Sandra Dunlea's Miss Courtney's Tearooms Killarney
Thursday 14 January 2010
Miss Courtney’s Tearooms
The old fashioned Afternoon Tea is proving very popular in Killarney of late, thanks to the arrival of “Miss Courtney’s Tearooms” in the town. The custom of Afternoon Tea goes back to the early 19th century and is generally attributed to Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedford who complained of “having that sinking feeling” during late afternoon. At that time it was usual for the upper classes to take only two main meals a day, breakfast and dinner at 8 p.m. The Duchess used take tea and a snack in her boudoir during the afternoon to see her through. Ere long the practice moved to the drawingroom with invitations for friends to come and join her before walking in the fields or taking a fashionable promenade in Hyde Park. Traditional Afternoon Tea is still serious business in hotels and big department stores in London. In top notch places like The Ritz Hotel, you are advised to book 12 weeks in advance, and it will set you back £38.00. The Dorchester charges £33.50 whilst Afternoon Tea for two in Harrods’ Georgian Restaurant is £55 – and you can take home a doggy bag of uneaten pastries! In the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin it costs €29.50. In Miss Courtney’s it is €16 for one, and €28 for two people. A pretty precise affair, Afternoon Tea traditionally commences with delicate brown and white finger sandwiches, not a crust in sight, filled perhaps egg, prawn, smoked salmon, chicken, and cucumber. Warm scones ensue with jam and clotted cream, and finally a variety of pretty luscious pastries and maybe fruit cake. You should also, of course, have a choice of loose leaf teas – from Assam to Earl Grey to Lapsang Souchong.
Miss Courtney’s Tearoom is the brainchild of mother of two, Sandra Dunlea, a 30 year old Occupational Therapist by profession who worked in the Department of Pshychiatry in St. James’ Hospital in Dublin for a number of years. When Sandra was expecting her first born, Anna, she headed home two weeks before the child’s birth to Killarney to make sure her daughter was born in the Kingdom. After that Sandra didn’t want to leave her native county. Kerry women are reckoned to be savvy businesswomen and, when you come from a line of them, it is just in you, so Sandra was never going to just sit around!
Sandra’s great-aunt, Miss Margaret Courtney, first opened the doors of her confectionery, tea and grocery shop at No. 8 College Street in 1909. On her demise, Sandra’s grandmother, Peg Fleming, and subsequently her mother, Yvonne Quill, ran a café and bakery in the premises until 1999. The business had always passed down through the female side of the family but, even up to 6 months before she opened, Sandra was adamant she wasn’t doing it!! What will be will be and, in 2008, the 4th female generation, Sandra, re-opened the doors of 8 College Street as Miss Courtney’s Tearooms. In July she had the immense satisfaction of holding a fantastic old fashioned tea dance with 1930’s swing and lindyhop to celebrate 100 years of the family “tea” business.
Miss Courtney’s Tearooms is pretty and interesting. The stripped floorboards are painted white, the tables are covered in the prettiest of vintage table cloths, and the place is awash with gorgeous china tea sets, teapots, and tiered afternoon tea stands, glistening under pretty chandeliers! Sandra’s grandfather was very big into photography so they also had a huge collection of fabulous black and white glamorous photos of family and friends at parties and events. Heretofore, these treasures were packed away, safe but unseen, now they adorn the walls for everyone to enjoy.
Sandra says her grandmother was very precise and ladylike and always used china cups – I suppose all our grannies did – but nowadays so many china teasets lie unused understairs and in attics which is such a shame. She likes using antique items generally and had quite a collection of old china tea pots, tea sets, hand embroidered table cloths, tea strainers, cake plates and fabrics – some of which she bought in London. Indeed, she even drives a vintage 1968 Mk 11 Jaguar car, which she adores, and which also takes two baby seats now that she also has new baby Jake. Since the opening of Miss Courtney’s, many people have brought in their china teasets and embroidered cloths, which all have a history, as they prefer to see them in use rather than gathering dust.
Sandra first winter of Miss Courtney’s Tearooms, of course, coincided with the world wide financial collapse but she says she “kept it very tight – it was not an existing business that had been used to lashing out money”. The Tearooms proved popular with tourists last summer, but importantly locals love it also, with some bringing in their children to show them where they used to go as children, some older folk even remember her great-aunt the original Miss Margaret Courtney. It has become a place to gather and she is planning some projects including establishing a book club focusing on old literature as she has a large collection of antiquarian books, as well as a story morning for pre-school children, and a knitting club.
It is not just “Afternoon Tea” at Miss Courtney’s but light breakfasts such as eggs and soldiers, waffles, and Eggs Benedict, sandwiches, salads and soup, at lunchtime, as well as Victoria sandwiches, frosted fairy cakes and the like. Sandra and her mum do most of the cooking from old family recipes and, failing that, use Gran’s copy of Mrs. Beeton’s cookery book – what else! No doubt 5th generation, Anna, will learn it all at the knee of her mother and grandmother – and no she wasn’t named after the Duchess of Bedford.
THIS WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT ON 10/1/2010.