Impressed
Afternoon Tea at the Penventon Park Hotel
Not often do I indulge and enjoy an afternoon tea, so I was really looking forward to spending a Sunday afternoon at the Penventon Park Hotel.
You can enjoy afternoon tea inside the hotel or outside in the gardens, but as the weather wasn’t being kind, Mum and I were shown to a table in a beautifully decorated room. The hotel has just undergone a period of refurbishment and it feels very much like laid-back luxury.
The table was set with vintage crockery and summer flowers – bringing some of the outside in on a rather damp day. We ordered hot drinks – English Breakfast Tea for me (the classic afternoon tea accompaniment) and a cappuccino for Mum.
We opted for the classic combination of finger sandwiches, scones and miniature cakes. Having intentionally missed lunch, we were looking forward to sampling all of the treats on offer!
Tea was served on a vintage silver stand and was beautifully presented. We started with the finger sandwiches – smoked cheddar with chutney, smoked chicken and smoked salmon – delicious! Next we tried the plain and fruit scones, served with Mrs Pascoe’s homemade jam and clotted cream. We were given two flavours of jam to try, strawberry and peach. I’d never tried peach jam with a scone and clotted cream before, but it’s now a firm favourite.
Finally, with little room to spare, we tried some of the very tempting miniature cakes. The selection included eclairs, mini sponge cakes wrapped in marzipan icing and coconut and flapjacks. All were equally tasty and we both had our favourites.
Whilst we couldn’t quite finish all of the treats on offer, we thoroughly enjoyed our delicious foodie experience and spent a while relaxing on the very comfortable sofas – the perfect way to end the weekend.
We’ll certainly return for tea at the Penventon Park Hotel – the food, service and surroundings were fantastic and there’s always a reason to indulge with cake.
