‘Hidden gem’ tea room near Cambridgeshire that ‘feels like going to somebody’s home’

Porters Lodge Tea Room is just outside of Cambridgeshire and is surrounded by pretty gardens

Hidden in the Suffolk countryside is a tea room that feels like home. Serving up afternoon teas and lunches, Porters Lodge Gardens and Team Room is in a serene spot surrounded by beautiful gardens.

Set within two and a half acres of garden and 20 acres of woodland, it’s a pretty place to go for a walk as well as enjoying a tasty lunch. The garden has no map, with visitors encouraged to have a wander and see what they find.

The owner of the tea room and gardens, Craig Wyncoll, said he opened the business 40 years ago to help subsidise Limitless Futures, a school for children with learning disabilities near the gardens. Guests make a £5 donation to enter the gardens, which goes towards running the school.

He added: “There’s a walled garden, a fern house, a Japanese garden, and a grotto. There’s a lot to see but I always tell people, there’s no map, I want you to go around and I want you to be surprised. There’s something around every corner. There’s lots of statues and water features so it’s not all about plants here. It’s the features that make the garden.”

Mr Wyncoll said the walled garden is “the great highlight”, as “it looks the best and has a big greenhouse” to look through. Mr Wyncoll suggests visitors come to the garden without any knowledge of the garden to be “very pleasantly surprised”.

He continued: “On the whole, I am just overwhelmed by the positivity of people. I’m endlessly being complimented and people tell me they’ve had a wonderful time. But I prefer them to come with very little expectations and go away very happy and that’s what happens really.”

The “old-fashioned” tea room on site is described as being “very well presented and very reasonably priced,” with many customers return regularly. The tea room has a range of cakes available with light lunches and platters in the summer. In the winter, they serve sausage rolls, soups, a hot dish of the day.

Mr Wyncoll said the tea room feels like going to somebody’s home and that Porters Lodge makes for “a pleasant afternoon out”. He continued: “You don’t have to come and go around the gardens. The rooms are open independently of the gardens. It’s the rooms that draws people in because it really is unique. You’re surrounded by trees and plants, and you can sit there all afternoon. We make people feel comfortable.”

Porters Lodge Gardens and Tea Room can be found on Icknield Way in Cavenham, which is around a 36 minute drive from Cambridge via the A11. There is a car park on site for guests to use.