I was intrigued about having tea at The Crazy Bear in Stadhampton having heard so much about it over the years.

On arrival, we found our way into the restaurant and were offered a glass of Champagne at the bar but as we were tight for time we went straight to the table.

My friend was on driving duty so she chose a non-alchohol Bellini, which she said was delicious, while I had the bubbly and we shared a big bottle of sparkling water.

Our three-tier tea then arrived but being a numpty I had forgotten to say that my friend was vegetarian.

Without hesitation our waiter zoomed away and a plate of veggie options appeared.

The sandwiches were seriously good and were on really nice bread.

For instance the home-smoked salmon (smoked up the lane in their own farm shop smokery) and cream cheese had little bits of beetroot in the bread, while the ham hock, coronation chicken and egg mayonnaise were all presented beautifully in a tear-drop shape.

There was an excellent variety of tea to drink so we chose the Golden Needle to enjoy with the scones.

There were plain and fruit scones that we shared – but both varieties were a bit heavy and even with the clotted cream and jam served in its pot a tad disappointing.

The pretty selection of cakes were also a mixed bag, some were in duplicate and had to be cut in half, others such as the carrot cake were a bit dry and the lemon drizzle disappointing.

However, others were really yummy – the lime cheesecake in particular was delicious as was the salted caramel pistachio.

The cupcake with black/silver icing was also soft and tasty.

We were very well looked after and had friendly attentive service and so the few hours we spent at the Crazy Bear were most enjoyable.

Perhaps they need to concentrate instead on the consistency.

Afternoon Tea £29.50 n Champagne Afternoon Tea £39.50
Crazy Bear, Bear Lane, Stadhampton, Oxford