Cost – £14.95 (April 2016)
Background – The Ravenwood was another of our internet finds. It is a pleasant hotel just off the A14 on the edge of Bury St Edmunds. Afternoon Tea needs to booked in advance here. Unfortunately we managed to choose a day when there were a couple of large functions taking place in the hotel so we did feel a bit in the way. However, the service was not too bad.
Contents – 4 finger sandwiches (egg mayonnaise, smoked salmon, cucumber and ham). 1 fruit scone, a dish of strawberry jam and a dish of clotted cream. A piece of Chocolate Brownie, a lemon layer cake and a mini Banoffee dessert in a shot type glass. Tea was made with loose leaves.
Comments – We were sat in the lounge area of the hotel on our own. There were two big functions going on elsewhere in the hotel. For some reason we were given an Afternoon Tea for three people, apart from the scones, of which there were only two!
The Afternoon Tea arrived on a three tier stand with round white plates.
The tea was in a stainless steel teapot with a tea strainer.
The sandwiches were reasonably fresh and tasty. I believe they had been prepared in advance but they were not dry.
The scones were of average size and were fresh.
There was plenty of jam but barely enough clotted cream.
The cakes were really very tasty. The Brownie was moist and heavy whilst the lemon cake was one of the best I have tasted. It was really lemony with a delicious filling. I could have eaten a lot more pieces of this cake!
The mini dessert was not my favourite but that is a personal choice. I felt we could have done with another type of cake, given the price, but as we had been given cakes for three people, this was not a problem for us.
There was some choice of tea which was loose. The tea was rather strong but there was enough for two cups each. We were given a refill on request.
| Sandwiches | 1.5 |
| Scone | 1.0 |
| Jam | 1.5 |
| Cream | 1.0 |
| Cake (variety) | 1.0 |
| Cake (quality) | 2.0 |
| Tea | 1.0 |
| Presentation | 1.5 |
| Service | 1.0 |
| Value | 1.5 |
| Total | 13.0 |
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 