Village regains community space after much-loved cafe reopens
A MUCH-LOVED café has re-opened its doors in a York village, giving its residents a community space again.
Harmony Tea Room in Stillingfleet has reopened to the public after initially closing its doors in August 2022.
The tearoom is part of Harmony House – a B&B run by Adele York, which provides retreats and sanctuary for those looking to 'get away' for a while – and reopened its doors in the Garden Room on March 13.
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It is open three days a week – Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – and entirely staffed by a team of ten local volunteers, who were keen to create a new community space after the village was left without anywhere to gather after the initial closing.
Adele said: 'It's the village community that's running the tearoom. They work really well together and it's so nice that people are willing to come in and give their time to us.
Some of the cakes on offer (Image: Provided) 'It's just really important to get something open and available for our community.'
With food cooked by local volunteers, Harmony Tea Room seats 14 people inside with a further 16 seats on the terrace.
It currently offers a 'simple rustic menu with homemade food' with including goods, rustic rolls, soups, sausage plaits, and chutneys made by volunteers. There are cakes and slices are made by local baker and volunteer Mandy Daniel.
Volunteers making coffee (Image: Provided) Drinks are also sourced locally with coffee from Yorkshire based roastery, CLO and an selection of speciality loose leaf and matcha teas sourced from Bird and Blend which change with the seasons.
In addition to the regular offerings, Harmony Tea Room hopes to offer some new experiences with afternoon cream teas on offer and bottomless brunches available – something which has brought in visitors from nearby villages.
The bottomless brunch menu includes breakfast sandwiches, eggs benedict, a vegan avocado dish, Pimm's, mimosa, and beers, in addition to non-alcoholic alternatives.
Homemade soup (Image: Provided) Adele added: 'It's just got such a nice feel. It's informal, relaxed, and a really good place to just come in for a natter – people have been chatting to each other over the tables.
'We've also had repeat customers – a walking group poked their head in and are now returning as a 14-person booking.'
Harmony House is open from Thursday to Saturday from 10:30am to 3pm.
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Yahoo
30-03-2025
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Village regains community space after much-loved cafe reopens
A MUCH-LOVED café has re-opened its doors in a York village, giving its residents a community space again. Harmony Tea Room in Stillingfleet has reopened to the public after initially closing its doors in August 2022. The tearoom is part of Harmony House – a B&B run by Adele York, which provides retreats and sanctuary for those looking to 'get away' for a while – and reopened its doors in the Garden Room on March 13. RECOMMENDED READING: It is open three days a week – Thursday, Friday, and Saturday – and entirely staffed by a team of ten local volunteers, who were keen to create a new community space after the village was left without anywhere to gather after the initial closing. Adele said: 'It's the village community that's running the tearoom. They work really well together and it's so nice that people are willing to come in and give their time to us. Some of the cakes on offer (Image: Provided) 'It's just really important to get something open and available for our community.' With food cooked by local volunteers, Harmony Tea Room seats 14 people inside with a further 16 seats on the terrace. It currently offers a 'simple rustic menu with homemade food' with including goods, rustic rolls, soups, sausage plaits, and chutneys made by volunteers. There are cakes and slices are made by local baker and volunteer Mandy Daniel. Volunteers making coffee (Image: Provided) Drinks are also sourced locally with coffee from Yorkshire based roastery, CLO and an selection of speciality loose leaf and matcha teas sourced from Bird and Blend which change with the seasons. In addition to the regular offerings, Harmony Tea Room hopes to offer some new experiences with afternoon cream teas on offer and bottomless brunches available – something which has brought in visitors from nearby villages. The bottomless brunch menu includes breakfast sandwiches, eggs benedict, a vegan avocado dish, Pimm's, mimosa, and beers, in addition to non-alcoholic alternatives. Homemade soup (Image: Provided) Adele added: 'It's just got such a nice feel. It's informal, relaxed, and a really good place to just come in for a natter – people have been chatting to each other over the tables. 'We've also had repeat customers – a walking group poked their head in and are now returning as a 14-person booking.' Harmony House is open from Thursday to Saturday from 10:30am to 3pm.
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The little birds have seen a major population decline. Photo: National Park Service by Lori Oberhofer. The first time I saw a Cape Sable seaside sparrow in the Everglades, I was not impressed. This was in 1999, back before there was an approved Everglades restoration plan in place. I had ridden out into the middle of the Glades in an airboat with some scientists who were studying the sparrow, known as one of the rarest birds in the world. While I watched, an ecologist named Stuart Pimm raised his hands and marched through the sawgrass, his sneakers splashing through ankle-high water. Hunkered in the long morning shadows ahead was one of the sparrows. Pimm was trying to flush it into a net. It took a few tries. When he finally succeeded and we were looking at the sparrow close up, he sighed and told me, 'It's not the most charismatic of birds. It would make my life a lot easier if they had big eyes like the spotted owl.' Everything about the sparrow is small. 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Whenever I hear non-scientists talk about captive breeding, I get the impression they think it's like that reality TV show 'The Bachelor.' You absolutely know the subjects are eagerly doing the dirty deed, but you just can't see it. But it's not like that at all. Animals are muuuuch pickier than us humans. For instance, take what happened when federal officials decided to try captive breeding to save the Key Largo wood rat, a small rodent with cinnamon fur and bulging black eyes. The wood rat had been declared endangered in 1984 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, yet the Keys population dropped to just 50. Federal officials figured they could save the species from extinction by spending $12,000 a year breeding the rats. In 2002, the feds set up a breeding project at a couple of places, one of them Disney's Animal Kingdom. Yes, that's right, the Mouse was helping to make more rats. Disney being Disney, they even turned it into a promo for their rat-centered movie 'Ratatouille.' 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There's one more lesson to consider: Don't wait until it's too late to act. That's what happened with the dusky seaside sparrow, the last bird species in America to go extinct Duskies made their nests in the marshes of Merritt Island and along the St. John's River. Like the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, there used to be thousands of them. 'The bird's sole habitat was 10 square miles of Atlantic marsh near Titusville, directly in the path of advancing development from the Cape Canaveral space complex,' the Washington Post reported in 1987. 'By the 1960s, however, road construction and pesticide spraying had reduced the population to 2,000, and a mid-1970s wildfire wiped out many of those.' By 1979, only five duskies were left. They were captured and brought to the Discover Island nature reserve at Walt Disney World (there's the Mouse again). But there was no hope of captive breeding, because every single one was male. I guess the other lesson here is that when you're trying to save a species, don't put all your eggs in one basket – do MORE than just captive breeding. You won't be surprised to hear that the demise of the duskies came up during the water district's discussion of the Cape Sable seaside sparrow. The proponents of a breeding program cited that tragedy as a reason for plunging ahead with one for the Cape Sable sparrows —even though they don't have the details planned out yet. Like how many birds will have to be taken from the wild. Or who's going to run the show. There was talk of following in the footsteps (talon-steps?) of the Florida grasshopper sparrow program. The staff said they would include two of the partners in that effort: the fundraising experts from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the breeding experts from the White Oak Plantation in Yulee. I tried to contact someone from White Oak, but no one called me back. When I talked to Andrew Walker, the CEO of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Foundation, I got a big clue about why. 'White Oak hasn't agreed to do this,' Walker explained. When I asked why they would hesitate, he said, 'They want to make sure the birds have a place to go.' Over and over, I heard something similar from other people concerned about captive breeding of Cape Sable sparrows. Let's say these secretive little birds do procreate in captivity. Then what? 'Where do you put them?' Pimm asked. 'Do you put them in cages forever and ever amen? If you've destroyed all the habitat, then where can you put them?' And Jason Totoiu, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, told me his environmental organization is 'tremendously concerned' about what the water district decided to do because 'where are the birds going to go after they fledge?' If the government messes this up, the attorney said, 'it could have a cascading impact that affects the rest of Everglades restoration.' Preserving the Glades' wildlife is supposed to be a key component of the billion-dollar restoration project, he pointed out. During the meeting, the water district staff promised they'd form a search committee — to search for some appropriate habitat for the flocks of captive-bred sparrows sure to be produced. To me it sounded like what Wimpy used to tell Popeye: 'I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.' Somehow Tuesday never arrived. Needless to say, I had a lot of questions about this rush to flush the sparrows out of the Everglades and into breading cages. The hard part was finding someone to answer them. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's top man in South Florida, Larry Williams, confirmed his agency is 'working with partners, like the Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District, to develop a plan for captive breeding for Cape Sable seaside sparrows.' But he said he was unable to take the time to answer my questions about it. I drew a similar blank with the water district folks. But they left a few clues from the presentation at their meeting. This seems to be all about water. The sparrow prefers to nest in the wetland prairies in and around the parts of the Everglades called Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough. But some of that is also the route for releasing billions of gallons of water flowing from the Everglades Agricultural Area. To keep the sparrows from drowning, some of the district's water control structures are supposed to be closed during parts of the year. That backs up the runoff to the point where it damages tree islands damages tree islands the Miccosukee Tribe holds sacred. During the December meeting, the water district staff referred to the sparrow as 'a hurdle' for them overcome to send most of the water south to Florida Bay. In other words, those tiny birds are in the way. That's why they have to go. 'The bird isn't the culprit here,' said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. 'It's the manipulation and mismanagement of the Everglades for a single crop — sugarcane.' Oh, if only Cape Sable seaside sparrows were cuter, friendlier, more impressive. Maybe if Disney made a cartoon about them, the government would regard their survival as worth more than the continued satisfaction of Florida's sugar barons. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
