The Aviary, Belvoir Castle, Grantham
Inside the castle at the end of the tour in the corner lays a room called the Aviary for the guests to have a lovely tea for two. A lovely tea room with a refreshing modern interiors in comparison to the grandeur of the others rooms in the castle. A romantic setting with glorious various lighting from chandeliers to modern lights and as we walked in a look around the room the duck egg blue coloured walls and bird paintings all around really captured my eyes. A quirky, cosy setting with a large fireplace and exquisite China tea sets in cabinets. Tones of blue, teal, green and gold really bought the whole room together and made the experience that extra bit more special as the atmosphere was very welcoming.
Online pre booked afternoon tea meant that we can be just sit back and relax as items come straight to the table all in good time, firstly the prosecco, then the tea and a wow out of my mouth as they bought in the stand. A stand full of goodies, the sweet treats that really peeled my eyes open and oohs and aahhhs that came out my mouth especially looking at the middle layer, as well as seeing chocolate! Let's begin from the bottom layer, delicate little finger sandwiches one egg mayo and the other cheese and chutney, luckily I was with Rakesh who had the egg mayo and who didn't like chutney with cheese so I had those. Milder cheddar cheese with sweet chutney with golden raisins that cuts through the rich cheese taste. There was the vegan option but we both like cheese and I had someone to eat the egg sandwich hence why we went for the vegetarian option. We shared the roasted veg and hummus wrap, that was lightly cooked in herbs and the spread just complimented the veg very well and a little crunch to veg just how I like it.
Moving on to the centre plate, a great selection of cakes and tarts, almost two of everything, from carrot cake, Victoria sponge, chocolate cake ( the one I had my eyes on!), strawberry custard tart, lemon meringue pie, one chocolate caramel tart (which I had as I don't like custard tarts!) and caramel profiteroles. We really took our time getting through each treat as it can come a little rich in taste but all washes down well with our choice of tea. We had the refreshing, light tasting with a hint of lemon Earl Grey tea. We had worked up an appetite walking through the woods an gardens and around the castle that we were definitely going to finish these tiny bite sized treats of deliciousness and waiting at the top of the tower was the classic scones. After some conversation and laughter we aimed to finish those lovely raisin scones served with clotted cream and jam. Between us we managed to finish three out of four delicious, soft textured scones and my reason for not having two was because I saved my best treat 'til last, that chocolate cake I had my eye on from the beginning. What a wait it was, a rich smooth decadent flavour of chocolate and gorgeous tasting cake. Really enjoyed the whole experience including the caste and gardens, and definitely recommend visiting and tasting the delights of an traditional afternoon tea.
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