Jill's Catering Tea Room

Friends and next-door neighbours Pam and Chris set up The Station Coffee House to bring good coffee and a community hub to their corner of Northumberland. As the name suggests, they’ve adopted the ground floor of an old railway station house – still on an active train line – and installed a hugely welcoming village café. You’re as likely to meet dog walker’s chatting at a picnic bench here as commuters grabbing a coffee to go.

There’s a wonderful homely feel to the compact space, helped by the pair’s beaming smiles and home baking (Chris’s cheese scones are particularly tasty). They’ve taken pains to source their products as locally as possible so you can expect to find sausage rolls made with pork reared nearby, pies from North Acomb farm up the road and Newcastle’s very own Mark Toney ice cream. Coffee comes from Pumphrey’s, a favourite Northumberland supplier, and soft drinks are all Fentimans, which originated close by in Hexham.

Packaging is compostable, so you can take away with a clear conscience.