By: Blonde Two
Well Blonde One and I did have a lovely time last weekend when we went to visit the Holne Village Community Shop and Tea Room. We were treated to one of Philippa, the tea room’s cook’s just-out-of-the-oven, melt-in-your-mouth scones with bags of jam and, of course, clotted cream. The rest of the menu looked delicious too with cakes, pies, sandwiches, baked potatoes and soups, I would have been particularly tempted by the soups if I hadn’t already eaten my fill of cream tea!
The Holne Community Shop and Tea Room is one of Dartmoor’s little hidden treasures. The treasure comes I think, not because of the delicious menu or the amazingly well-stocked shop, but because of the warm welcome and the sense of community.
We had a lovely time chatting to Gilly about the importance of having a village shop and about the challenges of coordinating a year-round team of volunteers (they are open every day of the year except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day). Whilst we were chatting people were popping in and out of the shop and it is clear that the Holne Village Shop and Tea Room is a going concern.
As if a shop full of goodies (and everything else a visitor or villager could want) and perfect cream teas weren’t enough, we were also offered the opportunity to have a go at a village treasure trail. It involved a map so we really couldn’t say no and the trail was indeed a lovely way to explore Holne Village and even took in a short section of the Two Moors Way.
If you haven’t been down to Holne and sampled the wares of this lovely village community yet you really should do so soon. Not that I think they are going to run out of scones, Philippa had just finished baking over a hundred!
How did I miss that when I was walking the Two Moors Way? Looking at my itinerary i would have been walking from Michelcombe where I had stayed in a so called shepherd’s hut, and I reckon it would have been too early in the morning for the shop. Pity, those sort of shops are like gold on a long walk.