Moggerhanger Park is a cut above your average stately home on the catering front. I have, in the past, enjoyed a splendid meal in their restaurant which serves up excellent local food in the evenings. On hearing that the tea room had been awarded prestigious membership of the Tea Guild I had to test it out.

Maybe my hopes were a little too high, but I don’t think Moggerhanger quite came through for me. It’s a nice joint in the old kitchens - waitress service with tablecloths and flowers on the table. It also serves lunches, and a wide array of home-made cakes and puddings. There were several parties partaking of some very tasty looking feasts while I was munching on my scone. And to be fair, I fully intend to go back and test them out.

There was a choice of scones - Lemon, Strawberry or Cheese - I chose strawberry, after being assured that this meant a plain scone with strawberry jam. However, there was a distinct lemony sensation to the scone, which was odd. The scones were billed as warm, but their slightly rubbery texture lead me to believe this meant a cold scone had been wapped in the microwave for a quick blast. Pointless.

The scones themselves were pretty good, nice soft texture - would have been better served cold without the ‘warm’ pretensions. Two scones came served with just enough cream for one, and a pat of pre-packed butter and flora on the side. (Flora! as if!). Just about the right amount of decent jam.

Things perked up more with the tea. Loose leaf - hurrah! The china teapot gave up 3 cups of tasty tea (one has a choice of blends) and the milk was real and plentiful. Presumably membership of the Tea Guild is related more to quality of tea than quality of scone.

£4.35 - bear in mind that’s for two scones, where mostly my prices are for just one. Very good. –>

Guest Reviewer: David

Being in Harrogate on a disturbingly autumnal August afternoon it soon became obvious that the best thing to do was to repair to the nearest cream tea outlet. We could have gone to Betty’s (always good food, but expensive and the queue, the queue….). Instead we headed to the Old Swan Hotel. Devotees of detective fiction may know this hotel as the place in which Agatha Christie stayed when she went ‘missing’ in 1926. It was the kind of establishment that simply must provide a good tea.

We were not to be disappointed. We headed into the comfortable lounge and soon made ourselves at home. A quick peruse of the menu and decisions were made: two cream teas and one full English. The ladies opted for tearoom blend; I fancied ringing the changes with a pot of lapsang soushong, but it was not available so plumped for the Earl Grey.

Tea arrived first; teabags (Twinings) rather than loose leaf, but none the worse for this. Plenty of hot water and proper milk in jugs and nice teacups. The food arrived shortly after. The full tea consisted of two rounds of sandwiches; we opted for cheese and pickle, though other choices included smoked salmon, beef and horseradish and ham. White bread and crustless, with a nice mature cheddar cheese and a good pickle (Branstons?); all in all top notch. There was ample cakeage: two really good chocolate brownies. I’m not usually a fan of brownies, but these were rich and moist; just how they should be. There was also a really solid piece of carrot cake with plenty of butter icing. Of course, the most important element were the scones. They were excellent, being well-fruited and moist. We were provided with butter and clotted cream along with a rather fine little jam stand containing six miniature jars of jam (Tiptree), giving a choice of raspberry, strawberry and blackcurrent.

The slight difference between the cream tea and the full English was in the preparation of the scones. The former were served at room temperature, the latter were toasted. I’d not come across the concept of toasted scones before, but the ladies assured me it was quite proper; is this a Yorkshire thing?

All in all an excellent tea in a rather grand hotel; definitely a worthy alternative to Betty’s. Indeed the entire hotel looked rather nice and may bear further investigation (even though the Dining Room looked like something out of The Shining).

£7.50 - Cream Tea
£12.50 - Full English Tea –>

Without question the worst National Trust tearoom I have ever been in. You may have spotted the obvious lack of scone - well, they didn’t sell ‘em. Just crappy plastic-wrapped cakes of nastiness that I refuse to waste my hard-earned pennies on. Tea (well hot water with a teabag dumped in it) served in a paper cup without so much as a cardboard collar to protect my hands from burning. It came with two cartons of UHT whiteness, that was either a bit off, or just vile-tasting. There was no discernible tea flavour - it simply tasted disgusting.

Shame because the house was nice, and all the folks that were working there were perfectly charming.

£1.00 - total rip off.

–>

First things first - the museum itself is rubbish. Quite literally. It’s a room filled with a big old load of tat. Including a section of old cafe-style coffee makers - which is essentially like going to a low-rent local auction house where they’re having a bankrupt stock sale.

The tea-room itself is far better quality than it appears. We plumped for the official cream tea - which was a touch pricey, but came with scone AND cake. The scones were a little on the small side, but beautiful - soft, warm and fruity. Cream was ample and jam was strawberry. Cakes, too were moist and full of lovliness.

Tea was served in china pots. Loose leaf (the holy grail!) with a strainer. Choice of teas offered - I chose ‘tea room blend’ and Richy went with the Assam. And the best bit was the tea was delivered along with a miniature timer, so we didn’t dive in and drink the tea before it was brewed to perfection. Class act.

£7.00 –>

Guest Reviewer: Ann

My reason for being in Cheddar was to attend the Big Green Gathering, a hippie festival, and a very good one too. But after three days of vegan fritters and scrumpy cider, I had extreme cream tea deficiency, so we caught the rattly old hippie bus into Cheddar to search one out.

60% of the establishments in Cheddar are tea shops, the other 40% are cheese and/or cider shops, or caves. The choice was wide, but we plumped for the modest Holly House. At first the decor - plain white with many pictures of tea or coffee - put me off. But the prices were right - £2.50 for single cream tea, comprising scone, cream, jam and pot of tea (enough for two and a half cups, so three with the hot water.)

The scone - plain - was excellent. Warm, moist, fresh baked, it could not have been better. Cream - very good, served in a little pot. Only the jam let things down, being a single portion serving, of strawberry, yes, but wrapped in plastic. My partner had not planned to have a cream tea, but on seeing mine insisted on having a bite. Oooh, that’s nice, he said, then ordered his own, mostly on the strength of the scone.

£2.50 Full cream tea
£1.50 Scone, cream and jam without tea.
–>