UP the long hill past the golf course out of Barnard Castle, there’s a lovely spot that returns visitors to the golden age of Victorian plant collectors. Framed by the Pennine hills, Eggleston Hall Nursery and Gardens has four acres of gardens and nursery, a 16th Century churchyard with ruined chapel, plus rare plants, a moorland stream and winding paths.

There are many interesting flowers, trees and shrubs for sale, that you can glimpse through the open gates of the walled garden as you sip a cup of tea or something stronger on the terrace of the cafe and tearoom. One end of the building also houses the Garden Room gift shop.

It’s a nice place to while away a couple of hours, the perfect combination for ladies who like to lunch, garden and shop. On a hot, sunny day this month, it was a lovely place to take my father for a run out up the dale. We parked in the welcome shade of the trees that front the cafe and sat ourselves down..

After perusing the menu – a mixture of light bites and home-made specials – I made my way into the clean and airy cafe to order, past a counter of calorific homemade cakes, which almost tempted me to bypass the savouries.

I ordered a kind of deconstructed prawn cocktail – succulent little prawns and a nice Marie Rose sauce on a bed of lamb’s lettuce, with a good thick slice of lemon. Only the hunk of bread let this tempting plate down, being a little lacking in substance and on the dry side.

My father enjoyed a delicious home-made cheese and red onion quiche, with new potatoes – which were perfectly cooked, with a lovely taste and texture – and a little pot of red cabbage coleslaw.

For dessert, this being lunchtime on a very hot day, we decided to share and decided on crumble until the waitress mentioned that a home-made apple, strawberry, raspberry and blueberry pie was, as we spoke, emerging piping hot from the oven. With a dollop of vanilla ice cream, the proper stuff with peppery flecks of vanilla in it, this was perfect.

To drink, I ordered a refreshing BottleGreen Pomegranate and Elderflower cordial, the colour of pink champagne, and my father enjoyed a bottle of Black Sheep “in celebration of all the sheep we’ve passed on the way up here”. Any excuse Service was friendly and efficient and our bill for a lovely lunch came to £17.70.

The cafe is run by two Clares – Dixon and Moss-Clennell. The former, 37, lives at Langleydale; the latter, 36, at Ravensworth.

Both grew up in small villages to the south of Barnard Castle, and have known each other since junior school. Both worked at The Morritt Arms together when they were students. “I can’t believe its 20 years ago,” says Claire Dixon. “It was hard work then and it’s still hard work now, but we both really enjoy it,” adds her partner. “We are a bit like a double act, with strengths in different areas, and that’s why it works.”

Clare Dixon, along with her husband Philip, also owns and runs Clarendon’s Tearoom, in Barnard Castle, and a catering company called CCS Catering.

The building in which Eggleston Cafe and Tearoom is housed is known as The Coach House. It was converted by William Gray, who lives at Eggleston Hall, and has long been run as a cafe. The opportunity to take over the tenancy came last year and the two Clares felt it was too good an opportunity to miss. They opened in March.

The specials board changes daily and includes such dishes as homemade fish finger sandwiches, peach panzanella salad and meatball skewers on a bed of pasta, with ingredients determined by seasonal produce, the weather “and customer requests”. The Clares use local suppliers whenever possible, including Peats Butchers of Barnard Castle, Cotherstone Cheese “from Joan Cross”, and Teesdale eggs.

Chief cook Mandy Bird and her team produce all the menu on the premises and if you don’t have room for a tempting cake or two when you are there, you can take them away. Staff find it difficult to resist, but on the busy day we visited they must have used up most of the calories rushing around.

After lunch, my father and I took a look around the lovely gift shop, which is run by the owner of Allium, above Clarendons in Barney, before wandering over to the nursery which is run by acclaimed horticulturalist Malcolm Hockham and his team. On our way through the gate, we passed visitors with trollies piled high with flowers and shrubs.

“Their plants are like our cakes,” laughs Clare Moss-Clennell, “hard to resist.”

Food facts:

Eggleston Cafe and Tearoom
Eggleston, DL12 0AG
Tel: 01833-650553
egglestonhallgardens.co.uk

Open seven days a week from 10am to 4.30pm.
Tel: 01833-650553

Food quality: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5
Value: 4/5