Afternoon tea is my absolute weakness, I love dressing up and sitting down to tea served in real china, dainty sandwiches and cakes laden with all the good stuff. I’m pretty fortunate (or crafty) and I’ve somehow managed to schedule not one, not two but three afternoon tea’s into one month.
That’s my friends, how to turn a month from ‘Okay‘ to ‘Absolutely fantastic‘, you only live once..
There’s no doubt about it, Coombe Abbey is a stunning venue with lots of past century nooks and crannies to explore within the building. The park surrounding the venue is well worth spending some time exploring too, it’s a good way to ease the ‘cake coma’.
I only have two small niggles, one you’ll need to pay for parking but it’s only £2 so it won’t break the bank. Another, make sure that you’re 100% on numbers in advance, we called to add an extra person (to the table of 3 we had booked) and were told this absolutely wasn’t possible. When we turned up, it was clear that it absolutely would have been possible….
On to the good stuff…
The staff were attentive, encouraging us to try as many different tea’s as we’d like and accommodating our sandwich requirements. Before promptly providing us with a towering display of cakes, sandwiches and huge buttery scones.
Whilst I’d rate the sandwiches 5/10 the cakes and scones were a strong 8/10 on the ‘Katie Cake Scale’, it’s a serious and considered rating guide my friends. With a mix of light carrot cake, mini Victoria sponge, mini cheesecakes and flaky apple turnovers and my personal favourite, scones with jam and cream.
All washed out with something cold, fizzy and laughter inducing…
Overall, I’d say that Coombe Abbey is well worth visiting if you’re planning to be in the area, but do book in advance if it’s a weekend date you’d want to visit. The venue is stunning and another little plus point is the fact they kindly allowed us to box up and take home the cake’s we couldn’t finish, which meant we could enjoy them later.
Do you enjoy afternoon tea? Any recommendations of places to visit?
Katie
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