Cost – £13.50 (Aug 2017)
Background – Southill Vintage Tea Rooms has been on my ‘to do’ list for a long time. We eventually decided to visit on a rainy August day during Afternoon Tea Week. We booked by phone the day before and paid our fifty percent deposit.
Southill is a small village in Bedfordshire, not far from Biggleswade. The Tea Room is situated in the picturesque old Post Office and is found on the High Street. It also doubles as a small store for the village.
There are only a few tables inside the building but there is a good sized garden with plenty of tables and seats for when the weather is good.
Contents – Four triangular sandwiches each (egg mayonnaise, ham, tuna mayonnaise and cheese and pickle) served with some salad and a small bowl of crisps. Two tiny plain scones, a teacup of strawberry jam and a teacup of clotted cream plus a small pat of butter each. One macaroon and a mini cake (Two different mini cakes served between the two of us. One chocolate and one carrot cake). The tea was made with tea bags.
Comments – This was our second Afternoon Tea eaten during National Afternoon Tea week. Booking ahead is required at this venue along with a fifty percent deposit.
The tea arrived first in a pretty china teapot. It was accompanied by a jug of milk, teacups containing the jam and cream and a bowl of crisps.
It was followed by the rest of the Tea on a three-tier spindle cake stand with pretty china plates.
The sandwiches were pretty well filled and were tasty. They were fairly small and were on a mix of white and brown bread. There was a good amount of salad accompanying the sandwiches. There was also a bowl of crisps, which was a nice addition.
The scones were some of the smallest I have ever seen! Such a shame as the tea room was serving normal sized scones as well in three varieties. We were only offered plain. They were a little on the hard side and were not warm. There was enough jam as the scones were so small, though it had the appearance of catering jam. Even with the tiny scones there was barely enough clotted cream.
The real disappointment was the cakes. The tea room had a good selection of lovely looking cakes available but all we were served was one macaroon (which did not appear to be homemade) and a small sponge cake each. There was a small round chocolate sponge and a small rectangular carrot sponge between the two of us!!!
Disappointing. Especially as the menu stated “a selection of mini cakes and a macaroon”.
It would have been so much nicer to have simply had a slice of one of the lovely looking cakes on show.
The tea was of a good strength for us. We didn’t ask for a refill of the teapot.
The service was prompt and friendly.
| Sandwiches | 1.5 |
| Scone | 0.5 |
| Jam | 1.0 |
| Cream | 1.0 |
| Cake (variety) | 0.5 |
| Cake (quality) | 1.0 |
| Tea | 1.5 |
| Presentation | 1.5 |
| Service | 1.5 |
| Value | 1.0 |
| Total | 11.0 |
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 