Vintage Tea 2 You, Eastcote House Gardens

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Posted 2012-08-13 by Sandra Lawson ⇒ follow

There might be an awful lot of coffee in Brazil, but the Tea Council estimates that we Brits drink 165 million cups of tea a day. Several hundred of these are drunk on the second Sunday of every month at Eastcote House Gardens where Vintage Tea 2 You brews up for the refreshment of local visitors. Tea is served from bone china cups; I'll swear it tastes much better that way, and there is not a mug in sight. To accompany your afternoon beverage, which can be coffee if you prefer, there is a choice of home-made cakes and scones or giant cookies. If we're lucky enough to have some fine weather and you would rather something a little colder, there is traditional lemonade and ice cream too.

Vintage Tea 2 You also offers outside catering for special occasions or corporate events and can supply all the extras such as balloons, banners and bunting, or they can organise their Vintage Stall, a mobile tea room that can be hired for fetes and events.

Whilst in the Gardens you can take the opportunity to enjoy the walled garden and its dovecot, which are believed to date back to the seventeenth century. You can also view the outside of the House's original stables, which are in dire need of restoration. All three of these structures are Grade II listed.

Sadly the House itself was demolished in 1964. There has been a building on the site since at least the fifteenth century, and the Hawtrey family, who occupied it from 1525, can trace their ancestors back to the Norman Conquest. William de Alta Ripa (Haute Rives) fought at the 1066 Battle of Hastings and his name is recorded on the battle roll. The father of Rauffe Hawtrey, the first member of the family to live in the House, was the owner of Chequers, the country retreat of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I wonder if David Cameron is aware of that fact?

Genteel afternoon tea and a spot of local history. What more could you want?