The Olde Royal Oak - Carte

Hulme End Tea Junction

➤ Hulme End, Fawfieldhead, United Kingdom, SK17 0EX

Carte • Tea • Soup • Coffee • British

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"I received a recommendation from a shopkeeper in Hartington that instead of paying for parking at the NP carpark, I could enjoy tea and cakes at the tearoom and park for free. Sure enough, there was a sign that said "spend a penny with me and park for free"! I bought a takeaway cup of tea for my thermos and headed off along the Manifold Trail, knowing I was welcome to park for as long as I liked. After three hours of walking, I treated myself to a delicious slice of Banana and Pistachio cake and a hot chocolate (from a machine, but still good). There was also a small gift shop with postcards and local crafts to browse through. The service was friendly, and I found it to be a great deal to be able to park for free in exchange for a drink and snack that I would have bought anyway. Note: Parking is free with purchase from the tearoom."

Watts Russell Arms

➤ Hopedale, DE6 2GD, Staffordshire Moorlands, United Kingdom

Carte • Pub • Wine • Cakes • British

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"This pub is a real find. Bruce and Chris were lovely hosts, and (their son)? The lads who were doing the music. No food served here, but don't let that put you off... The gardens are so lovely and to have a drink on the terrace around early evening is a must. Great wine too, we can recommend the Pinot Grigio! Also we left an item of clothing behind and Bruce kindly offered to send it on to our home address. Really thoughtful and caring folk. We just wished we could have spent more time there. I'd love to go back in the winter when the fire is on and experience the ambience from the inside. Parking: We actually walked, but there is parking."

The Tea Junction

➤ Hulme End, Staffordshire Moorlands, United Kingdom, SK17 0EX

Carte • Cafe • Soup • British • Breakfast

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"Stopped for a coffee and cake only to find a very basic and unimpressive cafe offering hot/cold drinks and cake and little else. Only 3 tables were available to sit at, due to the reorganisation of the building in the COVID 19 situation. One of the tables was taken by the owner and a friend, instead of offering it to customers. A lot more space was available in the building which was also partly a visitors centre for the Manifold trail, a path running along the river of the same name, plus a former industrial railway used for the mining of copper. It just appeared as though this was no longer relevant, and therefore not used to its full potential. The building next door was far more interesting a former station converted into a toilet block!"

Waterloo Inn

➤ Main Street, SK17 0DH, Derbyshire Dales, United Kingdom

Carte • Pubs • Full • Steak • Lunch

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"We thought we would give this pub/ campsite a try as we wanted to cycle the tissington trail we booked onto the campsite at the back for £25 a night. We have a VW T6 Camper van. Positives: The pub is set in a lovely village has a cozy fire up the chimney and serves great food the chips were amazing!! The campsite pitches are spacious and it was quiet at night. Negatives: the shower facilities were in need of renovation they were clean but not heated and nowhere to change in privacy the shower itself was hot but the little block was FREEZING. For £25 a night we expected better to be honest the washing up facility was the same unfortunately looked like it needs a refurb. This is why we can only give 3 stars. A great tip for the pub would be if your touring customers are paying £25 a night then maybe offer them a discount off their food bill if they eat with you…. Most other pubs with campsites do this. We did enjoy our time here but because of the primitive shower facilities would not come back for camping."

Charles Cotton

➤ Market Place, SK17 0AL, Derbyshire Dales, United Kingdom

Carte • Steak • Cheese • Coffee • Salads

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"After visiting this pub a few years ago we decided to return for a late Father’s Day meal and our first meal out since having our baby 3 weeks ago, and wow what a disappointment. Staff wearing whatever they picked up out of the wardrobe, flip flops, wellies, if working in a hotel dining area I’d expect if not a uniform, at least to be served by staff dressed like they were at work and not at home. We waited 10 minutes to be served for a drink at the bar before heading to our table, despite their being 2 people in front of us. Staff were clearly overwhelmed and incompetent. To give more detail, it was quite possibly the worst dining experience I have ever had, s complete lack of any interpersonal skills among the staff and customer service non existent. These people should categorically not be working in a public facing job. There were 6 of us and we had a meal missing from our table, despite the waitress reading our order back to us. Waitress came to see if everything was ok and realized a meal was missing, she then walked off with no apology and did not return to the table to update us with what had happened or how long we would have to wait for the missing meal. After ten minutes she returned and stated ‘I’m trying to get the chef to make that for you’, after 15 minutes the manager came and stated the same ‘I’m trying to get the chef to make that for you’ after 20 minutes of waiting we told the waitress to cancel the missing meal as the rest of the table had finished, after 30 minutes the meal then arrived at the table after it had been cancelled. What establishment is it when the staff state they are ‘trying’ to get their chef to do their job? Another meal was ruined, steak supposed to be served medium rare, was that over cooked was the equivalent to chewing a leather boot. One member of our party has a severe gluten allergy and ordered a gluten free chicken curry and another member of our party ordered a standard gluten free curry, when the curry came out I asked if that was the gluten free one to which the waiter said ‘what is gluten free?’ Waitress serving our meals stated numerous times that she ‘couldn’t be arsed’, ‘I can’t be bothered’, my partner went outside and the waitress was outside and she stated to him she wasn’t going back inside and that she was hiding from the tables. She then asked my partner if he wanted to go into the kitchen to speak to the chef regarding his missing meal as when she had gone in the chef had called her and the manager ‘f*cking stupid’. 1. not a customers job to speak to the chef, that is the staffs job to query where a tables food is, 2. Why on earth you would relay altercations between staff to a customer I will never understand. We over heard the manager arguing with another customer at the bar when they were trying to order a meal, the manager turned to them and stated she wasn’t going to serve them any food or drink. When we queried our bill and explained all of our issues from the missed meals, complete lack of customer service, over cooked food etc, we were met with a waitress who looked down at her notepad the whole time, didn’t even look interested with what we were saying she clearly wasn’t (the same waitress who told us earlier that she ‘couldn’t be arsed’ , she then walked away from the table without saying anything to us. Her manager then came to the table and had the same uninterested, argumentative attitude, shouting at us that we had made her waitress cry, when my partner stated he would not be paying the bill, that we would pay half of it, she then walked away from the table. Another member of our party then went to the toilet and on his walk back through the bar to return to the table was told ‘don’t bother leaving we have called the police’ whilst our whole party were all still sat in the dining room, thinking the manager was rectifying our bill and returning to the table!!!! At this point we then sat outside waiting for the police to arrive and when attempting to speak to the manager to attempt to rectify the situation she completely ignored us. Not hard to see why the staff have the cannot be arsed attitude when the manager has the exact same attitude. To conclude, I would not go back here if it was the last place on earth and would highly recommend that you do NOT spend your hard earned money here. To all the staff at this shoddy establishment I recommend selling up and getting a different job that requires never speaking to a customer because you all have no clue how to work in the service industry. Your attitude and conduct towards us as customers was disgusting, running your establishment how you are you’ll be closed in a matter of months and it’s nothing less than what you deserve."