Lesley Sterry proudly displays her famous lavender cake at Tintern’s Old Station
The tea room at Monmouthshire County Council’s Old Station visitor centre near Tintern has picked up a prestigious award as the best café to eat in Wales. The tea room was among the winners at the National Tourism Awards for Wales gala evening in Llandudno last week (Thursday 21st November).
Over 400 applications were received in all categories and 59 organisations made it to the final competing for 20 awards – with the winners announced by Radio 1 and TV presenter Aled Haydn Jones. This latest accolade follows a number of honours for the Old Station’s tea room nestled in the scenic Wye Valley.
Tea room proprietor Lesley Sterry said: “It’s a real honour to be recognised as the best café to eat in the whole of Wales. We pride ourselves on serving locally sourced produce and all our cakes are baked here on site in our ticket office kitchen. We aim to give all customers – old and new – a really excellent experience each time they visit us so to be recognised like this is very special.”
County Councillor Giles Howard, cabinet member for environment and countryside added: “The Old Station has developed an excellent reputation as one of the area’s top visitor centres and a visit to the tea room is becoming an essential part of a trip to the Wye Valley. The tea room complements the other facilities available which include camping, picnics, train rides, meeting facilities, regular activities and plenty of open space next to the River Wye. Monmouthshire is well-known for its fabulous cuisine and this latest prize is confirmation that we produce and serve food of the very finest quality.”
In recent years The Old Station has also won the Gold Award at the Royal Welsh Show for the Best Tea Room in Wales category and was voted the UK’s favourite park in the 2011 People’s Choice Green Flag Award public poll.
