Shelly's Tea Room, Chilham

A distinctly chilly day suggested a visit to Chilham for this month's teatime adventure.  Chilham is a delightful little village arranged around a small market square and has been used as a location for films and television including the author's favourites, 'Poirot' and 'Miss Marple'.  My companion and I parked at the free car park at the bottom of the village and tottered up the hill to bolster our appetite for the tea.  We then took a turn around the church (nice to see if left open for visitors) and the remarkably well-stocked gift shop before turning our attention to 'Shelly's Tea Room'.

Shelly's Tea Room is housed in an old building on the square, with leaded light windows and a nice feature chimney breast.  It felt warm and welcoming and there was a well chosen CD of light jazz music playing which aided the atmosphere.  My companion and I selected a table with a view out onto the square and surveyed the menu.

Unfortunately it transpired from the menu that an Afternoon Tea, comprising sandwiches, scones and cake, had to be booked in advance and having failed to be aware of this,  we both settled on a Cream Tea.  The tea was brought quickly and served in tea bags in aluminium tea pots with plain white china crockery.  My companion chose Assam tea and I chose what was described as 'ordinary' tea.  They were both perfectly pleasant.  The friendly waitress informed us that a new batch of scones was just emerging from the oven and there would be a wait of 2 - 3 minutes.

A number of cakes were also on offer, and I had espoused the idea that I might follow my cream tea with a slice of cake.  (The chilly afternoon and the light canter around Chilham had obviously aroused my appetite!)  The cakes on offer were:  Victoria Sponge, chocolate, country carrot (not quite sure how this is different from an urban carrot?!), fruit, lemon sponge, cappuccino plus flapjacks and teacakes.

However, when the cream tea arrived I quickly rejected my notions of cake consumption as before me sat quite the largest fruit scones I have ever seen!  They were indeed very warm and delightfully irregular in the best traditions of home-made produce.  In accompaniment was a dish of butter and of strawberry jam, and a generous dollop of clotted cream.  The scones were very tasty, and I cannot fault the jam and cream, but despite washing them down with several cups of tea and pausing to eavesdrop for a while on the most interesting discourse of other customers (another lamentable but irresistible failing of your author!) I must confess that I was defeated and had to leave half a scone uneaten.

The toilet facilities are located upstairs, where there is only one loo, but it was clean and functional.

Suitably engorged, my companion and I staggered slowly down the hill back to the car and enjoyed a leisurely drive through the glorious Kent countryside back home.

www.shellystearooms.com