Behind the scenes at the UK's best tea room: Davenports in Cheshire

16th May 2013

Davenports in Cheshire has won The Tea Guild's Top Tea Place Award 2013. Owner Belinda Davenport explains the story behind the success.

It's quite the honour to be named the best place in the country to take afternoon tea. This year it's the turn of Davenports in Cheshire, which has been basking in the afterglow of success since The Tea Guild declared it the winner of 2013's Top Tea Place Award.

"I thought I'd done something wrong when Irene (Gorman, head of The Tea Guild) called and said she wanted to speak to me in private," said owner Belinda Davenport.

"It was a total surprise," she continues.  "I just wanted to tell everyone there and then but of course I couldn't. It was the hardest thing to walk back out into the tea room and show no emotion."

"I'm so happy. Being a member of The Tea Guild has been really beneficial. It can be hard to get people down here as we are not on any major tourist routes but we have seen our bookings increase dramatically as a result of our win."
It's a great achievement for Davenports.  While the family has been in the grocery business for 100 years, the tearoom - which sits in the farm in Northwich, Cheshire along with a florists and farm shop - has only been open for six.

Guests take tea in one of three pretty rooms (there are tables outside in the summer). One of the rooms is dedicated to Lewis Carroll (he was born just down the road) and his most famous work, Alice in Wonderland. Another has William Morris wallpaper and a beautiful dresser made by the firm who made many of the fittings on the Titanic.

So how did she start out? 

"We started serving tea for six months before we advertised or put any boards out," she says. "I wanted to gauge people's opinions first. We asked them about the food. We asked them about the tea."

At first, Belinda had no idea about how to make the perfect cup. "We started off doing something very simple which was to warm the cups. We had such a positive response that it is something that we always do now."

The tea menu at Davenports is clear and informative with choices such as Lancaster Tea (‘superb blend of African, Indian and Ceylon teas, the perfect traditional afternoon cup'), plus a Royal Breakfast Tea (‘a full bodied breakfast tea based on the original blend presented as a gift for King Charles II in 1664'), and Kwazulu, a South African favourite of tea room connoisseurs and one of Davenports' most popular, particularly for those who prefer a medium strength.

Staff knowledge is one of the key elements that the Tea Guild inspectors look for when they dine anonymously at each of the members' venues, along with cleanliness, appropriate use of crockery, how the tea is brewed and served as well as the standard of the food - amongst many others. Belinda trains her staff to help her guests make the right tea choice for them.

"If you have a customer who orders a robust tea for example, but says that they'd prefer it weak, I tell my staff to offer them a lighter type of tea as an alternative. I also offer one type of tea which, when customers order it, I can usually assume that they have been here before."

She finds that, for the most part, her customers are happy for staff to brew the tea for them, serving it when it is exactly right, but sometimes, she says, customers just want to do it themselves. "And that's absolutely fine," she says.

Listening to her guests and what they have to say has undoubtedly helped Belinda to improve the business to its present level - something she credits to her background in tourism and marketing.

This even extends to the temperature of the rooms. "I have a real variety of customers here," she explains. "I have to cater for them all. A party which has come in for a special afternoon tea will want the room warmer than a party of walkers, say, who'll be all hot from their walks!"

Of course, afternoon tea wouldn't be afternoon tea without the food. The scones at Davenports are made to a secret family recipe from the 1930s and Belinda sources her cakes from a variety of local producers, taking the best from each.

There are many different tiers of afternoon tea to choose from to suit all budgets and occasions. Belinda also capitalizes on the Alice in Wonderland theme by hosting Mad Hatters Tea parties with themed cakes and quirky place settings.

"You've got to keep looking at what you do to improve," says Belinda. "You can't stand still for a second – not at this level."

"I'm just so happy that all our hard work has paid off," she says before going off to make another bunch of scones for the day's eager visitors.