A LOVELY AFTERNOON TEA AT SUDBURY HOUSE HOTEL

Hello Lovely Blippers,

I went to Church with the HCBs this morning and after a great service with lots of good singing and a great sermon, they surprised me by saying they weren’t going straight home afterwards.  Now since Mrs. HCB’s operation, they haven’t been out after Church, so I was quite interested to know where they were going.  

Apparently, for Christmas last year, their grandson, H and his girlfriend, S, bought the HCBs a Steam Train Ride with an Afternoon Tea, but Mrs. HCB thought that it might be a bit too bumpy for her following her back surgery, so she managed to get the company to transfer it to just an Afternoon Tea in a very nice hotel known as Sudbury House Hotel, in a market town called Faringdon, which is about 12 miles from where they live. 

When they arrived, it didn’t appear to be very busy, but we were all directed to the lounge bar as apparently, they had another function in the Garden Room.  The waiter, called Iven, took us to a table which was set all ready for them and he said that he had even turned the radiator on because it was a bit chilly - how thoughtful of him!

They ordered tea for Mr. HCB and decaffeinated coffee for Mrs. HCB and not long after that was brought to their table, Iven brought the tea stand, which was full with sandwiches on the bottom, beautifully decorated, dainty little cakes on the second layer and then four rather large, delicious-looking scones on the top layer with jam and clotted cream too.  WOW!  I must confess when I saw all this food, my first thought was “They will need me to help them eat all this!”

The HCB’s started on the sandwiches and you can see on the third photograph underneath the HCBs, that it didn’t take them long to demolish these.  They were beautifully cut with no crusts - and delicious fillings, so the HCBs told me - but sadly I never got the chance to try any of them.  From what I heard though, one of my family helped out - as I heard Mr. HCB say “That’s a lovely piece of ham in with the tomato.”

Then they decided to “make a dent” in the scones, jam and clotted cream - which was spread very thickly, according to the Cornish way of doing things - with jam on the bottom and clotted cream on the top and listening to the “oohs and ahs” coming from them both, it was all very good.  They especially liked the scones, which were soft in the middle with the just the right amount of crunch on the outside - and I heard Mr. HCB say more than once how good they were and they even asked Iven to give their compliments to the chef, which he said he would do.  In the second photograph on the bottom line, you can see how much they left for me - one measly currant!

Anyway, having taken the tea stand away, I was thrilled when their lovely waiter gave them a box marked “Freshly Prepared Fish & Chips” and couldn’t wait to get home to sample some of them.  However, I was very disappointed when Mrs. HCB opened the box when they got home and I saw all the cakes they hadn’t managed to eat!  What a swizzle!  Ah well, guess I will have to help them finish the cakes a bit later.  

I did hear Mrs. HCB explaining to Iven what BCAM meant and then she told him about Blip and how she takes a photograph every day - mind you, I think she took more than a photograph - in fact, she took about 100 in all - what is she like?

So because it’s still BCAM for another 16 days, PLEASE kindly keep clicking on this LINK so that those who can’t afford to pay for a mammogram can have a free one - we will all be delighted if you do that.

I also heard Mrs. HCB whisper to Iven that she would be giving a 5 star review to Sudbury House Hotel and saying how good and attentive he had been;  he said it had been a pleasure!  I bet he doesn’t get many like the HCBs for afternoon tea - but hey, how much better to brighten up someone’s life than to be a grouch!

Love to you all - have a great week,
Reeth xxx

P.S.  Mrs HCB had a lovely surprise from a friend after Church this morning but more about that another day - watch this space and see extra for a clue!