choir of Ipswich (and friends) last Tuesday 26th July. Everyone arrived via coach, all the way from Ipswich, just to enjoy our Buffet Victorian Tea.
Everyone enjoyed their sandwiches, cream and jam scones and sponge cakes… some taking leftover Lemon Drizzle Sponge and Chocolate Brownie home in our ‘Doggy Bags’ !
Mrs Quinton, the organiser of the ‘Surprise Afternoon Treat’ for her group took a photograph of myself and my daughter Honey (school’s out for Summer!) and kindly sent me a copy.
I took a photograph of everyone returning to the coach as it was parked in our back car park which is fairly huge and can easily accommodate the largest of passenger coaches. So this is just to give a bit of perspective as what you can see is merely the entrance to the rear car park!
We welcomed the local Red Hatters to The Tally Ho Tearooms last week, and didn’t they look fetching in their bright red hats and headdresses?! This is what Afternoon Tea is all about… a sense of occasion, togetherness, fun!
Not forgetting the elegant china (which many people agree, makes all the difference to a decent cup of tea, and is a welcome and pleasant change for our coffee drinkers too). And rather fitting that the only bright red flowers in the Tearooms at the moment are on a New Guinea Impatiens (a brilliant Busy Lizzie) which was (and still is), coincidentally, at the end of the ladies’ table on the window sill in full bloom!
Thank You ladies for bringing a delightful splash of vibrant colour!
We have a yet another sign for our Tearooms! This time it’s near the entrance to the building and it includes our “tag line” which is…
Yes…. “Your Time to Enjoy!” So… what do you think?
And here is a picture of the Planters on the Terrace. They are gradually picking up speed, we’ve been watering heavily every day and hopefully all will be a carpet/wall of greenery and colours soon. Click here to see what they looked like in the beginning.
Two ladies enjoyed a joint Birthday Tea Party at the Tearooms on Tuesday with 12 of their friends. Wendy and Chris (seated either end of the large table we set for 14) joined us for cream teas and we used our Royal Albert “Lavender Rose” Tea Set for the celebration.
We have had the privilege of hosting quite a few birthday celebrations since we opened. It is so nice to know that people like to come to the Tearooms to celebrate. We can cater for up to 36 in one group seated comfortably (we can squeeze in 40!) and still leave enough room for our regular custom.
Please call us to discuss how we may help you celebrate a special occasion in style.
 In our efforts to continually improve the property, inside and out, we turned our attention to the outside in the early spring with a change of colour!
Miles painted the whole of the outside of the building, changing it from the mustard colour to a fresh cream.
Also, for a couple of weeks now we have gradually been building a planting scheme on the Terrace outside the front door, where visitors to our Tearooms regularly take Tea (and lunch, etc) in the sunshine. And we have had a LOT of sunshine of late, which has been gorgeous!
Miles built the planters from scratch and painted them in “Willow Green”. Since putting them in position and adding a fair amount of ‘crocks’ into their bases he’s moved not one, but two tonnes of topsoil into them and around 14 large bags of compost and I still need more compost to bring them up to top level.
 In the meantime, I scouted the various local nurseries and garden centres for reasonably priced perennials, which I have now placed and mostly planted, along with some annuals for instant colour. Hopefully, as they grow, the plants will clothe the walls and the terrace will become a little bit of a green, cottage garden, oasis.
I am also adding some home grown seedlings, cuttings and those ‘oh-so-satisfying’ self seeded plants that appear around the garden from other plants. Not forgetting some cuttings brought up from my mum’s balcony plants. Did you know that Ajuga, a creeping ground cover perennial, actually does rather well in a wall or hanging basket?
Are you asking ‘what the blazes is Ajuga?’ lol… well I’ll take a picture and post one up to show you later!
Here are some more pictures…
And below, the ‘before and after’ of the Exterior paintwork.
 At Easter I made some little ‘Mini Eccles Cakes’ which we offered (complimentary) to all our customers over the Easter Weekend. I thought I would share the recipe with you as it is sooooo easy and quick.
The ingredients are merely…
Puff Pastry
Mincemeat
1 egg
Brown Demerara Sugar
You will need a 10cm (4″) pastry/cookie cutter.
1. Roll out your puff pastry till it is about the thickness of a 50p piece and cut out your circles.
2. Place a teaspoon of mincemeat in the middle of each circle and gather the edges tightly around the mincement (use the egg around the edges first to help stick, but I didn’t bother I just squeezed the edges together well)
3. Place each ball onto a baking tray (I suggest covering tray with baking parchment) with the joins facing down and gently flatten slightly.
4. Make two little slits in the top of each ‘puck shaped’ pie and brush with the egg and scatter with the brown sugar.
5. Cook in the oven 200C/180C fan/gas 6 for about 15 minutes.
Apparently you can freeze the uncooked little pies for up to 2 months and cook for 25-30 minutes from frozen. But I cooked mine from fresh.
If you need quantities… a 500g block of puff pastry and 450g (Ilb) of mincemeat is supposed to make 18, but I have to admit to just making loads and not paying attention to quantities.
But everyone managed to have one, either to enjoy at the end of their meal or to take home, and it was a pleasure to offer them with our wishes for a Happy Easter.
Chris Liles of the (Norfolk) Stag Owners Club sent a few kind words…
As Sunday states in the previous blog post, the Triumph Stag Owners Club certainly did come for Afternoon Tea. Right royally we were treated too. Sunday and Miles were sporting traditional Victorian attire as was their young daughter.
A truly delightful afternoon tea was enjoyed with bone china crockery, hand-made scones and cakes on traditional stands. We felt immensely welcome in this beautiful building & all highly recommend visiting the Tally Ho Tea Rooms at your earliest opportunity.
For the record, the car in the foreground of Sunday’s photo is a friendly Triumph TR5 PI who joined us on Drive It Day. The rest are Stags and are more clearly visible in this back-view photo.
Anyone interested in joining our 3,500 strong Club can learn more about our 40 year old, 3 litre V8 convertible Grand Tourers via www.stag.org.uk
Chris Liles
Stag Owners Club.
Norfolk Co-ordinator & National Honorary Vice-President.
Today we had a visit from the Norfolk Area Stag Owners Club… you know… The Triumph Stag… V8 engines and all! (Partial to a V8 burble myself, lol!) It was a gloriously hot and sunny day today and excellent for 8 cars with their roofs off! I took a few photos and some video, and the Club co-ordinator, Chris, said he’d email me some of his photos. So I will post up more pictures a little later… In the meantime I leave you with this picture of the Stags all lined up on our front lawn, here at The Tally Ho Tearooms!
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