It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a pregnant woman in possession of swollen ankles, must be in want of cake.
Or in my case LOTS of cake. Or at least that’s what my friends and family seemed to believe since during my pregnancy I was treated to a fair amount of the stuff.
During these excursions I managed to get around many wonderful local venues to sample not just their cake, but their amazing afternoon tea offerings as well, these are just a few of my favourites.
Milano’s
We’d had a lovely birthday meal at Milano’s and when I saw they also did an afternoon tea I knew I had to try it.
The afternoon tea was just as good as our dinner had been. Served on beautiful china plates there was a perfect split between sweet and savoury options.
The sandwich options were pretty standard, but they were executed to a really good standard and I enjoyed all of them.
My favourite item was the goats cheese tart, although the mini scones, which allowed you to really pile on the clotted cream and jam (jam first obviously, I’m not mental!), were also amazing. I actually think I prefer them this way now.
There was a choice of hot drinks and during our visit we had several “top ups” of tea. Even my request for decaf, which meant the team borrowing tea from the bar downstairs, was catered for.
Of all the venues I found this one the most relaxing. It was a weekday on our visit, so not busy anyway but we didn’t feel rushed and we really took our time with this one.
Where: Mill Farm Sports Village, Coronation Way, Wesham, PR4 3JZ
Cost: 16.95pp
The Villa Wrea Green
Most of my visits took place with female family and friends, but towards the end of my
I quite liked the idea of this one, although I’ll be honest, I liked the sound of the fries and sausage roll on the “His” version a little more than some of the figure sandwiches on mine, maybe they would swap them if you asked but we didn’t on this occasion.
One of the things my husband loved about this one was the tasting trio of beers it came with. It was a novel idea and a little different than the norm.
The sweet options were the star for me, although I would have loved either a larger or a second scone as that’s always one of my favourite parts of the experience.
Overall we enjoyed it, although location wise it was let down by the atmosphere We visited mid week and so it was very quiet but we found the service wasn’t as great as it could have been.
Where: Wrea Green, Preston, PR4 2PE
Cost: “His and Hers” Afternoon Tea is £32.95 per couple. Other Afternoon Tea options are available.
Applestore Cafe
I’m not sure that this would have been the same experience in the winter months but on our visit it was glouriously sunny and warm.
The afternoon tea has to be reserved in advance and we were given a lovely table outside under the shade of a tree.
The afternoon tea here was MASSIVE, with a bigger selection of sweet than savoury options.
Bigger didn’t mean better when it came to the cakes though, although tasty most weren’t really delicate enough for an afternoon tea and I really struggled to finish them. I know you really shouldn’t complain about too much cake but I didn’t like wasting it.
My biggest issue here was that it wasn’t clotted cream… I know some people might prefer fresh cream but I really was disappointed with this discovery.
Overall the location is what makes this experience and it’s one I would repeat but I would perhaps order from the main menu instead.
Where: Wyresdale Park, Snowhill Lane, Preston, PR3 1BA
Cost: £14.50pp Needs to be booked with 24 hours notice.
Happy Bunnies
This was by far the most fun of the lot! The theme changes regularly and you can tell they have fun coming up with the options. On our visit the theme was “Alice in Wonderland”.
I know the picnic bench is overdone now but this certainly wasn’t a case of all frills and no knickers, the food itself was yummy.
As well as the classic offerings, such as finger sandwiches and scones, there were cake pops, locally sources warm pork pies and a burger, which was a first for me.
We had booked in advance and they had even customised one of the cakes for a baby boy theme, which I thought was a lovely touch.
I loved the uniqueness of this one and I would certainly return to try another “theme” in the future.
Where: The Mansions, 4a, Chapel Ln, Longton, Preston PR4 5EB
Cost:£14.50pp The theme changes frequently so check their facebook page to see what’s on offer.
The Imperial Hotel
This isn’t somewhere I had thought to go, but on a heritage tour of the hotel (this is a lot more interesting than it sounds!) we saw a few people enjoying a lovely looking afternoon tea. When I spotted a great deal on Groupon for 2 people it was a must!
This was an afternoon tea of surprises. Firstly the quality was a lot better than I was expecting. I think my expectation was for something far more mass market. Secondly I had expected this to be a very traditional, straight forward offering but with the addition of the hot options and soup it was far from it.
A highlight for me was the cheese scones, these with a lovely dollop of chutney and some butter were heavenly. I would go back just for those!
The cakes were also a surprise, with a nice split between sweet and savoury the bitesized cakes were a perfect ending for us.
Overall this was an absolute bargain, but even at the full price it would have been worth it.
Where: North Promenade, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY1 2HB
Cost: £16.00pp but you can often get great deals on Groupon. with a discount
The Verdict
Milano’s was easily my favourite. The food and the atmosphere made it the most relaxing experience that I would be happy to repeat over and over.
I enjoyed some amazing afternoon teas during my pregnancy (and some afterwards shhh!) but I’m always on the lookout for more, what other local venue would you recommend?
