From 2009, until Covid came along, the National Trust held their ‘Tea on the Topping’ event on the summit of Roseberry Topping on the first Sunday in August.
Hot and cold drinks and homemade cakes, baked by staff and volunteers were sold in a pop-up tea room, everything including crockery, tables, boilers, gas bottles and water being carried up.
It was a very popular event and today it was resurrected.
For the 2016 event, a post on Facebook went viral and reached over 120,000 views. Consequently the Trust had more ‘customers’ than expected, resulting in queues and eventually a complete sell out of drinks and cakes.
Although a record amount was raised for the local Trust, it was felt such high numbers were not desirable.
Another concern this year was over car parking in Newton village with the introduction of double yellow lines.
The publicity for the revival of the event this year was therefore kept pretty much to a minimum with just a listing on the Trust’s website.
Nevertheless, the event went very smoothly with many a surprised climber finding a welcome tea-shop on the summit.
And afterwords, all the crockery, tables, boilers, and gas bottles had to be carried back down. But no water this time.
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