As you enter along the tree-lined driveway of the Park Farm Hotel and Restaurant, your surroundings exude an air of elegance and grandeur. The hotel's main entrance sits grandly at the top of the drive with ample car parking off to either side.
On arrival, we were greeted by a friendly and welcoming waitress who showed us to our table which was located in The Atrium, a glorified and beautifully decorated conservatory-style structure, accomodating a variety of table shapes and sizes and overlooking gardens of a variety of lshrubs and established rosebushes. A beautiful view.
The Atrium, while beautifully presented, was very warm on this sunny, late-summer afternoon and two of us ended up in full sunshine which made for quite an uncomfortable start. In normal times, the large ceiling fan would be in full swing, but Covid has put paid to that and we had to rely on the cool breeze from the open doors and windows. Our table was a little lower than standard and one of us struggled with knee room. However, we did not ask to be moved and I am sure they would have been happy to accommodate such a request had we done so.
The table service we received was good, overall. The staff were friendly. We were offered drinks as we sat down (the table was hygienically not laid until we arrived, a Covid essential), but there was no drinks menu so it was difficult to decide with no options to choose from. I would have preferred either a one-use, wipe-clean menu for the session or a disposable, paper drinks menu. I opted for a simple coke as I wasn't sure what other options were available and, indeed, what was included. This has no bearing on the service itself but would certainly have been useful.
When we ordered teas and coffees, they were a little slow to arrive, considering the restaurant was not packed, but it wasn't a major issue.
We had ordered both a standard afternoon tea, shown below:
...and a gluten free afternoon tea, shown here:
...and neither disappointed.
Both were extremely tasty. It was difficult to tell I was eating a gluten-free option; the bread was fresh and soft, the cakes and scones were flavoursome and eye-wateringly good.
Both options had a selection of finger sandwiches with the standard including sausage rolls and mini wraps and the gluten free including a pot of marinated olives, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes.
Both options included jam and cream scones and a variety of cakes and dessert options, enough to satisfy any palate. We met no resistance when one couple asked for additional jam and cream; this was delivered to the table very quickly.
Overall, both teas were incredibly tasty and very filling; we struggled to finish the last bites but soldiered on, heroically.
The four of us rated each of the following out of five and the average scores are shown here.
Environment (both inside and out): 4/5
Quality: 4.75/5
Service: 3.5/5
Value: 4.25/5
Overall rating: 16.5/20
Would we visit again? Definitely.
