Cream Tea Sunday - Rosemoor Kitchen Farnham

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - sorry we've been missing for a while....we've had the worst Internet access over the last month (to be honest it's been hideous since last September, but the last month has been even worse than usual)….but we're back and we've got an awesome looking scone to share with  today!

Rosemoor Kitchen has recently opened on Downing Street in Farnham (Surrey), its a relaxed café offering a good range of breakfasts and lunches. To be honest I'm a bit of an addict....I love their poached eggs for breakfast and have managed to drag loads of people to sample the menu since they opened!

The café is small, but has a wonderful atmosphere and great service. The furniture is comfy and practical...watch out for the beautiful covering on the seats at the back (my favourite place to watch the world go by!). If you arrive before 12pm you can order off the well put together breakfast menu....today I added a sausage to my usual poached eggs and Lorna enjoyed French toast with crispy bacon and lots of syrup!

But enough about those wonderful eggs...you're not here for eggs....you're here for scones! 

I was pleasantly surprised when I realised there was another menu available, apart from breakfast and lunch.....yes, there is a cake menu! And on the cake menu we found their cream tea for two....

The cream tea includes two large scones, a pot of mixed berry jam, a pot of cream and a large pot of tea. You can pick your favourite tea from the tea menu, on this occasion we opted for the green tea.

The scones are served warm and the servings are all so generous, you will not run out of cream! The mixed berry jam is a little tart, but its still enjoyable. The scone was well baked and perfect for piling on the cream and jam!

The cream tea for two costs just £8.50, which I think is excellent value. We both got over two cups of tea from that giant pot and were full from the scones. The service at Rosemoor Kitchen is friendly and warm, even when its really busy the team are smiling and attentive to all tables. 

If you happen to be in the Farnham area, I would highly recommend popping by. As well as breakfast and scones I can also vouch for their wonderful burger on the lunch menu, which our mum enjoyed recently! I'll definitely be going back again to work my way through the menu.

To find out more about the Rosemoor Kitchen pop by their Facebook Page

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna

Time for........a Cream Tea in the Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa, Chester

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - I hope you're well today.

This week I spent at night at the Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa in Chester as part of a work event. I arrived at the hotel late afternoon and decided to indulge in a scone as I caught up on some work emails so I headed to Ciro’s Brasserie.

Ciro's Brasserie is a Mediterranean style restaurant, which serves food throughout the day. The Mediterranean style extends to the decor and feel, think lots of warm tones and stonework....

Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa

As well as the full afternoon tea I was pleased to see a cream tea on offer, as well as a good tea selection. I plumped for the cream tea, which cost £7.95 for a pot of tea and tea scones. After a confusing start which saw me with a cup of green tea instead of a cream tea I was very pleased when everything was served.....

Cream tea - Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa

The scones were huge! This probably could serve two people, although you would need more tea. You also got a serving of clotted cream and a great selection of jams and preserves....

As well as traditional strawberry jam you also had raspberry and blackcurrant varieties, plus honey and marmalade - really something for everyone there.

And just how cute is that carousel?!

The scones were both fruit ones and were served warm.

Cream Tea - Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa

The texture and flavour of the scones were good - no clagginess to report here at all!

All in all this was a lovely afternoon treat and I would love to return to try out the full afternoon tea experience. It was late afternoon when I arrived and there weren't many other guests around, but the restaurant still felt warm and welcoming. The staff were all friendly and service was quick.

Cream Tea - Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Scones, scones, scones everywhere!

Hello there Afternoon Tea Lovers!

I hope you're well today and had a lovely Christmas! Happy New Year too!

Wow - it's been a while! Sorry we've been missing since November! Technical issues and not enough hours in the day both contributed to us not sharing any tea posts.....to be honest we haven't had that many scones either - shocking I know!

Well all that is going to change.....in fact in the last three days I've managed to eat three scones to make up for things!

First off I enjoyed a scone at home....

So, this lovely scone is an all butter and sultana scone from Tescos.....it's one of their posh scones (Finest range), sold in packs of 4 for £1.50. 

I was impressed by the rise of the scone.....

I was a little sad that no delicious scone aroma hit me as I opened the packaging and wondered whether my first scone of 2017 should have been a shop bought one. However, when I cut into the scone I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of sultanas I could see (this is not the best photo of the sultanas....there were lots honest!)....

I topped my scone with clotted cream from Langage Farm (bought at Tescos in Aldershot), made with Jersey and Guernsey milk.

I haven't come across this clotted cream in the shops before and enjoyed the creamy texture. I'd definitely buy it again.

Finally I topped my scone with greengage preserve from Tescos, which was sweet and tangy. I love greengages in the summer (you can usually only get them for a short time in August), the preserve wasn't quite the same but I enjoyed it just the same!

All in all this was a tea-riffic start to 2017!

Obviously this scone reminded me how much I love cream teas.....and so the next day I headed off to Marks & Spencers in Camberley with the lovely Alex and enjoyed another scone! 

This was another good sized scone, again full of sultanas. I enjoyed this scone with clotted cream and a summer berry jam from M&S.....all washed down with a pot of tea! Lovely!

Finally, today I decided I might as well eat another of the Tesco scones I had at home before they went stale! This time I had two different toppings....

That's a wonderful pineapple preserve on one half and a passion fruit curd on the other half.....I was clearly in a tropical mood today! Again, I washed my scone down with tea....some wonderful Lady Grey from Twinnings.

And now I'm off to the gym to try and work off some of those calories! Ha, ha!

We're looking forward to sharing lots more tea, cake and scones with you in 2017 and we look forward to seeing what afternoon tea adventures you have been on! 

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

The Sunday Scone Review - The Good Taste Bakery

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - we hope you're well today.

It's another Sunday....so it's time to sit back and read about the latest scone that we've been trying out! This week we have a scone from The Good Taste Bakery, which I bought recently from a local garden centre along with some Dorset clotted cream and a jar of pineapple jam....

The Sunday Scone review with The Good Taste Bakery

Not heard of The Good Taste Bakery before? Well, Good Taste is an independent business, celebrating its first 20 years next year, which is owner-managed by Master Baker, Dean Wilsher, and Head of Confectionery, Debbie Wilsher. They currently produce over 40 different breads and rolls, and are committed to combining high quality ingredients with traditional craft baking skills, and twenty first century technology.

They aim to produce bread that tastes good, lasts well, is as healthy as possible – and is good value. The Good Taste Bakery is a modern, high tech space near Camberley, Surrey that is home to an impressive array of talented and proud bakers, each with their own specialities. And an interesting fact is that every single item they produce is made by hand!

So....what's their scones like I hear you say?

Well, as you can see I bought the fruity ones and I was pleased to see they had been generous with their sultanas. The scones were a good size and cut easily. 

The cream spread easily too, giving me a good base for the jam ...

The flavour of the scones were sweet, but not overly sweet - they let the flavours of the cream and the jam shine through. The texture was great too - not at all claggy. There were also only two in the pack, which I thought was great as nothing went to waste.

I also wanted to give a mention to the jam....

This is my new favourite discovery....its sweet, fruity and very tropical! The flavour is a true pineapple flavour and despite being sweet, didn't taste artificial. It also has small, delicious chunks of pineapple in the jam. It went really well with the clotted cream.....and also tastes great swirled in plain yogurt. I think its safe to say that I love this jam!!

All in all I was very pleased with these discoveries, the scones were tasty and made a great base for the cream and jam. I also loved that you buy these in packs of two - great for smaller households or if you just fancy one or two scones. If you happen to see these in a local shop I'd definitely recommend giving them a try. 

If anyone else has tried this jam and has a different way of enjoying it please can you let me know! I'd love to hear from you!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel