Time for Tea....Frensham Garden Centre

Hello there,

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

Last weekend Alex and I decided to visit another local garden centre in the Farnham area to try their afternoon tea. For this afternoon tea adventure we decided to pay Frensham Garden Centres a visit, as they have a tea room and restaurant located outside with the plants....

When we arrived at the tea room we were shown to a corner table that had been reserved for us and we were asked what we wanted to drink before the afternoon tea stand was brought out. The afternoon tea consists of a stand featuring sandwiches, scones and cakes for two and your choice of a cup of coffee or a pot of tea. 

When I called to book the tea I was asked if I had a sandwich filling preference, and I opted to go with the standard fillings that are served - this included:

cucumber

egg mayonnaise

salmon

ham

The sandwiches were all fresh, crustless and well filled. I also liked the addition of fresh cherry tomato and rocket.

Next we moved onto the scones. There were two large scones on the stand, which were served with clotted cream and preserve....

Alex was very pleased to see that we each had a pot of cream!

The scones looked rather "robust", but when we cut into them they were baked well and not too tough! We had two pots of jam, one strawberry and one raspberry.

Finally we moved onto the selection of cakes and pastries....

We were spoilt for choice with the selection, which included a piece of Victoria sponge, a piece of lemon drizzle cake, an eclair and a millefeuille.

All the cakes were fresh and tasty, but the lemon drizzle was my favourite, which full of flavour.

All in all this was a scrummy afternoon tea. 

You didn't get any additional food or drink refills - but at £19.95 for two this is great value. Everything was fresh and tasty and we didn't leave hungry!

As this is a small garden centre tea room you need to call in advance and book a table if you want to enjoy the full afternoon tea experience. Otherwise you can just pop by and enjoy a piece of cake from the selection on offer.

Do you have a local garden centre or tea room that offers a brilliant afternoon tea? We'd love to hear from you if have - please drop us a line!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel

Time for Tea....Forest Lodge Garden Centre, Farnham

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends, last weekend I found myself wandering around a local garden centre with no plans (shocking I know). The garden centre is called Forest Lodge and as I walked through the various departments I spied the restaurant - it was one of those typical garden centre self-service affairs catering for breakfast, lunch and tea.

As I got closer I saw a stand near the front that grabbed my attention - on it was a huge pile of scones and a sign advertising a cream tea for one for just £2.99! The cream tea included a pot of tea, a giant scone, a pot of cream and a mini jar of jam. All this for £2.99 - I had to try for myself!

Cream Tea for One - Forest Lodge Garden Centre, Farnham

Just look at the size of that scone!

The teapot, although giant too, held just two cups of tea - so no need to worry about a caffeine overdose. In fact the two cups were just right to enjoy the scone with. You could pick your tea from a small tea menu - I went for a standard breakfast tea.

The servings of clotted and jam were also the right size and I was pleased to see that you could chose your jam from a selection of varieties - I opted for raspberry.

Roddas clotted cream and Wilkin & Sons jam 

I was a little concerned that the scone would either be dry or not quite baked properly in the middle due to it's size - however I was pleasantly surprised! The scone was well baked and rather scrummy!

In fact the whole cream tea was a real bargain for just £2.99 and I even managed to get a seat by the window so I was overlooking all the plants outside. The fact that you can chose your tea and jam means you can enjoy a personalised cream tea, which I think is fab!

Scones dressed the Tea With Me and Friends way - cream first!

If you happen to be in the Farnham area in Surrey I would highly recommend you pop by! For more information about the restaurant opening times pop by the Forest  Lodge website.

On my way back out I also noticed that they also offer a full afternoon tea - so I think I will be popping back soon for the full experience!

Have you enjoyed a scone in a garden centre - what was it like? We'd love to hear from you, why not leave us a comment below!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel