Holden Vale Tea Rooms 14th April 2013

Holden Vale, Haslingden for Afternoon Tea

I am on a mission to try as many afternoon teas as possible mainly locally but also when out and about. Last Sunday myself and hubby decided at short notice to pop over to Holden Vale Tea Rooms, and try their afternoon tea.

It was during the tea that I decided to create blog to record my experiences and this is the first post although not the first afternoon tea that has been tried and tested.

We have eaten a number of times in the tea rooms and the food is excellent and they have a great deal of choice when it comes to cakes.

Locally, this is one of the most expensive Afternoon Teas at £11.95 per person and as such we were expecting a very good one.

We manged to get seated straightway, and a very nice young lad came over quite quickly, we knew what we wanted so the order was very easy, afternoon tea for two one with tea and one with coffee.

A few minutes later he returned to ask us what sandwiches we wanted and what cake. We thought this was quite odd as the menu did say a selection of sandwiches and normally a selection as decided by the venue is given. I asked what our options where and he was a bit puzzled by the question. I got the impression that he was quite new and had never been asked for afternoon tea before. I suggested that they provide a selection. 

We were then asked to choose a cake, in fairness when we read the detail of afternoon tea on the menu it did say a piece of cake, but again traditional teas include a selection of mini cakes. So we both went to the counter and as it happens chose the same cake, the coffee and walnut cake.

It was not long before the afternoon tea was served with a side order of salad, different! The presentation with afternoon tea is part of the event, so when it arrived on a metal/tin tray type thing, it was a bit of a let down. 

The sandwiches were simple fingers and nice, we got 3 fingers each including egg mayo, ham and chicken. No cucumber sandwiches though?

The cake that we chose was there with a couple of grapes and coulis, along with a very large scone. The fruit scone was served with jam and cream but I did think we had gone into ration mode as there was only just enough to cover each half of the scone.

In the end neither of us finished our cake as it was a tad dry and had quite an overpowering after taste, a small version alongside other small cakes would have been much better.

As far as my mission goes, this is my least favourite afternoon tea to date.

Holden Wood

 

Annie Peaches Afternoon tea

Annie Peaches, at Lamberts Mill

Visited quite close to the close of play on Sunday 3rd March, and did ask if we were OK for afternoon tea seeing they only had 40 minutes until shut down. Carole was very accommodating as she always is and said not a problem.

We eat at Annie Peaches on a regular basis usually for lunch or breakfast (hubby loves their full English). We had seen on the menu they did afternoon tea and decided it was a good idea for a Sunday.

Annie Peaches is a really good little cafe/coffee shop and the food is made by Carole and the service is very good indeed by all of the team there. With every tea or coffee you also get a tiny home made biscuit which is a nice little treat.

Back to the afternoon tea, we had left it quite late and to be honest I think we did put Carole on the spot some what but she was great and off she went, one with tea and one with coffee.

The presentation was very good indeed and on a tier. 

The lower tier offered 8 finger sandwiches with a selection of ham, egg, beef and chicken with some crisps on the side. The bread was very fresh and a section of white and brown.

The middle tier had 3 types of cakes cut in half and included the traditional Victoria sandwich, dime bar cake and lemon mouse tart. Again the cakes were very fresh and very tasty.

The top tier was left for the scones that were served with plenty of jam and cream. The scones were delicious and home made.

Annie Peaches is on Foursquare where you can see the photo we took at the time.

The price at £7.95 each was in my opinion very good value for money and I would not hesitate in having it all over again :)

Annie Peaches

The Deli Bank Street, Rawtenstall 2012

The Deli, Rawtenstall, 2012

This is a little harder to write as I have to try hard to remember as it was the first afternoon tea that we had and was over 12 months ago. I am assured that they still offer afternoon tea so I decided it should be included.

This was another treat for hubby and I and it was brought about as we saw others having it there. 

The Deli is a small coffee shop in the heart of Rawtenstall where the food is home made and there is a great choice of vegetarian and sugar free cake options. Great for the health conscious.

Although I do not remember what exactly we had, I do remember that it was served on a traditional cake stand with multiple tiers and I do recall we had to take some cake home because we were too full to finish it there. That says something don't you think?

The Deli is quite small and I would suggest calling and reserving a table to guarantee being seated.

I am fairly sure it was £8.95 per person but it was some time ago so I would check just in case.

The Deli