Edensor Tea Cottage — Restaurant in Derbyshire Dales

We arrived at 4.20, to be told they were closing at 5 (which we knew) and so they could only do coffees and cakes. I didn’t mind as we only wanted tea and scones, but for others who are expecting full kitchen service - beware you won’t get this towards the end of closing hours. Also beware that they will tell every single customer this for a whole hour, start wrapping up cakes in cling film from 4.30, and start sweeping the floor around you by 4.40. Honestly, if you close at 5 - close at 5 please. Don’t start preparing to close at 4 and make your paying customers - who are paying the same prices as those who came at 2pm - feel unwelcome by literally shutting up shop around them.

Anyway - good tea and coffee. The scone was fine, not the best I’ve had. Far too big for a start, and the quantity of clotted cream for a scone that size was totally inadequate. Nice compote to go with it though. And before the business responds to say “oh you should have told us about the cream” - perhaps I would have, if the staff had not made it clear how desperate they were to go home! But really, the cream should be in proportion to the scone to begin with. Otherwise...

The village of Edensor is on the Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire not a million miles from Buxton.

The village comprises of the residents whose homes surround the church. And then there is the Tea Cottage. That is the village of Edensor. There is nothing else.

The main reason for going to Chatsworth is to visit the house, which we could not do.

Driving across the cattle crossing into Edensor you are faced with the church.

Tucked away on the left you will see the Tea Cottage which has a tiny car park. There is very limited parking both in the car park and the narrow lanes in the village.

In the warm sunny weather it was nice to sit outside. Although sitting on basic narrow benches would be a problem for someone with disability issues. Getting your leg over the bench could well be a challenge for some. The Tea Cottage has seating inside as well.

Orders are taken at the cash till and are brought to your table shortly after.

Having been to Edensor once, there is no reason to go again. Would I recommend visiting Edensor? Unless you are desperate for tea or coffee, probably not. There is absolutely nothing to do...

For lunch I ordered the Special after asking if the beetroot was actually in the cheese scone. I was told that it was only served on the side. When it came the cheese scone was cut in half and both halves were covered in the beetroot ‘sauce’. I tried to scrape it off, but to no avail. Had the scone been good I would not have complained, but it was completely dry and stale and didn’t taste of cheese at all. My friend loves beetroot and was looking forward to the same meal, but was of the same opinion as me. The manager apologised saying they were always baked fresh on the day, but then went to talk to the chef who told her they were left over from the previous day. They were very pleasant and offered me 2 cakes instead, but a partial refund would have been preferable. As we were leaving two ladies were also complaining about their cheese scones and did get a partial refund. Very disappointing as I don’t think we...