The ultimate festive afternoon tea

After this come the scones, both fruit and savoury. The latter are phenomenal, particularly the walnut and Cropwell Bishop stilton version, served with chive cream cheese and redcurrant jelly — a perfectly punchy pairing.

These are followed by patisseries sweet and savoury. The oeufs Drumkilbo (a decadent dish of soft-boiled eggs and lobster that King Charles is a fan of) comes served in an eggshell and topped with more caviar. It is rich and delicious, and the lobster is beautifully cooked. Other sweets include sweet chestnut mousse and a sublime tonka bean and Caraibe chocolate bauble.
£80pp, fortnumandmason.com

Cédric Grolet at the Berkeley, Knightsbridge, London

Patisseries by Cédric Grolet

You cannot talk about luxury patisserie without talking about Cédric Grolet, the visionary French pastry chef famous for his magnificent croissants, desserts and stunning fruits et fleurs— life-like sculpted flower and fruit-inspired creations that have won him the title of world’s best patissier.

When he opened his shop at the Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge (his first permanent patisserie outside of Paris), there were queues, just as there have been — and still are — at many of his shops in France.

Guests can buy all manner of delicious, delicate pastries to go, from pain suisse to Grolet’s bestselling hazelnut dessert, a ball of chilled hazelnut mousse with an oozy vanilla middle, dipped in milk chocolate and covered in gold dust.

Or they may dine at the chef’s counter where they can get a close-up look at how his creations are made while enjoying a tasting menu of seasonal courses with gold pastry knives (£135 per person).

The icing on the cake (quite literally) is the Goûtea menu, the chef’s take on afternoon tea, which can be enjoyed in the Berkeley Café. This Christmas the five-course menu includes mini cream-cheese salmon caviar tarts, a truffle egg croissant, foie gras arancini and vanilla flowers. You won’t find an afternoon tea in London — or Paris — quite like it.
From £120pp, the-berkeley.co.uk

The Peninsula, Belgravia, London

The festive afternoon tea at the Peninsula includes ‘Rudolph’ white forest cake

London’s first billion-pound hotel, the Peninsula, lays on an all-time great Christmas tea. It’s served in the lobby, which is also home to a properly gigantic tree — exactly what you want when pushing the boat out. In fact, the jaw-dropping scale and opulence of the whole scene feels extraordinarily, spectacularly festive.

Of course, the Peninsula has a bit of a head start in the theatre of the season. Its famous white-liveried pages already look like Christmas ornaments, as do the giant white marble lions guarding the entrance.

It’s sandwiched between Buckingham Palace (the rooms have views of the royals’ back gardens) and Harrods, with guests who are gloriously glamorous and immensely decorative themselves.

The tea menu is also carefully considered: the children’s version includes peanut butter and jam sandwiches, while sweets involve “Rudolph” white forest, gingerbread men and a Christmas tree cupcake. The grown-ups’ tea comes with savoury treats such as pumpkin millefeuille, brioche lobster roll and tuna tartare with avocado and caviar, while the standout sandwich is a perfectly executed egg mayo. There are wonderfully crumbly scones with clotted cream, strawberry and mint jam and lemon curd. And there’s even a vegan version.

My daughter hugely appreciated that “everything’s pretty and everything’s decorated” and the Christmas crackers are a nice touch. Although perhaps the highlight of the children’s visit were the loos featuring Japanese toilets with self-opening lids and heated seats — my son noted that even they “welcomed me”. How very Peninsula. KR
£120pp, peninsula.com

Petersham Nurseries, Richmond

Afternoon tea at Petersham Nurseries

Less of a luxury tearoom and more of a luxury greenhouse, Petersham’s Nurseries offers visitors a truly unique dining experience. Owned by the Boglione family who transformed the nursery next to their garden, Petersham has become a perfect English country escape, complete with a world-renowned restaurant.

In one of the greenhouses a festive afternoon tea is served at weekends during the Christmas period. Sandwiches include turkey, cranberry and brie and spiced gammon with piccalilli, along with traditional canapés from vol-au-vents with chilli apple and ginger mousse to gruyère and cranberry puffs.

Desserts are even more decadent — chestnut and chocolate logs, spiced apple choux and sticky ginger cake — but the highlight by a long way is the blood-orange curd tart with Italian meringue, a nod to the main restaurant’s Mediterranean menu.

Visitors who want to relax after a day spent browsing the shelves at Petersham’s homeware shop can visit the Teahouse where they can order homemade cakes and pasta while being kept warm by log fires and soft wool blankets.
£55pp, petershamnurseries.com

The Fife Arms, Braemar, Scotland

The Fife Arms afternoon tea is combined with a guided tour of the hotel’s art

Art is at the heart of the Fife Arms, a five-star Scottish boutique hotel in the Cairngorms National Park. The hotel is owned by Iwan and Manuela Wirth, the Swiss art dealers behind Hauser & Wirth, one of the world’s most successful commercial art galleries.

And so it makes perfect sense for the Fife Arms to offer guests a tour of the hotel’s incredible collection of art and artefacts before enjoying afternoon tea in the tartan-clad drawing room. During the one-hour guided tour visitors will work up an appetite as they learn about the 16,000 pieces that have been integrated into every room, from antiques to specially commissioned works.

As for the afternoon tea, this winter the menu will be made up of an array of festive savoury and sweet options, from coronation turkey and pork and apple sausage rolls to a winter berry trifle and the Fife Arms’ famously delicious mince pies.
Art tour and afternoon tea, £50pp, thefifearms.com

The Carlton Tower, Belgravia, London

The Chinoiserie tearoom at the Carlton Tower

At the Carlton Tower hotel in London’s exclusive Belgravia, the Chinoiserie tearoom has been designed to celebrate British gardens. On the wood-panelled walls drawings of botanicals and pretty silk-stitched scenes of birds are displayed, and vases and pots of fresh and dried flowers are everywhere.

Here guests can enjoy the hotel’s award-winning afternoon tea, which is inspired by nature and has been given a festive twist for Christmas — it’s even available on Christmas Day.

The tea begins with chestnut, truffle and cranberry sandwiches, along with smoked salmon and caviar, and turkey and jam flavours. Of course there must be scones, which range from Ceylon cinnamon served with mince-pie chutney to cranberry-studded versions that come with an indulgent chocolate crémeux.

Special desserts have also been made for the festive period and are available for guests to order, including a Christmas chocolate log (£18 for a single piece or £80 for a log), or a couronne des rois, a festive French cake made with orange blossom and candied orange (£8 for a slice or £55 for the whole cake).
£75pp (£95 on Christmas Day), jumeirah.com

The Ritz, Piccadilly, London

Afternoon tea is served in the Palm court at the Ritz

For Londoners nothing quite says luxury like the grande dame of hotels, the Ritz. The iconic address on Piccadilly has been serving afternoon tea for well over 100 years.

Today tea is offered in the spectacular Palm Court, which has been transformed into an Edwardian winter wonderland with red and gold trimmings.

The Ritz is the only hotel to have a certified tea master, who has carefully curated a menu of 18 different tea leaves to choose from, including its very own Royal English blend. Afternoon tea here is all about tradition. There are finger sandwiches in six classic flavours, scones (fruit and plain), clotted cream and an assortment of Christmas cakes and mince pies, all of which can be enjoyed while being serenaded by the Ritz choir.
£105pp, theritzlondon.com

Lympstone Manor, Devon

Lympstone Manor’s afternoon tea comes with a view of the Exe estuary

MARK ASHBEE

It would be a shame to go all the way to Devon and not enjoy an afternoon tea. For an extra-special experience the elegant Lympstone Manor, the Michelin-starred restaurant and luxury hotel owned by the chef Michael Caines, can’t be beaten.

The tea is served in the cosy lounge in front of an open fire (or on the terrace during summer), and you can take in stunning views of the Exe estuary and its buzzing birdlife.

On the menu are scones (remember it’s cream, then jam in this part of England), plenty of Devonshire clotted cream, and local preserves from some of Caines’s favourite suppliers. The menu changes daily, depending on the ingredients that have been delivered that day, so no afternoon tea is the same, but in the festive season you can expect classics like mince pies to make an appearance.
Traditional afternoon tea, £49.50pp, champagne afternoon tea, £70pp, lympstonemanor.co.uk

Anya Cafe

The tea at the Anya Cafe comes with googly-eyed tarts and lemon-curd meringues

Designer Anya Hindmarch has created a Christmas dreamland in her village of shops, tucked away on Pont Street in Belgravia, Santa’s grotto and all. Before making a visit to the big man to check on your Christmas wishes, we’d recommend stopping at the Anya Cafe. It looks perfectly old school with its earth tones and clean, simple lines, and is the ideal spot for a tea party that feels fabulously festive without being fussy. You’ll see happy-making details wherever you turn, whether that’s the “Oh!” inscribed at the bottom of your teacup or Hindmarch’s signature googly eyes on everything from the sugar cubes to the berry tarts. And the sandwiches! Egg and cress in the shape of a fried egg, yolk and all, smoked salmon and cream cheese fashioned into a fish of golden bread, and you may be delighted by Christmas tree-shaped cucumber sandwiches with green bread. Cast your eyes up the cake tower and you’ll find lemon-curd meringues in the shape of clouds, lemon cakes with smiley faces, and chocolate and raspberry chubby hearts with icing that practically glistens. Then, just when you think it can’t get any better, a basket full of warm miniature scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves arrives, and you realise you’re close to collapsing into a puddle of seasonal merriment. The staff is as kind as can be, and they are very encouraging if you ask to swap out your tea for hot chocolate — just saying. Chiara Brown
£35pp with tea or £50pp with champagne, anyahindmarch.com