Inn on the Lake, Glenridding

By LOUISE ALLONBY

The afternoon tea ritual has to be one of the most civilised inventions of the English. There's something so pleasing about the sight of three tiers of sweet and savoury goodies waiting for you to tuck into - and it's surely one of the most convivial of dining experiences.

Afternoon tea has become increasingly popular over the years - and hotels have finessed upon this meal-between-meals experience.

Top of the tree for afternoon tea are arguably the Ritz and Claridge's, both in London. I've been lucky to have tea at Claridge's a number of times - the most recent being the most memorable, for who should be at the next table to me and my husband but Bono and Robert Downey Junior. Madonna's ex, Guy Ritchie, was a few tables away, for good measure.

Needless to say, my husband hadn't a clue who Bono was - "is it a tennis player?" he enquired in a booming voice after I'd urged him (via mime and urgent whispering) to drag his attention away from his scones.

To me, afternoon tea in a hotel is an exercise in people-watching, as much as anything else. To my husband, it's an exercise in gluttony.

Last week, my friend and I took afternoon tea together at the Inn on the Lake at Glenridding.

We had been given vouchers by friends for a champagne tea there to mark our joint 50th birthday. It took us just over a year to make use of them - not least because the Inn on the Lake was closed for some months after the devastation of Storm Desmond last year.

Now for a second shameless bit of name dropping, if you will excuse me. The last time Sarah and I had afternoon tea together was at Buckingham Palace. As you do. She had been invited for something or other, and I tagged along as her plus one.

My dears, the cakes, the Queen, the corgis! Margaret Thatcher was there, among assorted other dignitaries and members of the royal family.

It was certainly an experience. But so, in its own way, was the Inn on the Lake.

OK, the Queen and Prince Philip didn't pop up to ask us if we had come far; and there was no Bono banging on about Brazilian rainforests - but we had a delightful afternoon.

Our tea was served in the orangery, a rotunda-style building overlooking the lawns which sweep down to the lake (and which were sadly in the lake for some time after Storm Desmond).

We were given a pair of comfy high-backed armchairs and a glorious view. The tea when it came was certainly impressive. We began with a glass of good quality champagne, followed by Earl Grey tea for me and Assam for Sarah.

A waitress came and whisked our plates away - we couldn't understand it, as they looked spotlessly clean.

All became clear when she returned with them: a kitchen artist had piped "Happy 50th birthday" on them in chocolate. We didn't like to tell the waitress that our birthdays had been a year ago. And it made us feel younger than we actually are, so that was all good.

There was an excellent range of sandwiches, with most of the classics: local ham, egg mayonnaise, cheese and cucumber. I would have liked to have seen smoked salmon sandwiches feature - but maybe I've been spoiled by Claridge's. Did I mention that Bono and Robert Downey Junior were there?

The bread was slightly unusual, in that it was rather spongy. But it was certainly fresh and perfectly tasty.

Along with the sandwiches came delicious mini quiches and some particularly good pieces of pork pie. A proper Lakes tea.

It seems churlish to complain about the fact that the chocolate birthday message on our plates made eating the savoury stuff somewhat challenging. Chocolate-covered pork pie is not a taste sensation I will be repeating any time soon.

The upper tiers contained huge scones with clotted cream and jam, macarons, mini Victoria sponges, homemade shortbread, carrot cake, trifles in shot glasses... there was masses of the stuff. Certainly more than we could manage.

Outside, the sun was shining, a wedding party was enjoying drinks in the terrace, Chinese tourists were taking photos like the clappers, Ullswater steamers were making their sedate way past. It was all very idyllic.

I don't know how much our champagne tea cost - as it was a gift - but I noticed that the hotel offers a prosecco afternoon tea for around the £18 mark, which seems good value for the quality of the food and for the pleasure of spending a couple of hours in such lovely surroundings.

We left to head back over Kirkstone Pass as the black clouds rolled in. All in all, this had been a perfect Lake District afternoon.

Food 4

Service 4

Atmosphere 5

Value 4

Pros

Fantastic views

Stylish decor

Traditional tea

Cons

Lots of weddings at high season

It's a fair trek from Furness

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