Cost – £16.50 (Feb 2017)
Background – I now have a massive list of potential places to try for Afternoon Tea. Woodland Manor Hotel has been on the list for some time. As it is situated between where I live and where my sister lives we decided it would be a good place to just meet up one day.
Clapham is a village just outside Bedford. It is home to the now disused RAF Twinwood Farm which is the airfield band leader Glenn Miller took off from on his last fateful flight.
Contents – Six finger sandwiches each (three each between two of ham, cucumber, smoked salmon and cheese and tomato). A small plain scone and a large dish of strawberry jam and a large dish of clotted cream. A macaroon each plus, between the two of us, a small square of each of carrot cake, a pink layer cake and a white chocolate cake, a mini Victoria sponge, a mini three-layer sponge with lemon curd and mini chocolate Black Forest cake. The tea was made with tea bags in a china teapot.
Comments – We were asked to wait in the entrance hall of the hotel for some time on arrival. We finally taken through to the restaurant where a table was laid ready for us. There was no one else eating in the room. There were four of us eating the Afternoon Tea.
As usual we were served the tea first in a pretty china teapot. The tea service was mismatching vintage china. We were then served with the sandwiches on two plates. One for each couple. The scones were served on another plate, altogether for the four of us. The cakes were all together on a two-tier spindle type cake stand for the four of us.
The sandwiches were reasonably well filled and to our requirements as we had asked for ham without mustard.
The scones were fresh but rather dry and crumbly. They were very small. Especially given that there was only one each. There was plenty of jam and of clotted cream but as there was very little scone to put them on that would not be difficult! The jam was a catering type jam. We were given some butter when we asked for it.
The cakes were small, generally light and tasty. However, I find it very irritating when we are served only one of each type of cake between two people. We just about managed to cut each cake in two so that we could have a piece of each cake.
The tea was made with tea bags and was a good strength. We asked for a refill and were given it.
Service was reasonable but we were left on our own for long periods which made it difficult to ask for a refill of the teapot.
| Sandwiches | 1.5 |
| Scone | 0.5 |
| Jam | 1.0 |
| Cream | 1.5 |
| Cake (variety) | 1.0 |
| Cake (quality) | 1.5 |
| Tea | 1.5 |
| Presentation | 1.0 |
| Service | 1.0 |
| Value | 1.5 |
| Total | 12.0 |
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 