Tea with Vivienne and friends

It was Jenean Hill’s destiny to one day design and create a cozy space in the basement of her Kalispell home reminiscent of an English tea room.

Cozy basements were something she’d grown up with, having spent many fond hours as a child with her dad in his basement workshop. But it was a stay at a Victorian B&B and meeting a charming British cafe owner in Kalispell that planted the seeds and began to shape that special place.

Back in the 1990s Hill and a group of women from neighboring churches in the valley formed what they called the Sowing Club. The women met monthly for fellowship and friendship and would enjoy going to Vivienne’s Fifth Street Cafe for lunch.

“The cafe was cozy and quaint,” Hill said. “You could see Vivienne’s sweet spirit. And I loved seeing her behind the counter making sure everything was just right.”

Vivienne Montague founded her restaurant, Vivienne’s Fifth Street Cafe, in 1996 on Fifth Street in downtown Kalispell. Its reputation of being a place where you could find not just delicious homemade pastries and food, but also a warm, welcoming atmosphere quickly grew. People would wait in line to get inside. Montague was also known for the afternoon teas she held twice a week, which became much beloved memories for the young and old alike who attended.

“I adored her from afar,” Hill said. “I loved feeling her warmth and tasting her good food. There was something so cozy about it.”

Montague kept a trunk by the door of her cafe filled with a variety of hats and boas and Hill and her friends would don them for their gatherings.

“Maybe it’s a little bit of make believe. You got to dress up and escape into another world,” Hill said. “Vivienne was like everyone’s grandma or mother. She would warm our hearts and put smiles on all our faces.”

The Hills left the Flathead Valley in 1999 for her husband’s work, but returned every year, making a point to visit the Fifth Street Cafe, renew their acquaintance with Montague and enjoy the English delicacies she created until she retired about 10 years ago (although you can still see her now and then at the cafe, now called The Knead).

In 2021, approaching retirement themselves, they were able to move back to Kalispell. Having also been inspired by an earlier stay in the former Keith House Bed & Breakfast on Fifth Avenue East where the basement was decorated in English pub style, the Hills searched long and far for the perfect home with a basement where they could recreate their own tea room. Jenean credits that stay and her love of older homes with her interest in becoming a real estate broker.

While Montague was born in the small town of Stoneleigh and raised in post-World War II in London, Hill has ties of her own to England, some of her ancestors having come from the British Isles. In his college years her husband Gary, whose grandmother was from England, had attended a semester abroad studying law at Cambridge University. Years later the Hills traveled to London and Gary was able to show Jenean all his favorite basement pubs he’d visited while living there.

“I loved going downstairs to the cozy pubs,” Jenean said. “I just knew I wanted to have a space like that one day.”

Jenean began researching spaces and put together a design board of ideas — wood floors, oriental rugs, Victorian tin ceiling tile, brick walls, Toby mugs — all things England. She scoured local antique and second-hand shops, faux-painted brick paneling to replicate the brick she’d found in English tea rooms and pubs, and even found some Waverly fabric for a tablecloth in a pattern called “Montague.”

Though the Sowing Club had more or less been discontinued after she’d left the valley, it has since been renewed with Hill again at the helm and she is once again putting together monthly events for the club, many of its members having been in it for 30 years. She’s also active in the Women’s Co-op at Easthaven Baptist Church, which supports members who want to host women’s events. With encouragement from Kristi Willits, Easthaven’s director of operations, and a goal of getting women together, Hill reconnected with Montague and invited her to come to her cozy English basement and meet some of the women from her church.

“That group gave me a desire to put these teas together,” Hill said. “All of us adored Vivienne, had enjoyed good times in her popular, welcoming cafe and wanted to honor her.”

On Oct. 29, Hill and Marian Cartee co-hosted an afternoon tea at the Hill House English Tea Room where Montague, the guest of honor, along with eight other Easthaven women, gathered, having prepared recipes from Montague’s own cookbook. True to her gracious nature, Montague served the women tea while sharing stories of her life growing up in England, emigrating to America in 1965 and eventually starting her own restaurant in Montana, all which had helped shape her vivacious character.

“Vivienne exudes something that draws people to her,” Hill said. “You can feel her spirit all around you.”

The event was such a success Hill has planned another afternoon tea in November. She says she hopes to host afternoon teas three times a year, at no cost to guests.

“I’ve always been a matchmaker and we women need each other, especially as we get older,” Hill said. “I like bringing people together and I hope it will catch on and people will love doing it.”

Tea room recipes

Vivienne Montague has published a book with her recipes and stories about her life. “Food, Life & Afternoon Tea” can be purchased at The Knead Cafe, which is owned and operated by her daughter Sarah and son-in-law Mike (formerly Vivienne’s Fifth Street Cafe), 21 Fifth St. E., Kalispell.