Cost – £19.95 per person (March 2021)
Parking and Access – This tea was taken in the inside area of the venue. There is one small step to enter the building. The toilet is up a flight of stairs with no alternative access. There is on-street parking available in front of the venue.
Background – We only discovered Willingham Auctions Café last summer, between lockdowns, and it has quickly become a big favourite with us. We tried, and reviewed, and thoroughly enjoyed it. So, when we were looking for an Afternoon Tea to have on Mother’s Day, having had a weekend away with our family cancelled due to lockdown 3.0, we were really excited to see they were advertising a Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea.
We emailed the café and booked our Tea for two. We were then asked to confirm our booking and to make a deposit of £10 at the beginning of March. The café then gave us a time slot for collection on the day.
Contents per person – Four triangular sandwiches (cheese and chutney, ham and tomato, egg mayonnaise and smoked salmon and cucumber) and a small amount of salad. One very large fruit scone, a mini jar of Tiptree strawberry jam and a tub of Rodda’s clotted cream. A triangle of chocolate brownie, a triangle of millionaires shortbread, a piece of carrot cake, a piece of lemon drizzle cake and a large strawberry cut into two halves. A choice of a mini bottle of Prosecco or a bottle of Belvoir soft drink (we both chose raspberry lemonade), and a teabag of Ridgeways English Breakfast tea.
Options available – No options were available for this Tea
Comments – We were allocated a time slot to collect our Teas when we paid our deposit. We arrived at the café at the allotted time. There was a separate entrance for those collecting Teas. When we got in the door, the boxes of Teas were all waiting in neat piles. We were given our two boxes and paid the balance, then returned home.
Once home, we opened the boxes. We were both very pleased with what was inside! We put the items that needed to be kept cold into the fridge for when we needed them later.
I have based my presentation score on the way the package was presented in the box.
We served the Afternoon Tea on our (slightly wonky) three-tier cake stand with square plates.
The tea was made using the Ridgeways teabags provided. It was a good strength and had a pleasant flavour. We also enjoyed the Belvoir sparkling raspberry lemonade drinks.
The sandwiches were wrapped in clingfilm inside the box.
They were all very fresh, tasty and well filled. There was a mix of white and brown bread. There was also a small amount of salad, which we ate with the sandwiches.
We warmed the scones up in the oven before serving them. They were a lovely large size and had plenty of fruit in them. The scones were particularly good. They were soft and light inside and were really tasty. Definitely the best we have had for some time. We enjoyed them very much.
The strawberry jam was the usual mini Tiptree jar. Usually, this is plenty for one scone. However, there was only just enough as the scones were so large!
The clotted cream was a small pot of Rodda’s clotted cream. There was enough for the large scones in the pot.
When we started visiting Willingham Auction Café, we quickly discovered they make really good cakes! It is always a huge struggle to choose something there, as everything is so good! Three of our particular favourites are their millionaires shortbread, their brownie (they often do different varieties of brownie), and their carrot cake. We were really pleased to see pieces of all of these in our Afternoon Tea. We had not tried the lemon drizzle cake before. The piece of cake were all half the normal, pretty generous, size. Meaning we each had the equivalent of two normal portions of cake!
I can report that all of the cake was well up to standard. The carrot cake is one of the best I have ever tasted. The millionaires shortbread has a lovely thick layer of delicious toffee (my favourite layer!), and the brownie is rich, moist and chocolatey. The lemon drizzle cake, which we had not tried from this café before, was nicely lemony, moist and light. A really good selection of cakes.
As usual, I have based my service score on the service we received, which was friendly, pleasant, helpful and efficient.
| Savoury | 2.0 |
| Scone | 2.0 |
| Jam | 1.5 |
| Cream | 1.5 |
| Sweet (variety) | 2.0 |
| Sweet (quality) | 2.0 |
| Tea | 2.0 |
| Presentation | 2.0 |
| Service | 2.0 |
| Value | 2.0 |
| Total | 19.0 |
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.
Sarnies Scones and Cakes 