2014 Teatime Adventure Awards!

As 2014 draws to a close, I am very delighted to have concluded a whole year of teatime adventures! It has been a lovely thing to set time aside each month to take afternoon tea with friends or family, where for a wee while nothing else matters except gentle conversation, a refreshing cup of tea and a home-made cake in lovely surroundings.  Each tea room has offered something unique and I have enjoyed every experience.  People sometimes ask me which is the best tea room I have visited, and although I have no desire to rank them in any order as each individual establishment has its own charms and everyone looks for something slightly different in their teatime experiences; nevertheless I thought it might be appropriate to highlight outstanding examples in certain categories, so here goes:  (drum roll, fanfare and very, very, very long silences before announcing winners!!!)



BEST AMBIENCE..................Hempstead House Hotel, Bapchild.

The nature of the building allows them to offer an unparalleled
ambience in the soft drawing room furnishings and leisurely
personal service offered.  To be transported to an earlier age
of gentility - this has to top them all!





BEST CHARACTER...............Melinsey Mill, Veryan

This is amazing setting for a tea room - in the grounds of an old
water mill, and the owners have created a wild and wonderfully
quirky place with a distinct personality all its own.











BEST MENU VARIETY............Oad Street, Borden

This is an undisputed winner.  Every possible teatime combination
was itemised on the menu from full sandwiches to half sandwiches,
scone varieties and cakes, which also includes a big gluten-free choice.









BEST VALUE..............Peggoty's Tea Room, Rochester

A very nice tearoom offering a good choice of cakes, nice
atmosphere and a complete bargain!  Can't go wrong!





BEST FACILITIES...............Willow Tea Room, Burwash

A nice loo always makes a teatime experience that little bit
better, and here I was quite doutful when directed out of the
tearoom and around to a separate building.  However, my doubt
turned to delight at a clean, bright loo complete with flowers and
handcream.  Perfect!  (didn't take a photo of it, though!)





BEST CAKE...................Moat Tea Rooms, Canterbury

An all-round great tea room, but with a big variety of interesting
cakes, which all looked delicious.  Certainly my lemon one with lemon curd filling and tangy lemon icing was just a perfection of lemony yumminess!










HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE AND HERE'S TO A 2015 FULL OF NEW AND WONDERFUL TEATIME ADVENTURES!

Headcorn Village Tea Rooms

Amidst the madness of the last few days before Christmas, I managed to create a small window of calm and sensibility for the last teatime adventure of the year with a visit to the charming village of Headcorn.  I am known to visit Headcorn a couple of times a year as it is home to a musician friend of mine whose beautiful grand piano I am always pleased to stroke my fingers over!  My visit to her usually involves lunch and a perusal of the charity shops, where I have been always been extremely lucky.  For instance on my last visit, I found a gorgeous brand new 'Per Una' coat which has been greatly admired, and of course cost only a few pounds.    And so husband, younger son and I set off for Headcorn - my husband content in the knowledge that the charity shops do not open on Sundays.

 The Village Tea Rooms is housed in a traditional clapperboard building with a low-beamed ceiling, and younger son having attained the giddy heights of over 6 foot by admirable perseverence and a lot of sleep, found this quite a handicap - although husband and I were not at all troubled in this respect.  It was quite busy, but we were met by a friendly waitress and found there was a vacant table in the window. Tables are covered in green checked table cloths with painted country chairs.   The tea room extends into a second room at the back and houses a number of gift items for sale and pictures on the walls which makes a pleasing visual environment to while a way a pleasant afternoon.  There was a pleasant ambience with plenty of chat and good humour amongst locals and staff.


The menu lists a good variety of lunches, and selection of teas including breakfast blend; Earl Grey, Ceylon, Assam, Darjeeling, Jasmine, Lemon and fruit & herbal.  There is also a range of coffees available.  Husband and I both chose Assam, and son chose a fresh orange juice. We viewed the available cake selection which today comprised chocolate, Victoria sponge, lemon.  There had also been carrot cake but this had run out.  I noted that all the cakes were made of similar construction whatever their flavour - with sponges sandwiched with butter icing,  although the menu did refer to them as 'homemade cakes'.   Perhaps it is just the 'house style'.  I chose the lemon sponge and my son chose the coffee & walnut.  Husband chose a fruit scone with butter and jam.  When the cakes arrived, we thought that the portion size was not overly large, but in fact the sweetness of the cakes meant that the portion size was more than adequate, and in fact son and I both left some unfinished.  This is not to say that the cakes were unpleasant - but we neither have a very sweet tooth for too much icing.  The scone arrived warm and had a good amount of fruit.  The jam was a pot of Tiptree strawberry and butter in a little packet.  The tea cups were also warm which was rather nice on a cold day, and the tea was a good flavour made with tea bags and plenty of milk, but no extra hot water.

Toilet facilities were spacious, clean functional and the cost of the tea was also very reasonable.  

This is a nice local village tea room, which I imagine is at the heart of the community and a good place for people to meet and exchange village gossip together.  The service is friendly and efficient - long may it flourish!