Megalong Valley has been famous for its Devonshire Teas since the 1930’s when the small rural community boasted six different tearooms. In those days blackberries grew wild and every farm had its own milking cow. To welcome visitors to the valley, or local folk passing by, fresh scones were baked in woodfired ovens and served with homemade blackberry jam and freshly made cream. Water boiled in sooty cast iron urns to make fresh pots of tea. For the children, there was always fresh cow’s milk to drink.

Edith Krahe, my maternal grandmother, came to Megalong Valley in the 1940’s to run the Mark Foy family tearooms. She served the traditional scones but also added apple pie to her menu which she made from local apples collected in the nearby orchard. My Mother, Thelma, helped Edith in the old tearooms until she married a ‘valley boy’ Keith Duncan. They built their own tearooms here in the 1950’s. Thelma carried on her mother’s traditional recipes adding coffee and milkshakes to her menu.

In 1991, I returned to ‘the valley’ after a lengthy absence and took over the operation of our family tearooms. I have added country breakfasts and light lunches to our menu but still bake our much-loved scones and apple pies. The apples I use are still grown locally and the blackberry jam home-made. Even the water for your tea is boiled in my grandmother’s original cast iron urn (although now on a gas stove!). A wood fire still burns warmly in the dining room on cold days.

In recent years both my daughter Kylie and daughter in-law Kerry have joined me in the tearooms and is the fourth generation to carry on our family tradition. We aim to keep our menu simple and traditional so that you may enjoy old-fashioned, homemade food.