A Posh English Afternoon Tea at The Slaughters Manor House, England

A Posh English Afternoon Tea at The Slaughters Manor House, England


Honestly, we didn’t have the best weather when we have been in England for our annual vacation a little over two weeks ago. It was raining quite a bit and it was unusually cold for the season. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our vacation abroad very much, making the best out of every day regardless of the typical English weather caprioles.

One day was particularly cold and rainy though, and we hardly made it to drag us out of our cozy and warm cottage and realize our plans to explore the charming Cotswolds villages of Lower and Upper Slaughter.

When we parked the car in Lower Slaughter, an impressive manor house in the middle of the village caught my eye with an inviting sign reading “Afternoon Tea” at the entrance gate of the property. When we got closer it turned out to be The Slaughters Manor House, a three-star hotel. We took a closer look at the house…

…and briefly toured the beautiful, well-kept grounds. Isn’t this formal “blue garden” lovely?

I always fall for old statuary like this pretty lady surrounded by blue delphiniums and catmint placed in the center of the formal garden shown in the photo above.

After the initial quick look, we dismissed the idea of having an English Afternoon Tea there, because this place seemed to be quite upscale. We dutifully stuck to our original plan and walked an admittedly very beautiful footpath called the Warden’s Way to Upper Slaughter (highly recommended for a sunny day!) and explored this charming sleepy village. When we returned back to Lower Slaughter we were so cold and wet that I really felt like having an English Afternoon Tea as a treat. After our rainy walk, posh and fancy somehow wasn’t so much of a concern anymore but sounded now on the contrary quite appealing. The need for something warm, delicious and lovely was just overriding any other objections. After all, who doesn’t need a special reward from time to times?

So we walked up to the manor house hotel, again.

The entry looked like right out of a fairytale.

The staff was quite friendly and gave us the option to have our tea in the lounge or the library. After a brief reflection, we decided to take our seats in the beautiful lounge and ordered a Full Afternoon Tea to share. And then, after a short wait, the highly anticipated tea arrived! What a feast for the eyes! 

Let’s take a closer look: It contained a selection of finger sandwiches, a plain and a fruit scone, clotted cream and jam, and some very fancy sweets. Tea or coffee was included. My husband went for a Darjeeling, which was quite delicious. Instead of tea or coffee, I preferred just hot water with lemon. 

The lounge was such a lovely stately room with a beautiful fireplace, a wonderful ornate white-painted ceiling, beautiful parquet floors, and tasteful modern furnishings. The wonderful ambiance of this space definitively contributed to our overall English Afternoon Tea experience.

Close-up of the sweets. Such a beautiful presentation!

When the waiter brought the three tiered tea stand, he explained to us what all the items were, but some of the descriptions were so complicated that even he got stuck. So please, bear with me that I am not able to explain the tea treats in more detail. 

Overall the savory treats were good. The little bite of salmon on the cracker was outstanding though, the fish just melted in the mouth. The scones were average. Some of the sweets tasted extraordinarily delicious like for example, the nutty mousse served in the special glass. The only sweet that I wasn’t sold on, was the one that looked like a mini eclair filled with red and green cream. To me, it tasted a bit synthetic and I hope, that they didn’t use artificial food coloring. 

  

Cut through, this fancy sweet tea treat revealed a tart heart. It was ultra delicious! 

I love chocolate and this sweet tasted just heavenly.

As we had initially expected, with 30 British Pounds (about 39 US Dollars)/person having an English Afternoon Tea (yes, that is without bubbly!) at The Slaughter Manor House is on the pricey side,…

…but the beautiful presentation, some extraordinarily good tea treats, and a wonderful atmosphere make up for that.

I would love to come back and enjoy this special tea, again.

Before I finish, I would like to let you know that I am on Instagram now. I post daily and would love if you would pop over to my Instagram account and see what I am up to there. Of course, if you would follow me on Instagram my joy would be even greater! You can either click the link in this text or use my Instagram button on the sidebar to the left of my blog.

Wishing everyone a lovely rest of the weekend, and in addition to that, my American readers, a wonderful 4th of July. Maybe you find the time and treat yourself to a special tea time as well.

See you hopefully soon,

Christina





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