Afternoon tea - a touch of old world elegance and often with a hefty price tag!

In Sheffield there are many establishments offering a return to a bygone age of elegance with three-tiered cake stands, delicate sandwiches and scones with cream and jam. It’s a new slant on ‘ladies who lunch’ and possibly a bit more sophisticated than just meeting up for a drink in a bar!

It’s also become the ‘in’ thing for celebrating birthdays for people of ‘a certain age’ as it seems that having an afternoon tea party can mean that you get home before its dark. A real consideration for pensioners!

Henry James famously said: “There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” The popular author, famous for books like ‘Portrait of a Lady’ was certainly there at its start.

Although tea drinking was something enjoyed by King Charles II in the 1600s, it wasn’t until the mid-19th century that afternoon tea was introduced in England amongst the upper classes. Ann, the seventh Duchess of Bedford was said to have got hungry around four o’clock in the afternoon. She asked if she could have bread, butter and cake brought to her room. Eventually asking friends to join her. Afternoon tea became a smart social occasion in elite circles with women changing into long dresses, gloves, and hats.

London’s café society soon embraced the idea with establishments like the ‘Café Royal’ welcoming guest like Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Noel Coward, and DH Lawrence.

Traditional afternoon tea consists of a selection of dainty sandwiches. These include thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches, scones served with clotted cream and preserves, cakes, pastries and quality tea which should be served into bone china cups. Builder’s tea or mugs simply do not fit the elegant image. There has always been an afternoon tea etiquette and extending the little finger when drinking from the cup is actually not permissible in the best of circles.

It seems it is best to put milk first into the cup as, if you were using a bone china cup of inferior quality, the hot water could crack it!! The argument of milk first or last sorted!

Possibly the best known and quintessentially British purveyor of the elegant meal in between meals, has been Bettys Tearooms in Harrogate which has celebrated the centenary of its opening, and whose elegant Belmont Room offers a selection of fine teas, traditional and inventive savouries, and cakes, served on a silver three-tiered stand, accompanied by delicate Royal Crown Derby. The touch of opulence is accentuated by the classical pianist in a corner of the room, and of course it does come with a hefty price!

You can book afternoon teas with style if visiting London where for old world opulence there is The Dorchester Hotel with amazing floral displays and a doggy bag provided.

Travel through the British countryside on the Northern Belle, sister train to the Orient Express, enjoying the elegance of a bygone age. Have a Salon Couture High Tea at the Savoy Hotel whilst watching a fashion show. Or enjoy a ‘Hound of the Baskerville’ sandwich with roast beef and mustard and a cigar made from caramel mousse at a Sherlock Holmes afternoon tea.

And in the West Country, you will find afternoon teas in abundance with every part of Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, and Somerset all claiming to provide the best cream teas.