Time for Tea....Meudon Hotel, Cornwall

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends, today we are joined by Ele Crossland, who shares my passion for afternoon tea and fab food in general. I recently saw a photo of Ele's on Twitter of some rather lovely looking scones and I asked her to share her recent scone adventures with us......

Picture the scene. A warm afternoon in early September. A sheltered valley overflowing with deep green, sub-tropical vegetation, a quiet, paved terrace, bathed in sunshine, and a generous tray of warmed scones, clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam. Is this the stuff of novels? No, it's what you can look forward to on a visit to the Meudon Hotel, Mawnan Smith, Cornwall.

Meudon Hotel - Cornwall

We stumbled upon this gem by accident. Having been let down by our first choice location for cream tea (they had run out of scones), we retraced our route along the coast road to this hotel, pulling into its driveway purely because it had a cream-painted Rodda's milk urn outside with the words 'cream tea' stencilled on.

The staff were so friendly and warm they actually chirped. Chirped! Blinking our way into the cool, shaded foyer (decorated with paintings by local artists), we were instantly put at our ease. Cream tea? No problem. Cream tea for four, in the garden, it'll be five minutes. It was as easy as that. Out into the garden, my breath was taken away by the gloriously verdant gardens. The hotel is set at the head of a deep V-shaped valley, running down to the sea and a little rocky cove. Immediately behind the hotel, there are landscaped terraces with overflowing pots of flowers, quiet fish ponds and plenty of comfortable wooden furniture. It truly is a haven. And then our cream tea arrived, carried out with some ceremony by two very smartly dressed waiters. No need to ask for extra hot water, it came as standard.

Cream tea - Meudon Country House Hotel

A basketful of fresh, warm scones, pots of tea and got water and brimming bowls of thick, sticky, fruited jam and a piled bowl of clotted cream. We asked where the cream came from. The hotel proprietor pointed to the cows in the field over the road saying, “Those cows produce the milk which is sent to the creamery”.

A rather scrummy scone - Meudon Country House Hotel, Cornwall

The scones were warm, light and fluffy with a satisfyingly crispy crust. Accompanied by the sticky red jam and thick, yellow cream they were perfection. To our shame we soon polished off all of the cream and jam. Both bowls were cheerfully replenished by the waiters, along with fresh tea, water and milk.

Tea in the Meudon Garden is a relaxed affair. Time slows down, and the peaceful garden with its abundant, colourful flowers, sounds of birds and cows and comfy sears (and sun loungers too!) is the perfect place to while away a late summer afternoon. The staff seemed genuinely delighted and comfortable for their guests to relax and potter. Needing to walk off a little of the tea and make room for dinner we enjoyed exploring the cakey gardens, with numerous paths winding between the vegetation down to the bay. We took it a little further and made our way home along the cliff top coastal path. With stunning views over the open sea to Falmouth and the sheltered I let of the Helford passage, this was a perfect way to round off a quintessentially Cornish afternoon.

Wonderful views with your cream tea

I don't know about you - but that scone has left my mouth watering! What a wonderful accidental discovery! It sounds like the perfect afternoon to me, and those scones look scrummy topped with lashings of Rodda's cream!

A Cornish Cream Tea for one person at Meudon Hotel consists of two homemade scones, Cornish strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream served with a pot of Twinings Tea - all for £6

A big thank you to Ele for sharing her cream tea adventure with us - hopefully we'll see some more of Ele's adventures in the future!

If you have a cream tea adventure that you would like to share with us please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel