Moving to the country and opening a tea shop has never looked more appealing than at Rose Cottage Tea Gardens in a lovely village just outside Torquay.
Yes, yes — no sniggering in the back there. Cockington is indeed the sort of village where a large number of postcards are probably sold to the easily-amused and their friends. And while the saying ‘all publicity is good publicity’ has clearly been rendered hopelessly out of date by the social media generation, there’s probably something to be said for a quirky USP that puts you on the map. Especially when that USP is literally printed on the map.
Attracting a visitor, of course, is one thing — keeping them amused is another, but luckily Cockington delivers on far more than just its amusing name. It’s ‘effectively a country village within a town, hidden away in a deep valley, yet just a mile from the centre of Torquay,’ according to agents Jackson-Stops, with its lovely old high street of quirky shops, welcoming pubs and thatched houses.
Rose Cottage Tea Gardens is one of the staples of Cockington village life and very much lives up to the definition of a picture-postcard setting. The sort of place, in other words, that people dream of when they think about moving to the country and running a lifestyle business. And at an asking price of £995,000, we’d imagine there will be no shortage of people looking to swap suburban lives for the different pace of Devon.
The main accommodation is Rose Cottage itself, a thatched dwelling listed Grade II, which offers four bedrooms and two reception rooms under its beautiful sloped roof.
Inside, the house is an ideal mix of the period and the contemporary, with a new kitchen proving a particular highlight.
As well as the cottage itself, the 1½ acres of gardens and grounds are a joy to behold, with a stream, pond, and lawns so manicured you could set your watch to them.
The Tea Gardens are fully licensed and can cater for 185 visitors. Although the gardens are included, the pianist who plays during opening hours sadly is not.
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