Hempstead House Hotel, Bapchild

After the impromptu surprise of September's Teatime Adventure, imagine my delight at a second surprise adventure this month!  An invitation came my way to accompany my dearest friend to Hempstead House Hotel where she had been given a voucher for their afternoon tea.  Now strictly speaking, my remit in recording these adventures is to uphold the independent tearooms that battle valiantly to continue this most English of traditions, however I certainly wasn't going to pass up the opportunity of an afternoon tea, especially with my dearest friend in such a delightful setting as the charming Hempstead House Hotel, (which is independently owned and run) and especially as it fell only a few days after my birthday!

We arrived at the hotel wearing our posh frocks and found our way into reception where we were greeted and shown to a private drawing room called 'The Snug'.  We had the use of this absolutely delightful room all to ourselves for the afternoon, and it offered the perfect blend of country house elegance, with a lovely fireplace, dual aspect windows giving views of the grounds and the swaying trees, and comfortably upholstered chairs.

Having settled ourselves in we were greeted by our waiter and chose our blend of tea from the comprehensive tea and coffee menu.  My friend selected the English Breakfast and I chose Assam.  The cake stand was decked with a sandwich selection on the bottom tier and little cakes on the top.  The middle tier just held a pot of cream and jam, as the scones would be brought in warm when we were ready.  We tucked into the finger sandwiches:  ham, cream cheese & cucumber and egg - all very tasty.  We then managed one of the two scones each - fruit and plain; warm and tasting slightly of cinnamon.  However, despite taking plenty of time over excellent conversation and many cups of tea, we felt unable to continue our feast until we had taken a gentle perambulation of the grounds.  This completed, we returned, still unable to face a second scone, but refreshed by more tea we each ate a little swiss roll (incredible light) and a sweet little strawberry and blackcurrant pastry tart.  We were defeated by the little lemon drizzle sponge cake!  However, our friendly and attentive waiter brought a little box for us to take home our scones and cakes so nothing was wasted!

I must say that the whole experience was absolute perfection - from the delightful setting, to the understated but attentive hosting, to the quality of the food - there was nothing to be found wanting here at all.  For the consummate afternoon tea experience, this would take a lot of beating and I am very appreciative of such a lovely treat!