Time For Tea: Tea the Thirty-Sixth

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the

world revolves, slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.

Thich Nat Hahn

Pilgrims Coffee House, Front Street, Lindisfarne - Tuesday, 8th April, 2014

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Tea Takers

Sarah Ryan

Paul Ryan

Olivia Ryan

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Paul and I first came to Lindisfarne together on 9th July 2000, it was the first day of our honeymoon and we had a glorious week staying in a cottage on the island. We have since returned numerous times, with friends and on family holidays where our small infant frolicked on the wide breezy sands and clambered on rocks. It is a very special place that we love very much and it has been a sadly long time since we last came. It was always on the tea location wish list, but in a rather wistful, probably-not-going-to-happen kind of way. So when Paul suggested that a day trip from York might be rather nice it seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

The weather forecast was for sun and so armed with clothing for every weather/temperature, a picnic, and a predisposition to have an amazing time, we drove the 150 miles North and arrived about midday just half an hour after the causeway had cleared.

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Tea at My House.

It must be conceded that despite the very many virtues of the place, Lindisfarne is not overly endowed with 'proper' tea-taking opportunities. Afternoon tea as a concept has not really taken off in the catering establishments of the village.

A bright Easter holiday day had drawn many visitors and the number of small cafes about the place were busy. One cafe promised freshly made scones but what it offered in terms of bakage it lacked in charm. However, we were immediately taken with this place: an attractive stone house, with quirky and pleasing interior, and the promise of home made cakes and (for those who like to substitute such things for tea) their home blended and roasted coffee.

Additionally, and of particular satisfaction to me, is the fact the a few years ago I really wanted to buy this house. It was on the market at the time when we were looking to buy our house in York, and it was both beyond our budget and an exceedingly impractical location, but that didn't stop me looking longingly at the estate agents' particulars online and imagining my alternative life there. So I may not have been able to live here, but now I have taken tea, which is the essence of good living after all.

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Getting past the anomalous idea of tea in a 'coffee house' (and in doing so tipping a nod to the delights of coffee which I would by no means deny - do note the excellent name for the day's roast) and accepting that this is very much a cafe geared to the practical and swift service of large numbers of tourists, Pilgrims made a very pleasing tea location.

Yes, it was paper cups only, (and sadly we hadn't thought to bring mugs with us - if only we'd known...) but the drinks were good and didn't seem to suffer from the lack of china.

The bedrooms are attractive little seating areas now, with eclectic 'vintage' furniture and quirky accessories (cushions made from coffee sacks etc). We had a room to ourselves for most of the time and reclined in armchairs and on the windowseat.

It was a tea of varied drinks and cakes, and, for all its more utilitarian chic, was very enjoyable, sitting in these comfortable surroundings out of the wild wind (which was a hallmark of much of the rest of the day).

Olivia had a beautifully squidgy brownie and I enjoyed a very commendable lemon drizzle, but certainly the most interesting cake of the day was Paul's:

This is Cuthbert cake - advertised as a mix of oats, honey, fruit and nuts, and named for one of the islands more pre-eminent saints (of whom more in a moment). It was acclaimed as very fine and was a pleasing topical addition to the occasion.

Most of us remembered our table manners and dainty habits

Others however...

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Thirty-Sixth Tea - Thirty-Sixth Year

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The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

Holy Island, or Lindisfarne, is a tidal island off the coast of North East England, just south of Berwick upon Tweed. St Aidan came to Lindisfarne from Iona in the the early Seventh Century and founded the monastery here, and the place became the base for Christian evangelisation in the north of England. A second Saint who became inextricably linked with the place is Cuthbert, becoming bishop of Lindisfarne. He was ascetic and heremitical by temperament and would retreat to a small island itself only linked at low tide to the main island, and then ultimately removed to Inner Farne, a much more isolated place, to live as a hermit.

It was here that the magnificent Lindisfarne Gospels were illuminated in the Eighth Century, and on a more grizzly note a violent attack by vikings at the end of that century is now frequently noted as the start of the viking era in this country. The Priory ruins that are left now are from a later house, mostly built in the Twelfth Century and in use until the dissolution of the monasteries, are beautiful red sandstone, with ornate carvings and patterned columns, much like those of Durham Cathedral.

We brought Olivia here first ten years ago and she was fascinated by the information boards (this became a regular delaying tactic of hers in many sites of historic interest in her toddler-hood). Little changes:

The other most striking landmark of Lindisfarne is its castle.

A fortress was initially built on this dramatic crag in the Sixteenth Century, and then in 1901 the ruins were bought by publishing magnate Edward Hudson, who had discovered it when touring Northumberland with his friend Edwin Lutyens. Hudson had Lutyens refurbish the place in the arts and crafts style and for good measure Lutyens' friend and collaborator Gertrude Jekyll transformed an old vegetable plot into a walled garden. The castle remains a beautiful combination of castle and country house, on a very attractive domestic scale. It is set out as it would be for an Edwardian holiday retreat and it is very easy to imagine making yourself very at home there. It combines so many desirable traits in one place, it is certainly one of my most ideal residences.

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We had an utterly fabulous day and a three hundred mile round trip for tea was most definitely worth it.

A quick jump across the stones to St Cuthbert's island (and even quicker jump back because it looked like the tide was coming in);