Cream Tea Café

In the heart of Cornwall, eqidistant from either coast, not far from Bodmin Moor, lies picturesque St. Neot. I came across this jem one afternoon after visiting the nearby slate caverns. Just beside the stone bridge over the River Loveny, the village shops include a lovely little eatery. Sitting in the gardens by the river was a fabulous way to enjoy a cup of tea on a sunny Cornish afternoon.

There are a couple helpful websites out there to assist in finding an afternoon tea in the UK. I do make a point of trying a new spot every time I find myself in Great Britain.

Of the candidates, I quite like afternoontea.co.uk, because of the variety of venues, as well as the descriptions for each including times, booking info, menu, etc… There definitely could be more of a selection of tea rooms for some areas, including the South West, which only lists a few hotels. Nonetheless, many visitors will not wander farther than London, where the afternoontea.co.uk website has many locations from which to choose. Among the most popular choices are the Ritz Hotel, the Dorchester, the Goring, Harrods and Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park.

The United Kingdom Tea Council website has too much hype, but it is helpful, especially with their reveiws of tea rooms as part of the annual Tea Guild’s Top London Afternoon Tea Award and their Tea Guild’s Top Tea Places list.
photo credit: imagesniper

Time for Tea can be found in Hope Square, in Weymouth, directly adjacent to Brewers Quay. This tea room is a small oasis of tranquility and class, within walking distance of  Weymonth’s major attractions. There are attractive seating options for  both indoors and out. Pascal offers a French and English menu, where a Croque Monsieur can be found alongside a Dorset apple cake, a tarte Tatin and, of course, the cream tea. The mélange works to create an alluring atmosphere and their cream tea hits all the right spots at a reasonable price. We enjoyed an unhurried, sunny hour here one May afternoon.

Sue Milne goes in search of perfection, and finds it at Brendon House, on Exmoor.

The Brendon House tea rooms have twice won the North Devon Cream Tea award.

Brendon House’s Isobel Rigby explains how it is done in this excerpt from Sue Milne’s article in The Australian:

“The flour, eggs, milk and butter for the scones, the jam and cream are all sourced locally, says Isobel, who spends hours every day baking a mini-mountain of scones in the kitchen’s oil-fired range. ‘The ingredients are simple but they must be good quality. Our scones are nothing like the ones you buy in a shop and it’s because they are tasty and we are generous with the cream and jam that we’ve been awarded top cream tea twice in the last few years,’ she says.”

Isobel goes on to explain the traditional way to enjoy a Devonshire cream tea:

“Split the scone, no butter, cover each half thickly with cream, then add a teaspoon of strawberry jam on each side, and enjoy.”