Coach House Tea Rooms - Wealden

We were ready for a hot meal and it was served within a short time. As a vegetarian I had less choice but the macaroni cheese was tasty. My husband enjoyed his Cumberland sausage. We had a choice of chips or potatoes.

It was wonderful to be able to enjoy a hot cup of coffee followed by a delicious bowl of soup for lunch on a cold day. The restaurant had a nice atmosphere and adhered to Covid safety measures. The staff were friendly and there was a beautiful Christmas tree on display.

Often visit Sheffield Park gardens, this was the first time I have visited the tearoom, but was worth the visit. I had a nice hame and cheddar sandwich, sausage roll and a pot of tea, I visited just before you would expect the lunch time rush, served quickly and there appeared to be enough staff on hand to cope when it got busier. Just one small thing that I think needs adjusting, when you arrive you enter the first part which has cakes and sandwiches laid out to select yourself and take into the main part of the tearoom to get your hot items, pay and find a table (and there is ample seating, even for the busiest times). I was looking for a tray and plates to put my selection on and eventually discovered that those items were on the far side of the room, it would make more sense to have the trays and plates near the entrance door so you can pick them up as you enter, just a small niggle on my part, but worth considering.

Our second visit . We took our granddaughters again. It was extremely busy. When we got there , there was total chaos with the amount of traffic. The traffic and parking Marshall’s were clearly out of their depth with this volume of traffic. There was a queue in the main entrance with national trust ticket holders getting preferential treatment. The lady who was checking tickets was rude and unhelpful and made go to the back of the season ticket queue despite us not having a season ticket. And in fact could of gone straight through to buy our tickets. Once in the gardens it was as to be expected with lovely autumn colours and settings. We then decided we wanted to eat but refused to wait 30mins plus to get to the tea rooms , so we were directed to the sandwich kiosk where we were expected to wait a further half hour. There was another big queue for the toilets. In the end we gave up and went to a local pub for relief and food.Seriously a venue like this should expect the numbers they had today and an organisation as big as the national trust should be also be expected to cope with such numbers. Very disappointing frustrating and stressful , with 2 young granddaughter in tow

Visited the Cafe on a day out to Sheffield Park. It has improved beyond all recognition since our last visit years ago which put us off visiting Sheffield Park.