Rosa's first kitchen was The Angel Inn at Topcliffe, a village up the road from Thirsk. She started there aged 15 and never really considered doing anything else.
At 18 she went to Le Gavroche in Mayfair, under Michel Roux Jr. Classical French technique, learned the hard way. From London she moved to a hotel kitchen in the New Forest for a year.
At 21 she joined Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire under Raymond Blanc, and stayed two years. Garden to plate, every detail checked twice, and the kind of kitchen that teaches you how to cook and then teaches you why. Then she went to New Zealand and travelled.
Home in Yorkshire, she started small: homemade afternoon teas, served on vintage crockery she collected herself. In 2018 she bought a 1967 Citroen H van, named her Henrietta, and spent two summers trading as The Rolling Scones at Yorkshire markets and festivals, Deer Shed Festival among them.
In September 2019 she took on the old Arabica cafe at 87 Market Place, and Tea Time opened before the year was out. The room is small and bright, the cabinet is full of homemade cake, and almost everything you can eat here was made by someone you can see.
The kitchen buys close to home. Sausages, bacon and Doreen's black pudding come from Arthur Haigh's in Dalton, four miles away. Fruity Kitchen makes the relishes and jam, Longley Farm the soft cheese, and some of the produce still comes from the family farm.
Rosa