Trying Out The New Afternoon Tea At Fairways At Chevin Golf Club
Published On Thursday 11 Sep 2025 by Sticky Beak
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There are Afternoon Teas…and then there are the ones served at Fairways at Chevin Golf Club in Duffield. It has been an absolute joy to savour each Afternoon Tea that we’ve had at Fairways over the years, and an honour to know both Hollie and Tom for this time, too. However, things change, as they must, and Tom felt a bit of a zhuzh was needed for his magnificent stands of yumminess.
We were [more than willing] guinea-pigs for the all-new, Afternoon Tea V2.0 (coming in 2026), and what better occasion to do it than Mummy Birds landmark birthday? His Nibs did insist on one little tweak though; the Scotch Egg had to be added on to our stand! (FYI, the Scotch Egg will be a permanent fixture on the re-launched Afternoon Tea, we just got confirmation!). Given the addition of The Beau to The Flock, there was now five of us so Tom said that he’d just do an extra round of sandwiches, as there would enough of the other tea items to go around…and he wasn’t wrong!
However, the first task was to order a bottle of fizz and toast the birthday girl. The lovely ladies that were serving us took our orders for tea or coffee and brought out a large bottle of chilled water for the table as well. Now, we knew that the Afternoon Tea stands are pretty sizeable at Fairways, but I reckon Hollie and Tom have had them standing in miracle grow – they were massive. Best we put our shoulders back and crack on then, eh?!
The finger sandwiches were served on pastel green Spinach Bread or rosy Sundried Tomato Bread, both of which were tasty in their own rights. There is a nice variety of fillings: Coronation Chicken (which certainly has a ‘ping’ to it), Egg and Cress, Smoked Salmon, Cucumber, Dill and Lemon Cream Cheese, and Feta, rocket, Pesto, and Sundried Tomato. No-one is going to ever say that the sandwiches at Fairways aren’t fully loaded, let me tell you, and each one was absolutely bursting with taste. These were presented on a wooden board, partnered with the marvellously moreish [warm] Cheddar and Parmesan Scones, that came with individually wrapped portions of butter.
Other savouries served to us were: bowls of Roasted Root Vegetable Crisps, slices of Ploughman’s Pork Pies, and toasted Sesame Seed-topped Caramelised Onion Sausage Rolls. Everything is homemade, and you can certainly tell – the quality just shines through. Within our group, there were members who didn’t like Salmon or didn’t ‘do’ Coronation Chicken, but we all shuffled and swapped things around, and the same happened with the savouries. The great thing is that, when there’s so much choice and volume of food, no-one is going to feel that they’ve missed out. As it was, we had to leave some of the morsels, just to be able to tackle the spread of Cakes, Mousse and Cheesecake – oh, and a Fruited Scone with Clotted Cream and Strawberry jam.
Before the sweet selection though, there were the miniature Chocolate Milkshakes and Lemon coolers to savour; these were a lovely ‘bridge’ between the sweet and savoury elements of the Afternoon Tea. Rather swankily, the milkshakes had been served with a decorative drizzle of sauce inside the glass and bore the Fairways logo. In shot glasses was a tart Lemon Cooler that cleansed the palates beautifully and, refreshed, we turned our attention to the other stands.
Since I can remember, I‘ve loved Battenburg Cake, both in terms of taste and looks. Tom’s offering was marvellously moist, with its squares of yellow and pink arranged in precise opposition to each other and then snuggly contained within a layer of Almondy Marzipan. Mummy Bird was bowled over by this minx as well.
Tom’s signature fruit mousses were stunningly represented in their Strawberry form, perfectly arranged on little gold boards and decorated with Blue Poppy Seeds to look just like the real thing. Equally dinky were the individual, mini Raspberry Cheesecakes; whilst this may be in miniature form, it was full size in its flavour, and again decorated with a little edible disc bearing the Fairway logo. Macarons made an appearance and were gorgeously chewy under a lightly crisp shell; these were pastel green in colour and had a gentle Pistachio flavour. I do like to see Macarons on an Afternoon Tea stand; they’re a morsel that always hits the spot, for me. We all remarked on the softness of the scorched Meringue top of the Lemon Drizzle Cake, and the decorative Pollen and Petal surface of the irresistible Honey and Bergamot Cake. Both sponges were gloriously light and airy, and the Carrot Cake had shreds of sweet Carrot in it to make it a hat-trick of cake moistness.
Don’t ask me why, but we have always saved the Fruit Scones until the very last; it has nothing to do with the fact we like them any less but more, I suspect, to do with the ease that they can be packaged up to take home if the need arises! It wasn’t just these treasures that got popped into tubs to enjoy at our leisure: Sausage Roll Pork Pie and Scotch Egg also needed to be brought away with us, and trust me, it wasn’t for lack of trying to eat everything.
The Afternoon Tea stand is priced at £46.95 per couple and, if like us, you have a party with an odd number of people in, it’s easy enough for the Fairways team to do ‘add-on’s’ at the relative cost. Oh, I should just mention that all the cakes were Gluten-free, in case you needed to know. If you have any allergies or dietary requirements, please mention this to the team when you book your Afternoon Tea.
Hot Wings happily given to Chef Tom again, and thanks to Hollie and the service team at Fairways at Chevin Golf Club in Duffield. We had wanted for nothing, and Mummy Bird felt like a Queen.
To book an Afternoon Tea, call 01332 841864 – it’ll be the best call you’ll make! Fairways is open Tues-Fri 9am-5pm, Saturday-Sunday 8am-5pm. The Afternoon Teas are not served on Sunday, just so that you’re aware. To view current menus, visit www.chevingolf.co.uk
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