Rocke Cottage Tea Rooms - Shropshire

This is no longer a Tea Room. It is a private residence. Trip Advisor don't seem to want to change the details!

We used to go here years ago when it was run by Doug and Annabel. Amazing, stunning, brilliant. There aren’t enough superlatives. A few years after they left, we had occasion to go back. What a difference in both service and quality. Dry lack-lustre cakes served with a goodly helping of apathy. Anyway, yesterday, after a long drive home, we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they’d just had an off day. We arrived about a quarter to four and asked if they were still serving. We were told they were and shown into the main room, where there was a fire only just alight in a very cold room. We were tired and hungry after a four hour drive and looked forward to a warm drink and hearty food to recharge the batteries. I ordered the tuna mayonnaise sandwiches and my wife ordered the soup of the day, which, we were assured, had been made fresh that morning. Two cheeky hot chocolates. Great; all sounded just what we needed. Anticipation, it seems, is the greatest pleasure. What arrived, for nearly £7, were four triangles of the cheapest sliced white bread with a novel variation on the more traditional tuna-mayo filling – tuna sans mayo. Cheap canned tuna that is less flake and more paste, which had barely been drained of its brine put between the slices. If there was any mayonnaise in there, I couldn’t see or taste it. I usually prefer a more poetic idea of ‘a taste of the oceans’ with my fish than a literal one. It was served with a nominal salad of lettuce that had just about passed its best, tomato, cucumber and a bit of onion with no dressing whatsoever. Had I not been so hungry, I would have taken one bite and sent it back, but as we were pushed for time and had to be somewhere, so couldn’t wait for any potential replacement, given how long we waited for this to arrive, I ate it. Big mistake. I then endured waves of briney pleasure for the next few hours. In hindsight sending it back was exactly what we should have done. The soup of the day was of the same calibre. Tasteless, thin with leaks and over-soft potatoes floating in it. In fairness, the lady who heated it up in the microwave (searing hot bowl giveaway), did tell us to let her know if it needed more salt and pepper as, she said, she is usually too heavy-handed with these things. The chocolate, ironically billed as Bourneville’s finest was also of a similar quality – the cheap powdered variety. In the end, as we had to leave and could not get the owners’ attention to pay, so we just put money on the table and left (annoyingly a slight overpayment as we didn’t have change). Just as well really, as I was so annoyed by the whole experience, I may have come out with some home truths. We both left with a feeling of having just been duped. We will never be going back there again – unless of course Doug and Annabel ever return. It feels like a once brilliant, unique gem of a business has been pile-driven into the ground. Unless we have gone on a bad day on both occasions, then I have no idea how, in it’s current incarnation, it has such high reviews. It really was probably the worst meal/snack I have ever had. And not cheap. A £7 sandwich should really have the finest ingredients served on handmade bread. I had a better one from a petrol station the other day going down for half the price. A thoroughly miserable experience. We’d have been better putting the £20 on the fire at least we’d have got some warmth from it. Such a shame, when previously it had been a pleasure. We used to have friends come and stay and positively ask, ‘Can we go to that tearoom again?’ The answer from now on will be an emphatic, ‘No’.

We were staying close by and visited this cafe twice but found it closed on both occasions so can't comment on it.

Everything is amazing about this place. Set in beautiful countryside with winding roads, the building looks like something off of a chocolate box. The owners are really friendly quirky. The collection of treasure inside is something to behold! Big selection of teas delicious cakes. You need to visit this place!

We have had both morning coffee and afternoon tea at Rock Cottage. Lovely old building with lots of character. A good menu with high quality food. The staff are all very nice too. Situated in lovely countryside not too far off the beaten track. Well worth the journey to treat yourself.