Lady Betty Afternoon Tea at Bettys Harrogate

Another weekend of engagement celebrations, and another weekend of cake! If you can’t eat copious amounts of cake when you’ve just got engaged… when can you? This time it was off to Bettys in Harrogate to see some of my closest friends, and ask them if they would be my bridesmaids – this completed the round up of team bride, and what a lovely time I had doing it too.

If you’re from Yorkshire, Bettys is probably one of the most famous, if not the most famous, of afternoon tea offerings. Traditional afternoon tea with style is what people visit Bettys for, and that’s exactly what you get. No frills, just beautiful service, quality and taste.

Walk ins are welcome, however you may be left queuing for a while, it seems like Bettys is one of the most popular options, especially on a weekend… but bookings can be made for the Lady Betty Afternoon Tea, and are particularly advised if you are looking to celebrate or make something special of your visit. You’ll be able to bypass the queue, and also get to enjoy a pianist whilst you eat.

It’s priced at £32.95 for the standard offering, or you can upgrade to a glass of champagne for £39.95 – yes, slightly more expensive than some other afternoon tea’s, but the service and experience make up for the price – and in my opinion, it’s a perfect way to enjoy that special occasion. Tea blends are offered, with an array of choices, and served up first… however me being the child that I am went for a hot chocolate instead – it was quite honestly one of the nicest hot chocolates I’ve ever had – I actually had two, and could have gone for another one, but I thought it was best to keep my hot chocolate bill below the price of my actual wedding cost…

A pea, cucumber and tomato cocktail is served as an appetiser; this then follows the traditional tea stand filled with savouries sandwiches, scones and cakes. A smoked salon, cream cheese & dill roulade and mini pork & apple pie was presented to each of us… then the stand of sandwiches included ham & pate, chicken & tarragon, and egg mayonnaise – we were also constantly asked if we would like more sandwiches, which I thought was a lovely touch, and always goes down well for me whenever I go for afternoon tea. Rose and lemon scones were on the next tier, with plenty of clotted cream and jam; these were pleasant, but the rose especially had a slightly perfumed taste (as would be expected from rose), and therefore I’d have been happier with the standard fruit offering; this wasn’t a big deal though, and I still ate the lot!

The the top tier consisted of a chocolate and passionfruit cube, gooseberry macaron, pistachio & chocolate dacquoise slice, fresh berry meringue, mini battenberg, and a lemon religeieuse (basically a cream choux pastry type dessert). All as lovely as each other, and a good balance of chocolate and fruit; however my only qualm was that each dessert is to be shared with two people… Not at all a problem portion wise – there was way too much food for us to finish, and we ended up taking lots home in a box! – but if both of you wanted to try each dessert, they would need to be cut in half, and it wasn’t really the easiest to do with all of the desserts, especially the meringue; it would probably be better to make two mini versions of each, in my opinion. That however was really my only minor issue with the food, and in the grand scheme of things, barely made a difference to our lovely experience.

I’d definitely return here to celebrate a special occasion; and I think it would go down particularly well with mums and grandmas… don’t be put off with the name though, men are welcome too, and there were plenty enjoying the day when we dined there. All in all a wonderful, traditional Yorkshire experience, that has left me looking forward to another visit – especially for that hot chocolate!