Land of Oak & Iron Heritage Centre — Restaurant in Gateshead

Beautiful place to visit for a walk with quite a few different walks to do, great place for kids and dogs however I’m leaving a 3 star review due to the coffee shop which we found to be quite poor. We visited yesterday on a hot but not really busy day and placed our order, I wanted a decaf cappuccino but for some reason the young girl on the till just didn’t get it, my mam and husband wanted normal coffees and my dad wanted a tea but for some strange reason the girl kept putting everyone’s drinks through as decaf, we had to repeat the order 4 times before she got it right, never mind we thought maybe she was new and just inexperienced but we then ended up waiting around 20 minutes for our order to be made which was only 3 coffees, 1 tea and 2 scones. Me and my parents gave up standing around waiting at the counter and went and sat outside whilst my husband waited as it was so hot we couldn’t bear to stand and wait. When the order finally came out the scones came without any jam, just butter even though we asked for jam, my mam’s coffee was only lukewarm and my dad’s cup and pot of tea were filthy. My mam took the cups back and she said the girl was very rude about it saying that it wasn’t dirty just tea stained, well I’m sorry but when you’re paying the best part of £18 for 4 drinks and 2 scones that simply isn’t good enough and it suggests a lack of pride on the staff’s part. Tea stained cups can easily be cleaned with a bit of elbow grease and even steradent tablets if need be! My mam said the girl even took the cup over to her colleague to show him as if to try and make her feel stupid and they both agreed that it wasn’t dirty just tea stained. I feel like the coffee shop is a wasted opportunity really as it’s so poorly ran but with the right staff it could be really good, most of the staff in there appear to be kids who probably either don’t care or just aren’t up to the job unfortunately. The coffee tasted nice and the outdoor seating area is very pleasant but those are about the only positives I can give really, on the day of our visit there was a brass band playing however they were too loud and jarring, I would have preferred either nothing or something a lot gentler and easy listening. We will definitely visit again but next time will probably bring our own food and drinks and have a picnic instead. Go for the beautiful walks and scenery, avoid the...

Lovely setting and dog friendly. But I think it might be under new management and having some teething problems. Either that or it should be under new management. Went in with my mum, she ordered tea and flapjack, I got coffee and crumpets. The flapjack was break your teeth solid, they didn't seem bothered by this saying that they had left it out, as if that would make it go soft? The crumpets took about 20 minutes and 2 "we ordered some crumpets as well" and what arrived looked deep-fried, the outside was completely solid and in places burnt. They did replace these which took only 10mins and the replacements were a definite improvement. About 10mins later they also came over and gave a partial refund for them as well. They are obviously trying really hard to please everyone, but there's still a few links...

Café Shrub at the Land of Oak & Iron has been a lovely little escape throughout the Covid restrictions.

The staff have been brilliant and still continued to run the Elf Trail at Christmas along with some other activities - it's full steam ahead for their pizza and music events on a Friday evening.

The quality of the food/drinks in the café is brilliant, whether it be the seasonal offerings i.e. Christmas hot chocolates, mulled wine, mince pies, pigs n blankets etc to the huge scones! Really good quality at reasonable prices.

The shop itself has some nice things - I recently bought a Northumberland and County Durham walks books.

The safety throughout covid has been very clear and easy to follow.

Worth a visit to park up, go for a walk in a lovely area and grabbing yourself a...