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Is there no Latin word for tea? Upon my soul, if I had
known that I would have left the vulgar stuff alone.
Hilaire Belloc
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Horsted Place Hotel, Little Horsted, East Sussex - Sunday 8th December 2013
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Tea Takers
Sarah Ryan
Debora Downing
Lynn Varley
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The autumn term is always long and busy, and there have been sadly limited opportunities for taking tea, indeed the month of November was entirely fallow in this respect. However, it was nice to snatch the opportunity to have a tea with friends from work to mark the beginning of a festive flurry of odyssey events.
DD and Lynn are very fine colleagues, who were clearly going to be excellent company for a country house afternoon.
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Horsted Place had been recommended by several people, and also by the invaluable publication 'Where to find Cream Teas in Kent, Surrey and Sussex' which another colleague, Pia, had given to me earlier in the year.
Formerly an aristocratic seat which played host on numerous occasions to E II R, no less, it is a beautiful Gothic revivalist house, and much of its detailing was designed by Pugin. As I know I have mentioned before in these meandering tea reflections, this is a style I very much like and to have afternoon tea on a beautiful early winter's day, sitting in the window seat of a long and traditional drawing room, looking out over crisply beautiful lawns and looking back in to gothic carved stone mantlepieces surrounded by low tables and elegant furnishings. When a waiter returning our coats proudly told me that the staircase was of Pugin design, I did bite my tongue and not say to him 'ah, well, I have one of those at home' - and to be fair it was a rather more exciting one than that which Pugin (son, or possibly one of his minions) designed for the Mayfield Gatehouse (and I am well aware that I only get to live with my own as long as I carry on with my current job).
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The tea was very pleasing. Silver teapots and an interesting cake-stand with fluted serving dome on the top layer (and and integral holder ready for use once it had been lifted) brought traditional, if quirky, style, whilst the cakes were presented on sleek and nicely proportioned black slates which, whilst having a modern feel, fitted nicely into the idiom. The rather 1980s-esque floral china was perhaps not the most stylish, but this is being very picky.
The dome served to keep warm the delightful buttered crumpets, which are an excellent augmentation of the usual hotel afternoon tea repertoire, and this was a fine starter. Tea also featured smartly cut sandwiches of a good variety (DD commented that egg sandwiches always take her back to children's parties, and to add to the illusion we had jelly too, although given this was champagne jelly the comparison began to be less strong).
The scones tasted very good, although perhaps a little too crispy around the edge. On reflection, I am being a stern critic here, and with the bountiful cream and very good raspberry jam, they more than held their own in the odyssey overall rankings - if not absolutely top flight, certainly a highly commendable second rank.
The approaching yule-tide was signalled by the first sighting of mince pies at tea, accompanied by unusually dainty slices of stollen. Add to these the jelly, some excellent meringues (combining crisp and chewy with considerable finesse) and a finely layered chocolate whiskey cake (which Lynn praised highly, not least because of its marzipan element) and overall Horsted Place provided a very generous and interestingly varied palette.
Service was discreet, and in fact a little more of waiting presence in the room might have been helpful when extra milk was required, etc. However, the lack of any pressure (and we sat around comfortably for over two hours) combined with the dirth of indicators that this was a hotel at all (reception: a subtle writing desk in a small room off the main hall) did help to complete the country house illusion.
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Twenty-Sixth Tea - Twenty-Sixth Year
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Inevitably, we talked shop some of the time (schools are such fascinating and all-consuming places to those within them, it would be impossible to avoid it), but largely we talked about tea, families, Christmas and the delightful anticipation of the approaching holidays. It was lovely to have time to chat and laugh with friends, in a lovely setting and without the pressure of bells and timetables - this is the civilising influence of this project that I must try to maintain occasionally, even when the fortieth tea has been taken.
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