Bird on the Rock Tearoom
Abcott, Clungunford, Shropshire, U.K.
Story & Photos by Trudi Roark

Tea time in classic rural England is a leisurely experience, and it is therefore appropriate that the holder of this year's award for Britain's Top Tea Place is in one of the country's most peaceful village locations. It is the Bird on the Rock Tearoom, which has recreated the most classic of British leisure times: the 1920s and 1930s, when life in the United Kingdom was fun, and also a little eccentric, but tea was taken seriously, and served with both time and style.
   Upon entering the establishment, you could be excused for thinking you were having afternoon tea on a film set, and there are good reasons for this. The owners, Annabel and Douglas Hawkes, were theatrical costumers, and still maintain a foothold in the movie industry through the requests of certain artists who would not consider going elsewhere for their costume designs.
   Deep in the depths of Shropshire, a very rural county bordering England and Wales, there is a tourist road sign for the Bird on the Rock Tearoom, and that, in Britain, is an accolade in itself. On approaching the 16th century building, one sees the first sign of the 1930s: Parked outside is a vintage Austin A35 van with a traditional English teapot in the window. Inside this quintessential English tearoom with its oak beams, flagstone floors and period memorabilia, it is obvious that the aim is to provide only the best of everything-the best tea, the best coffee, the best linen (designed solely for the owners) and the ultimate best of experiences. It is probably the only village tearoom where it is virtually essential to book a table for lunch. Greeted by Douglas, who would not look out of place on a Poirot film set, and directed to a table in the intimate tearoom, the visitor confronts the unique problem of having to choose from among 50 varieties of tea, five cafetiere coffees and several speciality coffees, hot chocolate and a good selection of cold drinks, such as iced mocha, iced tea, botanically-brewed ginger beer, Victorian lemonade and elderflower cordial. The scones, muffins and cakes are baked on the premises. The ultimate selection is offered as The Complete Jeeves, the Hawkes' version of the traditional afternoon tea. There is also a small lunch menu.
   Listening to the comforting tick of the train-station wall clock, and the authentic 1930s dance music emanating from an old radio cabinet, customers can appreciate the design details: Spode china, a sugar bowl covered by a lace top weighted by beads, a unique teapot whose prototype was recently exhibited at the Business Design Centre in London. A removable sieve feature holds the tea leaves in suspension so that the tea does not stew in the pot. The teapot is currently produced in stainless steel, and is available for purchase in the shop and by mail order. A nice finishing touch in the tearoom is a napkin twisted around the lid handle so that customers cannot burn their fingers while refilling the pot with hot water.
   The extensive tea list is not from a major supplier, neither is their own Shropshire blend. The latter comes from their own tea plantation. It all started when the Hawkes were on location during their showbiz careers and could not find a decent pot of tea. They now have a share in a tea estate in Sri Lanka with some friends. It's only a small estate of four or five acres, which produces tea for blending. They have created their own Shropshire Blend, which is also available in the tearoom and on mail order. It was produced after requests from their customers, who wanted a good quality, fairly strong black tea, the type most favored in those parts.
   It is a true local tea as it is smoked in a local smokehouse a mile from the tearoom, and they have now combined to produce a single-estate smoked Ceylon as well. Their friends in Sri Lanka now travel the world searching out the best teas and send them to the Bird on the Rock. Not all the selection of teas on offer in the tearoom are available by mail order, as some of them would be too uneconomical for resale. And they have made the decision not to place their products on the Internet. Douglas explains that they have derately kept their mail order business small, because they complete all the orders themselves, and have as much business as they can possibly handle. In fact, the tearoom was a bed and breakfast establishment as well, but they had to give that up to concentrate on the demands of the tearoom.
   So what can the customers choose from in the tearoom? The blends include Indian, Chinese and Japanese teas, lemon tea, herbal/fruit infusions and organic teas. On the connoisseur's list are three types of Darjeeling (two being first flush), two Assams (one a second flush) and four China whites. Gunpowder green tea is popular, as are the China whites.
   Although the Bird on the Rock is a tearoom, coffee is very important, too, and Douglas is very proud of his coffee machine, his beans and his barista training. All his staff are very well trained and can produce a latte of four layers with latte art on the top. Matthew Algie, a prominent roaster in Glasgow, Scotland, supplied the machine, the beans, the training and the boiler in the kitchen, which was custom-made for Hawkes, who demanded something that would produce water at the right temperature for brewing white teas.
   The owners are devoted to the excellence of tea, and hold regular tea tastings, the results of which they send to the Tea Council. They also plan to extend the tastings to restaurants for the benefit of waiters and waitresses. All this devotion has led to the Les Routiers Tearoom of the Year Award and the Top Tea Place Award 2004 from the British Tea Council. These awards are proudly displayed in the entrance lobby. Also on display are various items for sale, such as tea, coffee, teapots, local produce such as Shropshire honey and chutneys, and postcards and memorabilia.
   There is one delightful touch of humor at the cash desk. It is an old wallet, from which bank notes and coins of a bygone era are peeping out. These are the old British pounds, schillings and pence that disappeared from circulation when the country adopted decimal currency in 1971. Douglas Hawkes recalls with a smile how a customer approached him and said, "Excuse me, I think someone has left their wallet on your desk." Yes, replied Douglas, they must have left it-60 years ago!
   As for the name and location, there's a story to that, too. The building dates from the early part of the 17th century, possibly earlier, and was built in the Welsh longhouse design. A small window in the cellar looks along the road to the river bridge and probably served as a musketeer's vantage point during the English Civil War (1641-45). It was known to be a village alehouse in 1696 called The Rocke Arms, and it was owned by a Squire Rocke. The sign depicted a martlet (a heraldic footless bird) perched on a rock. The villagers then corrupted the name to the Bird on the Rock. It closed in 1914 as an inn, and was tenanted by farmers until a few years ago. In 1999, Douglas and Annabel were looking for a tearoom to buy and they came across the building, which was then a plant nursery. After a few setbacks (having to open four days after moving in, surviving the British Foot and Mouth crisis of 2001 by using local advertising to invite local farmers to come in for a good cup of tea, and closure for nine weeks following flooding in the cellar) the tearoom goes from strength to strength.
   Given the success, is a chain of tearooms in store? It's certainly possible, comments Douglas. He also muses on the possibilities of further developments in design and a larger contribution to the film and television industry. That industry is never far away. Among the pictures and souvenirs on the walls are the collar worn by David Suchet while playing the role of Hercule Poirot in the BBC television series, a signed note of thanks to Douglas from Tom Cruise, Madonna's 1940s sunglasses from Evita, a signed Stan Laurel picture and a letter from Rita Hayworth endorsing a brand of stockings. Douglas and Annabel actually appeared in a film themselves, in the 1996 film Tom and Viv, which portrayed the life of T.S. Eliot, starring Willem Dafoe and Miranda Richardson. They played bit parts-the staff of a 1920s tearoom no less!
   Annabel and Douglas are now working to capacity, with the aid of additional staff at busy times and weekends. They open from Wednesday to Sunday to give themselves a little time to devote to their beautiful cottage garden, and to enjoy the wonderful scenery surrounding the tearoom. They are open all year round, as they have found the wintertime to be just as busy as summertime. However, they close every September for essential maintenance and to have a little break. They know they will never make a fortune from the tearoom, but they are doing what they really enjoy, and have developed new products and skills along the way. They have proved that business can be good with a lot of hard work, an enthusiasm for their products and a lot of care and attention to detail.