Over the years I have been lucky enough to enjoy a number of lovely afternoon teas in old school houses, chain bars and even, for my best friend’s 21st birthday, The Ritz in London.
While I was a student I also worked in a hotel which sold the famous British fayre in their seafront bar. During the time I worked there I dished out traditional afternoon teas and a variety of specialist ones for Christmas and Valentines Day.
However, I had never, ever seen a Halloween-themed afternoon tea which is what lead me to get in touch with Blenheim Palace about theirs.
On Saturday October 23 I visited the Palace’s Searcys-run brasserie, The Orangery, to see what their Halloween themed afternoon tea was all about.
The bright, open and quintessentially English style of The Orangery felt quite at odds with the very idea of an Halloween-themed afternoon tea – which could be American-ised and gimmicky.
Although, the room was adorned with pumpkins and other autumnal-coloured squashes that certainly made the space feel cosy and seasonal.
The afternoon tea arrived beautifully (or shall I say boo-tifully?) presented on a three-tier afternoon tea stand. However, nothing immediately signalled to me that this was Halloween themed and in any other situation I would have just assumed it was a normal afternoon tea.
The savoury nibbles included Swiss rarebit, smoked salmon and caviar muffin, devilled eggs, a mini chicken and mushroom pie and a cucumber and cream cheese finger sandwich.
Now, an afternoon tea would be nothing without the scones and these buttermilk plain and fruit scones were complimented by traditional clotted cream and Galloway strawberry jam.
The sweet treats (emphasis on the sweet) included passion fruit éclair, caramel craquelin, chocolate yuzu tart and ‘Salim’s bonnet’.
You could enjoy the afternoon tea with a range of loose leaf teas including earl grey, peppermint and rose and raspberry. I, however, went for a classic English breakfast tea.
If you wanted to enjoy it with something a little harder, then there are two Halloween-themed cocktails to choose from: Eyeball punch (Amaretto, Frangelico and white chocolate) and Blenheim potion (Anice-infused gin, Campari and Martini).
For the kids, the menu sounded absolutely adorable and definitely more what I would imagine an Halloween-themed afternoon tea would be. However, because I am 25 and unfortunately not considered a child anymore, I was unable to try this one.
The starters were comprised of devilled eggs, cheesy popcorn brains and sausage ‘mummy dippers with blood’.
Like the adults menu, the children’s one also includes scones, jam and cream.
The children’s sweets options sounded like they were created by someone who definitely likes Halloween and included a ghost gingerbread biscuit, twit-twoo owl cupcake, milk chocolate waffle witch hat and spooks eye ball jelly.
While the adult afternoon tea was not as creepy and kooky as I would have imagined I cannot deny it was absolutely delicious.
The sandwiches were rich and filling while the cakes were exceptionally indulgent, creamy and for the passionfruit tart, the perfect mix of sweet and tangy.
The mini chicken and mushroom pie was a personal favourite and I definitely could have eaten a full sized version of it happily.
As I walked back up the long driveway from the Palace to the main road, I honestly felt like someone should be rolling me.
While Blenheim Palace’s Halloween afternoon tea (the adult one at least) could have been more spook-tacular, the taste was undeniably spectacular.
Blenheim Palace’s Halloween afternoon tea runs from October 22 to 31.
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