Cost – £28.95 for a hamper (April 2020)
Parking and Access – There is one step down to enter the outside area of the venue. The only toilets are situated inside and up a flight of stairs with no alternative access. There is on-street parking available in front of the building.
Background – Having had a massive success with our first Afternoon Tea by post, we decided should try more. I now have a long list, which will hopefully outlast the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic! They vary hugely in content, much more so than Afternoon Teas in normal times. However, we will do our best to test various options out and then to review them in the hope that it might help others missing their special treats. And also bring some more custom to companies providing this service.
For our second tea, we stayed with the same company – Delimann, but chose a different option from their extensive list. This time we chose to order their Cherry Cream Tea.
Contents – Three rectangular sandwiches (cheese with homemade nectarine chutney). The sandwiches were not included in the Tea. Four large cherry scones, a jar of strawberry jam and a tub of clotted cream. Two large pieces of shortbread, a bag of clotted cream fudge, a bar of chocolate with Easter eggs in it, and two squares of chocolate brownie. A packet of Delimann’s Afternoon Tea tea bags.
Options available – A chocolate lolly pop, more clotted cream fudge or two pieces of chocolate brownie can be added to this Afternoon Tea. We added the chocolate brownie option to our Tea.
Comments – We ordered this Afternoon Tea on the Wednesday, hoping to book a delivery for Friday. Unfortunately, this was not possible as there were fully booked for that day. We wanted the Tea for the weekend, so we decided to pay for a Saturday delivery, which was an extra £5.95 (weekday delivery would have been free). As with the previous delivery, it arrived on time on the specified date, delivered by DPD. The box, which was wrapped in a plastic bag, was placed on the doorstep and the delivery man stepped back after ringing the bell.
We bought the box in and opened it immediately to remove the package of cream, which needed to be put in the fridge. As before, the box contained all of the Tea items surrounded by wood shavings. The jam jar was aditionally wrapped in bubble wrap.
I have based my presentation score on the way the package was presented and the state it was in when it arrived.
On this occasion, we served our Afternoon Tea in the outside area of the venue (ie in our garden). We sat on a comfortable wooden bench, next to a water feature.
Our tea was placed on a low wooden table.
The tea was served in a brightly coloured china teapot accompanied by a white milk jug with a blue edge.
We made the tea with the teabags from the box. As before, it was a nice tea and was the right strength for us. In fact, we have been using the teabags from our first Afternoon Tea to make tea with on several occasions as we liked it so much.
We served the Afternoon Tea itself on a two-tier cake stand with pretty flower-patterned plates. The stand looked remarkably similar to that used for the last Tea!!
The scones were served on a plate matching the tea plates.
The sandwiches were not included in the delivered Tea for obvious reasons, so I made my own. Once again, we chose to have cheese sandwiches (we have cheese in stock!!), this time with my homemade nectarine chutney. I have not scored these in the usual way as they were not part of the Tea. I have decided to give them a full score of two. Not because they were perfect (!) but as I feel this is the best way to keep the score for the rest of the Tea in line with the scores for ‘normal’ Teas with everything included.
We warmed the scones up in the oven before serving them. The scones were large and were full of cherries.
They were really good. They were light and tasted fresh. They were packed in twos, which meant we could have saved one pack for later.
However, we decided to go for it and eat two scones each. After all, we had spent a busy day gardening in the sun!
The jam was rather runnier than our first jar. However, it was still very tasty and contained many large pieces of strawberry.
There was plenty of it for the scones, with some left over for another day.
Similarly, there was more than enough delicious clotted cream, leaving some over to enjoy another day.
The shortbread should have contained cherries. However, it had been substituted with plain shortbread on this occasion. The bars of shortbread were large, so we had cut them in half.
They were sweet and tasty. However, having eaten two large scones each, we only ate one square each, leaving the second square to eat another day.
When we ordered the Afternoon Tea, we took the option to add a packet of two chocolate brownies at £2.75 extra. We already knew that the Delimann brownies were delicious, rich, and had a lovely texture. These did not disappoint.
Finally, we had a packet of clotted cream fudge and a bar of milk chocolate studded with chocolate Easter eggs. The chocolate bar was advertised as being with strawberry pieces. However, we were pleased with this substitution. Especially as Easter was approaching. We shared the chocolate bar later in the evening. It was very good.
The clotted cream fudge was delicious and creamy.
Finally, I have based my service score on the service we received from the on-line company. Whilst we felt it was really good, there were two substitutions in our box – the shortbread and the chocolate. Neither of these were a problem, and both were of excellent quality. However, I do feel there should have been a note enclosed telling us that the substitutions had been made.
The website was well presented and clear, and the box arrived in an excellent condition.
We very much enjoyed our second Afternoon Tea by post. In fact, I have to admit, the next is already on order!! From another company. Watch this space!
| Savoury | 2.0 |
| Scone | 2.0 |
| Jam | 1.5 |
| Cream | 2.0 |
| Sweet (variety) | 1.5 |
| Sweet (quality) | 2.0 |
| Tea | 1.5 |
| Presentation | 2.0 |
| Service | 1.5 |
| Value | 2.0 |
| Total | 18.0 |
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 