Lavenham Blue Vintage Tea Rooms, Lavenham, Suffolk.

Cost – £19.50 (August 2020)

Parking and Access – There is a public carpark in the centre of the village, quite close to the Tea Rooms. Access is up a step to both the inside and the garden. A toilet was available inside the building, with level access from the inside. There was a step up to reach it from the garden.

Background – Lavenham is a ludicrously pretty village in Suffolk. It is chock full of beautiful, incredibly old, often twisted houses. It is a lovely place to visit and just to walk around looking at the amazing buildings.

We found out that the Lavenham Blue were offering takeaway Afternoon Teas. We love visiting Lavenham and thought we would be able to find somewhere nearby to eat out Tea.

However, when we rang the Tea Room, the lady told us they also had a small garden, where we could eat our Tea and be outside if we preferred. We thought about it and decided it was time to venture out and try the ‘eating in’ option in the garden.

Contents per person – Eight finger sandwiches (two each of egg mayonnaise, ham, cucumber with cream cheese and smoked salmon), a savoury cupcake and a spoon of capers. A small/medium sized plain scone and a mini Kilner jar of strawberry jam and a mini Kilner jar of clotted cream. A vanilla cupcake topped with chocolate icing, a slice of Victoria sponge and a mini trifle. A pot of tea.

Options Available – There is also either a gluten free or vegetarian Afternoon Tea available.

Comments – first of all, my apologies for my photos. It was a really sunny day and we were sitting under an orange umbrella, which has made all of my pictures a rather odd colour! Also, I am obviously out of practice at this eating out thing, an I have forgotten to take a picture of the Tea Rooms. Ooops! I obviously need to get back in to practice! However, I did manage to take a picture from where we were sitting in the garden.

Hooray!!! Our first proper Afternoon Tea out at a venue for twenty-two whole weeks!! And we chose a ridiculously hot day to do it!

We had asked to reserve a table in the Tea Rooms small garden. We thought we would feel more relaxed being outside for our first time in an eatery for so long. As it happened, it was so hot, it would have been difficult inside anyway.

We were given a nice table under a big orange umbrella to one side in the garden.

There was sanitiser on the table and the table and chairs were all wiped down before we sat down, which all went to help us feel safer.

We were given a menu to choose our tea from. We both chose Yorkshire tea, plus a bottle of Fentimans Victorian Lemonade as an extra.

The tea arrived quickly in a vintage, patterned teapot, accompanied by a non-matching vintage milk jug. We were also given mis-matched vintage china plates, cups and saucers and a blue paper napkin.

The pot was quite large and started off at a good strength. However, it soon got to strong, and we asked for a top up of just water to refill the pot and to weaken the remaining tea. It was made using teabags.

The Afternoon Tea itself was served on a lovely three tier cake stand with round blue and gold plates.

The savoury part of the Afternoon Tea was very generous. There were four piles of four sandwiches. Each pile having a different filling. There was also a spoon filled with salty capers, which we avoided!

Finally, there was a large savoury cupcake each.

We weren’t too sure about this idea, and approached the cupcakes cautiously. However, they were absolutely delicious! A brilliant idea! The centre of the cupcake was filled with beetroot, which is not my favourite vegetable, but which tasted really good like this. The cake was then topped with cream cheese, with a slice of cucumber, a baby tomato and an olive stuck in it. It really was the tastiest thing I have had for a long time!

The scones were a small/medium size and had been warmed up. They were wrapped in a paper napkin and were accompanied by mini Kilner jars of strawberry jam and clotted cream. There was also a pot of delicious sliced strawberries.

We overheard another table mentioning rhubarb and ginger jam. We thought we would be cheeky and ask if we could swap our strawberry for that instead. Luckily, we were told we could. The rhubarb and ginger jam was really delicious, and there was plenty of it for the scone.

On the other hand, there was barely enough clotted cream for the two small scones we had between us. I think this may have been a problem with trying to get the cream in the Kilner jar rather than trying to serve a smaller portion.

The cakes looked inviting. We both always appreciate a proper slice of cake, so it was really nice to see a slice each of the Victoria sponge cake waiting for us on the top tier.

The cupcake was topped with a juicy strawberry on top of the chocolate icing, which was not too over the top in quantity, as it can sometimes be. Finally, the mini dessert, which was a little trifle was refreshing on a very hot day.

Service was very good, we were visited and checked on, on several occasions by the staff, who all wore masks and were very friendly.

 

 

Savoury	2.0
Scone	1.5
Jam	2.0
Cream	1.5
Cake (variety)	1.5
Cake (quality)	1.5
Tea	1.5
Presentation	2.0
Service	2.0
Value	1.5
Total	17.0

 

All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The photographs are all my own.

I remain completely anonymous and always pay for my Afternoon Teas. They are never gifted to me by the businesses reviewed.

I am the legal copyright holder of the content and images on this blog.