Afternoon Tea at The Swan, Lavenham

I was really looking forward to visiting the beautiful Lavenham again and going to The Swan for the first time. The occasion was to celebrate my friends birthday and she hadn't seen either before so was looking forward to her reaction.

We tried to park in the hotel's car park at the back, but there wasn't any space but it did have enough space for us to get dropped off and enter the back entrance. This took us pretty much straight to the restaurant area.

First impressions of the hotel were good. It had a lovely olde world luxury feel about it. The restaurant was spacious and with beamed ceilings and it had a mezzanine where the pianist resides. The tables were far enough apart so that conversations could not be heard.

Upon being seated we were given menus to look through. No information or guidance was given. They have two afternoon teas - traditional (sandwiches, scones and cakes) or Gentleman's (which included savoury scones, savoury pastries and a mini hamburger). Our party ordered one of each. The tea selection was varied and included my favourite (which is rarely available) Pu'er. All of the teas were loose leafed and we each had a strainer. We were told we could have a fresh pot whenever we wanted, else it was topped up with water. 

The sandwiches fillings were very standard (ham, cucumber, smoked salmon and egg) and they arrived individually served on a plate with one of each sandwich. Woe betide if you didn't like one of them because there were no spare ones to choose from and as soon as we were finished the plates were taken with no offer for seconds. The bread I found too thick and you could not taste the fillings over the volume of butter that was added. This was disappointing.

After sandwiches a tier arrived with scones and pattiseries and another with the Gentlemen's tea where the hamburger was receiving envious eyes.
Both the sweet and savoury scones were met with approval. They were a good size and baked well. The rest was a mixed back of outstanding and not so great. On the sweet tier the standout item was the chocolate domed pattiserie, followed by a mango. macaron. The lemon cake was left by both parties as it was slightly dry and lacking in flavour. On the Gentleman's plate the hamburger came up top trumps, but the crab and mango pastry was left as the pastry was soggy and too thick.

The overall thought was that the Swan's tea had a lot of potential and moments of  brilliance. I would have been happy ro have paid a bit more to have had a combination of the best bits from the traditional and gentleman's afternoon tea. The service was generally good and it was a lovely venue.