#27 The HAIRY LEGS TEA

The Hairy Legs Tea – Saturday 26^th March 2016      

Holbeck Ghyll Hotel, Windermere, Cumbria £20 for Afternoon Tea

(Apologies for no photographs today. My PC has decided they were too tasty to miss and ate them all. Here is a picture of kitty cats instead.)

Another Birthday celebration for lucky me as my friend L missed my party and wanted to help me celebrate with a lovely Tea instead. L has made appearances on the blog before, she is my friend who has diabetes and fortunately manages it really well as I am always concerned that I am basically saying to her ‘Come for afternoon tea so I can kill you with cake.’ She is kind enough to demur to this and assures me that she does not view my biddings as such but I am always worried she thinks I ask her with murderous intent.

Honestly, you would not credit the weather today, cold, autumnal and grotty as anything. Surprising as it is supposed to be the start of spring here in the UK and the day before had been warm with sunshine. We rushed in, away from the spattering rain, and were greeted promptly and efficiently and shown to a table in a room full of other partakers of the Tea. Our teapot was brought swiftly before we had spotted that the room overlooked the spa facilities (with views of hairy legs and dressing gown clad persons) and had a doorway to the spa through which guests wandered from time to time amongst the refined diners. A little disconcerting to the unwary.

I am sure I said that one of us was vegetarian when I booked, but being terribly British about it I didn’t check on arrival so we were presented with a plate of sandwiches that included a ham and piccalilli one each. Oops. Just as well that L doesn’t care for smoked salmon so we swapped cheerfully. The cucumber with horseradish was the best here for me, its vinegary tang and peppery burn was nice with the blandness of the cucumber, the smoked salmon was a bit bland an under seasoned, especially as the butter was unsalted on the bread. L enjoyed her ham, it was carved off the bone and the piccalilli was nicely mustardy.

Time for a liquid top up so we asked for more tea. The first pot had been a strong afternoon blend with a kick of tannin that could have woken an army of somnambulists, our second pot of English Breakfast was much calmer and fruitier and better suited to the occasion.

Sandwich platter cleared away, a silver cake stand was ceremoniously placed in front of us and the charming waiter described our plethora of delicacies. We had five each plus a scone. A lot of choice and very well executed. I reminded L of my Cake Strategy, but with the warning that is usually back fired and provided my with a few surprises and sometimes meant we ate cake in the wrong order (ie yummiest first). There was a little discussion as to what we should have first and we agreed on the one that looked our least favourite.

Again the inevitable downfall of The Strategy for me. The hazelnut bun was a crunchy, crispy almost doughnut like bun filled with hazelnut crème pat and covered in thick dark chocolate. And it was delicious. Best of the lot for me. Next was the orange and chocolate macaron, which L described as ‘rocket fuel for diabetics’, sweet, strongly flavoured, perky outside with a chewy middle. What’s not to love in that? Up next was a buttery, crisp pastry shell filled with tart lemon curd and an enormous cloud of meringue. This was very crumbly and a bit explosive so needed a spoon to eat it with (and a knife in L’s case as she got it everywhere).

On to a rhubarb crumble topped pannacotta which was difficult to extricate from the small glass and spilled everywhere as the rhubarb fought against leaving its little hidey hole and insisted on bringing everything with it if it was to leave. It was a bit bland too, not enough rhubarb punch. Finally a triangle of Bakewell Tart that was delightful. Tart jam, sweet nutty topping and the lovely pastry again. It was L’s favourite so the Cake Strategy worked for her.

So on to the scone. Lots right with this one. Not too big. Butter, jam and clotted cream. Crumbly but not too dry and you could taste they were made using butter. A bit weirdly though the fruit seemed stuck onto the outside and there was none in the middle of the scone. How do you make that happen??

L and I lingered a fair while. Catching up, talking about old friends, discussing the uses for a pudding spoon (no, you’re right you don’t want to know). No one hurried us to finish or seemed in any rush to usher us from the premises. The service was excellent throughout, charming and helpful, and certainly a credit to the hotel.

Definitely a good way to continue celebrating my birthday.

Overall marks (out of 5 stars)

Service:                                ***1/2    Prompt and polite

Amount of Food:               ***          I ate all of mine but was not too stuffed

Quality of Food:                ***1/2    Some lovely surprises and flavours, well presented

Value for money:              ***1/2    Definitely a good value tea

Description:                       ‘I’ve just seen some VERY hairy legs’ ‘Lovely variety of cakes’

Their website is here  http://www.holbeckghyll.com/

They are on Trip Advisor here www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186330-d193914-Reviews-Holbeck_Ghyll_Country_House-Windermere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html    and they are on Facebook and Twitter.

 

And my suggested track for today’s tea is www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-TSXC2ut9o (but please don’t feel you have to listen to all 2 hours of it).