Wagon House Tea Shop
Our new, family-run tea shop is the perfect way to
enjoy wonderful views over the garden whilst enjoying some delicious homemade
refreshments. Lesley bakes a variety of cakes, biscuits and other scrumptious
treats as well as light lunches made to order in her farmhouse kitchen and we serve a wide range of drinks to satisfy
even the thirstiest visitor! Almost all of the ingredients come from our own
garden or from local sources, so we can be sure that they are the freshest and
tastiest around!
The tea shop also sells locally-made gifts,
free-range eggs from our hens and Lesley's homemade preserves made from our own
fruit and vegetables for you to take home.
Our tea shop is open whenever the garden is and the
menu changes daily so do pop in and see if we can tempt you!
Recipes
To wet your appetite why not try some of the cakes Lesley has on offer, at home:
Martin's Fat Rascals
My husband is a Yorkshire man and loves these traditional cakes as close to Betty's of York as I can find.
Makes 6/8
100g butter, softened
250g plain flour
75g currants
50g mixed peel
1½ tsp baking powder
150ml sour cream
1 egg. Beaten
glace cherries, for decoration
whole blanched almonds, for decoration
1.
1. Pre-heat oven to 220ºC/425ºF/Gas 7 and grease or line a
baking sheet.
2.
2. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles
breadcrumbs.
3.
3. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix well.
4.
4. Add the cream and mix to a stiff paste – a firm dough.
5.
5. Roll the mixture out on a floured board, to about 2.5cm
thick and stamp out rounds, of about 8cm diameter.
6.
6. Arrange them on the greased baking tray and glaze them
generously with beaten egg.
7.
7. Then place 2 whole blanched almonds on top with a halved
glacé cherry for decoration – pushing them down gently into the dough, so they
do not fall off during baking!
8.
8. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they have risen and are
golden brown.
9.
9. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Store them in an airtight tin for up to 4 days.
Granny's Boiled Fruit Cake
This recipe was given to me from my mother which was handed down to her. It makes the most deliciously moist fruit cake ever.
4oz margarine
6oz sugar
8oz self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 heaped tsp mixed spice
1.
1. Boil together gently the margarine, sugar, mixed fruit,
bicarbonate and spices for 2 minutes.
2.
2. Leave to cool.
3.
3. Stir in the flour and eggs.
4.
4. Pour into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin.
5.
5. Cook at 180ºC/Gas 4 for 1 hour.
Rhubarb Cake
I always make this cake when the rhubarb is in season and it has proved a huge hit in the teashop.
125g butter, plus more for greasing
the tin
125g caster sugar, plus 5tbsp for the rhubarb
3 large eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
125g self-raising flour
725g rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 2.5cm lengths
Icing sugar for dusting
1.
1. Beat the butter and 125g caster sugar together until pale
and fluffy.
2.
2. Add the eggs a little at a time, beating well, then add the
vanilla. If the mixture starts to curdle, add a tbsp of flour.
3.
3. Fold in all the flour then add enough milk to give the
batter a reluctant dropping consistency.
4.
4. Scrape into buttered 22.5cm (9”) spring-form tin.
5.
5. Toss the rhubarb with its sugar and spread it over the top.
6.
6. Bake for 50mins in preheated oven 190ºC/375ºF/Gas 5.
A skewer in the middle of the cake should come out clean.
7.
7. Leave to cool in the tin then carefully remove the ring and
base.
8.
8. Dust with icing sugar before serving.