Scotney Castle Tearoom

A typical National Trust Tearoom serving the usual good National Trust snacks and cakes. The staff are very friendly and helpful and, when it's busy, do their level best to make sure that you don't have to wait too long. Plenty of seating both inside and outside, which is both wheelchair and pushchair friendly, and clean toilet facilities are just around the corner. Dogs are allowed at the outside tables.

After queuing for at least 30 minutes I ordered a takeaway Tuna sandwich coffee cake, paid waited at the till, if I’d have had the sandwich to eat in it would have come with a small side salad coleslaw which it didn’t, I asked if I could purchase a small pot of coleslaw whilst still standing at the till area waiting for coffee? told I’d have to start queue again!! I have a walking aid so this wasn’t an option. I appreciate how busy it was yesterday as I have worked in the same kind of establishment for many years. Also the additional 15 pence for a takeaway cup is appalling.

Very grumpy serving staff and they all seemed a bit fed up with customers.All a bit chaotic and food choices not very appealing.Had tea and a bit of carrot cake I think it was but very average.Shame, as it’s such a potentially lovely spot.Maybe we caught them on a bad day.

This restaurant did not meet the usual standards of the National Trust. We waited 30 minutes for our soups and cornish pasty, despite reminding the staff multiple times. There were plenty of staff around, so that didn't seem to be the issue. Both inside and outside the cafe, there were a large number of wasps, making it nearly impossible to enjoy our meal. There were even wasps trapped under cake covers on the counter. As a fan of National Trust cafes, this experience was disappointing. It was evident that there was a significant wasp problem at this establishment.

We arrived at 3:30pm and found that there was not much food left for our afternoon tea. The tea room floor was littered with food and had clearly not been cleaned in some time. We ended up taking the only table that was free of debris, but were surrounded by leftover food and uncleared tables. Overall, the experience was very disappointing and frankly looked unhygienic.