The Hasty Tea – Sunday 25th October 2015
World of Beatrix Potter Café, Bowness-on-Windermere, £8.75 for High Tea
A day trip out and an unexpected afternoon tea, so my back up notebook came into play. The first Sunday of half term and had my little pal ‘The Whirlwind’ for the day and in the absence of my Big Lad to entertain him I roped in the services of The Bird and off we went to the World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness. After a mercurial sprint round the museum we got to the well stocked gift shop and finally the charming little tea room.
You don’t have to pay to go in the museum to go to the tea room, which is light, cheery and decorated appropriately enough with potter-esque art work and little woodland creatures. It is also spacious enough for its core clientele many of whom have buggies and tiny persons in tow and the delicate tinkly tunes piped in really set the scene. Neither The Bird or The Whirlwind joined me in my tea and had other ideas about what was being eaten.
The friendly counter service was helpful and our drinks presented immediately, and barely had I sat at the table and dished out thirst-quenchers to the team when the food started arriving. Very speedy indeed. The Bird’s baked potato was a particular whopper and loaded with fresh salads which she quickly removed to another plate as it is obviously full of vegetables and therefore a plot to poison her.
What a dinky little cake stand arrived for me! Just the right size for one person. Loved it. By this time the Whirlwind had lived up to his name and finished his jammy sandwich so I tucked in with speed and gusto to try and catch up. Four quarters of sandwiches were fresh and with lots of lovely (non-poisonous) salad. Cheese and ham were the offerings, I could have kicked myself for not saying no meat so I improvised and whipped out the ham and refilled with the Bird’s discarded salad. Excellent substitution.
Two pretty cakes were next, both fresh and tasting homemade. A little sponge bun was prettily decorated and tasted like my nana used to make (a good thing!), and a chocolate brownie finger which was too cakey and not squishy enough for my liking but had a lovely flavour.
Finally a dinky little plain scone with jam and clotted cream. Just the right amount of scone in my opinion for an afternoon tea and I would have liked to go and ask for butter but the Whirlwind was chomping at the bit to be off so I made my otherwise fat scone and tucked in. It was fresh, warm, and very nice indeed.
Would have been perfect with butter.
There was just enough tea in the pot for this Tea in a rush but I feel I would have been back for more if I wasn’t being charmingly persuaded to go and look at the leaflet display.
A jolly good effort for the price and in that location, and just the right amount for the haste we were apparently in to go and get an ice cream and see the swans. Not one to sit and linger and nibble and chat over I feel, but a good choice for a treat on a budget, and obviously put together in this way to suit a bustling café environment.
Overall marks (out of 5 stars)
Service: *** Friendly and prompt café style service
Amount of Food: *** A small size tea but perfect on this occasion
Quality of Food: *** Nice home baking and lovely salad
Value for money: *** For the tourist trap area it is within a good effort
Description: ‘Nicely presented and a welcoming approach’
Their website is here http://www.hop-skip-jump.com/plan-your-visit/tea-room/
They are on Trip Advisor http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g190820-d2696096-Reviews-Beatrix_Potter_Tea_Room-Bowness_on_Windermere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html they are also on Facebook and Twitter
And my suggested track for today’s tea is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILfWjynyn1A
helenwedgwood 