Southwold Boating Lake and Tea Room

The Boating Lake and Tea Room is the epitome of quaint.
Walking past the pier and (sadly) through a car park, the boating lake is a lovely area — a tea room at one end and, when we visited, a vintage fair at the other. In the middle of all this is, shockingly, a boating lake; little hand paddle boats are available for children to splash around in, so when you’re enjoying your cup of tea you can watch children race about and get mad when they end up going around in circles.
There aren’t any menus on the tables, presumably in case they get blown away, so the initial ordering process was quite stressful; cakes are on display, but nothing else. We sat quite far away from the actual team room, surrounded by planters, and took in the unusual amount of sunshine. This meant that, when our food and drinks were ready, we had to heard the cries of «Queen of Spades» (the playing card we were given) numerous times before they noticed us flapping our hands around to get their attention. Perhaps a new system should be put in place? Or they just need to pay a touch more attention, as we did tell them which table we were at.
We tucked into toasties and sandwiches, and one shared sausage roll. Everything was served up with pringles and a bowl of side salad. I shared cheese & onion and ham, tomato & cheese toastie with the other half, both of which were tasty — simple, but effective.
There’s nothing outstanding about the food, but it’s a nice spot away from the centre to try out if you fancy something new.