Gareth James Chocolatier (Behind the Scenes)

I am having a rare day off on Thursday and I am taking my recently retired Mum on a bit of a tour around Tynemouth and the North Shields Fish Quay. It's rare for us to spend time like this together so I am going to take her to some of my favourite places. One such place is Gareth James (Chocolatier) on front Street on Tynemouth. Please see my earlier blog post for more details about this great Tynemouth venue here: http://intynemouth.blogspot.com/2011/05/gareth-james-chocolatier.html



 I was warmly invited to see some of the processes that take place behind the scenes that go into the production of some of the yummy goodies on offer. It's great to see the attention to detail and the passion that Gareth has for chocolate. Here are some of the behind the scenes images that make this venue a place to visit and enjoy.

Not only will you find great chocolates here you can also grab a great cup of coffee, tea or a simply wonderful hot chocolate.

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Country House Tearooms

I made arrangments to meet up with one of my longest suffering friends Maria yesterday and do a bit of a tour around Tynemouth to get some more blog photos and information. Somewhere I have wanted to feature for a while is County House Tearooms.

So on the finest of Tynemouth mornings we made our way there. I said hello and introduced us to everyone and was made to feel very welcome. I have been before with my girlfriend and we both love the place but I was interested to see what my friend Maria thought. She loved it, explaining that she could happily sit there all day. We both loved the antique decoration, the fabric, chandeliers and heavily guilt framed paintings and mirrors. I recently recommended Country House to my parents and they loved it comparing it to one of their favourite Whitby locations. There is a fantastic and varied selection of home cooked food on offer and a yummy  choice of scones and cakes to die for. The food like the surroundings is scrumptous, comforting and wonderfully presented. There is a great atmosphere inside and you will be made to feel very welcome as we were.

Photos by Anthony Dorman

Country House Tearooms is a great place to have a cozy romantic coffee and cake with a loved one as well as a perfect meeting venue for friends. Its the kind of place I would happily sit with a book and relax with lovely food and friendly service. Country House Tearooms has two floors with different decor as you can see from the photos above and is approximately 350 yards from Tynemouth seafront on Percy Park Road. They are open Tue-Fri 10-4PM and Sat-Sun 10-5PM

There is a new facebook page for the tearooms here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Country-house-tearooms/215431135148462?ref=ts&sk=wall

InTynemouth is now on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/INTynemouth

Gareth James Chocolatier

One of the newest venues in Tynemouth is Gareth James Chocolatier. Where do I start about this place - OK - simple - its awesome. For some reason it took me a while to venture inside but when I did I knew I had found a new favourite place. The interior is superb, relaxing, warm and inviting. The smell of the fantastic chocolates on offer is intoxicating and Gareth and the staff are amazingly friendly and relaxed.

Images by Anthony Dorman

On my first visit I bought a selection of handmade chocolates for my parents for their anniversary and some brownies for myself. I was hoping my parents would leave me a chocolate to try but no they scoffed the lot in record time. Saying that my brownie habit has now reached epic proportions, a tale I am hearing from other residents of Tynemouth also addicted to these scrumptious bundles of food heaven. I implore you to visit this place, have a hot chocolate (the best I have had) or a tea, or coffee and enjoy the atmosphere. When you talk to other retailers in Tynemouth and mention Gareth James they light up thinking of all the nice things on offer. Whenever Gareth himself is mentioned everyone says two things - he is really nice and he is doing fantastic things with his business for such a young guy. Gareth invited me to see how the chocolates are made on the premises which proved two things - he is passionate about chocolate and I would eat my weight in chocolate if left unsupervised in there. I will be posting some images about the making of the chocolates on the blog soon.

Check out the Gareth James Chocolatier facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/garethjameschocolatier

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