Meet the team behind the award-winning business in the heart of Derry's Craft Village which officially has the best scones in the country.
The Cottage Craft Gallery and Coffee Shop won Best Scones in Northern Ireland as well as winning the Best Cafe award at a recent award ceremony hosted by the Dairy Council.
Michelle Devine of The Cottage spoke to MyDerry about the business' journey since its opening in March 2019.
She said: "We opened on March 15, 2019, two days before St Patrick's Day which was a bit mad, with very little experience.
"I had never worked in a coffee shop, neither had Henk but he envisaged this place more as a craft shop with a little sideline of a coffee business and that is how it started out.
"When we were designing the menu it was mainly crepes and traybakes and I said to Henk, ‘being from here we need to have scones because this is a thatched cottage in the Craft Village.'
"I had a recipe for scones and tinkered about with a few other recipes and we came up with a selection of scones and the business has boomed really since we won the award."
Since winning the award, The Cottage has firmly put itself on the map. This incredible local business has helped bring a rejuvenated sense of life back into the Craft Village.
Michelle said: "Since we won the award it has been pretty crazy, the demand for the scones has more than doubled, people have been really thrilled.
"The Mayor has come in, people from different political parties have come in and congratulated us as well as the general public.
"People have come from Belfast, Bangor and they have heard about these scones. We had a group of customers from near Lisburn and they just thought the city is beautiful and I reinforce that and say over the years, from the 80s, 90s, Derry is just brilliant, I am so happy to be back here living here again."
Still reeling from their award success, it is difficult to look too far into the future. For The Cottage, they are hoping to continue pleasing their customers and embracing the unique setting of the Craft Village.
Michelle said: "For the future I hope that this will continue, people won't get tired of scones, they have been around for a long time.
"I would like to see that the whole Craft Village can keep up supplying people with the lovely crafts and all the products that they have for tourists and locals and for people not to forget that.
"I am sure it will continue to grow definitely."
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