Chatsworth

In an attempt to relish what's left of the summer, last weekend two friends and I took a journey out to the country's best stately home (and home of Mr Darcy) Chatsworth. We're incredibly lucky that by living in Nottingham we live less than an hours drive (and in most cases just 30 minutes away) from a vast collection of stately homes - both National Trust and privately owned such as the hidden away gem Haddon Hall, the grand Hardwick Hall (and the English Heritage managed Old Hall ruins), the wonderfully eccentric Calke Abbey and Sudbury Hall and Museum of Childhood just to mention a few. One day i'll talk about these in a bit more detail but for now i should focus on the crowning glory of Derbyshire's stately home's - Chatsworth.

Our first destination was the very popular and well-stocked No8 Deli in West Bridgford. We kick started our day with a perfect cuppa and an absolutely delicious but not particularly healthy almond croissant. It was worth it though! We also picked up our sandwiches ready for a picnic in Chatsworth's Gardens later that day. I opted for Roast Veg, Mozzarella and Houmous but only after a long period of indecision crippled by the vast array of options available.

After our sugary breakfast we climbed into our car, switched the cd player on and headed straight for Chatsworth. As you might guess it turned out that we weren't the only ones who were lulled in by Chatsworth's many charms on this particularly sunny Sunday. We encountered quite a bit of traffic on the way in and discovered that we were to be joining a wedding party, the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club and lots of happy families on our amble around the House, Gardens and Farmyard.

I won't go into detail about our trip around the House, Gardens and Farmyard instead i'll skip straight to what we're all here for, the cream tea! But needless to say if you're in the area (and really even if you're not) it's well worth a trip around the House and Gardens. So anyway, onto the review...

Setting: The Chatsworth self-service cafe is situated in a lovely courtyard at the top of the hill which also has a well-stocked and interesting gift shop and a delightful garden store. There is also a restaurant in the courtyard so be careful to choose the right one! The courtyard itself is delightful and the seating area of the self-service restaurant is pleasant but suffers slightly from a mixture of styles and too many people (it can be hard to get a table). One of the really nice things about the seating area is the Chatsworth inspired art around the walls - a collection of different coloured canvases with very stark and plain representations of the Chatsworth landscape throughout the year. Overall it's a pleasant environment. 7/10

Atmosphere: A real mix of patrons from families to groups of friends and couples. 8/10

Quantity: You pay per scone so it's up to you! Beware the scones are very large indeed so you'll probably only need 1. Unless you fancy a challenge that is... 7/10

Accessories: A large pot of delicious Teapigs tea in a blend of your choice (I opted for English Breakfast as they were all out of Assam). You buy the scones individually and they come with butter, a small Chatsworth branded pot of Strawberry Jam & a tub of Roddas Clotted Cream. 8/10

Choice: I have been to Chatsworth for a cream tea many times and believe there is occassionally a choice between fruit, plain and cherry. On this particular day, however, there were only fruit scones to be had. Not so good for the fruit scone haters out there. 6/10

Quality: A yummy and very filling fruit scone. Nice and fresh but it wasn't warm. 8/10

Verdict: 8/10 Chatsworth offers a very pleasant cream tea experience in lovely surroundings but suffered on this day from a lack of choice.

Cream Tea Review - Hardwick Hall

So I thought it was about time I covered my Number One cream tea, the one that all others seek to emulate - Hardwick Hall. 

To begin with I should say that Hardwick Hall is my favourite National Trust property. A beautiful Elizabethan house built for Bess of Hardwick, Hardwick Hall is fascinating, impressive and boasts superb gardens. Plus as a National Trust member you get free entry to the neighbouring ruins of Hardwick Old Hall (despite being operated by English Heritage) which are simply amazing. Standing enough to run around in and ruined enough to offer a sense of mystery the ruins of Hardwick are my favourite place to be in Britain. So I obviously enter into a review of a cream tea at Hardwick with a bit of a bias, but believe me it does not need it. With or without my bias, Hardwick is undoubtably home to the best cream tea i've sampled so far. So onto the ratings...

Setting: The Hardwick Hall National Trust operated restaurant is located within the building adjacent to the Gift Shop and in the old kitchen. There is one large room and a smaller cosier room (which I prefer) and you sit on long benches often having to share tables with other parties. The restaurant offers waiter service which is often a rarity in National Trust properties but it can get really busy and noisy. This often leads to queues to be seated but it is worth the wait.  8/10

Atmosphere: The usual National Trust atmosphere but predominantly an elderly crowd rather than families. 

Quantity: 2 scones. The way it should be!  10/10

Accessories: A generous sized pot of National Trust blend tea. The scones come with butter and the usual pot of Strawberry jam & thick Clotted Cream. On a recent visit the Strawberry jam was replaced by Raspberry but I believe this to be a temporary replacement due to a Strawberry jam shortage. 9/10

Choice: Hardwick Hall is fruit scone-hater friendly. Much to my housemate's delight the menu offers you the choice of plain or fruit. My friend has two plain scones whereas I opt for one plain and one fruit. Diversity is the key! 10/10 

Quality: This is where the Hardwick cream tea really excels. The scones are absolutely delicious - not too heavy, not too light, warm and freshly baked. Simply delightful. Sometimes they can be quite crumbly but it's a small price to pay.  10/10

Verdict: 10/10  Offering choice, delightful surroundings and a quality product and service Hardwick Hall is the gold standard of cream teas. 

Cream Tea review - Lyme Park

I thought it was time I kicked off this blog with an actual Cream Tea review. So i'll start with the most recent before i finally work up to visiting the cream teas of the past year. 

So without any more ado... 

Setting: Restaurant at Lyme Park (operated by The National Trust). Lovely house (part of the BBC's Pride & Prejudice was filmed here! Ah Darcy).  6/10

Quantity: 2 scones  :)  10/10

Accessories: Nice National Trust blend tea in an attractive Art Deco-esque tea pot. The scones came with a lovely Strawberry jam & thick Clotted Cream but unfortunately no butter.  7/10

Choice: The menu listed the cream tea as including fruit scones only, which is fine for me but it deterred my sultana-hating friend from ordering it. But two plain scones arrived!  4/10

Quality: Not freshly baked. Large but quite cold and stodgy.  6/10

Verdict: 7/10

How they are rated

Well for a starter i thought i should provide a bit of background information on how the cream teas will be rated. 

I will be using a scale of 1 to 10 and will be commenting on the following aspects: 

Quantity - 1 scone or 2 that is the question... 

Setting - at home, in a dingy small room, a quaint tea room or a grand Stately Home restaurant

Cream Tea accessories - the quality, quantity & choice of the tea blend, cream and jam will be considered

Choice - do you get the choice of fruit, plain, cherry or, controversially, cheese? Or are non-raisin fans at a loss?

Quality - are they freshly baked, dry or wrapped in plastic? 

Welcome to Cream Tea review

A very warm welcome to my blog. My name is Emma and i'm an avid fan of Stately Homes and their sweetest accessory the humble British Cream Tea. 

With a National Trust membership card in hand it has been and is my continuing mission to sample the cream tea culinary delights of this fair country. However, I stress to add that this blog will include reviews of not just cream teas at Stately Homes but ones consumed in tea shops and even shop bought scones for DIY cream tea making. 

I hope you find this a useful guide to the cream teas just waiting for you out there. But most of all i hope it encourages you to go out and seek your own here, there and everywhere. The cream tea is a pleasure which shouldn't be underestimated. 

Happy Cream Tea-ing. 

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