I reckon that if you go somewhere and it’s pretty breath-taking on a grey, wet day, then it’s going to be spectacular in the sun or on a crisp autumn or winter day. The Man and I were very kindly invited along to have Afternoon Tea at Renishaw Hall by their Operations Manager, Carrie-Anne, which was awesome. It then became a ‘why don’t you come and have a look around the gardens and also do the tour of the Hall’ invite – I nearly choked on my cuppa in excitement! It had been gloriously sunny for the previous ‘X’ amount of weeks: ‘Flaming August’ was the new ‘Flaming June’, it seemed…except on the day of our visit when it chose to tip it down. Cheers, Mother Nature – not!
Given the inclement weather, we grabbed a parking spot really close to the entrance, although it is worth saying that there isn’t a lack of parking anyway, so if you visit on a busy day you’ll still be good. Carrie-Anne was busy when we first arrived, so her colleague Katrina gave us our visitor passes for the house tour and a map of the extensive gardens. We had arrived way ahead of our tour time-slot, so we headed off, armed with umbrellas borrowed from Mummy Bird, into the gardens of Renishaw Hall, which has been home to the Sitwell Family for centuries.
You know a place is big when there’s a map depicting all the different areas of the Italianate garden! Despite leaving plenty of time, His Nibs and I didn’t manage to cover Lady Ida’s Walk, The Woodside, The Wilderness and Classic Temple or The New Woodland Garden! Oh well, it’s a fab reason to revisit. What we did see was absolutely breath-taking (despite the awful weather having dashed a lot of the plants) and there was still an incredible display of colour and variety on show and, of course, there are all the magnificent statues, The Swimming Pool (complete with fountain – how bougie??!), The Secret Garden and The Flag Walk amongst other things, to enjoy. Looking back up from the stone steps near the swimming pool, towards the house, you get an impressive view of Renishaw Hall and its main entrance.
We headed back to the entrance 5 minutes before our house tour was due to begin and our guide, Margaret, was already there, along with her colleague, Anne, whose job on busy tours is to ensure no-one gets left behind. As it was, there was a half-dozen of us, including a couple from New Jersey in the USA - crazy to think that Renishaw Hall (an inhabited family home, still) is older than the whole history of their country! Like most aristocratic families, especially British ones, the Sitwells have had their fair share of eccentrics and drama in their past, and Margaret enthused us with her tales and details of the antiquities in the rooms we meandered through. What a fantastic way to spend an hour. I won’t spoil the details for you all, you’ll have to book a tour for yourselves and discover the joy.
Having filled our heads with knowledge, it was time for The Man and I to head over to [formerly] The Stables, past the Gift Shop, and into the Café for our Afternoon Tea in the Rex Whistler Room (this room is available for private hire, FYI). You can savour Cream Teas for £8pp, a ‘Quintessential’ or ‘Savoury’ Afternoon Tea for £26.95pp or a ‘Luxury Afternoon Tea’ that includes a glass of Renishaw Hall’s award-winning Bubbly for £32.95pp. Carrie-Anne had indulged us in the Luxury experience, and Ian offered us the choice of the blush or white variety: we chose the blush bubbly to cheer the mood on a grey day. Both Afternoon Teas need to be pre-booked, though the Cream Tea is available as a walk-in treat.
It’s said that you can go anywhere in the world and know someone through ‘6 degrees of separation’, but here at Renishaw Hall we had a single degree of separation! One of our marvellous supporters, Christine, has a daughter, Fleur, and it was Fleur herself who plated up our Afternoon Tea for us – how fabulous is that? I just want to say that you did and incredible job, Fleur. However, before we got to sample the food, we were both staggered by the sheer amount of effort and care that had gone in to dressing the table. I kid you not, this was glossy-mag, editorial ready. The pristine cloth that covered the table was adorned with faux foliage and Peonies, a silver candlestick and candle, and gleaming cutlery and glassware. Allowing us a minute to get settled, we were then asked whether we would like Tea or Coffee, and whether we’d like our bubbly straightaway or in a while: Tea for me, Earl Grey for His Nibs, and in a while, please. Both teas were bagged types and served in beautiful pots with co-ordinating cups and saucers.
Shortly after, the magnificence of the Afternoon Tea stand was brought over to us, and we eagerly dug in; well, we‘d foregone breakfast and lunch in preparation for this multi-tiered morsel, so our tummies were making their hunger known!
On the bottom tier, the largest, were the selection of four different, crustless finger sandwiches, Sausage Roll, and Miniature Quiche. Arranged between the savouries were bunches of Red- and Green- Grapes and crunchy, bright-tasting Pea Shoots. Graciously, I gave The Man the choice on what our first sample would be, and he chose the Ham Sandwich on springy white bread; always a classic, you can’t beat proper meaty-tasting farmhouse Ham and there was certainly no shortage of it in this delight. I opted for the Cucumber and Cream Cheese (again on white bread) finger sandwich and, help me out here, what is it about this simple sandwich that has us all cooing? I’m sure it’s a curiously British thing to pair Cucumber with bread and consider it an actual tea-time meal! The cool creamy texture of the tangy Cream Cheese allows the sweet, grassy notes of the Cucumber to pop on the palate, and we both smacked our lips in appreciation when we’d finished this.
As well as Ham, there was thinly sliced Roast Beef in wholemeal bread to enjoy and I have to say that the Beef was splendid. Moist and juicy, the flavour was beautifully deep and robust; served as was, this made for a tasty bite, but a smidge of English Mustard would’ve partnered it superbly, too. Our last finger sandwich was the Cheddar Cheese variety, again on wholemeal, and the Cheese was a bold mature type that pinged on the taste buds marvellously. In between munching the sandwiches, we’d picked at the Grapes and Pea Shoots, and they both paired nicely with the finger sandwiches.
Despite his best efforts at patience, I could see His Nibs twitching and frothing with impatience to get his mitts on the Sausage Roll, so I suggested he kick-on with that whilst I helped myself to the Mini Quiche! The pastry on the quiche was nothing short of marvellous; crumbly, buttery and moreish, this really was excellent, and the filling of vegetables was super tasty and bold, not meek and boring in the slightest. Why does Quiche have a vanilla/beige reputation? I love a good Quiche, whatever type it is, and over the years have bunged many an ‘interesting’ combination of leftovers into a pastry case and chucked the egg, cream and cheese mix over them. It’s nothing short of a miracle that my flock are still breathing! Oh, and I make a mean Sausage Plait, too, though not as tasty as the Sausage Roll we were tucking into at Renishaw Hall.
Halfway through the sandwiches and savouries, Ian returned to offer us our bubbly. Having filled the glasses, Ian said that he would return shortly to garner our thoughts and tasting impression of the Blush Bubbly – no pressure, then?! Ian, along with Renishaw’s wine-maker, Kieron Atkinson, does tours of the vineyard through summer and is a wealth of knowledge about English wines. Personally, I found the blush to be bright and crisp with citrus, honey and melon notes on the palate – perfect for pairing with lighter meals such as Afternoon Tea. So impressed were we with the wine, we popped into the Gift Shop as our last stop and grabbed a bottle of ‘Walled Garden White’ (£19.99) to bring home and enjoy. Sir Reresby Sitwell originally planted vines in the walled garden in 1972, though it is acknowledged in the family that his ‘skills’ required more effort! Thankfully, Kieron came along in 2011 and took over the helm…with award-winning results.
Housed on the middle tier of the Afternoon Tea stand were the Fruit scones and their Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam companions; we deliberated a moment as to whether to break with our tradition and have them next, but couldn’t quite bring ourselves to do it. Instead, our gaze fell upon the uppermost tier and there were certainly lots of temptations to be had here. First up, we tucked into a delicate, leaf-shaped, glazed fruit tart comprised of buttery puff pastry and intensely tasty Apricot – delicate in looks only, then!
A pair of macarons beckoned to us, their silent insistence more than a match for our pretty much non-existent will-power. What a marvellous example of their sort they were, too; lightly crisp shell with a divinely chewy centre and a filling in proportion to their size. We savoured the Vanilla ones rounded warmth and the whisper of Coffee in the other, smiling happily at each other. I always say that if you’re doing to do a Lemon and Elderflower Loaf Cake, make the partners front-and-centre, and that’s exactly what they do at Renishaw Hall. The sponge itself was fluffy and light, with a distinct citrus zap that was tempered marvellously by the softer floral of the Elderflower, and the layer of frosting was just enough sweetness to balance the cake. Small edible flower petals adorned the surface, adding a touch of refinement to the cake.
Equally marvellous were the individual Victoria Sponges; small but mighty is certainly an apt description of this supremely tasty morsel. The sugared Strawberry topped sponge was vanilla-pimped and beyond pillowy in its texture, its buttercream and Strawberry jam filling seductively threatening to spill out of the middle. Perfectly proportioned like the Hollywood screen icons of years gone-by – did I mention that Marilyn Monroe and her then-husband Arthur Miller were guests at the hall? Well, they were! Our final sweet treat, other than the Scones, was a splendidly decadent, [sizeable] Coffee and Chocolate Petit Fours; if luxuriance is your hot-spot, then this will light up your brains’ pleasure centre like dy-na-mite. Top notch sums it up perfectly.
Dotted amongst the treats on the pair of sweet tiers was a plethora of fresh berries: Blackberries, Strawberries, Blueberries and Raspberries; all in peak flavour, these certainly kept the taste buds occupied as well as the cakes and pastries. With everything on the third tier finished, all that remained were the middle-layer Fruit Scones and their accomplices. I say ‘all’ because these were total gastro behemoths; never mind needing their own postcode, these beauties needed their own ‘Shire!!
Texture is everything with Scones; too light and they just fall into a pile of crumbs when cut into, too dense and they become claggy and clarty in the mouth. The ones served at Afternoon Tea in the Rex Whistler rooms are top-tier, I’m happy to report. Lots of plump, juicy fruit could be seen in every piece of Scone, accompanied by an airy morsel that melted in our mouths’ warmth. We larruped the Rodda’s Clotted Cream and unctuous Strawberry Jam over each half, licking our fingers as we spilled bits. Before you all pile in the debate of which order Cream and Jam goes on to a Scone, I’m just going to say that it is dependent on the relative thickness of them to each other. All that really matters is the enjoyment factor for each person, isn’t it?
Throughout our time at Renishaw Hall, wherever we were and whoever we interacted with, the service was spot-on: professional but with a warm, personal touch that made you feel like friends rather than guests. Hot Wings happily given to this remarkable historic estate near the village of Eckington. To book a table for breakfast, lunch or afternoon tea, call 01246 432310. For information on all the latest events and available tours, visit www.renishaw-hall.co.uk; you can also book online by hitting the ‘book now’ tab that is located on the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
You might also enjoy:
