The hotel were very accommodating on booking, being happy for us to have tea at lunchtime and my sister in law to have lunch as she didn't fancy afternoon tea.
From the moment we arrived the staff made a fuss of the birthday girl, taking her coat and calling her the birthday princess, she was so thrilled
I thought had booked for midday but in fact they were expecting us at 12.30 so we went in the bar to have a cheeky bottle of champagne (well why not ….)
Bless her she was so excited she couldn't drink anything just kept wondering when she would get her big stripy lolly (more about that later) or an everlasting gobstopper…
We were soon brought through to Butlers restaurant which is a very opulent dining room with columns, arches, mirrors and paintings on the walls red velvet chairs and white cloths on the exquisitely set tables.
After we all stood and admired for a few seconds we were seated and presented with our fizzy pop - which really did fizz on your tongue and tasted of bubble gum.
We were then given our tea choices - we were still enjoying our champagne but I did also indulge in a marvellous flowering jasmine tea - we were fascinated watching it flower in the clear glass jug. My brother had an english breakfast tea served in a beautful china teapots and the birthday girl had a lemonade.
Then we were given our tea stand and she was given her Oompa Loompa tea plate - with plenty of reassurances that anything we particularly enjoyed we could have more of.
Our first layer was a feast of fresh bread with generous fillings: honey roast ham with cheddar cheese and tomato chutney on onion bread, roast chicken with mustard mayonnaise and nibbed almonds on white bread, smoked salmon with cream cheese on brown bread, free range egg mayonnaise and watercress on basil bread, and of course cucumber and cream cheese on white bread. The Oompa Loompa Tea had Peanut butter and jam sandwiches.
We were offered some extra sandwiches so we did take them up on that - E loved the jam sandwiches and we had a few extras to share - the chicken and mustard sandwiches were my favourite. I’m always impressed when extra sandwiches are given - let alone when actually offered, so many places charge extra.
So onto the scones - fruit and chocolate chip - fabulous - crispy outside, crumbly in - the chocolate chip scones - oh my ! Served with clotted cream and strawberry jam they were a feast for the eyes and the tongue.
The oompa loompa tea also had one of each scone with jam but she was mostly excited about her green icing cupcake and the wonka bar.
The patisserie layer was a real treat - there was only one of each but we were told if there was something we liked especially to ask for more - we didn’t as were full to bursting by now.
As a final treat the staff presented my niece with an activity pack, a Chesterfield Bear and we all got our golden envelopes - to be opened next time we came back !
The only small disappointment was that she had been looking online and seen the giant lollipops on the website (see pic below) and was waiting to get one - but was cheered when she was invited to take some chewy lollies and gobstoppers they had in jars.
It was a great experience for both the adults and child - and at £36.50 per adult and £17.50 for the Oompa Loompa tea (plus 12.5% service) good value for money bearing in mind the extras that were offered. It set us up beautifully for going to see the show although we were a bit late as it was a bit of a traffic nightmare from there to the theatre - we went in a cab but had to get out and walk (run) the last bit , but good to burn off some of that sugar!
Now we just have to find time to go back before March 2017 when our Golden tickets run out !
