Pencil Cottage in Shanklin Old Village is the deserving winner of the County Press Cafe of the Year 2021 award.

The cafe has long been an iconic part of Shanklin Old Village and it beat other businesses from across the Isle of Wight to take the award, which was decided by public vote.

Scroll through our gallery of pictures above to see more...

Pencil Cottage is one of the oldest properties in the village and has been a commercial property since the reign of George III.

Isle of Wight County Press:

Pencil Cottage, the winner of the County Press Cafe of the Year 2021, is an iconic part of Shanklin Old Village. Picture by Pamela Parker.

It is thought the name Pencil Cottage was given to it by visiting artists and writers because a number of well-known poets stayed in the village — Keats and Longfellow among them — and it is likely they purchased their supplies from the attached gift shop.

Pencil Cottage has been owned by Lisa Hill-Whyte and her husband, Derick Hill, for the past 14 years.

Lisa visited the Isle of Wight regularly as a child and her parents moved here in 2000.

She had always loved Pencil Cottage, so when her parents alerted her to the fact it was for sale in 2007, it seemed like fate.

The couple had previously had careers in the financial sector on the mainland, so running their own cafe was a huge learning curve, but they swiftly attracted a following of loyal customers.

Today, they have two other shops in Shanklin Old Village — More Than Words and Jingle Bells, The Christmas Shop — both of which are close to Pencil Cottage.

In 2013, Derick and Lisa also established a charity in The Gambia, now known as the Kafuta Tumbung School Trust, which has its own Facebook page.

The charity entirely funds two schools in the village of Kafuta Tumbung and a percentage of each cream tea sold at Pencil Cottage goes towards this charity, as do some of the proceeds from many other things from Lisa and Derick’s businesses.

Visitors to Pencil Cottage will have noticed the phone box in the tea garden, which has books and other items which customers have donated to be sold to raise funds for the charity.

The tea gardens themselves are an oasis of tranquillity, set behind the cottage and overlooking Chine Hollow.

Derick said: “We are lucky to have such a great location, and being close to Shanklin Chine, we attract a lovely mix of customers from both the Island and mainland visitors — some local people visit us almost every day.”

Pencil Cottage is open from March until late October/early November, depending on demand.

The past 18 months have been challenging for the Pencil Cottage team, but they have risen to the occasion.

Lisa said: “Our team are absolutely incredible and we are so lucky in the fact that our staff come back every year to work for us again.

“We are very lucky to have Coryn Harbour, our manager, who has been with us about five years, and Terry Taylor, who has been here about seven years, as well as the rest of our team.

“Covid has made things very difficult in the hospitality industry, but we have endeavoured to ensure both our staff and customers were kept as safe as possible throughout and as a result, we have been fortunate in that we have not had any Covid-related incidents."

They have also coped with shortages of locally caught crab — an essential ingredient in their ever-popular crab sandwiches.

Pencil Cottage is dog-friendly and the team are working with Oscars to launch a dog menu next year.

The cafe is also known for its personal service and many visitors love the resident cats, Keats and Kipling, too.

Lisa said she could not believe it when she heard Pencil Cottage had been shortlisted for Cafe of the Year.

She concluded: "We were excited to hear that we had made the top ten, so to be told we have won the award has really made our year!"

DID YOU KNOW? The County Press runs regular competitions throughout the year, so we are always worth keeping an eye on!

READ AGAIN: Evie the Pet Idol winner is a top dog according to her owner

READ AGAIN: County Press Child of the Year 2021 winners won public hearts with their smiles