St Joseph’s Tearoom
Our current opening times are: Monday – CLOSED, Tuesday to Friday 10:00 am-3:00 pm, Saturday 9:00-3:00 pm, Sunday 10:00 am – 3:00 pm. Brunch Menu only available on Saturday’s To book a table, please call us on 01509 600137 or send a message via Facebook #StJosephsTearoom
Our Story
Ellen Grimley, written in 2015 on the 6-year anniversary of
St Joseph’s Tearoom.
“When we arrived at St Joseph’s I remember thinking what we are doing here, the house seemed so big we all kept getting lost in it.
“We settled down and started the new chapter in our individual journeys together. I remember saying to Kevin (my husband), it’s beautiful here, the sound of monastery bells calling everyone and the nature around to pray 7 times a day, but I do miss ‘people’.
Kevin’s response was, ‘make some scones and we’ll do cream teas on the lawn’ we all said that’s not possible, thinking it was a joke, but he did persist, so Carey (my daughter-in-law) made some and we put them in a wheelbarrow at the bottom of the drive with an honesty box. They all went, and people kept coming back for more.
Ant (my son), rang the Abbot of the monastery (our landlord) and asked if it would be possible to set up on our lawn two tables and a gazebo and he said yes. We then realised we needed cups saucers etc. and funds were a little short 6 years ago, we all were at mass and the Gospel of the day was presented as the ‘Feeding of the thousand with limited resources.’ We looked at each other knowing that we had to go for this so the next day we went off to the charity shop and bought what we could for £10; China cups and saucers, teapots and jugs. We set tables and chairs and a gazebo up, hand wrote a sign to put at the bottom of the drive and people started to come, and we have never looked back.”