Peacocks Tearoom

Loose leaf poured beside the River Great Ouse, with the boats going past the window. Peacocks Tearoom works a Georgian building on Ely's riverside quayside as a traditional English tearoom, with a small bed and breakfast upstairs.

Loose leaf tea leads the whole table

This is a tea-first room. The tea collection is extensive and the tea does the work that espresso does elsewhere, with cream teas as the standing order and coffee kept as a supporting drink for anyone who wants it.

Food follows the same traditional line: homemade cakes, sandwiches, salads and hot dishes prepared to order. The kitchen cooks to the table rather than filling a display case in advance, which is why lunch here runs slower than a bakery counter.

A Georgian room on the quayside

The character comes from the building and the water. Peacocks sits on the quayside beside the Great Ouse, and the interior runs to heritage, china, antiques and comfort rather than stripped-back modern café style. Boats are part of the view.

Upstairs, two guest suites carry the same hospitality: spacious, comfortable and homely, with antiques, books and separate living rooms, which makes the building both a daytime tearoom and a base for visitors to Ely and the open fenland countryside around it. The room is sociable, with conversation crossing between tables and along the queue, and dogs are welcome.

Order the cream tea, then choose the cake

Start with loose leaf tea and a cream tea, which is the clearest expression of what Peacocks does. Then move to the cakes, where carrot cake, mocha cake and salted caramel cake are named among the homemade range and can be ordered whole as celebration cakes to take home.

If the visit lengthens, the savoury side takes over: spinach and mushroom quiche, butternut squash and corn soup, with vegan choices among them and adjustments made for lactose intolerance or a mild egg allergy. Breakfast for house guests keeps the same classic streak, with granola, fresh fruit and yoghurt, croque madame and Welsh rarebit.