Afternoon Tea at Stanbrook Abbey 

You might remember me posting a few weeks ago about my Granny’s 90^th birthday, well I couldn’t decide what gift to get her so instead decided to get together with my cousins and take her out for the afternoon instead. We took her to Ellenborough Park for afternoon tea early last year and she loved it so we knew she would enjoy another afternoon tea outing.

We couldn’t decide where to go, but as we wanted to make sure it was special and I’d heard good things about Stanbrook Abbey, in Callow End, Worcestershire it was an easy choice. We were so undecided where to go that we left booking to just a few days before.

When we arrived we it was pouring with rain, as my Gran is a bit slow on her feet now we took her wheelchair with us as we were advised the tea was followed by a tour of the abbey. We were greeted at the reception with a friendly welcome and directed upstairs where we were to be served afternoon tea. Again a friendly welcome, however I was wished happy 90^th birthday and not my gran, I hope I don’t look 90!! Upon booking I advised that it was for a 90^th birthday present hoping they would be able to do something a little bit special, they do offer a champagne afternoon tea but seeing as my Gran can’t drink it wasn’t really an option for us.

There was a wide selection of teas which everyone enjoyed trying, however as I don’t drink hot drinks there wasn’t much choice for me, I was offered coke, lemonade or water, so I just stuck to the water. We were served a selection of finger sandwiches, cakes, scones and jam, all of which were lovely.

By the end of tea we were totally stuffed so we were glad of the tour to walk it off a bit. The tour was great, taken by a really friendly lady who really made the tour (unfortunately I can’t remember her name). It was interesting to see where the Nuns had been living and understand a bit about the history of the Abbey. Unfortunately my Gran has become quite hard of hearing over the years so couldn’t always follow what was being said during the tour, we were very happy to be told at the end of the tour that we could continue to take a look round so we were able to fill the bits in she had missed.

Overall I would recommend afternoon tea at Stanbrook, it offers a great experience for all in a fantastic location however I was a little disappointed that more of a fuss wasn’t made about my Gran’s 90^th birthday. I’m sure people visit regularly for birthday celebrations; when we visited Ellenborough Park for my Mum’s birthday they made a fuss of her with birthday candles in her cake etc.

If visiting, make sure you stay for the tour, it is really worth it, and the Abbey is fascinating, we didn’t have any problems getting the wheelchair about either.