Otford Tea Shop, Otford, Kent

Not a million miles from Dunton Green in Kent, near Sevenoaks, Otford is a quaint village full of antique shops and places like the Otford Tea Shop.

The teashop doubles as a Hospices of Hope charity shop, selling some excellent stuff including secondhand books, small toys for kids, secondhand videos and DVDs and everything you might expect from such a place. The teashop is real Miss Marple territory and needless to say there are some tremendous home-made cakes on offer too.

We had a pot of tea, a mug of hot chocolate and a slice of carrot cake and then drove home.

Where Dunton Green is concerned, readers are seriously advised to click here for more information.

Café Macchiato, Elland, West Yorkshire

Whether there is any connection between the town of Elland (in West Yorkshire near Huddersfield) and the famous Elland Road (home of Leeds FC) I have no idea, but I do know that Café Macchiato can be found in Elland and very nice it is too.

To be honest, it's not your traditional teashop and caff. It has an Italian flavour to it, which is evident in the name (Café Macchiato) but also in the food on offer, like Bruschetta Macchiato (£3.10) which consists of diced tomato, red onion, garlic, basil and olive oil. Also on offer is a range of cold sandwiches. Paninis range in price from £2.75 to £3.00 and there are specials like meat balls and cheese panini (£3.10).

But don't be fooled into thinking you're in some kind of trendy 'eaterie'. You're not! Café Macchiato has true 'caff' credentials thanks to a breakfast menu available between 9am and 11am. Bacon, sausage, eggs, beans and toast costs a reasonable £3.95. Where's the teashop element of this amazing caff, I hear you ask. Let me tell you that there are some amazing home-made cakes on offer – even some home-made Millionaire's Shortbread (a caramel slice in caff speak). And talking of 'slices', a lemon slice is £1.20, a caramel slice is £1.30, carrot cake is also £1.30 and muffins cost 95p.

As the comedian Jimmy Cricket said, "There's more." Scones with home-made jam are just £1.30 or £1.45 with added cream and let's not forget chocolate and beetroot cake at £2.30. Apparently it's like carrot cake but with chocolate and (ahem) beetroot.

The staff are friendly too and it is very much a family affair. During my visit it was mother and daughter on duty.

Elland is about 20 minutes by bus out of central Huddersfield. 

Choosy's in Huddersfield – a shop and a teashop!

Huddersfield is a million times better than I expected it to be; probably because the sun was shining and I found myself moseying around West Yorkshire looking for a decent teashop or caff. 

Needless to say, I found one, called Choosy's, one of those places that sell a load of tea and coffee paraphernalia, like mugs and teapots, strainers and a selection of speciality teas and coffees. 

A box of Twinings' Chai tea took my fancy but I decided against buying any, opting instead for a teapot-shaped used teabag holder (£2.75). I like to have permanent mementos.

Walking through the door was fantastic, thanks to the aroma of coffee beans and the general ambience of the place. The shop is downstairs and there's a quaint teashop upstairs where I enjoyed an excellent pot of tea served with fresh milk and all for just £1.30 (much better than that Costa on the M3 last week).

Conveyor toasters. Don't you just want one?

Not sure about you, but whenever I stay in a hotel – especially when I'm on holiday abroad – there's always a conveyor toaster in the breakfast room. I love them and wish I could have one at home. This one (see photograph) is from a company called Hatco and is part of the Toast-Qwik range of conveyor toasters which can toast between 400 and 800 slices of bread per hour. That's a lot of toast!

But have you stopped and wondered just how bad conveyor toasters are for the environment? Think about it: they're on all the time, that conveyor goes round and round for hours, using up unnecessary electricity, it's just not right in these environmentally aware times.

Hatco thinks it has the solution. Hatco’s UK managing director Mark Poultney said: “The new, ‘green’ automatic power-save models will switch the toaster automatically to 'power-save' after 30 minutes of inactivity. There is no additional charge for this option. Models on which power-save can be included are theTQ-405 and TQ-805.”

Nice work, Hatco. You can read more about the company's new range of toasters by clicking here.