Hemel Hempstead Road
Redbourn
St Albans
Hertfordshire
AL3 7AF
23rd August 2016
Well this was my mums 81st birthday treat - she had NEVER had a proper afternoon tea , and it turned out , neither had my 94 year old aunt or 98 year old uncle …. Well that really did need addressing. The challenge was finding a nice enough place, local to us in Hertfordshire with excellent wheelchair access and not too pricey as they may not eat much.
I had driven past the hotel and even gone to a works Christmas party there when it was a Ramada but it has fairly recently been under new management and is now independently run so we felt it was time to check it out .
I visited a few weeks before to book and check out the disabled access and the guy on reception couldn’t have been more helpful - 81st birthday, wheelchair, 2 vegetarians etc etc - nothing was an issue and they said they also said they would give us a table in the window overlooking the gardens.
Sure enough when we arrived to the bar area the table was beautifully set with white linen, in the window as promised overlooking the lovely gardens.
I ordered a cheeky G and T to start me off whilst mum had a cappuccino as we waited for my aunt and uncle. Sadly I didn't manage to take fabulous photos as was hosting but think I caught the flavour of the afternoon.
Once they arrived they were quick to serve and offer tea, coffee etc and bring the cake and sandwich stand.
Very good sandwiches, crusts off, mix of brown and white bread and generously filled with traditional fillings - Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese, Cucumber, Egg Mayonnaise, Ham & Mustard and Cheese & Pickle. It was so nice to see everyone tucking in!
The scones were a choice of fruit or plain (not, we suspected, home made as a little bit too symmetrical and identical but nonetheless very light and fluffy so were forgiven !) with lashings of cream and jam.
Our cakes were a Strawberry Tart, a cream and jam shortbread sandwichy thing and a Chocolate Eclair - again probably bought in and possibly even frozen but were very delicious little morsels. It’s a small hotel and we were the only people there taking tea so can't expect them to have a full time patisserie chef !
We couldn't fault the service - staff stayed out of the way but very easy to catch the eye of a member of staff if cuppa needed topping up, and when an extra two members of the family came along later there was no problem them about them having a couple of pints and finishing off our scones.
At £16.95 per person it was very reasonable - we sat for a couple of hours, were all full to bursting and the service was excellent . We never felt rushed or as if they wanted us to vacate the table . The fact that there was a few of us in our party was good - if it was just two of us might have felt a bit lost with no one else there.
I do hope they will manage to build up their reputation and get more customers, we were there on a August Tuesday afternoon.
One thing that would have been nice would have been if they had made a thing of mum’s birthday - often one gets a little cake with a candle or something - they did know when I booked it, even asked if it was for an occasion, so a bit of shame it wasn't acknowledged by the staff.
It was a very traditional afternoon tea so perhaps something a little bit quirky or memorable might help to make it stand out .
I did notice that they are now offering a rather delicious looking festive afternoon tea - with some interesting sandwiches and cakes on offer and cinnamon dusted scones … mmm . I would say it's definitely worth a try if you are looking for gift ideas and live locally - and if you have elderly relatives they couldn’t have been nicer or kinder to my Mum, Aunt and Uncle.
http://www.aubreypark.co.uk/offers/eating/item/59-festive-afternoon-tea  |
| There we are ! |
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