From Dream to the Page — The Real Story Behind The Magical Tearoom on the Hill
In the world of publishing, dates are rarely set in stone. Printing schedules shift, delivery windows slide, and launch days have a habit of doing whatever they like. But sometimes — just sometimes — a book finds its moment with perfect timing.
Today, the 1st of April, marks eleven years since Mother Murphy’s Tearoom opened its doors in Falkirk. People thought that a Yorkshire woman and her ever-suffering Scottish husband were mad choosing April Fool’s Day to open a tearoom. And perhaps they had a point. But that particular madness set me off down a long and winding road, and that road has led me here — to life as an author, an editor, and the woman now holding a second edition of the book that tearoom inspired. I wouldn’t change a single daft step of it.
There are some things in life that feel destined to happen. For me, opening Mother Murphy’s Tearoom was one of those things.
It began, as many of the best things in my life have, with a decision to get better. After major surgery, I found myself at a crossroads. I could sit quietly, eating my own weight in Cadbury’s Dairy Milk and take my time to recover, or I could do something daft and wonderful. I chose the latter, of course. First, I got a dog, a black and white Border Collie puppy called Beinn Fhada, who became Beatrix, after my literary hero, Beatrix Potter. Beatrix the dog (who thought she was a human) would go on to become my co-author, my companion, and on one very memorable occasion, on Ben Lawers, the dog who saved my life (but that’s a story for another day). I also decided to open a tearoom.
I had always dreamed of opening somewhere that my Grandma would be proud of. Somewhere warm and welcoming, where people could sit down, slow down, and feel looked after. On the 1st of April 2015 — yes, April Fools’ Day, which should perhaps have been a sign — Mother Murphy’s Tearoom opened its doors in Falkirk.
I never chose the name “The Magical Tearoom on the Hill.” My customers did. And honestly, that means everything to me.
We were a proper traditional tearoom. China cups and saucers. Leaf tea and tea strainers. Home baking, made by me, almost entirely gluten and dairy free — though nobody knew that, because it simply wasn’t the point. The point was that everyone felt welcome, everyone was looked after, and everyone left feeling a little bit better than when they arrived. We even named our cakes after our regulars. We were once compared to the book, The Tea Shop on the Corner, by the wonderful Milly Johnson, which still makes me smile every time I think of it.
Somewhere along the way, I started writing it all down. The customers, the cakes, the adventures with Beatrix — including one involving a helicopter rescue that I can only describe as an inconvenient heart attack. I thought it would be a little book for customers to read whilst they waited for their scones. I had no idea it would become something so much more.
Then Covid arrived, and in March 2020, we closed our doors. We were a cosy, intimate tearoom — there was simply no way to social distance over china cups and leaf tea, and we were not a takeaway. A few months later, we sadly made the decision not to reopen. It remains one of the hardest things I have ever done. Well, that and making myself eat two Brussels sprouts on Christmas Day!
But the book survived. With the extraordinary help of Sinclair and Kim at IndieAuthorsWorld, The Magical Tearoom on the Hill was published in 2020 — a love letter to Mother Murphy’s Tearoom, to our customers, to Beatrix, and to five of the most magical years of my life.
And now, four years on, it has a second edition. Learning and Development runs through my blood as much as Yorkshire and Dairy Milk, so it’s no surprise that I wanted to learn about this typesetting lark and re-do the book myself — and the book deserved to look as beautiful as the story it tells. The photographs are improved, and a few cheeky typos have been quietly dealt with. The stories, the warmth, and the heart of it remain exactly as they were.
The Magical Tearoom on the Hill is still, and always will be, the book my customers named. I’m just immensely proud that I can now say, “Here’s another one I made.”
The second edition of
The Magical Tearoom on the Hill is now available.
(Click here to order your signed copy)