A RETIRING pair of upper dale cafe owners have been hailed for their support of those making their village look better.
Julie and Cliff Harthill are hanging up their aprons after eight years of serving customers at Middleton-in-Teesdale’s Rumours cafe.
The couple are renowned for their support of Middleton-in-Bloom’s efforts to beautify the village by helping them raise cash. They also donated a hand-crafted bench for people to sit down and enjoy the floral displays.
Before buying the cafe, Mrs Hartill had worked at Morrisons in Barnard Castle and her husband had been a process operator for ICI. They were also regular customers at Rumours and became friendly with the previous owners. Mrs Hartill said: “We had never done anything like this before. Cliff said he was going to retire in two years and the previous owner said she wanted to retire in two years [so it worked out well for us to take over]. We have never looked back.
“We have made a lot of friends, local and visitors. We have lots of regulars who come from far and wide. People come on a certain day, have the same food and sit at the same table. We have a group of ladies from the village who come every Saturday morning and I know their order. They sit down and the coffees are there and they laugh and say ‘we haven’t even ordered yet’. It is a bit like a community hub, everybody knows everybody. The strangers that come in end up talking to the regulars and they will give them advice about where to go and what to do.”
As part of their support for the village’s In Bloom group, the couple sell books, postcards and bookmarks, as well as plants, to customers. The postcards and bookmarks are printed for free by local photographer Martin Rogers and the plants are supplied by the In-Bloom group.
The cafe became the meeting point for judges of the Northumbria-in-Bloom competition. In-Bloom group members also received discounts on Monday mornings before they set about their weekly task of tidying up the village. Mrs Hartill said it was with a heavy heart they decided to retire but were forced to do so because of her ill health. The cafe has had to close several times because of it. She added there had been several people interested in taking over the cafe.
The couple hope to tour the country in their campervan in their retirement.
