Happy National Cream Tea Day! Take a break on your next group day out with a stop for a cream tea at some of these UK-based venues.
1. Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall
Carnewas Tearooms overlooks the famous Bedruthan Steps. The café itself is steeped in history, having originally started life as an old mining stable.
The tea gardens which used to be the horses paddock now provide a picturesque place for a homemade cream tea made from local Cornish produce.
2. The Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight
The tea-room at the Needles Old Battery on the Isle of Wight is situated in the former Port War Signal Station, which was built in World War Two to monitor ships in the Solent.
Visitors can enjoy views out to sea through the wide windows; there are even binoculars to borrow while enjoying scones with jam and cream sourced from the island.
3. Worth Matravers Tea and Supper Room, Dorset
This tea room was a Best Dorset Cream Tea finalist in the Food, Drink and Farming Awards in 2014; groups can visit this quirky tea room following a walk through the Dorset countryside.
Expect mismatched crockery and other vintage bits and bobs within the cosy tearoom or its secluded garden. There’s plenty to choose from on the menu; as well as a cream tea, groups can enjoy muffins with smoked salmon and vodka cream, homemade petit fours, and biscotti and brownies too.
4. Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery
Visitors to the Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery can take a seat in the historic settings of the Edwardian Tearooms.
Groups after a cream tea following a peruse of the museum can enjoy scones served with strawberry preserve and Devonshire clotted cream, as well as a selection of sandwiches on farmhouse bread followed by an array of afternoon cakes. All are served with a choice of loose leaf tea or freshly ground coffee.
5. Osborne House, Isle of Wight
Osborne House, a former royal residence, is said to be where the Victoria Sponge, the Battenburg Cake and the Osborne Pudding were created. Groups visiting today can choose from a menu of tasty treats in the onsite Terrace Restaurant.
As well as cream tea, groups can enjoy a high tea that includes Ventnor crab sandwiches, potato dumplings with wild mushrooms, elderflower jelly, warm dark chocolate cake, and - in honour of Osborne's most famous resident - four types of Victoria sponge.
