Festive Afternoon Tea at the Vermont Hotel

Earlier this month I attended a festive edition of the blogger cake club, kindly organised by Chloe. For the Christmas special she booked us in at The Vermont Hotel in Newcastle. This is a posh hotel hidden away in the centre of Newcastle. I can say this as I got lost trying to find it, it's hidden in plain sight. All I will say is look up and you'll see the sign, don't make the mistake I did and walk down to quayside and back. At least I worked off a bit of cake before I'd eaten it!

We'd all decided before we got there that we'd don our cheesy Christmas jumpers. As I'm known for gingerbread men, that's the jumper I had to go with! The seven of us, all in our festive best, were seated in the Redwood bar which was very cosy and elegant.

Soon after we sat down our food came and there seemed to be loads of it, they even gave us all a glass of mulled wine to accompany it. What was brilliant about this afternoon tea was that they brought us as much tea as we wanted! This is what us bloggers, and I'd have to say us British, love! There were plenty of yummy sandwiches including a festive brie, bacon and cranberry one. Everyone had two scones each and then a plate FULL of desserts. I didn't get the chance to try them all but the ones I had, which included a chocolate mousse and a chocolate truffle, were definitely satisfying.

During our afternoon tea, we exchanged Secret Santa presents. At first, it was very tense to see if the person I'd bought for, Shivani, liked her present then I was nervous to see if I would like mine! Everyone has that feeling, don't they? Just in case they don't like their gift. It's safe to say I LOVED my present from Kayleigh, she got it spot on with my gingerbread themed gifts. She gave me a knitted gingerbread man for the Christmas tree, a gingerbread bath bomb and a ginger-spiced candle! Perfect presents for the gingerbread obsessed. Just in case you are wondering, Shivani seemed to like her gift which was a mug shaped like a camera lense. She likes taking photos so I thought this was a quirky but relevant present. I also got her a chocolate S from Amsterdam.

Overall it was a brilliant afternoon with a superb afternoon tea which I'd recommend to anyone for £14.95 as it was great value for the amount you get. Although this was the festive afternoon tea in sure their normal one would be just as good! I can't wait to see what amazing places Chloe picks for next year's blogger cake club.

Christmas has arrived in our home!

Christmas is now just over a week away and I am getting totally excited. This is the first Christmas that will be spent in our first house. We've had to buy all our Christmas decorations in to ensure it could be as festive as possible. I've put little bits of Christmas throughout the downstairs of our house. As you would imagine, there is a lot of gingerbread! I've bought a couple of decorations in the run-up to Christmas but had a few from last year that friends and family bought as presents. The one with our names on was given to us last year by my Mum, it is so cute and such a special, unique decoration. When I pulled them all out to put on the tree, I couldn't believe how much gingerbread there was! I'm so pleased with how my tree came together. Mum was always into white and silver decorations, whereas I have gone all out traditional red, green and gold. I love it, it's so festive!

As well as the Christmas tree I've added festive tea lights holders, gingerbread houses on the fuse box, a cuddly Santa on our phone table, tinsel to the bannister and some twinkly lights in the front window. There are lots of little bits to ensure our house looks festive! I'm so pleased with how everything looks and I don't think I could fit another Christmas themed item in the house, well except stockings and Santa sacks on Christmas day! Do you like our decorations? Have you posted about yours? Link me!