 |
|
|||
 | Home/ Welcome | |||
 | ||||
| Services and events | |||
| ||||
| Visiting the Abbey | |||
| ||||
| Tea Room | |||
| ||||
| History and heritage | |||
| ||||
| The Friends | |||
| ||||
| Museum | |||
| ||||
| Education | |||
| ||||
| The Abbey community | |||
| ||||
| Facilities for Hire | |||
| ||||
| Dorchester News | |||
| ||||
| FAQs | |||
| ||||
| Downloads | |||
| ||||
| Internet Links | |||
| ||||
Following the Abbey's centuries-old tradition of welcome and hospitality, the unique Tea Room reaches out to the people of our own community, to our many visitors and to many people living further afield. Up to 20 people can sit in the Tea Room itself, at two communal tables, and in fine weather many more can sit in the Guest House garden at picnic tables or on the lawns in the Cloister Garden. You may expect a warm welcome from the proprietress and her army of helpers and then be regaled with a range of home-made cakes (try the favourite Dorset gooseberry cake) and a good cup of tea.
Recently profiled in the Financial Times Weekend Section and featuring in Hattie Ellis' book "Eating England", in the last 30 years the Tea Room has been visited by thousands of people from nearby and from as far away as California and Australia, many coming back year after year and introducing their children and even grandchildren. It is run entirely by volunteers, more than 70 in all, from Dorchester and neighbouring villages, who give unstintingly of their time, whether it be as cake makers, teapot ladies, washers-up or servers. All profits (more than £12,000 per year) are paid into the Abbey's General Fund; approximately 75% goes to charitable causes world-wide, and 25% to the maintenance of the Guest House and Abbey.
Opening times 2008
| 22nd March - 14th May | 14th May - 28th September |
|---|---|
| Open Bank Holidays, Saturdays, Sundays | Open Bank Holidays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays |
| 3 - 5pm (earlier if the cake runs out!) | |
|