Tea Travels - Afternoon Tea at Beatons Tearoom, Crowthorne

Regular readers of my blog will be aware of my ‘Tea Travels’ series, where I talk about different afternoon teas I have tried and what I think of them. I’m a big fan of going for afternoon tea (as is my Mum, so we often go together!) and so I thought writing a series about my experiences would be a good way to share my love of afternoon tea with you. Hopefully it will also give you some ideas of places to try if you’re like me and love the afternoon tea experience. And so, today, I’m back with another post in my Tea Travels series.

A few weeks ago I went for afternoon tea at Beatons Tearooms in Crowthorne with my brother, Richard, sister-in-law, Lisa, and my nephew, Noah. It was my birthday present to Lisa back in April, but we had only just got round to actually organising it. Beatons Tearoom and Bookshops have places in Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Berkshire. They exist to give people a peaceful and relaxed experience in stylish yet cosy surroundings. They’re inspired by society photographer Cecil Beaton and bring gracious hospitality, home made cakes and light meals to the table seven days a week. So whether you’re looking to relax and unwind over a pot of your favourite loose leaf tea, browse their specially curated selection of books to discover something new to delight, or treat yourself or your friends to a luxurious English Afternoon High Tea, Beatons, according to them, is the perfect choice. 

I had been to Beatons for food before, but never for afternoon tea, so was interested to see what it would be like. I rang and booked our table a couple of weeks in advance, which I would definitely recommend doing because the café was really busy and they needed notice to prepare the full afternoon tea. And so, on a warm summer’s afternoon, we made our way over to Crowthorne High Street to Beatons Tearoom, where we were seated at a beautifully laid table with a reserved sign on it.

First, we were presented with the extensive tea menu and given some time to choose which teas everyone would like. There were so many different varieties to choose from, so it took us a little while to make the final decision! But in the end, I went for the Cherry Sencha – a Green Tea with delicate rose and natural cherry. We were also asked to choose which cake we would like with our afternoon tea. There was a large table overflowing with different types of handmade cake – from Carrot Cake and Brownies to Victoria Sponge or Chocolate Cake. I opted for the Coffee and Walnut Cake (as did Richard) and Lisa chose the Carrot Cake. We also ordered Noah a strawberry milkshake and a huge chocolate brownie.

Our teas arrived first – each of us was brought a different coloured teapot with a loose-leaf tea brewing inside. They had really thought of everything, as we also had a timer to let us know when our teas should be perfectly brewed, and each had a small saucer to place our used teabags on. My Cherry Sencha tea was incredibly delicate, floral and sweet – the perfect accompaniment for afternoon tea as the flavour wasn’t going to overpower the tastes of the food. 

And within a few minutes of us having our teapots, the elegant cake stands arrived, laden with delicious looking sweet and savoury treats. We started with the array of sandwiches that were beautifully displayed on the bottom of each cake stand. We were certainly spoilt for choice when it came to sandwich fillings! There was ham with tomato relish; cheese with onion marmalade; Brie and cranberry; tuna mayo; Coronation chicken and egg mayonnaise. And both plates were garnished with a generous salad. We quickly started to sample all the different sandwiches, which were all incredibly tasty. My personal favourite was probably the Brie and cranberry, but there wasn’t a sandwich that I didn’t like. 

Once we’d demolished the sandwich platters, we moved on to the scones – we had been given two large scones each! The scones were light and fluffy, tasting delicious wish lashings of jam and clotted cream. I always put jam on first and then cream (so that I can put a nice big dollop of cream on top!) – which way round do you do it?! After enjoying one scone, I decided to take the other one home with me, as I was feeling rather full already and still had my piece of cake to eat!

I’m glad I left room for my cake, as it really was tasty. The sponge was moist and full of flavour with pieces of crunchy walnut dotted through it, and the buttercream complimented it beautifully, without being overly sweet. And apparently the Carrot Cake was just as good (and Noah’s Brownie went down pretty well too!) It was a lovely way to finish off our afternoon tea experience. 

We had a lovely couple of hours at Beatons enjoying their afternoon tea. It’s a comfortable and cosy setting with a relaxed atmosphere, and I love the fact they also have a bookshelf in the corner where you could buy a book to read with your cuppa. The staff were friendly and welcoming and made us feel comfy and calm as we enjoyed our food. The Windsor Afternoon Tea cost us £20 per person (not including Noah), which I thought was very reasonable for the amount of food we were given. You could also ask for as much tea as you liked, which is always important! It’s definitely somewhere I would be happy to visit again (either for afternoon tea or something like breakfast or lunch) and if it’s somewhere you haven’t been before, I would recommend giving it a try.

Are you a fan of afternoon tea? Where are your favourite places to go? Perhaps I can add them to my list!

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Tea Travels - Afternoon Tea at Oakley Hall Hotel

One of my favourite things to do, usually with my Mum, is to go for Afternoon Tea. I just love visiting numerous places and trying different versions of the traditional English pastime that is stuffing yourself with sandwiches, scones and miniature cakes! I mean, what’s not to like?! So, for my 30^th Birthday back in October last year, my Mum and Dad gave me a voucher to enjoy afternoon tea somewhere I haven’t been yet – Oakley Hall Hotel in Basingstoke. We decided to wait until the weather was a bit nicer before we made our booking, and so, a few weeks ago, on a rather drizzly day (typical!) we headed over to Basingstoke to discover what treats Oakley Hall had in store!

Oakley Hall is an AA Four Silver Star Hotel and is ranked number one out of thirteen hotels in Basingstoke, so I was excited to see what it had on offer. The hotel sits in 315 acres of grounds and woodland – you literally feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere when you arrive – it is so peaceful and relaxing from the moment you turn up the winding drive. Although it feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere, the hotel is actually only six miles from Basingstoke train station and has easy access to the M3, making it easy to get to.

As we made our way up the impressive drive, the large country house came majestically into view. It was built in 1795 and was once owned by the Bramston family, who were friends of Jane Austen. But despite the 18^th Century architecture, the inside boasts a beautifully modern and contemporary design, making you feel at home and relaxed as soon as you walk through the entrance. But before I take you inside, I just wanted to comment on the parking, which is always important, especially when you’re disabled. There is a complimentary onsite car park with easy access to the hotel. However, if you have a blue badge, like I do, you can actually drive right up to the house and park just outside the main entrance. This immediately made me feel at home, as we had no worries about how I was going to get into the hotel. 

We were greeted by the friendly reception team and directed through to the Glasshouse Restaurant, where our afternoon tea would be served. The first thing I noticed was how quiet the hotel and restaurant were – we visited on a Tuesday and were advised that weekends, understandably, tend to be a lot busier. One of the waiters showed us to our table by the window, overlooking the extensive grounds. The Glasshouse Restaurant takes its name from the original glasshouse designed in c.1850 by Edward Milner, a renowned landscape architect who also designed Oakley Hall’s gardens. It was built in 2014 and provides an elegant yet relaxed environment. I do find that some restaurants you go to can feel a bit pretentious and uncomfortable, but in the Glasshouse I felt immediately at ease and we were able to relax and enjoy our afternoon.

Our experience began with being shown the wide-ranging tea menu – it took us a few minutes to decide on which tea to try (although our waiter did say we could try a few teas throughout the afternoon, which definitely helped!) In the end, I opted for the Winchester Fruit Basket, as I’m a sucker for a fruity tea. We were each brought an individual teapot with our chosen tea in it, and waited a few minutes for them to brew before we sampled them. I was so pleased with my choice – the berry flavours were sweet but subtle and the tea had a beautiful red-pink hue. I’ve actually been searching for the tea since I came home because it was so delicious!

No sooner had we started drinking our tea, a huge cake stand arrived piled high with sweet and savoury treats. Our waiter introduced us to everything on the stand (although I did struggle to remember what all the different cakes were!) and then left us to tuck in! 

After taking a few pictures and admiring everything, we started on the sandwich course. First up was a filling I don’t think I’ve seen before on an afternoon tea menu – Chicken with Basil in a seeded roll. This was absolutely delicious – I originally thought this would be my least favourite, but it was full of flavour and just melted in your mouth. Then we moved on to a classic – Egg and Cress in a white seeded roll. Again, the filling was really tasty and the bread was so light and fluffy – not at all stodgy. 

We then progressed to sampling the two sandwiches – Ham and Mustard, followed by my absolute favourite afternoon tea sandwich – Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese. As far as I’m concerned, you can’t have afternoon tea without it, so I was really glad to see it on the menu. And it didn’t disappoint – the salmon was tender and the cream cheese had a slightly lemony hint, which complimented the salmon perfectly.

As we were finishing our sandwiches, another waiter arrived at our table and told us he had heard we were there for someone’s birthday. He presented me with a piece of slate, decorated with ‘Happy Birthday,’ some strawberries and the most incredible white chocolate truffles. It was such a lovely touch and really made me smile.

I was impressed to see that we had two scones each – one plain and one fruit scone, which always makes me happy as this is definitely my favourite part of afternoon tea! We piled them high with jam and cream (which do you put on first? I always go jam first, and then a big dollop of cream!) and began devouring them. Both scones were light and fluffy, and the strawberry jam had a lovely fruity flavour. There was plenty of jam and cream to go around (I always worry about running out!) but I’m sure they would have brought more out if it were needed.

By this point, we were all feeling rather full, and we hadn’t even started on the cakes yet! We didn’t want to make ourselves feel ill, so decided to try a couple of the cakes there and then take the rest home to enjoy later. Thankfully the hotel staff were absolutely fine with this (I have been to places where they won’t let you take leftovers home with you!) and brought out some boxes to put our cakes in. There was such an amazing selection of cakes to try, and I really enjoyed tasting them all over the next day or so. The little coffee and walnut cupcakes were divine – so light and melt in the mouth, with just the right amount of icing. The profiteroles were also really interesting – I just assumed there would be cream inside them, but they actually had a sort of citrusy mousse instead, which went really well with the white chocolate.

The chocolate layer cake was incredibly rich and decadent, but perfect to share between the three of us. There were also two beautiful fruit tarts (I loved the pink pastry!) as well as a salted caramel and chocolate tart, which tasted very naughty! But I think my favourite sweet treat had to be the orange macaron – I like to think of myself as a bit of a macaron expert these days (OK, so I’ve eaten a lot of macarons from different places – that makes me an expert right?!) But this one definitely lived up to expectations, with a slightly crispy outer shell and a delicious cream in the middle.

I really didn’t want to leave the tranquillity of the hotel, and can imagine it must be a lovely place to relax and recuperate for a few days, away from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life. But it was soon time for us to leave, and after a little wander around the spectacular grounds; we were heaving our full tummies back into the car and heading back to reality!

Whilst it would have been nice to have a few more people and a bit more atmosphere in the restaurant, it definitely didn’t spoil our experience and the service was second-to-none. We all really enjoyed our afternoon tea at Oakley Hall Hotel, and for a very reasonable £28 per adult, I would definitely recommend checking it out if you live nearby. 

If you’d like to hear about some of the other Tea Travels I’ve been on, you can find my posts here:

·     Pennyhill Park Hotel

·     Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Afternoon Tea

·     Peggy Porschen

·     The Ritz

·     Afternoon Tea Bus Tour

Are you a fan of afternoon tea? Where are your favourite places to go? Perhaps I can add them to my list!

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Spring Blooms at RHS Wisley

Back in April, I took my Mum to RHS Garden Wisley as a belated Mother’s Day treat. I took quite a few photos, so I thought it would be nice to share my trip with you, in case you’re looking for inspiration for places to visit. RHS Wisley is a beautiful place near Woking in Surrey, full of picturesque gardens, colourful flowers, tranquil water features, bustling cafés, a shop and a huge garden centre. As someone who uses a wheelchair, it’s always nice to find places to go where I can access the outdoors in my chair without getting stuck in the mud or being tipped out due to uneven paths! And Wisley is one of those places that, on the whole, has brilliant disabled access.

My Mum and I arrived at Wisley mid-morning on a Monday, and the car park was already overflowing. We were worried we wouldn’t be able to find anywhere to park, but thankfully there were lots of empty disabled bays right near the entrance, so we parked up, got my power chair out and made our way in. After buying our tickets and having a quick look at the map, we headed right towards the Laboratory Building and Jellicoe Canal. It was a beautiful sunny day and this iconic Wisley view looked truly spectacular. The Laboratory building is surrounded by terraces with all sorts of plants and trees growing across them. And the canal, laid out by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe in the early 1970’s, gives beautiful reflections of the Laboratory as the fountain splashes calmly in the background.

From the canal, we walked into the adjoining Walled Gardens, which are separated into two areas. We mainly looked at the rear Walled Garden West, which shows the creative effects that can be created with foliage plants. It felt very peaceful and relaxing there, surrounded by greenery and still water. 

We made our way past the construction site, where a world-class, multi-million pound welcome building is being built to help sweep visitors through into the heart of the garden. It was looking pretty amazing when we were there, and is due to be opened by Alan Titchmarsh on 10^th June 2019. I can’t wait to go back and see how it looks when it’s finished! Just past the new Welcome Building and Food Hall, we came across a whole collection of the most amazing blossom trees. We were obviously there just at the right time, because the blossom was all in full bloom and it was incredible seeing all the different shades of pink and white and they rained petals onto the ground. Of course, I had to stop and take a few photos!

Past the blossom trees, we carried on into The Pinetum, which boasts a collection of century-old trees, many of which are conifers. Apparently the best time to visit this area is in the autumn and winter, when many of the accompanying deciduous plants show their autumnal colours. But even though we were there in spring, it still looked pretty magnificent with the towering trees. You can also go down to the Riverside Garden, but the path didn’t look particularly wheelchair friendly unfortunately, so we gave that a miss.

Through the Pinetum, you then reach Howard’s Field and Heather Landscape. Wisley describes Howard’s Field as a quiet, contemplative clearing, home to some fine specimen trees. It also houses the National Heather Collection – one of the largest heather collections in the British Isles. There are around 25,000 heathers, including 900 cultivars – 162 of which are considered endangered. I can imagine this must look amazing when all the heathers are flowering, so I will definitely be going back throughout the year to see how the space changes. There were also some talented tree carvings and bee houses, and you can view a wildlife conservation area on the banks of the river Wey from the Field. 

We made our way right up to the Stone Pine Café at the very top of Howard’s Field, which looks like a beautiful place to get a bite to eat. It’s a very select eatery, with only 16 seats inside and around 30 outside. The Café is table service and serves freshly made salads, sandwiches and cream teas. It definitely looks like somewhere nice to go if you’re looking for somewhere a bit quieter to eat.

By this point, we were feeling pretty peckish ourselves, so we headed back the way we came towards the newly built Food Hall. Although it was quite noisy and busy inside, we didn’t have to queue long to get our food and we had no trouble finding a table. They actually had a selection of tables labelled with disabled signs, meaning they were easier for wheelchair users to access, which I thought was a brilliant idea. There were so many dishes to choose from including sandwiches, cakes, pastries, soups, homemade main meals like fish and chips, curries, lasagnes and even a roast dinner! In the end, I went for a cheese and pickle sandwich and some crisps, while my Mum chose the soup of the day with some crusty bread. It was all very nice and we soon had full tummies and were ready to get back out into the gardens again.

As we’d spent the morning looking round the right hand side of Wisley, we decided to head left out of the Food Hall and make our way over to Oakwood, formerly known as the Wild Garden, and the historic heart of Wisley. This is a beautifully peaceful part of the gardens and is packed full of so many different plants, trees and flowers. My particular favourites this time were the stunning Magnolia trees – I’ve honestly never seen anything quite like them! Their branches were crammed full of delicate pink and white petals, while others lay in a pink blanket on the floor. Amongst the Magnolias, there were also Camellias and Rhododendrons – everywhere you looked there were splashes of amazing colour. We even met an adorable duck, which waddled right up to my wheelchair, followed closely by his wife!

Coming out of the other end of Oakwood, we were greeted by The Glasshouse – a magnificent cathedral-like structure covering the area of 10 tennis courts. We decided not to go inside this time, as there were other things outside that we wanted to see. So instead, we doubled back on ourselves and walked down through the Alpine Meadow, which was scattered with Hoop Petticoat Daffodils that made the whole slope look a cheerful shade of yellow. Down towards the bottom of the water that runs alongside the meadow, was a stone carving of a bear catching a fish. It took us a while to realise it was more than just a rock, but it’s a lovely subtle design that fits perfectly with its surroundings.

We then went past Bowles Corner and over to the Cottage Garden. I think we were a bit early for any flowers, as there wasn’t much blooming yet, but it still looked really pretty and I can only imagine what it will look like when all the flowers start coming out.

We also went next door to The Exotic Garden, which showcases plants that have a tropical look and feel. Again, we were too early to see much colour, but I loved the water feature in the centre of the garden. I’ll be interested to go back in the summer to see how different it looks. 

As we made our way back through the Mixed Borders, we decided to go back to the Food Hall and treat ourselves to a cream tea. It was much quieter in there this time, but we each got ourselves a scone with clotted cream and jam, and I also had a hot chocolate, as it was a getting a bit chilly outside. It was such a lovely way to end a Mother’s Day treat and by the time we had finished, we were feeling full up, rather sleepy and ready to head home.

I loved my time at Wisley so much, that I decided to become an RHS member before I left. I personally felt the membership was incredibly reasonable considering all the different places it gives you access to, and because I have a disability, I am able to also bring two other people with me on my card, so it’s perfect for going out with my Mum and Dad. I’m already working out when we can head back to Wisley again to see all the new summer flowers. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing their Wisteria Walk and also the Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden when all the flowers come into bloom – from pictures I’ve seen of previous years, I’m expecting it to look amazing!

Are you enjoying everything that spring brings? Have you been to RHS Wisley or can you recommend other places I might like to visit?

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