The Denby Dale Tearooms

Hubbers and I were out for a jaunt in the countryside last weekend, with the dog, and of course, at about half past three, our thoughts turned to the inevitable. We had been past the Denby Dale Tearooms before, and I'd thought 'Ooh, we ought to take a look', so it seemed a good choice for a quiet unassuming Saturday afternoon.
For those of you who don't know the quaint town of Denby Dale, it is a lovely Yorkshire village to the south east of Huddersfield, and just east of the Peak District. I think its claim to fame - other than the tearooms - is its pies. Whenever there is anything new to celebrate - like a royal baby or a coronation, or the millennium - or they need to raise money - for a new church roof or village hall - the residents of Denby Dale bake a pie. A giant pie. The largest, baked to commemorate the turn of the century, weighed twelve tonnes!
Anyway, back to the tearooms. We didn't go in the front door, but headed straight for the 'Tea Garden' (a good start already), which happened to be a little terraced garden hugging the steep slope of the valley (this is quite the norm in this part of Yorkshire). Luckily, it was a real sun-trap, and so at quarter to four in the afternoon, it was still bathed in sunlight. We didn't need to look at the menu - although a quick glance told us it was well stocked - and we ordered an Afternoon Tea for two, Yorkshire tea for him, Earl Grey for me.

Well, as soon as the tea came, I was grinning. Beautiful, vintage-style teacups! The owner who had taken our order was a big, burly Yorkshire man, and we hadn't seen the interior, so I wasn't expecting the delicate bone china he brought out! The teapots weren't bone china, and the tea was bagged not leaf, but the eclectic mix of retro cups, saucers and little plates were lovely.

Then our tea came out on a tiered cake stand. It was simple and delicious. Mr CTC had ordered ham and mustard sandwiches, and I had tuna mayonnaise on brown and both were divine. Bite size triangle sandwiches, full or filling, with the corners cut off - perfect. The scones were not quite as we would have served them - they were 'mini scones' already jammed and creamed, but they went very well with the meal, and they befitted the friendly, unpretentious nature of the establishment, so we were happy to indulge. The sandwiches and scones were accompanied by a mysterious cake. Hubby tucked in to his first, and exclaimed how much he liked it and how moist and tasty it was, but how he couldn't put his finger on the flavour. When I tried it, I'm afraid I was none the wiser, but the closest flavour I could find to it was jelly beans or dolly mixture. Could they have made a dolly mixture cake? I'm sure it's possible!

Dolly mixture cake or not, we were very pleasantly surprised with the Denby Dale Tearooms. The view from the Tea Garden was good, the food lovely and the vintage teacups topped it off. Friendly, unassuming staff, good prices (£9.95 for an afternoon tea for one), and we could take the dog too. He had a bowl of water and a little lick of clotted cream, so he was happy too!

All in all, a very respectable 8.5/10 for the DDTR (points lost only for pre-jammed and creamed scones, stoneware teapots and teabags). Lovely surroundings, lovely outdoor space. It looked very cute inside too, when I went in to pay. The owner did catch me taking a picture of the outside though - whoops! If it weren't for our pockets or our waistlines, I think we'd be back every Saturday!

 

The Vintage Teacup Club by Vanessa Greene

I don't just review cream teas, I like to offer my opinion about other cream-tea-related stuff too! 

As a lover of eclectic vintage crockery, I was intrigued by the title and cover of The Vintage Teacup Club, Vanessa Greene’s debut novel. My husband and I were actually given the book as a wedding present, as our wedding breakfast was – you’ve guessed it – an afternoon tea, complete with vintage crockery.

Normally, I tend to avoid this sort of mass-produced, written-to-a-formula, “female interest” literature, but given the title and my obsession with vintage teas, I thought I’d give it a go. And I was really rather pleasantly surprised at the story and characters. The women were well-rounded- so to speak – and believable. I felt the plot was a little predictable – I could tell the important men in the story from their first mention, although it was clear we were not supposed to recognise their potential significance. The imagery and narrative were engaging, and I had a clear picture of these characters and their homes in my mind’s eye. I did find the adjectives a little clunky though – sometimes it seemed as though the descriptive prose was a forced at times. The theme of wedding decoration and vintage collectables kept me going, whereas in a novel with a different flavour I might have lost interest. But what was most captivating was the personal accounts and real emotion that soaked the pages. I found myself welling up on several occasions while reading it – sometimes embarrassing when on the train – and I felt that the characters’ individual situations were each portrayed as though Vanessa had lived them personally. The pages were also peppered with little details that only true followers of the vintage teacup craze would appreciate, and I found that rewarding - like little sweets along the way. And, like a good cup of tea and a biscuit, it made me feel satisfied and happy when I'd finished it.

MacDonald Highland Hotel, Aviemore

Mr Cream Tea Crazy and I are away from home on a little sojourn in the Cairngorms. We're indulging in a little bit of whisky, lots of country walks, and of course, our favourite pastime! We wanted afternoon tea at the Tigh na Sgaith hotel, which boasts a freshly baked-to-order service, but we hadn't booked in advance, and so we weren't allowed. Still, we'll know for next time we're here! So, a quick Google search led us to the four star MacDonald Highland Hotel in Aviemore, where an Afternoon Tea was available for £18.

On arrival, we were led to the Laggan Bar, which was a dark area decorated with 'contemporary' art and modern furnishings. The sofas were very soft and squishy and we sank into them quickly, but there was absolutely no atmosphere or ambience. It was cold and impersonal -  we could have been on a ferry. The paintings around the room looked like horror movie posters.

                                

The waitress looked at me blankly when I asked if there was a choice of teas, but the menu assured me there was - a rather good selection actually, of Clipper teas. The tea arrived quickly, on a fancy little wooden tray. Unfortunately, the teapots were ceramic stoneware, and the tea was in bags, not loose. In no time at all, a huge cake stand was brought out, with what looked like enough food for four people! There were at least twenty finger sandwiches, with the classic fillings of cheese and pickle, ham and mustard, egg mayonnaise and cress, and salmon and cream cheese. Luckily for me, Mr CTC can't stand salmon or egg sandwiches, so we played Jack Spratt and his wife and he ate all the ham and cheese ones. All were very nice, but the bread did seem a little dry, and we got the distinct impression that the filled cake stand had been sitting around in the kitchen for quite a while.

 

 After reminding the waitress that we needed cutlery, we moved on to the scones. Four provided, two fruit and two plain. Not only were they titchy, they were cold, and incredibly short - to the extent that they were almost biscuits! And a teensy-bit burned. Not great. To make matters worse, the cream provided was whipped, not clotted! Sin of sins! Jam (and honey and marmalade) were offered in little individually-sized jars, on an intriguing little stand.

 There was a very obvious mousse theme to the selection of little cakes offered. Well, more like desserts, not cakes. The middle tier of the cake stand held four slices of passion-fruit mousse cake, two wedges of strawberry mousse cake, and four individual chocolate mousses! I began to worry that we were going to be charged for four afternoon teas, not two! To be fair, the passion-fruit mousse was delicious, and the chocolate mousse was lovely too, but by that time, we were both feeling rather full and couldn't really appreciate their lightness or flavour!

The overwhelming impression at the MacDonald Highland Hotel was not one of four star quality. It really appeared as though customers asking for afternoon tea were a rarity, and perhaps now we see why. The waitress was not familiar with how an afternoon tea works, and described what we would get as 'a big basket of cakes' - not the three tiered cake stand we thankfully did get. The schoolboy errors of whipped cream and offering marmalade for the scones made us think that they were not really sure of what they were doing. This feeling was confirmed when we were undercharged, but we're not complaining about that! 

The Grange Hotel, York

Last week, my sister N and I visited York for a good ol' chat, bit of shopping, and - naturally - a cream tea. We wanted a 'proper' afternoon tea, complete with sandwiches, scones, cakes, a choice of leaf teas and the right atmosphere. Everyone recommended Betty's, but we were after something a little different, a little less obvious, a little less touristy. Eventually, after much debate, we settled on The Grange, a beautiful hotel a short walk from York Minster. Everything about it boded well - the rich 'heritage'-type décor of the Morning Room, the friendly staff and indeed, the menu.

A Full Afternoon Tea for one was available for £15.50, including a selection of finger sandwiches, rhubarb scones, little cakes and a selection of high quality leaf tea. Lovely, thank you - we'll have two. Hang on. Did it say rhubarb scones? Yuck. I can't stand rhubarb - it find it far too bitter. To me, it seems a bit too much of an acquired taste to have on the menu without giving an alternative. I like a fruited (sultana or cherry) one best. At first the waitress said rhubarb scones were the only option, but the disappointment must have been evident on my face because she went to ask the Chef, who miraculously found some plain ones. Phew - crisis averted. N wanted to try the rhubarb ones, so we ordered two of each, and sat back to await the arrival of what promised to be a delicious meal.

Our teas came - Assam for N, Earl Grey for me. A few points fell by the wayside immediately - stoneware teapots and cups - oh dear. But worse was the ludicrous leaf tea to water ratio within the teapots. They were at least two-thirds full of tea. So much so that the tea 'plopped' out of the spout into the tea strainer, rather than flowing. The Assam was far too strong, the Earl Grey was unrecognisable. Not a great start. We asked the waitress for a refresh, and more hot water, and she brought it quickly with no fuss. Right - we're back on track.

A large, impressive cake stand was brought out with great ceremony. We had been given a choice of sandwich fillings, and both being fond of the classic egg and cress, we'd ordered some of those. We were a little disappointed to discover they had been made with sandwich spread rather than mayonnaise, but no matter, they were very nice. We moved on to the scone tier. A tiny sliver of cake, which we decided must be Yorkshire parkin was included with the scones for no obvious reason - perhaps to remind us we were in Yorkshire? It was so thin it was almost transparent, and really not worth it. Anyway, on to the scones.

I reached for a scone - no way to tell it if was a safe plain or a dreaded rhubarb one - and found it warm (great) and already sliced (ok). But I was not expecting it to have had jam spread on it already! And worse than that, apparently the clotted cream had already been spread on it too! But because the scones were warm, the clotted cream had melted and congealed in a greasy, buttery mess around the scones, making them soggy and prone to breaking apart. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. This was not good.

 

In a desperate attempt to rescue the situation, and have something to show for our long-awaited, special-girls-day-out tea, we asked for more clotted cream and jam so that we could do the condiment spreading ourselves. Personally, I like to take a scone, divide it into two halves and put jam and cream on both sides - decadent, I know, but that is half the fun - and not to have this done for me. They brought out two individual-sized jam jars, which just about covered one scone each. On the positive side, the scones, although broken, were tasty - not too short, moist on the inside and crisp on the outside, without a hint of rubberiness. However, it was impossible to tell which scones were plain and which were rhubarb, which was OK for me with only a slight aversion, but wouldn't have been acceptable for someone with allergies.

It must be said that the mini cakes on the top tier were lovely - a couple of macaroons, a chocolate brownie slice, a tiramisu mouse (N got that - I hate coffee), and two madeleine-type cakes. I was a bit too full to eat them, so squirrelled them away for later - which is absolutely fine by me.

To be fair to the staff at The Grange, they apologised profusely for (what seems to me to be) quite a series of faux-pas when it comes to afternoon tea. They explained that the Chef was having an 'off day' due to him introducing a new dinner menu and hosting two large parties that evening. Still, I tend to think that if you can't cope with an order, then admit it, rather than 'fobbing off' your customers with something less than desirable. They offered us another scone each, and shaved 50% off the price. This gesture did work to compensate a bit for an afternoon tea which hadn't lived up to our high expectations, and which had actually put a bit of a downer on our nice day out. I think that next time I'm in York, I won't seek out The Grange for an afternoon tea, but if I was staying there, or had some other reason to be in the vicinity, I wouldn't necessarily avoid it. Our experience was a low 4/10, but I doubt this would be repeated. The scones, cakes and mostly nice sandwiches mean it might normally get a 7/10, if the Chef was having an 'on day'.

The Victorian Tea Room, Barnsley

The other day, when we had to pop into Barnsley to run some errands, Mr CTC and I tried to liven up an otherwise dull afternoon by having a spot of tea at The Victorian Tea Room in the Arcade in Barnsley. We went along at about half past one, so strictly speaking, too early for tea, but this was based on our previous experience with them, when we turned up hoping for tea at about ten to four in the afternoon. This was apparently too late for them, as they usually close at four. Needless to say, we found this a little odd, as four o'clock in the afternoon is traditionally tea time. Anyway.

So, the other day, we sat down for what was really lunch, and ordered, hoping that the food would live up to delightful ambience and cute surroundings. Each table had a white and red tablecloth (well, paper tablecloth, but the thought was there), and a small vase of (plastic) red and white flowers. You can't blame them for trying. Another vase held red and white paper napkins to round off the colour scheme.

When the (very nice) proprietor brought the tea, I was pleasantly surprised. The teapots were ceramic, and the crockery pretty and in keeping with the Victorian theme. I liked the inclusion of an extra pot for hot water, which is always a nice touch.

The sandwiches were well made (mine was tuna mayonnaise, again), if a little ordinary, but nicely accompanied by crisps and a little salad.

The cream tea was very nearly perfect, as the jam and cream provision was decanted and not encased in a little sachet or packet, and - joy of joys - the cream was clotted. Unfortunately, the scone, although large, was cold, plain and singular.

Overall, the Victorian Tea Room scored 6/10. Not bad, not bad. We will certainly be back, as now that we know about their 'eccentric' opening hours, we know that it offers a good incentive/consolation for running boring errands in 'town'.

The Countess Tea Room, Wortley

Mr Cream Tea Crazy and I recently visited The Countess Tea Room in Wortley village just north of Sheffield. This one is definitely worth a detour or even a day trip next time you're in South Yorkshire or environs. It is a quaint little tea room, with only about seven tables, and a couple of waitresses. You need to remember to take cash though, as they don't accept cards, which we discovered a little too late! However, the food more than made up for the minor inconvenience of driving to the local garage to get cash.

We were off to a good start when the tea arrived. Although the waitress momentarily forgot that I'd ordered Earl Grey, and brought an English Breakfast instead, this was soon rectified, and order restored. The ceramic teapots and extra hot water were earning points left, right and centre.

So far, so good. And then the toasties arrived. These were quite simply, the best toasties we had ever had! I had tuna and cheese, and Mr CTC had his favourite, bacon, brie and cranberry, and they were absolutely amazing! They were perfectly toasted - none of this Breville nonsense, I'm sure - they were golden, and crispy and just yummy!

 

With our expectations buoyed by the toastie triumph, we were very much looking forward to the cream tea element of our meal. However, we were a little disappointed.

Although marks were scored for little pots of jam and cream and not plastic sealed sachets, the cream was whipped, not clotted, which is a particular little bug-bear of ours (see previous post on What makes a good cream tea?). The butter was in one of those horrible foil packets. And, there was only one scone, but thankfully, it was fruited, on the large side, and warm. Points redeemed. Also, the scone itself was delicious, so that helped immensely.

Overall, the Countess Tea Room, which is a charming little teashop, decorated with shabby chic bric-a-brac, scored a respectable 6/10, bumped up to a 7/10 because of the to-die-for toasties. This is quite a high score for the CTC team, and we will definitely be making a return visit in the near future!

 

 

The Earl Grey Tea Room, York

Late last year, my husband and I visited York....something to do with Mallard trains...I wasn't really paying attention...and of course, when four o'clock rolled around, we looked for a place for a nice cream tea. York is groaning with quaint little tea shops, each more enticing than the last. Fighting our way through the crowds on The Shambles, we found the Earl Grey Tea Rooms (13, The Shambles, York).

Now, being an Earl Grey lover, the name spoke to me, and I was keen to go in. We were seated quickly, and soon ordered an afternoon tea. The atmosphere was genteel, the clientele smart and generally elderly and a touch aristocratic, and the menu superb.
The afternoon tea came on a tiered cake stand, which always makes me smile, and we had little finger sandwiches on the bottom tier, scones on the middle tier and cakes at the top. If I recall, I ordered egg and cress sandwiches and Mr CTC had ham and mustard. Scones were large and fruited, but cold. The cream was definitely clotted, amassing points. We both had Victoria sponge cake to finish off.

All in all, the experience scored highly on our (as yet unperfected) scoring system. I can't remember any points being lost, actually. I would go so far as to say it was highly recommended by us!

What makes a good cream tea?

Right, lets get down to the details. What makes a good cream tea?

Here are some necessities that we (Mr and Mrs CT Crazy) look for in a cream tea. If a particular teashop experience is missing some or all of these features, it severely loses points in our eyes.

1. More than one type of tea.
I'm afraid I'm a bit of a stickler for a choice of teas. I am not really satisfied with 'bog standard' or 'Builders' tea'. I prefer Earl Grey, and so it really matters to me if that is available.

2. China teapot and teacups.
This is an essential. My heart sinks if those 'British Rail' type stainless steel teapots are brought out. Their handles get too hot, and they invariably are lousy pourers, so most of the tea goes on the table instead of in the cup. More points are given for pretty vintage teacups and saucers, naturally.

3. Large scones.
Scones need to be big. There's no good in piddly little frou-frou scones - no thank you.

4. At least two scones.
This seems to me to be a basic requirement. I don't like to see teashops scrimping on what's most important.

5. Choice of scones.
In an ideal world, for maximum points, there would also be a choice of scones - for example, sultana, cherry, plain or even (yuk) cheese scones.

6. The scones need to be warm.
Scones obviously should be fresh and warm. It's better if the scones are straight out of the oven, but warmed up in a microwave is OK too, just about.

7. Clotted cream.
I don't care whether you put the jam on first or the cream, but the cream has to be clotted. Clotted cream is an absolute must. Whipped cream just does not cut the mustard. The clotted cream should have the little crust on the top too. This should go without saying.

8. Jam and cream provision
The jam and cream (and butter if it is provided) should come in little jars, tubs or ramekins, but NOT in pre-packed sachets. And don't get me started on the little foil packets of butter!

9. Choice of jam.
I like raspberry jam, but my husband likes strawberry. Sometimes, you just want to mix things up a bit and try blackcurrant or even....honey! (I'll do another post on the 'thunder and lightning' cream tea later). Choice is good.

10. Extra hot water.
If you're anything like us, one or two cups of tea is not quite enough. It is always nice to have more hot water at the table, so you don't have to bother the server to get more. It's just a nice little thought that makes a big difference.

It is surprising how many teashops or tearooms miss out on one or more of these (we think) essential items. To me, serving jam in individual sachets seems like a false economy, or serving hot tea in metal teapots just silly - it is bound to drive customers away!

Hello fellow Cream Tea lovers!

I am quite partial to a cream tea. I tend to have one whenever I go to a teashop, as most people would. However, I actively seek out teashops, never pass one without going in, and have been known to plan whole holidays around teashop visits. Proximity to a good teashop has even governed my house-buying choices! I wouldn't call myself a food critic, or particularly an expert on cooking or baking, but I do know a good cream tea when I see (or eat) one. I certainly know what I like - which features make me think 'Yes! I've made the right choice here' when the waiter or waitress brings the cream tea, and which make my heart sink. In the early days of my relationship with my now-husband, I took him to some teashops, ostensibly for a nice afternoon out, but also to gauge his reactions to the quintessential cream tea. Thankfully, he passed the 'tests' and has proved to be as much of a cream tea lover as I am. You could say we go together like jam and clotted cream!

I am writing this blog to share with you our cream tea adventures around the world - we're mainly based in the UK, but when we go abroad, we do seek out a cream tea, for completeness' sake, of course - and to share the best (and worst) places in which to engage in that most English and comforting of past-times, the indulgence in a cream tea. Of course, you may not agree with our comments or scoring criteria, but I hope that you might be encouraged to partake in a cream tea every now and then.