BETTYS tearooms are a great Yorkshire tradition which turn nostalgia into a culinary art form.

The visitors who queue outside the York branch do so sensing that they are about to enter an older world of afternoon teas and plates laden with scrumptious cakes.

Yet as a new book about Bettys reveals, they are also stepping into a story fit for a romantic novel, resonant with family tragedy, an act of bravery at a blazing mill and the orphan who grew up to found one of the best-known teashops in the world.

We'll drink a cup of finest Yorkshire tea to that.

Updated: 09:29 Thursday, October 27, 2005