Friday 17 October 2014

Afternoon Tea at Laura Kate, Welwyn .... vintage deliciousness.


My friends and I just came home from a lovely afternoon tea in the village of Welwyn. I have been to quite a few afternoon teas over the past year and have written about them on my blog - The Conrad St James, The Milestone, The Ampersand  all lovely posh places in London. Today I thought I would try a rural tea in leafy Hertfordshire.

We chose Laura Kate in Welwyn. It is a tiny Tea Parlour set on the High Street, seating about 16 people. We thought it would be interesting to see the sort of tea available, especially as the Laura Kate tea costs £14.95 - half of the cost of most London teas.

We arrived to friendly smiles and were shown to our table. The shop is pretty, mainly white with fresh pink roses and displays of their delicious cakes - all made on the premises by the team.


Our waitress took our orders for tea. My friends had English Breakfast Tea while I ordered Peppermint Tea. They both arrived in pots, loose leaf tea, which, during the course of the afternoon, were refreshed frequently. Delicious! There was a good tea menu, offering the teas we had alongside Assam, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Chamomile and more.


Our tea stand arrived and the contents were explained to us. We had previously been asked whether we would like to choose the flavour of our cupcakes or be given a surprise. Being quite courageous types we went for the surprise option!


I loved the quirky tea stand - made of stiff cardboard and so pretty! When we booked (booking is essential) we were asked about our dietary requirements and they took note of my friend being a vegetarian. Everything is served on quirky vintage plates with funky cups and saucers too.

We began with the sandwiches ...


Beef with horseradish, egg mayonnaise, cucumber & cream cheese, brie & cranberry.
They were all delicious, on soft, soft fresh bread, but I think my favourite was the beef ... or possibly the egg ...!!

Next we moved onto the freshly baked, warm scones. It is a fact universally acknowledged that scones should always be served warm from the oven, and I was very pleased to see that these were!


There were two scones each, served with lashings of clotted cream and raspberry jam. The waiting staff were incredibly attentive and friendly without being intrusive. We were asked if we needed more jam or cream and although there was enough of both we were feeling rather greedy and asked for even more.


By the time we had eaten our scones we were starting to feel a tad ... well, to put it bluntly ... stuffed!

And yet we still had the top layer to go ...


Banoffee shots


Millionaires shortbread bites...



 Raspberry white chocolate, chocolate, vanilla cupcakes.

I have to admit that we simply could not finish our cupcakes, but the lady serving us noticed this and offered to wrap them for us so we could take them home. They were brought back to us wrapped in cellophane and ribbon. How lovely!





We spent our afternoon laughing and chatting, totally relaxed and having fun. The afternoon tea at Laura Kate is absolutely delicious! All the cakes are baked on the premises and everything we had to eat and drink was beautifully presented, wonderfully fresh and scrumptious!! I have to say that the tea was one of my favourites, coming in second after the Conrad's Festive Tea. Everything from the welcome to the service and, of course, the food was really super. I highly recommend, if you are in Hertfordshire, that you make a booking for tea, or just pop in for a cuppa and a crumpet ( Marmite provided!) or a homemade cupcake. 

And, just in case you are wondering ... we paid full price of £14.95 for our tea and were most happy to do so!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Drooooool...(sigh) At least my eyes are satisfied seeing such marvellous visuals this morning.

What was that thump ??!! Oh just me falling back down to earth :-) Now where is my mug and tea bag...

Best wishes...Have a wonderful day

Ash

Sarah Pellew said...

Haha! I hope you enjoyed your mug of tea Ash!! Thanks for commenting. Sarah x