Time for Tea....and some crafts with Kirstie Allsopp

Hello there,

Welcome back to another afternoon tea post from Tea With Me and Friends, this time I want to share with you a rather special afternoon tea experience that I and Becca recently enjoyed.

As well as afternoon tea, I am also quite passionate about my crafts as is my friend Becca, and so when we saw that Kirstie Allsopp was hosting a craft fair, called The Handmade Fair, we knew we had to go along. The motto of the fair is "Everyone has a craft they can do!" which is something I agree with...you've just got to experiment and find the craft which you enjoy!

When we looked at the tickets available we saw a VIP experience, which included afternoon tea which Kirstie Allsopp would attend.....I think you all know where this is going...yes, we needed VIP tickets!! As well as the tea, there was a VIP lounge with free flowing tea served in china tea cups all day, a goodie bag and priority seating in some of the theatres. 

I was a little sceptical about the actual afternoon tea, knowing that it would be a mass-produced affair, but I'm pleased to report that I was pleasantly surprised by the afternoon tea. We enjoyed a traditional offering of sandwiches, scones and cakes, all washed down with tea and served on China.

Afternoon Tea
The Handmade Fair

The tea was served in the VIP lounge which was beautifully decorated with simple flowers in glass vases. When we sat down at the tables we found trays of sandwiches, and cake stands full of the sweet treats and scones. 

The sandwiches might not have been traditional finger sandwiches, and there were definitely crusts still attached.....but the bread was very fresh, as were the fillings. We could pick from cucumber, egg mayonnaise, salmon and cream cheese and ham. As you can see the fillings were generous....

Afternoon tea sandwiches
The Handmade Fair

The scones were on the large size - Becca and I shared one between us. 

Again, they were fresh and not at all claggy. They were served with strawberry jam and Rodda's clotted cream....

Afternoon tea scones
The Handmade Fair

There wasn't a huge variety of sweet treats on the top tier of the cake stand...we had macaroons and lemon drizzle cake to pick from, but there was a nice selection of different macaroons to tempt us....

Afternoon tea treats
The Handmade Fair

I really enjoyed the lemon drizzle cake, which looked a little dry but actually tasted quite wonderful. The macaroons were also lovely, with a crispy shell and quite gooey in the middle!

However, the best bit of the tea was to come.....as Kirstie joined the room about half way through. She spent time talking to us as a group, then she opened the floor out to questions....and guess what....yes I actually got to ask Kirstie a question!

Talking scones with Kirstie Allsop

I was given a microphone and amazed myself at how eloquent I managed to be considering I was talking to my crafty idol! Can anyone guess what I asked....I steered clear of craft all together...and asked her whether she was a cream or jam first lady!

Now, who can guess what Kirstie answered.....I am pleased to report that she is a cream first kinda lady, the cream being the base of the scone with jam on top! As you can imagine I was very pleased to hear that!

Scones - the Kirstie way!

All in all we had a fantastic time at the Handmade Fair and really enjoyed the VIP experience - it was great to have a lounge to escape to when we were planning what to do next. Plus having free flowing tea on tap was rather nice!

We learnt a lot in the workshops, spent our pennies in the shopping villages and thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon tea. Asking Kirstie my scone question was the highlight of the day and it's just a shame that this wasn't recorded. I'll definitely buy a ticket for next year's show!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel