The sky was blue and we’d failed at going camping for the Bank Holiday weekend, so were desperately trying to do more than watch TV. I’d subtle dropped the hint at finding afternoon tea several times, but Catherine hadn’t caught it. So at Lunchtime on the Monday I pushed for Afternoon Tea anywhere. She rang up a couple of places that were fully booked, but when we rang The Parlour at Blagdon, there was no answer. They must have been busy, being lunchtime.
Catherine: They’ll be fully booked there’s no chance!
Alan: Lets rock up and just see, if there’s no spaces then we’ll do something else.
The Parlour at Blagdon
I’d never been here before and was taking Catherine’s guidance on the location. In my mind it was in the Milkhope Centre on the way to Horton Grange. However instead of turning off at the corner of the Blagdon Estate you continue on a few hundred yards and it’s on the right hand side. Unless you knew about this place there is a good chance you wouldn’t just drive past it. Also from the outside the Signage is a little basic to inspire you to set foot in.
We’d heard good reviews about the Parlour at Blagdon and this is why were were here. The garden area has a handful of sheds / summer houses that I believe you can sit in to eat and drink, but the glazing made it hard to see what was inside them. We were on a mission to see if we were getting food for lunch or more driving. So we walked straight to the Tea Room.
All of the tables had reserved signs on them, which was a little off putting, until we realised they said reserved at 3.00pm. As it was only 1.30pm we were able to have the table for an hour and a quarter before it would be set ready for the reservation.
We knew what we wanted, even though I still browsed the menu front and back. Afternoon Tea for 2 and two cokes for the kids. We also opted for their filter coffee instead of the tea. This had to be the best value for money afternoon tea in the area. Where it seems that everywhere is charging £20 per person, here Afternoon tea was £21.90 for two people.
Our Afternoon Tea Offering
Our three tier stand consisted of Sandwiches
Italian Baked Ham with Country Tomato Chutney
Farmhouse Mature Cheddar Cheese Savoury
Free Range Egg, Watercress & Black Pepper Mayo
Slow Roasted Topside of Beef & Creamed Horseradish
Scones with Clotted Cream and Strawberry jam.
And when I thought a selection of cakes meant one or two, it actually meant one of each per person.
Italian Lemon Verbena Cake
Walnut & Sultana Farmhouse Cake
Luxurious Macarons
Decadent Double Chocolate Cake
Zesty Lemon Meringue Tart
Italian Fruit Panna Cotta
Our kids mainly ate the scones and Chocolate cake. Cat ate the Beef and Ham Sandwiches while I ate everything that was left. The Cheese Savoury had a strong cheese taste, which I loved.
I believe the scones were good, as Imogen and Abigail didn’t leave any pieces for me to hoover up. If I was a real foody that could spill out the descriptive words to fulfil the blog space required to share the cake experience, then I would use it now, but instead I will say…. Mmmmmm!
After our Afternoon Tea for 2 for 4, I was stuffed. And feel the experience was worth more than we paid for it. However I liked it more being only £21.90 for the two of us.
We left the table promptly giving the staff plenty of time for the reservation to follow. In fact we scoffed the lot in less than 30 minutes!
The menu is available on their website http://theparlouratblagdon.co.uk/afternoon-tea.aspx
Only one thing for it… A walk around Northumberlandia to fill in the afternoon.
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