Afternoon tea review

After the very successful first meeting of our local branch of the Clandestine Cake Club, I brought home one or two (in fact, four) left-over slices of cake for my other half to sample. His little eyes lit up (ahhhhh....) when I produced the plate of ‘samples’ and within minutes I had a very happy, smiley, hubby – just like the 20 or so members and guests earlier in the evening.

The following week, we decided to go back to the Apothocoffee shop in Earls Barton to sample their Queen’s Diamond Jubilee High Tea for two. Our table had been reserved for us when we arrived and, on a cold but sunny afternoon, we sat looking out at the courtyard garden planted with early summer flowers.  We thoroughly enjoyed the dainty sandwich platter – egg and cucumber and smoked salmon and cream cheese – which had been freshly made, cut into neat triangles (with no crusts, of course) and sprinkled with mustard and cress. We were then treated to a warm scone accompanied by jam and Cornish clotted cream and, finally, we were served a champagne sorbet, which was absolutely delightful and just right at the end of a rich spread. At £8, including coffee or a pot of tea, we thought it very good value for money.

If you know someone you want to give a little treat to, I can think of no better place than to pop into this shop full of surprises beyond their market place front door.