Sunday, July 2, 2017

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

 I am linking to
Rustic & Refined - Dishing It & Digging It  //  Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home - Amaze Me Monday  //  Between Naps On The Porch - Metamorphosis Monday  //  Antiques and Tea Cups - Tuesday Cuppa Tea  //  Cedar Hill Farmhouse - The Scoop  //  Sweet Sensations - Celebrate Your Story  //  Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays  //  Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden - Tea In The Garden  //  A Delightsome Life - Home and Garden Thursday  //  Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup  //  21 Rosemary Lane - Share Your Style  // Vintage Mama's Cottage - Thursday Favorite Things  //  French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday  //  Rattlebridge Farm - Foodie Friday and Everything Else  //  Shabby Art Boutique - Create, Bake, Grow & Gather  //  How Sweet The Sound - Anything Goes Pink Saturday  //  My Soulful Home - Sundays at Home  //


37 comments:

  1. That looks so sumptuous! Reminded me of last Saturday as we went out for afternoon tea too. Great setting, how wonderfully English can it get? :)

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    1. Mark and Gaz, "how wonderfully English can it get?" - I couldn't agree more! English Afternoon Tea is one of the greatest British culinary and social inventions that I know of. I can't wait to enjoy my next one!

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  2. Hi Christina!
    It looks delicious, and nicely presented.
    I will find you at Instagram.
    Have a nice day /Marika

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  3. What a wonderful Tea time!Beautiful place!Thanks for sharing!

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  4. I'm glad you got to combine two of your favorite things in one trip, Christina: gardens and a full English tea! The afternoon tea service is such a civilized practice.

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    1. Kris, that is why I love England so much: beautiful gardens and delicious tea times, what else do you in life ;-)!

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  5. Thank you for sharing this posh English afternoon tea experience at the manor house. Did you feel like Lady Mary? Hee! My sweet tooth was drooling over the chocolate yumminess! It was definitely worth the 30 pounds!

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  6. Oh my, you've made me hungry - it all looks so wonderful

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  7. What a marvelous tea!! Did you know that the term post is uniquely English and where it came from? It was the term used for upper classes on pleasure ships to have the staterooms on the side that was "port out starboard home" so they wouldn't have to deal with hot sun.

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  8. It may have been chilly, but the gardens look amazing! And the tea! Wow! I need to make a trip to England again. We loved London, but I'd like to see the English countryside, too. I'm glad you had a nice trip!

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  9. So glad you shared this! Deja but! We stayed at the Manor for several days on one of our annual visits. The restaurant was superb! We had a room overlooking the garden at the back upstairs...charming! I just loved seeing your photos. We love the Slaughters! Thanks so much for linking to Tuesday Cuppa Tea
    Ruth

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    1. Ruth, oh my gosh, can't believe it, you stayed at The Slaughters Manor House hotel? What a coincidence. I can imagine that you liked the hotel, it seems to be a very nice one. The villages of Upper and Lower Slaughter are indeed very lovely, I might do another post about them in the future.

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  10. The fairytale entry with the climbing rose is breathtaking. Beautiful.

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    1. Seawashed, that entry is special, isn't it? Looking at the photo really gets me dreaming...

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  11. Dear Christina:
    This post is so delightful and what a wonderful time to have tea since it was rainy and cold and tea is so lovely when chilled to the bone! The Afternoon Tea Tray looks so wonderful!I find your photos taking me away to a wonderful place! Thank you for sharing and I love your attitude about making the best of things!

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  12. Looks beautiful . . . but I think 30 pounds per person is not all that bad! In fact, when we were there MOST full afternoon teas were twice that and the one at the Ritz 100 pounds (or close to it). Loved the Slaughters. They were one of our favorites along with Stow on the Wold! Nothing like a good cup of tea on a rainy day!

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  13. Christina, Good for you to treat yourself. I love that tiered stand. It all looks delicious. Thanks for sharing and have a great day. Sylvia D.

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  14. What a lovely tea and such a charming venue. I love the Cotswolds. We spent several days visiting many different villages a few years ago. Bourton on the Water was one of my favorites. I am dying to go back and I definitely will check out afternoon tea at Slaughters Manor House in Lower Slaughter. Thanks for sharing it on Feathered Nest Friday.

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    1. LARR-Feathering My Empty Nest, unfortunately we didn't have time to visit Bourton-on-the-Water, even though it was on the to do-list this year. Just another reason to go back and visit the Cotswolds another time. There is so much, that we didn't see even though this was our second visit already!

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  15. Christina, I'm glad you decided to treat yourself that day! I would have enjoyed the rain, but then I'm odd that way! :D Love the Cotswolds. I'm not a fan of smoked salmon, so I would have asked for a substitute when placing my order. And I pretty much skip the sweets altogether, though I enjoy looking at them!

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  16. Looks to be a perfect afternoon English tea. I wish Americans would do more of this.
    Thanks for sharing. I can almost taste those goodies.

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  17. Christina, I'm glad you decided to do the afternoon tea. Yes, they can be a bit pricey, but very enjoyable! I attended one in Victoria, Canada and the latest one in CA. Both were wonderful! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  18. What an absolutely lovely way to spend the afternoon. Such pretty accommodations!

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    1. Parsimonious Perfection, I couldn't agree more! English Afternoon Teas are so enjoyable. Makes me want to do one at our home again...

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  19. I put this post on with a link on my Face Book page which is Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden!

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    1. Bernideen, thank you so much! That is really nice of you!

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  20. Happy Pink Saturday, Christina. I am so glad you joined us, and I hope you will be back every week.

    Your afternoon not only seems enchanting, but it sounds quite delicious, too.

    This post is being featured on my Pink Saturday post this week as "the one with the most clicks". Thank you for sharing.♥

    I set to follow you on Instagram, and I invite you to do the same for me on both Facebook and Instagram. Links are on my blog sidebar.

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