Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2007 | Page 109

FOOD & DRINK

life

Tearoom
turnaround for
Brighstone
Brighstone Tearooms
and Restaurant occupies
a superb position in
the village, opposite
a thatched house and
next to the beautiful
12th century church.
But until Wendy and
Gary took it over the
bucolic setting was
marred by the constant
presence of coaches.
“First thing I did was get rid
of the coaches,” says Wendy,
with a bit of a ruthless gleam in
her eye. “You’d get 40 people
arriving without booking, they’d
share pots of tea and might buy
a bit of cake, use the loo – that’s
40 flushes! – and the driver
would expect a backhander
for bringing them in!
“When coaches book
in advance you can be
prepared, so what I call the
‘real customers’ don’t suffer”.
Along with the unannounced
coaches went the
crazy-paving patio.
“It was all a bit 70s,” said
Wendy. “And it was so
bare, no flowers around
the eating area at all.”
Now the first thing that greets
you as you walk into the garden
is the scent of the swathes of
lavender, which are set off by
fuschias, tumbling hanging
baskets and leafy bamboo.
They seem to have been there
far longer than the 18 months
or so that Wendy and Gary
have owned the tearooms.
“Gary is a builder, so we
knew we could get the place
as we wanted it,” Wendy
says. Inside remains simply
furnished, floral fabric panels
putting a modern twist on a
traditional tearoom theme.
But it is in the food which
really departs from its
former incarnation. No more

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ploughmans and
turkey dinosaurs,
Wendy buys
quality food from
suppliers such as
Godshill Organics
and PJ Thorne
of Freshwater to
design a menu
which straddles
the demands of the
hungry cyclist –
speciality sausage
platters with mash
– and the daytripper in search
of something fresh
and tasty. So on
her specials board
she sometimes
offers Warm Greek
filo pastries with
feta and Gruyere

cheese on a Greek salad, or
wholetail scampi with handcut
fries and organic salad.
She sings the praises of her
suppliers who are so adaptable.
“Sometimes I ring PJ Thorne
and order 300 sausages – and

they don’t bat
an eyelid!”
Notable too is
the degree to
which vegetarians
are catered for.
“I was brought
up vegetarian,”
explains Wendy,
“though I’m not
any more.” She
cites having
a Hungarian
grandmother
as the reason for her own
natural ability with food.
It is ironic then that Wendy’s
greatest frustration is not doing
evening meals at present.
“We’re seriously short of
staff, and there is a limit to

what I and my daytime staff
can do,” she says. But every
other Sunday they are hosts
to jazz pianist Eric Stevens.
On August 25th he will be
there with his full band.
Wendy is in her first season of
running bed and breakfast and
has four rooms each beautifully
and distinctly decorated. Each
room has an en-suite bathroom,
thanks to Gary’s ingenuity.
“We get lots of passing
trade that come in to eat, but
often when holiday-makers
have been in once you see
them again all week. I feel
proud of what we’ve done.”
Brighstone Tearooms and
Restaurant, Main Road,
Brighstone. Tel [phone]

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