Taste test the best cream teas in the Shropshire Hills this summer. Choose your favourite and help them win the Shropshire Hills 2020 Cream Tea Awards.
Travel the hills this summer on your quest for the finest cream tea in the land. The Great Shropshire Hills Cream Tea Trail will take you to some of the loveliest places to enjoy a treat worth putting your day on hold for.
Each participating venue will be competing for the prestigious Great Shropshire Hills Cream Tea Award. This will be awarded at the Ludlow Food Festival on Friday 11th September, so keep a lookout here to find out who the selected finalists were and who managed to claim top spot.
But what makes a Shropshire Hills Cream Tea?
Well, it’s all down to the jam. You can have your strawberry or your raspberry (and there are some that do) – but we believe, to have a truly Shropshire-licious experience, it has to damson!
We know it’s controversial, but here’s why. The Shropshire Prune, is a rare, local damson variety introduced to the area by the Romans. This small damson packs a big flavour, sought after by top chefs and home preservers, it has an instant hit on the palette and arguably tops other soft fruit preserves in the jam department. You can get strawberry and raspberry jam on your scone anywhere, but you can only get Shropshire damson jam here. Oh, don’t worry, all the tea rooms, cafés and attractions in the trail serve other jams. But if you want to make it truly special – have your scone with damson jam. We are delighted to work with Slow Food Ludlow-Marches to promote this magnificent local fruit.
Visitors over the summer 2019 rated the competitors, and your scores helped us shortlist the top four cream teas (It should have only been 3 but it was so close!). The top two are back again to face the opposition.
Why not explore the glorious Shropshire Hills and treat yourself to a cream tea every day of your holiday? Post your pictures on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, to make your friends green with envy by adding #ShropshireCreamTea to your posts.
- Wildegoose Nursery and Garden, Millichope SY7 9HE
- Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre Cafe, Craven Arms,SY7 9RS
- Jemima’s Kitchen, Church Stretton, SY6 6BX  Winner 2019
- Kerry Vale Vineyard, Pentreheyling, SY15 6HU  Runner Up 2019
- Willows Cafe, Ditton Priors, WV16 6SS
- Postcard Cafe, Clun SY7 8JW Â
- Castle Hotel,Bishops Castle   SY9 5BN
- Feathers Hotel  Ludlow SY8 1AA
- Larch Barn Cleobury Mortimer DY14 8JF
- Ludlow Castle Tea Room Ludlow SY8 1AY
- Rosalie’s at Daniels Mill  Eardington, nr Bridgnorth WV16 5JL
- Stiperstones Inn Stiperstones SY5 0LZIf you are a café or tea shop that serves a magnificent cream tea and want to get involved next year contact chair@visitshropshirehills.co.uk
