Graze on the Green, Rosedale Abbey

A gorgeous little café overlooking the green in the heart of Rosedale village with a breakfast menu and an all day selection of soup, sandwiches and cakes, and if that sounds like every other tea room, hear me out.

First of all it’s all quite cute with bunting inside and out; a bit of vintage, a touch of tongue and groove and usually a fire in the grate. Visit in winter and you can sit in an easy chair among the books or at a table by the fire and in clement weather bag a picnic table in the ‘tea garden’ outside.

The food and the attention to detail is impressive, from sourdough from Bluebird Bakery in Malton, Roost coffee also from Malton and free range, rare breed sausages and bacon from Peter Mawson, a single-minded, ex-RAF air traffic controller who farms up in High Farndale and produces the best pork and lamb I’ve found from the North York Moors (and that includes the vaunted Ginger Pig.)

The two Graze guys behind the scenes know how to cook. It may sound simple enough, but a leek, cheese and bacon toasted sourdough sandwich was as generous as it was delicious and the salad beautifully dressed. Also delicious was the beetroot, goat’s cheese and onion marmalade bruschetta. From the cakes and scones on the counter, I resisted both the chocolate and the lemon curd cake and went for a slice of date and pecan loaf which, along with a pot of tea (real leaves and a tea strainer, naturally) and a jug of hot water, rounded off a perfect, light-ish lunch.

Breakfast looks cracking value, too, with Mawson’s sausage, bacon and sausage rolls. Back into the sunshine, with all the daffodils blooming as I write, did someone call this God’s Own County?