(Image: Kirkleatham Museum on Facebook)
A café based inside one of Teesside's best-known museums is attracting attention for more than its coffee and cakes after launching Sunday dinners that quickly sold out.
The Café at Kirkleatham Museum, located within the grounds of the historic museum near Redcar, recently introduced a new Sunday lunch menu featuring homemade roast dinners prepared on site.
Announcing the launch on Facebook, staff said they had been "working hard behind the scenes, perfecting our recipes and trialling different ways to make it the best it can be".
The café invited customers to "tuck into" its new Sunday dinners, describing them as "proper homemade food, freshly prepared in our kitchen right here in Kirkleatham".
For many visitors, Kirkleatham Museum is already a popular destination for a day out.
Housed in the surviving wing of the former 18th-century Kirkleatham Hall, the museum explores the history of Redcar and Cleveland through galleries, exhibitions and collections covering everything from local industry and social history to archaeology and life on the North East coast.
Families are also drawn to the site for its regular events programme, while the wider Kirkleatham estate boasts historic parkland, woodland walks, a children's play area and one of the region's most recognisable landmarks, the Grade II-listed Kirkleatham Walled Garden.
At the centre of the visitor attraction sits the café, which has become a popular stop for museum-goers, walkers and families looking for breakfast, lunch, coffee or a slice of cake before exploring the grounds.
Now, it appears Sunday roast dinners can be added to the menu of reasons to visit.
The new Sunday lunch offering includes a choice of pork, beef or chicken, served with seasonal vegetables, creamy mash, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, cauliflower cheese, homemade Yorkshire puddings and roast meat gravy for £13.50.
For those with a smaller appetite, a reduced-size version is also available for £9.50, featuring the same choice of meats alongside seasonal vegetables, creamy mash, roast potatoes, a pig in blanket, cauliflower cheese, homemade Yorkshire pudding and gravy.
Just days after announcing the new offering, the café returned to social media with an update that will have pleased staff and customers alike.
Posting on Facebook, the venue revealed every Sunday dinner had sold out.
The post read: "Sold out.
"We have now sold out of Sunday dinners; we want to say a big thank you for all the support we have been shown.
"They will be back on again next Sunday!"
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The immediate success suggests there is no shortage of appetite for a traditional homemade roast, particularly when it is paired with a visit to one of Teesside's most popular heritage attractions.
While museum cafés are often known for light lunches and afternoon treats, Kirkleatham's latest venture is proving visitors are equally keen to sit down to a full Sunday dinner.
With roast dinners now returning each weekend, the museum café may have discovered an unexpected new attraction alongside the history, heritage and green spaces that have long made Kirkleatham one of the area's favourite day-out destinations.