With peacocks calling across the grounds, and the trees fluttering against a warm breeze, there was a sense of ‘calm before the summer holidays storm’ at Pencarrow House and Gardens when we met their new cafe manager Amy, the mastermind and baker behind the Peacock Cafe counter’s stunning cakes.

“My granny was a proper home woman,” Amy said. “She always had her apron on and was always baking at her home in St Stephen's. Whenever I was there, Granny would be baking in the kitchen, and she would place all of her cakes through the hatch for us. My mum is really creative and always baked too. She is really lovely and caring, and works as a nurse at the renal unit at Treliske. At Christmas, she bakes all of her patients a little Christmas cake each. Granny and Mum are my inspirations.”

Having grown up around delicious cakes and bakes, it was only natural that Amy should go on to explore the skill herself. With a keen interest in vintage and antiques, having collected vintage crockery for over a decade, Amy took the venture one step further by providing vintage afternoon teas for hen do's, birthdays and family parties.

As a Lanivet girl, Amy was delighted when an opportunity arose at St Benet’s Abbey in the village, a place she had grown up admiring. The owner offered her the chance to run a tea room there, which she did for a short time while also running the ‘Cream Tea Hour’ on Twitter.

“Once a week, on a Thursday, a few of us would run Cream Tea Hour and feature a different subject to talk about,” Amy said. “That’s when I got to know Samantha Trenchard-Grange, who ran a farmhouse tea room on the Roseland.”

Around this time, Amy was on the search for new premises, and Samantha got in touch with news of a tea hut on the Roseland that was being opened by St Just and Roseland Church. Amy got to work right away, putting together a business plan and getting ready to present it to the church team.

She said: “The church had a vision to make a tea hut for the people going to church, so it started off as a small summer house. Suddenly, I was starting a seasonal business, all while being pregnant with my daughter - she was four days old when I had my first work meeting!”

The tea hut started small, but grew into a hugely popular destination for locals and visitors to the area. In 2019, the hut was transformed into a tea room and began serving all year round.

Amy said: “In 2021, I invested money into a shop space in Bodmin. In April I took on the lease, and in August I opened.”

This became known to Bodmin locals as Miss V’s, a pretty little tea room on Honey Street serving delicious cakes, drinks and light lunches. While her journey at the Roseland was coming to a natural end, Amy began focusing all her attention on the Bodmin shop. Despite saying goodbye to her own businesses, new doors have opened for Amy, and she can continue to serve her famous bakes to the local community, thanks to Pencarrow House and Gardens, who were on the search for a new manager of the onsite Peacock Cafe.

“It was an amazing coincidence that Pencarrow were advertising for a cafe manager,” Amy said. “This place runs seasonally, so it matches what I know already from my experience of running seasonal tea rooms in Cornwall. I built a lovely following of people through Miss V’s - both locally and countywide, but also people around the world who followed the Miss V’s journey.”

Pencarrow opened in April and is now preparing for a busy summer season, which means Amy has been busier than ever in the kitchen. A few new people will be joining the existing cafe team, and Amy is working with the Molesworth-St Aubyn family to create a ‘quintessentially English tea garden experience’, featuring some hot food alongside traditional ploughman’s lunches and afternoon teas.

Amy continued. “It was sad that Miss V’s had to come to an end, but it also proves that when one door closes, another one opens. You’ve got to have hope! I can still do the job I love but in a beautiful, historic place. It feels familiar here, as though all of my old experiences are wrapped up in one place.

“My ethos is to take something simple and do it really well. Cream teas and cakes are what I’m known for, and I’ll be continuing my family’s secret scone recipe that started with my Great Gran Wilcox. I feel very lucky and grateful that I can continue to do something I love; it’s a dream come true.”

For more information about Pencarrow House and Gardens, visit www.pencarrow.co.uk or follow on social media for updates.

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