Strid Wood Tea Rooms

Strid Wood. Bolton Abbey

GOLDILOCKS would love this little cottage, I’m thinking as I stand back and admire the woodland setting, before entering. Inside is just as delightful (though there are no bowls of porridge sitting abandoned on the tables!).

Curiously the interior is split into two distinct areas – hence the name Tea Rooms perhaps? One side with a very French bistro look, and the other more contemporary English. Altogether it’s spacious and welcoming with jolly bunting festooned around the cornice and a jaunty display of ceramic teapots. It’s hard to choose which side to sit as they are both equally inviting in their own way. Dizzy Goddaughter (DG) heads for the bistro area and takes a corner table with views into the woods. She studies the bird identification poster on the wall and begins counting the many different species she can spot flitting amongst the trees outside the window.

It’s a hot morning and we’ve enjoyed a walk from Bolton Abbey, so my priority is liquid refreshment. I order drinks for us both from the friendly staff at the counter, which is groaning with delicious looking cakes and bakes. All made in-house or from the local bakery in Skipton, I’m assured. Appetising cooking smells are wafting from the busy kitchen beside me, from where a good selection of hot and cold sandwiches and snacks are prepared for hungry walkers, cyclists and general visitors to the area. It’s barely mid-day yet the outside tables are filling up with folk enjoying a relaxing break the sunshine.

A local couple tell me, “The scones are really good here, we come often,” and I can see they mean it by the way they are tucking in.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Dave and Steve, the proprietors, have captured just the right mood and know exactly what their customers are looking for, be it a hearty bacon butty, a more delicate ham sandwich or a purely decadent afternoon tea experience. And the children aren’t forgotten either, “something warm for little tummies” sounds just the thing to tempt little people after an energetic romp on the green outside.

We linger over our tea and coffee, which is too good to rush, then browse the tasteful gifts on sale – jams and chutneys, household paraphernalia and even one or two of those jaunty teapots.

As we leave DG is humming that childhood classic “If you go down in the woods today…”

by Angela Cunningham