Surveyed
Ann Jarman opened the Old Fire Engine House in 1968 with two friends, setting up a restaurant and small gallery in a Georgian house behind Ely Cathedral, on the site of an older farmhouse where a horse-drawn fire engine was once kept. She ran the kitchen alongside her husband, Michael, until his death in 2021, and their daughter Claire now manages the dining room. Four generations of one family, the Fysons, have cooked here since Olive Fyson joined in the opening year. The menu follows the seasons, drawing on the walled garden's fruit trees and herbs, and afternoon tea is served in the same rooms used for lunch and dinner. The gallery on the stairs and landings changes regularly, hung mostly with work by local artists.