A freshly baked, delicious Devon cream tea is a thing of great joy, and a great place to experience this joy is the Town Farmhouse Tea Garden in Mortehoe. Definitely one of the best cream teas in North Devon.

Why it’s on my list

Is there anything more Devonshire than a cream tea? It’s about time I reviewed one really. We decided to do one of our favourite walks on the coast around Lee Bay and Morte Point (100% seal spotting success rate!) and thought it would be nice to reward ourselves with a cream tea from an interesting looking place in Mortehoe – the Town Farmhouse Tea Garden.

Cafe Information

Website: www.townfarmhouse.co.uk (but don’t expect to find any information about the tea garden)

Location: Town Farmhouse, Mortehoe, North Devon, EX34 7DT

Opening times: open from around 12 noon – 5pm during Easter and summer, weather permitting as it is outdoors

To book: booking is not available

Overall verdict

What a fabulous cream tea we had, absolutely perfect. Nevermind the exceedingly posh afternoon teas served on delicate china, where you’re so scared of getting mucky that you just nibble at the scone. This cream tea is generous, the vibe is relaxed, and really that is all I want from a cream tea.

What I had

My husband and I had a scone each with clotted cream and jam. We had some soft drinks, sparkling elderflower presse for me, lemon and mint presse for my husband. Technically a cream tea as my friend had a pot of tea!

The Devon way is to put cream on the bottom and jam on top, the Cornish way is to do it the other way round so the cream is on top. I always like to see if I’ve changed my mind about which I prefer, so I tend to have one each way when I have a cream tea.

It’s safe to say my current preference is the Devon way – but I do think a lot does depend on the ratio of jam to cream. If there’s plentiful cream (which there should be), then Devon all the way. If you’re only given a little bit of cream, you’ll want to put it on top so you can taste it better.

The best

The scone with cream on the bottom and jam on top, of course!

The scones were freshly made and slightly warm from the oven. They were lovely and soft, held their shape well when it came to spreading the cream and jam on, yet they crumbled in the mouth wonderfully.

Best of all, both cream and jam were provided in plentiful portions.

Not the best

I thought the elderflower presse was lovely, but the lemon and mint not so much. It will certainly be to some people’s liking – I overheard a fellow diner saying they loved it.

The venue

The Town Farmhouse Tea Garden is located right in the heart of the village of Mortehoe. In summer it’s busy and bustling, which means there’s lots to look at whilst you’re enjoying your cream tea in the garden. The shade provided by the parasols and gazebos are greatly appreciated when the sun and heat all become a bit too much.

The crockery is casual, and I absolutely loved the tea tray that our food and drink was brought out on. If I were one of those cats I would definitely be the one poking their head around the corner!

Top tip

There is no indoor seating, so bear that in mind before you go. You will be outdoors, come rain or shine, although I did see one table under the side bit of the house.