REVIEW: Southill Village Stores & Tea Room

A friend of mine had been driving around Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire delivering Avon Brochures and Products and had passed this most beautiful countryside tea room on her travels. She immediately texted me, as she does when she passes a tearoom for me to explore, and let me know it was there.

So on to my list of *Must Visit* Tearoom list it went, and this is where it stayed for a good two months or so before I decided to head that way on a drive around Royston a few weeks back. I had originally planned to visit another coffee shop near to Royston Town Centre, however as it was such a warm and sunny day, I decided to take a country road trip across the Hertfordshire countryside and challenge my sense of direction, seeing as I didn't have a sat nav with me on this particular day.... hmmm it was going to one way or the other, and it is usually the other!

But today my nose and my guess work helped me to stumble upon the village of Southill, not too far from home, technically situated in Bedfordshire and what a picturesque little village it is too. It is the home of Southill Village Stores & Tea Room which has recently been taken over by the friendliest tea room owner I have ever met, Sue Richards.

Sue spends her time running the local shop within her quaint and relaxing tea room, whilst chatting to the locals as well as the visitors from further afield. Her shop attracts local visitors, walkers and ramblers as well as tea and cake lunatics such as myself ; )

You can stay for a snack, a full lunch or enjoy their selection of afternoon treats, with all of Sues cakes and scones being home made and the sandwiches are generous servings of freshly made triangles with salad and kettle chips to nibble on. I even caught the scent of freshly toasted bread with pate that my neighboring table had ordered, which was enough to make my stomach grumble for it even though I had already made my menu choice by that point.

Luckily the sandwich was made very quickly, and served with a generous pot of tea which I poured into a pretty china teacup that was already set out at my table ready for it's next gentle hands to hold and enjoy.

And to top it all, I managed to secure me the cutest little nook in the corner of this pretty little tea room, it was an old cubby hole that was once the old post office, which is now 3 walls juddering out into the cute little cottage gardens, seated in a L shape in the corner is a comfy cushioned table and bench with a window that I had open and a gentle breeze cooling me down whilst I sat and read my cake-related book, sipped English Breakfast Tea and nibbled on my tasty Egg & Cress Sandwich. It was bliss.

I hadn't expected to feel so at home, I even had my feet up at one point, I felt rude as soon as I had noticed, however Sue assured me it was nice to see her customers feeling so at home : )

I ended up spending 2 hours in this peaceful little nook, curling up for the entire afternoon, I left feeling as though I had been in the salon for an hour!... It was cake and tea therapy through and through.

There is even a book shelf filling one of the walls of my little nook, and you can take a book off the shelf and leave in it's place, so I will be back to do just that once I finish this one.

This is such a lovely place, I can highly suggest it to get you out of Cambridge for the Afternoon, and why not pop to Old Warden to look around their beautiful gardens and grounds whilst you are close by?

Any weekend that you find yourself twiddling thumbs, yet eager to head somewhere... Take a visit to Sue at Southill Village Stores and Tea Room. She is running a tearoom that I would only be able to dream about owning at this moment in time. 

Miss Sue Flay

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