Barley, lemon, and one famous cake
The tearoom opens onto the drying yard and closes when the house does. The menu has not changed since 1952, which the kitchen considers a feature.
Everything, honestly priced
| Item | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Linden tea, pot | $4 | The dusk tea. Comes with the honey spoon. |
| Nettle tea, pot | $4 | The morning tea. Greener than it looks, better than it sounds. |
| Lemon barley cordial | $5 | The closest thing to drinking the hill. House recipe since 1948. |
| Seed loaf, slice | $3.50 | Dark, heavy, correct. Toasted if you ask before noon. |
| The Resting Hall cake | $6 | A walnut and honey cake named for the room it is usually eaten in. |
| Spring-finished bath salts | $9 | From the drying yard. Not for eating; people ask. |
Demonstration: the menu, prices and cake are invented.
The honey spoon
Every pot of linden arrives with one wooden spoon of yard honey. The bees work the hillside above the spring, and the honey carries a faint mineral edge regulars claim to taste and visitors claim to be polite about. Both are right.
The yard tables
Eleven tables under the drying racks, occupied by blankets and silent swimmers from May to September. In winter the racks fold against the wall and the tables move inside, which the regulars treat as a season change in itself.
Tea after the cold
The Resting Hall serves linden on the half hour; the tearoom serves it the rest of the time.
The Pools
Cascade, Meridian, Mosaic, Plunge, Resting. In that order.
41 °CThe Water
One spring, honestly described, never sweetened.
Since 1926History
Ottilie Marsh, the ward years, the slow clock.
8 ritualsTreatments
Hands, heat, salt and birch, priced plainly.
ArchiveThe Journal
Longer notes from the stairwell cabinet.
VisitPlan a Visit
Trains, towpaths, punts and what to bring.