The Old School Tea Room in Craven

Nice food and drink, but overpriced. Lovely location in Hebden village. Reasonably easy to park close to it. The staff seemed a bit stressed and disorganised, which was a shame.

There are places that make you feel like you've been transported to another time – The Old School Tea Room in Hebden, an idyllic village near Grassington, is undoubtedly one of them. On a sunny day in May, my wife and I treated ourselves to a break from everyday life – and were rewarded with an afternoon tea that pampered not only the palate but also the soul (reservation required). As soon as you enter the lovingly furnished tea room, it becomes clear that the decor has been carefully crafted. The tall, Gothic-style windows allow light to stream through the room in warm waves, while antique wooden furniture, ornate teacups, and handmade decorative items evoke nostalgic English school days – only much cozier. The blend of rustic shabby chic and playful romance creates an atmosphere that invites you to linger. It's almost as if you're sitting in your grandmother's most beautiful living room – with a touch of British country style. The service was impeccable from the start. We were warmly welcomed, shown to our table, and guided through the afternoon tea selection with a smile. Questions about the tea selection or allergens were answered competently and friendly. The afternoon tea was served in the classic style on a three-tiered cake stand – a feast for the eyes! At the bottom, delicate finger sandwiches with fillings such as cucumber and cream cheese or salmon with dill awaited, accompanied by a small, fresh salad. Two warm bites of tomato and feta cheese were also served. In the middle: two perfect scones, slightly crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside – served with clotted cream and a rich raspberry jam. At the very top, the highlight was a tempting selection of meringue, macarons, almond cake, and a decadent walnut caramel cake. Accompanied by a fragrant Assam tea – full-bodied, strong, but not bitter. In addition to the outstanding culinary experience, The Old School Tea Room also delights as a small concept store: Handmade ceramics, books, teas, and gift items adorn the shelves and windowsills. The opportunity to browse a little after dinner perfectly rounds off the visit. Particularly charming: The building itself was once a village school – a lovingly restored relic steeped in history that gives this place a very special soul. The Old School Tea Room is a prime example of how to combine tradition, quality, and hospitality. The afternoon tea was a true experience for my wife and me – not only culinary but also atmospherically. If you're longing for a break in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and want to celebrate the quintessentially British way of life, this is the place to be. A place to return to – and to recommend to others.

Great place, very popular amongst cyclists. I've tried coffee, cake and sanwiches. All were nice.

Well worth a visit, the tea and cake was amazing! But full menu available if required.

A lovely café with great views, welcoming and attentive staff, and a great selection of cakes and other dishes. All the cakes looked absolutely delicious. The apple pie with ice cream was 10/10! Suitable for vegans, too.

Lovely cafe with friendly staff in a great location. We just had coffees this time whi h were very reasonably priced.

Breakfast was delicious. It’s a very cute place with some tables by the window that have a wonderful view.

Excellent food and service in a stunning location.

Amazing place and food. Great coffee, out of this world cakes!

Not our first visit and probably won’t be our last. From the welcoming depths of winter to the spring mornings it’s always great to stop here for a coffee or more. They do amazing breakfast here with really nice bacon and sausages and golden eggs. Their selection of cakes is amazing and the staff are always polite and helpful. The coffee is really nice and there is plenty of seating inside and out some under cover outside as well. Dog friendly as well inside and out.

Nice traditional tea room with amazing food.

Beautiful afternoon tea, very generous with the portions, delicious food and coffee! Had the best time for a mother's day treat! The surroundings are also gorgeous and staff are friendly! Thank you, highly recommend!

Always a treat when visiting here! The food is lovely and it’s most definitely worth a visit.

We had passed this place several times and read the great reviews but were left very disappointed. In spite of reminding two different waitresses that we were missing an item we’d paid for, this was not brought and we left having never received it. On request we were given a refund but no apology. Other diners who arrived well after us were eating lovely looking meals but my husband left hungry. I was completely dumbfounded.

A tremendous and friendly café with world class culinary options and customer service. Thanks v much

Great stop for a drink and/or bite to eat, especially before or after a walk. Excellent food, especially cakes! Super location too.

Great cakes nice tea and coffee

Our first visit in 2025, likely the only one. Very different to previous experiences.

Great place for eating before or after walking. Limited but good choice of food options. Great homemade cakes

Always pay a visit when in Hebden.

Really great food and coffee. Dog friendly too which makes it a double thumbs up from us.

Great cafe. Lovely food selection.

Popped in today for tea and cake - my cheese scone was one of the best I’ve ever had - so light and really really tasty 🤗 My wife is coeliac and she had 4/5 cakes to choose from, what a treat 👏👏 Great staff and customer service too - what a great find!

Not the cheapest but for a quick cuppa and a bite to eat, just fine. Monday lunch in January and it was busy!

Loved it, good value for money.

Excellent little tea rooms . Food excellent

A great little cafe located in a small town accessible to the Dales Way. Delightful baked goods and friendly service.

Light lunch here, all very good

A lovely converted church that has a lot of character and is in a very nice location. Excellent for walkers and visitors. Staff were very friendly and polite 🏆

Literally old school and well worth a visit

Lovely food and drink. Lovely staff too.

Parking is very limited The atmosphere is very pleasant and gifts are absolutely if a bit pricey

Have loved going here for years due to its picturesque location and wide variety of vegan meals and dairy free cakes (especially the carrot!)

Good food and drinks, just be aware it is very popular so at peek times there can be a wait.

Stopped in cause we had driven past back from walking along the river and my parents wanted to stop in, cute little shop with greeting cards and souvenirs items (e.g. teatowels, mugs, artprints), but not overly impressed with the coffee. I understand making a hot cup of coffee but my soya milk was oversteamed and started to curd whilst my partner couldn't touch his coffee for 15 minutes due to the absurb temperature. Coffee shots were also underextracted so pretty poor coffee honestly. It's a cute shop with a nice enough looking menu with a pretty good looking cake cabinet but I wouldn't return based on the coffee served but if you aren't a coffee drinker, it's a cute spot for a drink and bite to eat.

Food and service, as ever, wonderful 👍

Needed a rest from carrying our very big bags, so stopped here on our way passing through for coffee, so had to try some cakes. Was not disappointed at all. Lovely location, lovely welcome, and very yummy cakes! Staff were personable, helpful and professional. We ended up going back two more times it was so nice. As for the price, it's what I would expect these days. Thank you to the girls served us.

Thank you for popping some mushrooms on my bacon butty this morning! The cake n coffee was lovely too.

Nice cafe. Reasonably priced and service is generally good.

A lovely late lunch today. We had the wrong toastie to our table, but that was quickly rectified by the staff. It’s a lovely tea room with a gift shop attached. It’s dog friendly inside and out. There’s a bowl of treats and water by the entrance. Lots of cakes to choose from!

We made a trip out to the old school tea rooms today and the food, location, and service was superb! The staff even went as far to make me an egg sandwich (not on the menu) because the little girl in my tummy gave me the biggest craving for that. Pregnancy! Will certainly be back when she’s born for a mummy daughter date and recommend to all.

Lovely place. Great staff and food.

Lovely tea room, we had scones and soup both of which were really tasty Beautiful setting

A great place to stop off during a walk or bike ride in the dales. Been many times and will hopefully return many more

Delightful. First time here. Wonderful walk around area. This was the perfect stop for brunch/lunch.

Lovely little tearoom.. also sells little trinket things.. Lovely building.

It's really worth coming here, everything tasty, friendly service and a very cozy interior

Excellent quality, fresh and delicious products. We also like savory dishes. Attractive prices.

Perfectly located for going to the Hebden suspension bridge (Less than 10min walk)

Over the top friendly service - especially from Emma! This cafe is very much into recycling and caring for the environment. As an example - I collected a bag of small jam jars left over from afternoon teas ( for my spices which I am thrilled about) ! Enjoyed drinking delicious coffee in the ‘library’ part of the old school. An experience not to be missed! Thank you so much Emma! 😀

A great half way stop on a bike ride. Pie and chips! What's not to love?

Great coffee and wonderful choice of cake.

Converted school tea rooms and cafe. Nice cake. Good spot to stop off on bike rides. Updated May 2024 - still a great little cafe. Open 10-5 daily, always busy and a popular local cafe. Good range of food including vegetarian breakfasts and lots of cake.

Beautiful day for a drive out...Sat outside in sunshine with my dog...lovely lemon drizzle cake along with a cappacino. Welcome biccies & water station for dogs would recommend

Great cafe, lovely setting, we walked from Burnsall to Hebden. Busy and has lovely character, converted chapel or similar.

Visited yesterday (Sunday 19th May) , to be presented with a queue of about 8 in front of us. Waited .... waited ..... and then waited some more, the experience was painful .... person on the till seemingly obvlious to the queue of customers waiting.... no sense of urgency at all..... Seemed to be plenty of staff seemingly just wandering about (leisurely) like headless chickens... doing absolutely nothing. Bizarrely the lady (slowly) operating the till, despite there still being a long queue, unexpectedly (and completely randomly) broke off from operating the till to go and clear a table of crockery !?!? What was that all about ??!?!? All in all we were waiting in the queue for (no joke) 15 minutes.... Ordered three pots of Tea and we went outside to wait ....... 5 minutes went by, 10 minutes went by .... 15 minutes went by and we decided to go in and request a refund ..... no sign of teas being made ...... And we were off !!! time wasted approx 35 minutes ..... and we didn't even want food, just three pots of tea !!! Very very very disappointing .... the place needs someone in overall charge , looking at the bigger picture .... There was absolutely no sign of any management of any of the processes .... You would think if you had a queue... that you'd get a grip of the situation and get all those orders processed for payment and through the till , then you could crack on and sort out making the orders.... I saw one customer just give up in the queue and leave..... I also saw a group of teenage girls outside who were also commenting about the lack of a rapid turnaround of their order... Management..... get doing some actual management !!! it was embarrasing

Old village school now used as tea room. Breakfast and light lunches. Also sells greeting cards and other small souvenir type goods. Enjoyed our visit while on holiday in the village.

Had a lovely brunch at the end of a holiday before the drive home, staff we're really friendly and food was delicious

Delicious homemade food. Cakes are lovely. Coffee great. The perfect lunch spot after a walk.

Lovely little spot for a bite to eat whilst out and about on the motorbike. The cakes are amazing

Tea with scones and clotted cream (aka, a cream tea). Wish the tea wasn't bags, but it was still plentiful and very good!

Lovely food and staff in beautiful surroundings

Amazing little tea room in a lovely location and amazing views. Have been twice for breakfast over the last week on holiday, the sausage sandwich is amazing and fresh. Would highly recommend if you are passing the village.

Superb lunch and the afternoon teas looked amazing

Fantastic gluten free options for food and cake!

Was there on Saturday - total farce! Didn’t mind having to wait in line to order, but kind of expected what I ordered to come out in decent time - £60 for 4 drinks, 4 sandwiches and 2 soups not cheap but eaten here many many times before and always been a long wait but excellent - drinks came and waited an hour! Went back in to see a few tables which were empty when I ordered now with people who were getting there hot meals - asked a young girl who said she would find out, quickly came back and promised they would be out soon - we needed more drinks so waited another 20 mins for more drinks, by this time some of our food had come, I went back had my soup then waited another 30 mins for my sandwich - which never arrived, chased it with a young girl who never came back so we left as time was pushing on and we had a evening meal booked for 630 - total time on site 2:30 very disappointed hungry and out of pocket a sandwich - my dads birthday, he never been before he will never go again

it was a complete farce. staff standing around doing nothing. huge queue. half an hour wait to get anything. wrong orders coming out. people taking orders then immediately forgetting what as asked for. staff not able to find drinks or bottle openers. ran out of plates and cups.

the coffee was cold, so they offered to microwave it. i wouldn't even microwave a coffee for myself, let alone a customer! I settled for a blob of hot water rather than wait another half an hour for a replacement kids' drinks were wrong too. they couldn't find what they sold us

Really excellent food, coffee and cakes. The service had a few wrinkles to iron out but it was fun to interact with the staff and observe how they coped. The queues died down quickly and order was restored....

The cakes, the coffee the hot food, never disappointed!

Delicious food, lovely menu and great service. Highly recommend!

On my last visit, the service was very good and the staff very welcoming. On another occasion however, it was very busy, staff flustered, slow service. Fast or slow great grub. 👍

Visited this afternoon about 2pm - we come here regularly and the food is usually great. Our food arrived much quicker than previous visits which was great after a long walk. I had the tomato soup as the soups are usually excellent. Unfortunately it was really watery and thin with no texture and little flavour - it tasted like it had been watered down. We noticed the tomato soup ran out soon after we got ours and a mushroom one was on the menu instead. I would have much preferred to be offered a different soup than to have one which had been watered down. We had the corn fritters as well which were really nice, but a bit of a small portion. Our bacon sandwich was really good and all our drinks were too.

A fantastic place. Amazing atmosphere Lovely tasty food. Efficient friendly staff.

It's nice place to have for food, there is space for parking and easy to locate.

Ordered 2 takeaway hot sandwiches which was actually nice.. But the lasses who served was incompetent even using the till lol and £1.90 for a bottle of water😮 n 2 sandwiches came to nearly £15, unfortunately I won't be back again even the owner was miserable and zero meet or greet skills 🙄

Booked a table for our cycing Route on Sunday 10th December. Outstanding food and service. Thanks 😊

A wonderful, traditional afternoon tea! Five of us had one of the best teas this afternoon, savouries, proper sandwiches, light-as-a-feather scones and fancies with endless tea and (for two of us at least) prosecco. Very reasonably priced with excellent service. Thank you. I feel sure we'll be back.

Great menu, very helpful staff and lovely food.

Billing Belles WI xmas get together..welcoming, efficient and great service from a lovely team. The afternoon tea was amazing, delicious sandwiches, scones, cakes, tea, coffee and prosecco, whats not to like! A festive atmosphere topped off a lovely day. Would recommend without hesitation, thank you!

Delicious afternoon tea enjoyed yesterday presentation was delightful as was the contents of the afternoon tea. Boxes were provided to take cakes away I definitely will return.

Great bacon bap and plenty of tea in a warm and comfy environment

Was good but a little busy for our liking!

Great food in rural location, (scones are superb) but limited space inside, so get here off peak, nice on a sunny day :-)

Dog friendly & wonderful cake and well brewed tea. Lovely location with a view.

Lovely place, ambiance lovely, staff friendly

We visited the Old School Tea Room for lunch on a couple of occasions recently. Each time, the place was thriving, a lovely atmosphere. The food arrived quickly and was delicious - cheese scones are to die for. I would wholeheartedly recommend the Old School Tea Room- delicious food in a pleasant venue at a reasonable price.

Accidentally happened upon this tea room after a wrong turning on our walk, and we were so pleased we did! Cosy and warm inside with an inviting doorway surrounded by pumpkins, and Autumnal decorations inside. We got a mocha and an orange hot chocolate to go - both delightfully creamy and stayed hot to keep us warm on our walk. The lady serving us was kind enough to still include 2 pieces of terry’s choc orange with the hot choc even though we weren’t dining in. Some yummy looking cakes and tarts on offer too if we had stayed for food. Highly recommend!

Great service and great food and in my opinion reasonably priced, will be back again soon.

It’s a very bright but intimate space. I loved the decor and interesting pieces of art.

Amazing tea rooms, situated in a beautiful Yorkshire village. Cheese and mustard scone was quite amazing! We can wait to head back for brunch.

Lovely tea room with great food. Was very busy today (Sunday) and staff were really nice baring a minor issue with staff due to them being so very busy. There’s a section with a big glass window overlooking the view which really nice. Will visit again mid-week when it’s quieter.

Very busy but service was reasonable . Cakes fabulous

Fabulous café with delicious home made scones and cakes. Went for afternoon tea and tried the cheese and mustard scones and a piece of carrot cake - OMG - to die for! The rest of the menu looks delicious too (breakfast, brunch and lunch). Beautiful scenic location in the heart of the Dales. Highly recommend.

A lovely little place, reminded me of my old junior school. The food was great and the staff were friendly. We will definitely call in again when next in the area.

Just had a super lunch with friends . High quality tasty food , great helpful staff , spotlessly clean . So friendly run by a wonderful friendly lady , nothing was to much trouble . Besides the food , cakes and a great menu , there are super gifts and cards . I highly recommend a visit . Thank you all until next time .

Absolutely wonderful place! Me and my partner visited here last Sunday morning, we sat outside with the chickens and guinea pigs but had the whole place to ourselves as it was early. We were served by a lovely gentleman called Shane who gave us a very warm welcome as we arrived , made us feel at home and couldn't have been more helpful. Lovely place and lovely staff. We will be returning to this gem in the near future.

It is a tea room restaurant and has no rooms to rent. The afternoon tea is wonderful.

Excellent cakes, food and tea. Lovely location.

Very tasty cake and a yummy hot chocolate. Great find.