The Tea Room celebrates its 25th Anniversary

Tea Room Manager Ruth Cartwright (second right) with members of her team

The Tea Room is celebrating 25 years of opening. It opened its doors to visitors on March 25th 1990 to coincide with Mother’s Day weekend and has never looked back.

The nursery and garden centre had been thriving since the 1960’s but there were only basic facilities for visitors. Our customers had been telling us for many years that we needed a tea room but it was only when nursery owner John Massey acquired neighbouring land in the late 1980’s that it became possible. We originally planned for it to be a modest tea room serving tea, coffee, home-made cakes and light snacks.

Manager Maggie Morgan led a small team of ladies who were selected for their cake-making skills. Mouth-watering Welsh cakes were Maggie’s speciality while Lil’s bread pudding and Doreen’s Eccles cakes were legendary. Maggie recalls that, on the opening day, the queue stretched out through the door all day and, by closing time, all the cakes baked for the weekend had run out. It was an early indication of how much we had underestimated the huge potential of the Tea Room as a visitor destination.

delicious anniversary cakes

It quickly became apparent that the kitchen was inadequate to cope with demand and that new leadership and more ambitious catering plans were needed. Ruth Cartwright was recruited as Manager 21 years ago along with Steve Brinicombe as Head Chef. Ruth and Steve’s vast experience in the catering department at Lloyds Bank was to prove invaluable in transforming the Tea Room into the dynamic and successful business we all know today.

Ruth is supported by a very talented team. Her Assistant Manager Becky Collins is the Tea Room’s longest-serving member of staff, having joined Ashwood as a newly qualified catering graduate over 22 years ago. Neil Taylor took over the reins as Head Chef in 2009 and produces the beautiful home-cooked meals that are so enjoyed by Ashwood’s customers.

‘special recipe’ scones

Pastry Chef Steve Walker has been with us since 2001 and is responsible for the mouth-watering range of home-baked cakes and pastries which so often get a mention on Trip Advisor! Under Chefs Shaun Pardoe and Richard Lewis together with Supervisor Kelly Cochrane are all an important part of a much bigger team of hard-working people who work both ‘front of house’ and behind the scenes.

So today is a cause for celebration and, to mark this important milestone, the Tea Room has been decked out with balloons and there are special anniversary cakes and ‘special recipe’ scones as well as a few other surprises for visitors over the next few days! We do hope all our many customers and friends will come along to join in the fun.