Chloes Afternoon Tea Adventures #3 - Narnia Christmas, Leigh-on-Sea

Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Leigh-on-Sea presents: Narnia afternoon tea

Wow so it's been a LOT longer than I thought since I last posted about an afternoon tea (bit hard when you're trying to follow Slimming World!) BUT after a few months of being Afternoon tea free I'm back filling my diary up with lots more adventures to share here for you to see! First up I headed to Leigh-on-Sea and through the wardrobe for a Narnia Christmas tea at Mad Dogs and Englishmen!

Bit of background info for you, Mad Dogs and Englishmen is primarily the most beautiful home interior shop, like, ever. Honestly it is SO so beautiful inside (and outside) And situated on London Road, Leigh-on-Sea so super easy to get to. Afternoon tea is served in The Parlour, which is at the back of the shop. As this was  my first experience of afternoon tea here I was going on word of mouth recommendations and didn't really know what to expect (the back of a shop? Was it an afterthought? Would it be cramped?) If you're having those thoughts ELIMINATE THEM NOW. It was anything but! 
Now also having booked onto a 'Narnia' themed tea (have I mentioned how much I LOVE themed teas!?) I also was very curious as to what this would entail, my main thought being "Will I be entering through the wardrobe!?" Which I quickly dismissed as how would that even be possible...

*NOTE: If you're going and want a total surprise then don't scroll any further! IF you want spoilers read on!

Oh how wrong I was, turns out you CAN walk through a wardrobe, whilst it snows (!!) and be lead to your table by the nicest waitresses. I was so caught up in awe looking at the most beautiful scenery around me I missed the microphone stand set up and it wasn't until I went back to take a photo that I noticed there was a beautiful girl singing Jazz music there! Which brings me to my next point, if you go check out the dates and try book one where there's live music - it's a little extra but it was lovely and really added to the general ambience! 

So now i've told you how freakin' beaut the decor is it's probably time to cut to the chase and talk about the main thing... The Food! DAAAAAANG it's good! First up you get a LOT of sandwiches, there were 5 of us on our table and we had plenty each. I often find that when you go for afternoon tea it's all about the cake and the sandwiches can seem like an afterthought - well not here. We had Salmon and cream cheese (my personal fave), Cheese and pickle (which generally i'm not a fan of but I could have eaten about 8 of them!). Turkey and cranberry which made a nice change to ham, and finally cucumber and mint - which admittedly I didn't eat as i'm really not a fan of the green stuff but the bread was lovely and light, there was just the right amount of filling and as I mentioned there were plenty to share around. 
Next on the cake stand was, and I'm gonna be bold and say this, possibly THE nicest scone I've ever eaten. It was super light fluffy (which you never find in scones) there was just the right amount of currants and it cut easy and didn't crumble when you picked it up - so all big plus points for me. It was also served with individual pots of Tiptree jam (another big point for me, if it's an Essex afternoon tea support local!) and beautiful clotted cream. 

Once we'd polished off our scones and were given our second pot of tea, which by the way is lovely! There are a few options to chose from, I opted for the Assam which I would highly recommend! We took some time to let our scones go down, have a chat and take in more of the decor whilst we awaited the main event: THE CAKES! 
Now, this is the part I always find varies from place to place, some offer you a slab of cake, in the usual flavours eg: Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle, coffee etc. Which don't get me wrong is always nice, but I always find it way too big after you've consumed half your body weight in scone. So I was pleasantly surprised when our waitress (Who I wish I'd asked what her name was as she was super lovely and helpful!) Brought out a tray with an array of individually awesome looking sweet treats. I must also admit I switched off from her describing what they were and basically drooled and replicated the heart eye emoji! 

So a few final pointers: The afternoon tea is £25pp or £30pp for the live music which takes place every 3rd Sunday of the month. I personally think this is super reasonable for an afternoon tea as the level of service, thought, cake/dessert wizardry and all other work that goes into the afternoon is second to none. There's plenty of food for your money and definitely enough tea/coffee! Plus if you have any left over you can get a box and take the left over home so nothing goes to waste!

Another point to note is whilst not having a license to serve alcohol you're allowed to take your own Prosecco and will happily be provided with an ice bucket and glasses should you need them (I mean, you can always just ask for a straw?) 

We arrived for our booking at 1.30 and left at around 4.15 - not once did we feel rushed or pressured to leave, the staff had the right level of attending to tables to see if you needed anything else but also letting you enjoy the afternoon. 

I haven't ever been the kind of person to 'rate' things on here, but I would definitely recommend this if you're big on interiors or afternoon teas, it would make the perfect place to take your mum, nan, sister, girlfriend etc for special events or birthdays *hint any family or friends reading mines coming up real soon!*

Have you been for afternoon tea? Would this tempt you to go? 
I'm also definitely on the lookout for more places to visit so anywhere else you can recommend be sure to leave a comment below!