Alkham Valley Tea Rooms in Dover

The service was great and the food tasted good. However, £15 for a measly portion of Lasagna. Much bigger portions of other menu items on peoples plates!

The Tea room is very expensive. And very slow service. Waited @ least 20- 30 mins for our order to arrive . Cream tea. Tea arrived 15 mins before scones so finished tea well before cream scones.

One of the best English breakfasts I've honestly ever had. Worth the visit. Great cakes too

Lovely garden centre with cafe. Indoor and outdoor seating in pretty setting. Breakfasts and lunches include a vegetarian/vegan menu. Lovely place to stop.

It's a lovely place to have either a nice cup of tea and cake or a lunch

I have been to this garden centre a few times for lunch with my 3 year old daughter and friend. I have always had to take a packed lunch for my daughter as she is so fussy. Before this has never seemed a problem. Upon going there this weekend, I ordered food for me and my friend and my daughter wanted her lunch. She says eating it and our drinks were brought over. Once we had our lunch, we were approached by who I assume to be the cook. She told me that I wasn't allowed to bring food in from outside and that there were signs up stating this. I explained that my child was very fussy, to which she just shrugged in a "I don't care" way. She explained that there was plenty of choice on the menu. At this point my mind was trying to work out if I'd even seen a child's menu on the table. I felt every pair of eyes in the room on me and about 10 inches tall. Like U was a naughty school child. The whole time I ate my lunch I felt uncomfortable and when we left the staff kept their eyes to the floor so as not to make eye contact. I understand that they need to earn money and it's a business. But to be made to feel that uncomfortable and not to be listened to. I think was very bad customer service. I looked around the room several times and never saw a sign stating you couldn't bring food in. I also eventually found the child's menu (they have 3 different menus on the table) charging £4 for half a sandwich with a salad garnish. Well my daughter definitely wouldn't have eaten the salad. So I would have been paying £4 for my child to eat one slice of bread with something in it. That's if they had a filling she would eat. I also found it convenient that she came out to tell me once we had our food, so that it would have looked very bad in me if I'd have said I wanted a refund and left. As I said, I understand they need to make money. But my daughter is a very fussy 3 year old and we have been there several times and never been questioned. I think it could have been handled alot better and she could have been alot more polite and discreet about it.

Beautiful food and service definitely recommend.

A very nice tea room in the garden centre. A varied menu and a lovely cake selection!

To be honest, I thought it was a very tired place. Everything looked a tad shoddy, very overpriced. My first visit too. I don't think I will be going back either. The carpark maybe ok for 4x4 vehicles, but not ordinary cars. Shame really.

Great cafe in garden centre. Lots of choices for food.

Used to come here a while ago, but we are back again. Great food and service always.

Wonderful garden centre, easy to access from Folkestone. Lovely little tea room. Great offers advertised on Facebook. Value for money.

Set in a wonderful location, this garden centre has that intimate feel of a true garden centre and not like one of overpriced corporate GC's you find these days. The cafe has freshly made food and I asked David for advice and he was so helpful. They also have some great cards and gifts. Found the perfect one for my stepson.

Not a big selection of plants very disappointing

Entrance road I bit rough, small garden centre, food always good.

Good variety of plants and pots. We visit there especially for the tearoom. Great food and friendly helpful staff

Had a delicious lunch in the cafe, sat outside in the sunshine. Staff welcoming and friendly, everywhere clean and tidy. Also bought plants at a great price which were very well looked after. Will call again.

The food here is delicious and the pie homemade. Ample portions and reasonable price. Cakes are lovely. However, it is very cold inside so if you go in winter, wrap up warm. Some portable large heaters wouldn't go amiss. I'll be back in the summer when it's warmer!

Had afternoon tea here today a well deserved 5 stars amazing and thank you for the lovely Prosecco will definitely come again.

Fascinating displays of all manner of garden accessories . We browsed for ages. Well worth a visit. Very good service in tea room. A good selection of sandwiches. I had a chicken, bacon and mayonnaise sandwich on brown bread that was very tasty. Served with coleslaw and fresh salad. Coffee came in extra large sized cups. All excellent value.

Lovely restaurant and delicious fresh food. We'll worth going for a breakfast!

Great Customer service buying a gift voucher which i purchased while they were closed over Christmas, they hand delivered it the day they got back to work! very grateful.

Money serious needs to be spent rectifying the entrance/exit of the centre. Pot holes everywhere, very deep and will easily damage customers cars.

Took mum here for a light lunch on an old day. All the specials looked tasty, as did the cakes, but we needed something light but warm. Both of us went for the homemade chunky vegetable and Turkey soup. Very very tasty!!!!! Lovely proper bits of veg with some tasty chunks of Turkey in a beautifully flavoured soup. Along with a lovely, warm, brown baguette. Absolutely perfect and surprisingly filling to for such a light soup. We really enjoyed our lunch here! Thank you Sue for a lovely lunch. We’ll try and squeeze a portion of cake next time!

Lovely Sunday roast lunch Would recommend

Good little garden centre, limited parking but lots of great offers

The sreak pie was disappointing, the pastry was barely edible as were the chips. The jacket was hot but was over-baked hence skin was tough. Overall disappointing and would not recommend.

Great garden centre lovely staff excellent cafe.

Quaint tearooms nice staff lovely cake

Called in for tea and cake. As always, a warm welcome and nice tea, coffee, n cake. Not too expensive, plenty of parking.

Breakfast was great but asked for poached or scrambled eggs but was told couldn't do that as not part of the menu but they do poached and scrambled on other breakfasts

We stopped here for a breakfast, it was a loverly sunny day so we sat outside and the breakfast was great.

My Mum loves this place and the staff are always so amazing, as they were again this time we visited, but accessibility is a real issue, and although Mum is still walking, she needs a walker for support. Negotiating the potholed gravel drive, the slopes up and down in the building - one extremely steep - and the narrow pathways around the plant area is getting to the limit of Mum's capability now. It's a shame because in so many other ways, this is a great place. We went to the café for lunch and, surprisingly, there was no one else there. Normally, it's quite busy. Are the older clientele finding the same issues, I wondered! Lunch was lovely. Coronation Chicken wraps with plenty of salad and some crisps and coleslaw on the side. Beautifully presented. The café staff were so helpful, friendly, and attentive. They even offered Mum a container to take some of her food home in that she was unable to eat - they were very generous portions. I've had the fish platter here before, and that was lovely, too. Sadly, I think, because of the accessibility issues, very soon, we may not be able to go anymore. Definitely not suited to disabled people of 93!! LOL 😳

Love this garden centre and the tea rooms. Nieces and nephews love the hot chocolate special!!

Lovely place hard to find!! Great choice of outdoor gardening stuff. The cafe was very nice food lovely 😍 staff lovely and helpful

Suprised it was a lovely cream tea just sandwiches scone & cake though would of been nice for some little scotch eggs or sausage rolls

Visited the tea rooms. Friendly staff,food all cooked fresh.very nice,would go again.

Great vegan choices (although vegan chocolate cake had run out). Gluten free choices too and good portion size. Lots of plants to choose from too - we’ll definitely be back!

Regular met up with friends Have never been before and was quite impressed the food was good and the staff were friendly Made a change from a pub

Good range of items and helpful staff

Lots of top quality products to buy. Had lunch here and it was super.

Stopped off in this quaint garden centre located in the countryside of the beautiful Alkham Valley. The tea shop was where we were headed and found it a charming restful enjoyable rustic location and setting. We will definitely return when we have more time to explore the garden centre itself. It was a really enjoyable experience.

Some beautiful flowers, plants and garden accessories. Lovely little cafe also.

Lovely choice of food whether vegan vegetarian or other. Friendly staff .

A nice hour spent looking at the new plants outside in the sunshine. This garden centre has some good ideas for accessorising your garden/conservatory etc. Stayed for a coffee. Very pleasant staff who bought the drinks out into the garden for me. All in all a very pleasant couple of hours. Will happily visit again.

Got some gifts for myself happy ,breakfast is lovely

Good plant shopping and food as well. 😊

Nice little place. Good range of plants, although very expensive in comparison to major retailers and even Canterbury Garden Centre. Small but pleasant café. 3 x disable parking bays. Car park does need relaying. Path inwards to the centre is awful. Mother is partially disabled and found it very challenging walking in. Nice indoor area to look around, but again, hugely over priced.

Gets very very busy. The car park is like the moons surface with some big craters. So much so that the exit is washed away and can't be used. Don't go if walking over a moonscape is an issue. Food in cafe is very good but as I said very busy. Book in advance if nice weather!

This is a fab garden centre. So much choice, and you can buy plants at almost any stage from teeny little seedlings up to full grown plants. Lovely selection of pots and ornaments too. Staff are really knowledgable too.

Fabulous, wonderful range of so many garden requirements and not overpriced, then there are the tea rooms with scrumptious food. Make sure you don't drive past as I had so many times. Not to be missed

Delivered some parcels here and used the loo

Nice little garden centre. Wide variety of different plants. Lots of different pots, ornaments and bird baths. There's also a café which i am yet to try.

Only had coffee but well worth a visit. The garden centre itself has an interesting retail range. The new owners have shown imagination and creativity.

Nice cafe but disappointed with the plants & thought they were expensive

Poor selection of CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.

Lovely place lots of lovely things. The tea rooms was very good. Lots to choose from. Food was very yummy. Will go again soon.

Just had the full English in the restaurant, I won't be moving for a while! But I will be smiling! Loved it! Really can't recommend enough, friendly, helpful and although cooked to order, food almost beat me to the table.

Great selection of plants . 🪴 nice pot of tea and scone .

Stopped here for a slice of chocolate cake and a coffee as we passed by so I can't comment on it as a garden centre. However, the cake was delicious, the coffee was ok but quite a small cup for the price. The waitress was pleasant and polite and fell in love with our dog.

Lovely food great staff. They have a good selection of plants and gardening sundries.

Lovely cream tea and beautiful gift shop. Wonderful plants, flowers and plants pots.

Great garden centre with a brilliant cafe, food is great and the customer service is fantastic, I am disabled and in a wheelchair and one of the shop staff were so helpful and carried all our purchases out to our car for us, we will definitely be going back.

Eat, buy big pots for the front garden, eat more, there's just no down side.

Haven't been here for years as the previous owner's son! Pity as it was great.Went for tea with a friend stayed for coffee and then lunch. I will be back to look at the garden centre ifself.

Delightful. A lovely charming Garden centre with a beautiful tearooms.

Enjoyed a lovely cup of tea and cake, dog friendly as well.

Reasonable selection of plants but unfortunately despite being pricey they appear rather neglected. Sorry but won't be returning.

Love it here staff are always friendly and food is yummy 😋

Not a very lot to choose plants from it is known more for the tea room.

Miserable lady behind the counter

We had a beautiful breakfast and a lovely look round nice hidden away garden centre

Good stuff and the cafe is pretty good as well

An excellent selection of garden goods.

Good range of plants pots etc plus cafe

Wonderful service, great people. They manage to make you feel specual. Plus help to the car too. Please support this business. I come from Margate and would rather come here then the large companies. Thank you.

Plants dissapointing Lunch ok Not wheelchair friendly

Despite advertising they stock Calor Gas they stopped doing so weeks and weeks ago but continue to use the Calor Gas signage at the entrance to draw customers in.

Staff passed hot drinks and food over our children even after being asked not too. Ordered food and paid to receive breakfasts with parts missing. Certainly will never use again

Had a breakfast, the sausages where strange and hard, never had them like this before, but taste was nice. Some of the older staff where not very welcoming, almost rude.

Had visited previously. Pre lockdown. Had an enjoyable lunch on that occasion.Found a restricted menu this time which is understandable. Selected a couple of what we thought were sandwiches. I ordered a tomato, onion and brie melt, which turned out to be one piece of bread, with huge chunks of tomato and onion lightly toasted with a minimal amount of cheese. A mass of green salad and the most tasteless pot of coleslaw I've ever had. My partner said her sandwich was not presented well either. The appearance was of two meals prepared in a hurry and chucked together. Coffee was no better than OK. No warm welcome and no atmosphere. We might return if they ever act as if they care about customers again, but it won't be in a hurry.

Tea for two was lovely... I had to ask for a doggy bag because there was so much.

Very good breakfast at a reasonable price. We ate out doors but had to go in to place the order. Everywhere seemed clean as did the toilets. Good friendly service

Shame it was pouring with rain as they did not have what we went for.

My family and I had just been to a family members funeral and it was suggested that we go and get a cup of tea and cake somewhere, as it was close the obvious choice was alkham valley garden centre cafe, upon arrival not one person working in the cafe said hello when we arrived or responded to our initial hello, it also said wait to be seated but no one was interested in seating us so we chose our own space to sit. We were then snapped at to do the track and trace even though a member of the family had done it already. We asked what cakes were on offer and it seemed to put out the member of staff behind the desk and she seemed to have a right attitude, customer service was beyond poor the whole visit. Only one lady was reasonably friendly. It got to around 4pm and instead of politely letting us know that they were closing, a staff member turned the music off started slamming doors around us and cleaning up which made it very uncomfortable, this isn’t the first time that we have been here for drinks, we have also been for breakfast etc too on several occasions and each time the customer service has been despicable. We will not be visiting anymore. Manners cost nothing.

Friendly helpful staff Food good Enjoyable experience

Not as good as it used to be,lots of plants very dry and not looking good. Appreciate it's a difficult time.will still go back.

It's a nice place with a lot of choice. A lovely tea room. The plants and ornaments /furniture are expensive though.

Needs more staff. Only one person on the day I visited and was busy running around helping customers and managing the till.

Could do better but not too bad

Took a customer along to help her select plants for her garden makeover. Found everything she wanted and more. Very impressed with quality of plants.

My family and I had the Afternoon Tea. All food was gorgeous. All fresh and tasty. But........ there was one staff member who was very abrupt in there. Its very daunting going somewhere during lockdown and not wanting to get anything wrong. But this staff member raises her voice and you feel like you are being told off by a teacher. One customer went to go to the fridge and she shouted 'YOU CANT GO IN THERE'. Then embarrassingly all customers look at you. I understand there is rules to follow and everyone was adhering to them but its in the delivery of telling someone that wasn't right. It has put me off going back and heard other customers say it too. Hence why only 2 stars

Bit far away but wife likes it.

Really nice and relaxing coffee spot on food we had could use a little seasoning but overall pleasent staff were all friendly 👍

Lovely food as always..... 'little' afternoon treat x

I felt the plant collection was very poor and exceedingly poorly labelled. Very little in the way of useful description

Lovely garden centre with a wide range of plants, shrubs, fruit trees, garden ornaments and other accessories. One way system in operation and hand sanitiser stations at entrance. Masks required. Only a quick visit but got everything we wanted and will probably return.

Decent garden centre, lots of nice ornaments and outdoor plants. Currently very limited on indoor plants. Tea rooms still open for takeaway, lovely cake and hot chocolate.

Very poor no staff about to ask shame used to be so good...

Nice garden centre, not to large but well stocked.