Shropshire Hills & Ludlow

The Great Shropshire Hills Cream Tea Trail 2020

Taste test the best cream teas in the Shropshire Hills this autumn.

Travel the hills 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.

Scones with Strawberry Jam and Clotted Cream

Last year, each participating venue competed for the prestigious Great Shropshire Hills Cream Tea Award. The awards are not running this year, but there’s still some fantastic café’s and tea rooms for you to visit and judge your favourite. The winner and one of the runners up are open for business again this year – and they’re well worth checking out. But stop there?

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.

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.

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, for 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.

For information on last year’s award, click here

If 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