AD|gifted

I have had the most beautiful Sunday afternoon. We took a mini-road trip to Falkirk to visit the gorgeous Callendar Park. The entire purpose of the visit was to try the afternoon tea in Callendar House, but afterwards we ended up going a lovely walk around the grounds of the stately home.

We entered into the French chateau styled stately home and were guided into the Drawing Room which was gorgeous – the light from the big windows just made the room glow!

The afternoon tea comprises the expected components: sandwiches, scones and cakes. We opted for a prosecco and a gin, as well as teas and coffees. I can’t eat sandwiches and scones without a cuppa!

There is plenty choice in terms of your afternoon tea in terms of dietary requirements – they cater to any allergy/intolerance you may have, and this includes vegan options.

I LOVE sandwiches. Honestly, I wouldn’t be upset if I arrived to an afternoon tea that was all sandwiches.

Our options were a seeded baguette with egg mayonnaise, (from left to right) chicken, lemon & thyme; ham and chutney; cheese savoury. All of these sandwiches were delicious and it would be really hard to pick a favourite to be honest! I’m a sucker for cheddar so I think I enjoyed the cheese savoury a tiny bit more, but the ham and chutney was something new and different which I loved!

Fruit scone or plain scone? Cream then jam, or jam then cream?

Personally, I hate a fruit scone. I love scones and I love dried fruit…but keep them separate! I also put my jam on top. Or at least I did today and I think that’s what I do usually!

The cake tier is probably my least favourite layer of any afternoon tea because I can’t get too excited about cake personally. But meringue? I will get excited for that!

I loved the perfect meringue with cream, jelly and berries – it was beautiful and I’ll never tire of that. The wee truffle was delicious too, and I could taste gingernut biscuit throughout it which was a beautiful twist. The custard cream wasn’t bad – too sweet for my liking personally (not that I left it haha!), and the carrot cake was lovely too.

We then went a walk along the water on the grounds. You could really make a day of it and keep walking all the way down to The Kelpies, which I was totally in the mood for today but sadly we didn’t have appropriate footwear – especially as it has been raining loads recently! I’d recommend you bring your wellies and leave them in the car while you eat then change if you want to go a big walk to burn the cake off.

Our smaller walk was still gorgeous – I was delighted to see the grounds littered with crocus flowers – Spring has finally sprung!

This was a beautiful way to blow off the cobwebs and to end a chilled out weekend by actually doing something, but nothing too strenuous! (I say this while my darling boyfriend is scrubbing skirting boards and painting…)

This would be a beautiful setting for Mother’s Day or even just a lovely afternoon out. It’s worth mentioning that for every Easter Afternoon Tea purchased, Callendar House will donate £1 to help restore the wonderful collection of rare plants and trees planted within the grounds.  The collection was originally planted to reflect the life and work of famous 1920’s plant hunter George Forrest, who was from the area.  I for one would love to see this gorgeous area preserved!

Afternoon tea costs £13.95 each which is very, very reasonable! If you want to make your tea sparkle, it’s £16.95 for a glass of Prosecco and £18.45 for Seaglass Gin.

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Callendar House, Callendar Park, Falkirk, FK1 1YR

http://www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/venues/callendar-house

01324503770

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