How I love an afternoon tea party.

Carrying on from yesterdays blog finding the perfect scone recipe I thought I would stay on the theme and talk about my love for afternoon tea.  As i have already mentioned Samantha and Andrew our bride and groom to-be are having this as their wedding reception and I couldn't be more excited!

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." 
Henry James 

Afternoon tea has been around since 1840 and was introduced by Anna the 7th duchess of Bedford and is now one of our favourite English traditions. It all began because the duchess got a little peckish in afternoon. The evening meal wasn't normally served in the duchesses household till around 8'oclock  at around 4'oclock in the the afternoon the duchess started to get hungry so requested that a light snack of bread and butter, cake and tea to be brought to her room. This became somewhat of a habit and soon she started inviting guests to join her for this afternoon treat and that's how the custom of afternoon tea began.




I absolutely love organising an afternoon tea party, I have organised a few in the past for birthday parties, baby shower, christening, in fact they are perfect for a number of occasions. With mothers day being nearly here why not treat your mum and give her afternoon tea. They are easy to organise and always huge success.

Menu Suggestions

A selection of Sandwiches

Cucumber and cream cheese

Roast beef and horseradish

Ham with chutney

Smoked salmon, dill and cream cheese

Egg and watercress

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A selection of cakes and desserts, not forgetting

some lovely strawberries and cream.

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Scones, clotted cream and jam

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A selection of tea's 

So if your struggling for idea's for an up and coming occasion why not spoil them and host an afternoon tea party. If you don't already have china cups and saucers you can normally find your local charity shop will have selection in for you to buy and they normally don't cost more than a few pounds for a set. Alternatively if you're thinking of a grander scale then there are lots of companies on the Internet who hire out vintage crockery for a reasonable price.