Cost – £24.00 (Dec 2024)
Parking and Access – There is a car park available right by the main entrance of the hotel. There is one small step up to the entrance. There are also some steps to negotiate to get from reception, to the lounge, where Afternoon Tea was being served.
There are toilets available in the building. These also have a few steps to reach them from the lounge.
Background – We were visiting this beautiful part of Norfolk again. So we decided to look for a possible Afternoon Tea to sample. The Norfolk Mead hotel looked interesting. We had passed the entrance to the hotel many times, but not actually seen the building its self.
The hotel is housed in a handsome building, in grounds leading down to the River Bure at the bottom of the garden. It is a very picturesque setting.
As this was late December, the hotel was beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations, inside and out.
We made a booking on the phone, and prepared for our visit.
Options Available – There were no options for this Afternoon Tea.
Contents (per person) – Six rectangular sandwiches (turkey and cranberry, egg mayonnaise, cheese and piccalilli, {two each of each type}). One medium/small fruit scone and one medium/small plain scone. A small bowl of strawberry jam and a small bowl of clotted cream. A mini mincemeat and banoffee pie, a chocolate and hazelnut brownie, a small square of sticky toffee, coffee and ginger sponge and a mini vanilla panna cotta with redcurrants. A pot of tea.
Comments – It didn’t start well, when we arrived in reception, to find they were not expecting us at all. Some discussion took place amongst the staff, and they decided they could accommodate us.
We were shown through to the lounge area, where there were several tables laid ready. A few were already occupied, all for Afternoon Tea. We were given a table on one side of the room, by a window.
The bare wooden tables were laid with a plate, plus a cup and saucer each. The plate was topped with a linen napkin, and a set of cutlery, comprising a full sized knife and fork, and a teaspoon.
There was also a little rustic wooden Christmas tree.
We were each given a menu, and were asked what tea we would like. We chose the usual English Breakfast tea.
The tea and milk arrived quickly. The tea was in a medium sized, plain white round tea pot, along with a matching jug of milk. The tea, which was made with tea bags, was rather too strong for us. We poured a cup each, and asked for some hot water to be poured into the pot, to weaken it down a bit.
The Afternoon Tea arrived on a brass cake stand with round brown, pottery plates.
The sandwiches were freshly made and were well filled. However, there was no evidence of any butter, or other spread having been used! Luckily, they were still tasty. It was nice to see a festive filling included in the turkey and cranberry sandwiches.
The scones were a medium/small size, and had been warmed up. They were fresh and tasted good.
Unfortunately, there was not enough of either jam and clotted cream for the four scones between us.
Finally, the sweet section was, to be honest, a bit bizarre. It seemed like they had tried to put all the flavours they liked into the cakes. Only the panna cotta was left un-messed with. However, they were all quite small.
The chocolate brownie was lovely and sticky. But it had a large number of hazelnuts, which we were not too keen on. Then there was the sponge. This was supposed to be sticky toffee, ginger and coffee. Very odd!! In the end, none of them really came through, and it was just brown sponge.
Lastly there was the nod to Christmas with the little tart. This was made with a layer of Cointreau mincemeat, and a layer of banoffee, with cinnamon. It was odd. To me, it tasted sort of sharp. Again, none of the flavours really came through the mix.
Service was average. We were given more tea when we needed it, but there was rarely any staff in the room. We had to go and wait in reception to speak to someone.
| Savoury | 1.5 |
| Scones | 1.5 |
| Jam | 1.5 |
| Cream | 1.5 |
| Cake (variety) | 1.5 |
| Cake (quality) | 1.0 |
| Tea | 1.5 |
| Presentation | 1.5 |
| Service | 1.5 |
| Value | 1.5 |
| Total | 14.5 |
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 