This time I went for the official cream tea on offer, so got two scones rather than the one I normally go for. So the price is a bit more.

The tea was all in order, cup and saucer, tea in a pot and milk in a jug. Nicely provided with an extra pot of hot water for topping up purposes. Top touch. Ooo, it was lovely, a nice cup of tea.

The scones themselves, were damn fine, lovely home-made texture with a hint of crunch to the outside and a lovely moist centre, not too fluffy, not too doughy. Nice cream, but the portion a little stingy for two scones.

The jam however, was a disaster. It all looked good - in a mini-glass jar - not homemade, but the glass jar stuff is usually ok. It was supposed to be strawberry, but the only way you’d know was by reading the label. On opening the jar, I could pour liquid out onto the scone, then the ‘jam’ inside was a weird translucent flabby jelly that had never seen a strawberry. The flavour was citric. Nasty stuff.

Please note scone-servers of Baddesley Clinton - get a better jam supplier to do your scones some justice!

£4.35 - but that’s for two (count ‘em!) scones. –>

A slightly over-brown scone was pleasantly crunchy on the outside, but rather dry in the middle - fruited though. Choice of jams, including strawberry - served in jars, tasted good. Cream however was stale, having sat in the fridge too long. Not off, just stale.

Tea was good though, served in teapot with plenty of bejugged milk.

Nice girl at the till rearranged my tray loaded with scones into the optimum groupings of ‘this is a cream tea’ ‘this is a single scone’ etc to get me best value for money, which was nice of her. Plenty of seats both outside and in, which was lucky because it was a very busy day.

£3.85 (or thereabouts, couldn’t really figure out how to split my receipt) –>

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. –>

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.

–>

Guest Reviewer: Richy

After waiting for some considerable time to be served (sitting outside on a grey but warm day) a charming tall, lean, toned and very pretty dark haired, olive skinned chap finally came to take out order. We had one cream tea and tea for two shared between 3 of us so ended up with a scone and a third each which turned out to be more than adequate.

The scones were white fruit and very slightly dry/over cooked. The cream was very thick and divine. The jam was a slight let down, rather solid and lacking in the feel that it had seen real fruit. The tea supply was very generous although we were not given a choice - I rather like an Assam with a scone, but each to their own.

That makes it all sound much worse than it was, nice setting, large scones, goodly supply
of both cream and jam, very hot tea, sparkling cutlery and crockery and a dishy waiter - all told about 7 out of 10.

£5.90 - for cream tea, plus additional tea for two –>