Short answer: The best cream tea in St Agnes is at the Wheal Coates Tea Room (4.7 from 184 Google reviews), where reviewers praise tall buttery scones, or at the quirky Cornwall Cafe in the village, with teacups hung from the ceiling. For a family outing, Healeys Cyder Farm at Penhallow has a generous cream tea. Check opening times before you go.
St Agnes is a village that does breakfast and pasties well, but it has surprisingly few places that put a proper cream tea on the table. There are two places worth recommending in the village area itself, one on the clifftop at Wheal Coates, and a farm just outside. Here is where to find the best cream tea in St Agnes, and what to expect from each.
4.6 from 32 Google reviews, so a small sample, but the comments are consistent. Reviewers describe homemade scones, fresh clotted cream and a price they call cheap, and the room is part of the appeal: roughly 1,500 teacups hang from the ceiling, according to the owner's own count passed on by one visitor. It is small, with only three or four tables according to a Tripadvisor reviewer, and it doubles as a gift and postcard shop. It is a small independent business, so ring 01872 552636 to check it is open before you make the trip. One reviewer found the welcome offhand, another called the owner sweet and polite, so expect a no-frills old-fashioned cafe rather than a polished tea room. It sits in the middle of the village, a short walk from the Trelawney Road car park.
St Agnes Bakery (4.8 from 649 Google reviews) in Churchtown is known for pasties and giant sausage rolls, and a local guide says it sells fresh scones. It is not a sit-down tea, so treat it as a picnic option. Our St Agnes pasty guide has more on what to buy.
4.7 from 184 Google reviews, and the one with the most detailed praise. A reviewer who had a cream tea for two outside on a windy day described "beautiful, homemade scones, fresh clotted cream and thick, local strawberry jam". Another called the scones "tall, buttery and soft inside", and noted that you only get proper crockery if you sit indoors. The owner bakes cakes, flapjacks and brownies as well. Two things to know. It had run out of scones for at least one visitor, so go earlier rather than later. Opening times can change with the season, so check before you go.
The tea room is a few hundred metres from two campsites and sits near the start of the coast path, which makes it a good reward after the walk round the engine houses (see our Wheal Coates and Chapel Porth guide). A local guide lists cream teas on the menu and describes it as dog friendly with level, wheelchair friendly access. At the National Trust car park at Wheal Coates, non-members pay £2 for up to an hour, £4 for up to four hours or £8 all day. Members and Blue Badge holders park free. The machines take cash only and need exact change, or you can pay through JustPark with code 80706, per the National Trust page.
4.4 from 2,480 Google reviews. A short drive east, Healeys has a farm shop, animals, a cider tour and a restaurant, and a reviewer mentions free entry. Reviewers call the cream tea excellent and say the scones are a generous size, and one said it felt good value. Reviewers say dogs are welcome in most areas apart from the cider tour. It is the pick if you are travelling with children who need something to look at, or if the weather turns: see our St Agnes rainy day guide.
4.6 from 1,627 Google reviews. A local holiday guide lists cream teas here, but reviewers mostly talk about ice cream, waffles and sundaes, so ring ahead if a cream tea is the reason for the trip. Reviewers mention a play area for small children opposite the shop.
Cornish tradition puts the jam on first, then a spoonful of clotted cream on top. Devon does the reverse. Nobody at a St Agnes tea room will stop you doing it your way, but if a menu says "Cornish cream tea" it normally means jam first. The scone is usually split, and the pot of tea is for sharing.
For a quirky sit-down tea in the village, the Cornwall Cafe. For scones that reviewers rave about after a cliff walk, the Wheal Coates Tea Room. For a family outing with a cream tea in the middle, Healeys. See the St Agnes town page for the rest of the area, or where to get a hot chocolate in St Agnes if you prefer something else in a mug.
The Cornwall Cafe on Vicarage Road and the Wheal Coates Tea Room on Beacon Drive both have reviewers praising their cream teas. Healeys Cornish Cyder Farm at Penhallow, about three miles east, also serves one.
Opening times can change with the season, so check before you go. Go earlier in the day, as one reviewer found it had run out of scones.
Reviewers describe the cream tea there as very good value, but check the price when you order. It is a small independent cafe, so ring 01872 552636 to check it is open.
Cornish tradition is jam first, then clotted cream on top. In Devon it is the other way round.
A local guide describes the Wheal Coates Tea Room as dog friendly, and reviewers say dogs are welcome at Healeys in most areas except the cider tour. Ask at the Cornwall Cafe, which is very small.
Times, prices and dates are the businesses' and organisers' to change, so check before you travel. Spotted something we've got wrong? Tell us and we'll fix it.
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