The afternoon tea that embodies Teesside - Skelton Mill Tea Rooms

The humble parmo. I've spoken about my love for it before and explained what one is. A parmo is a Middlesbrough 'delicacy' which includes fried chicken, bechamel sauce and CHEESE! In Middlesbrough, it will be hard for you to find someone who doesn't like the parmo. Recently my Mum came across an afternoon tea that included one rather than the usual sandwiches. That's like two of my favourite things combined into one which meant I had to visit and try it out.

Located around 10 minutes from Middlesbrough, Skelton Mill Tea Rooms is just off a country road surrounded by greenery. As well as the tea rooms, on the site, they have glamping pods and a vintage/shabby chic shop.

Having booked our time slot and pre-ordered our afternoon tea, it wasn't long before we were presented with a stand full of gorgeous food and a plate of chips. The staff were super friendly and couldn't do enough to ensure we were happy.

With our parmo and chips, the tea rooms included two pots of garlic sauce, a bowl of salad and some buttered bread. Although I had not long had my breakfast, I practically wolfed down my portion as it was really tasty and something so different for an afternoon tea.

After the parmo, it was time for the scone. As I'm not one for fresh cream, and they'd already pre-creamed the scones, they kindly gave us another scone (raspberry and white chocolate) for me to have with butter and jam. This was the perfect consistency for a scone, very light but also solid enough to ensure it didn't crumble on my plate. The flavours of this one were really nice and complimented each other perfectly. I'd definitely be back for 'cream tea' if it included these scones.

Last but not least was the cake. In my opinion, the selection of sweet treats wasn't the best with only a small chocolate cake and a little jelly and custard, but to be honest, by this point I wasn't bothered. The parmo and the scone filled me up, so I was happy with the delicious food I'd already had. Having said that, I did spot some delicious cakes on the sideboard, so I definitely think I'd pop back just for cake.

Myself and Mum thoroughly enjoyed our time at Skelton Mill Tea Rooms. The staff were exceptionally nice, the food was so good and the price was very reasonable. For our parmo afternoon tea for two, it was only £20! Usually, you'd pay that much per person at some places.

If you live in the area I would definitely say you need to visit if you are fond of the humble parmo.

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How to put together the best Afternoon Tea

I've been out for my fair share of afternoon tea. I've tried the fancy establishments, the casual and the unusual. I love the ritual of venturing out to enjoy copious amounts of tea, filling up on sandwiches and scones and finishing with sickly treats. I know some don't 'get' afternoon tea and that's fine but I like chilling out for a few hours with some delicious grub and a warm cuppa.

Recently I went for afternoon tea at a local venue and was so deeply disappointed. I try not to be an afternoon tea snob, but I'm afraid that's what I've turned into. Following this, I wanted to lay out what I would say makes the best afternoon tea experience.

1. The first is the most important in my eyes. There must be unlimited tea. I don't like to go out to afternoon tea, be handed a cup of tea and then after I've slurped that, be told I need to purchase another. No, thank you. I need a teapot full, will additional hot water, and if this runs out I want to know I'm okay to ask for more. To be honest, it's the cheapest part of the afternoon tea, so why shouldn't we have as much as we want?

2. Fresh sandwiches with flexibility in the fillings. There is nothing worse than getting to your booked afternoon tea and discovering it features sandwiches you despise but you can't change it because they were pre-made hours ago. I think there should always be an option to change the sandwiches if you like as it's your afternoon tea. I'm not saying that they should let you have egg mayo even if it's not an option, but maybe to double up on sandwiches you like and ditch the ones you don't. This also ensures that the sandwiches are freshly made and haven't been sitting around getting soggy developing crusty edges.

3. Warm, homemade scones with the fillings on the side. Having a toasty, freshly-made scone arrive on your platter is the dream. It just adds that little extra to your afternoon tea which makes you feel giddy inside. Leaving the jam, cream (and butter if you're like me) on the side is an absolute must. There is enough controversy around what goes first, the jam or the cream, that you can't be deciding that for people. Also, how do you know how someone likes their scone? I don't like cream so if I see a scone already filled up coming my way, I feel sorely disappointed.

4. Cake. Cake. Cake. Having a good cake selection is a must. I love to see at least three different cakes adorning the top tier of the platter. The variety just adds options to the afternoon tea and ensures that people will like a bigger majority of the cakes available. Also, there must be one of each available for everyone partaking in afternoon tea. Making people fight over cake is a no-go. This is a relaxing past time which I don't want spoiling when someone takes the last piece of chocolate cake and I'm left with Victoria sponge cake!

This may sound a little over the top, but for people who enjoy afternoon tea, I think we all understand the elements that go together to make the best ones.

Who else agrees with my points and what other musts are there for a great afternoon tea?

Starters Afternoon Tea Review in Middlesbrough

2014 was the year of the afternoon tea. I think I must have had at least one a month which I definitely didn't complain about. I tried out Betty's Tea Rooms in Northallerton, Let There Be Crumbs in Sunderland and The Vermont Hotel in Newcastle.  This year I thought I might try more afternoon tea venues in Teesside rather than venturing elsewhere! The Gazette (our local paper) put together a list of the top 10 places to get afternoon tea in Teesside and me and my mum have decided to try and visit them all. First up was Starters as it is right next door to the cinema and we were off to see Into the Woods. Starters is a restaurant located in Middlesbrough which previously had another restaurant in Yarm. The idea is that they sell starter size portions of food so that you are able to pick a few. A bit like tapas but better as you can get the Teesside local cuisine of parmo! I'm not sure when Starters began doing afternoon tea as it was a surprise to see them on the top 10 list. We decided we'd try Starters' afternoon tea after visiting Cineworld to see a film. We were quickly seated and brought our pots of tea.  I'm quite a fan of a strong tea, my favourite being Yorkshire Tea, but this was quite bland and the pots were very small. With an afternoon tea, I like to have unlimited tea, so it was unfortunate that when we asked for more we were presented again with another small teapot which I had to pay extra for.

When we were eventually brought our stand, after around 20 minutes of waiting, we were pleasantly surprised by the look of all the food. I was very excited to tuck in and started with the sandwiches of which there was a selection of ham, prawn mayonnaise, coronation chicken and cheese savoury. They were all really nice and I quickly moved on to my fruit scone. This had been warmed up, so was deliciously squishy. I had mine, like I always do, with butter and jam and it was very yummy.

It was then on to the dessert plate which seemed full of different treats. We weren't made aware of what everything was so we had to guess, taste testing along the way. As we were quite full from the other two plates we took a few of the cakes home. They were all okay but none of them stood out which was a shame as they looked so good.

Overall for £10.95pp, I would say this is a good afternoon tea. I enjoyed the different selection of sandwich fillings, no egg & cress, cucumber or salmon sandwiches which can get boring.  The scone was very lovely, not crumbly and dry like some I've had, and the dessert plate was brilliantly presented. Having said that we've had much better in other venues in terms of the amount of tea served (we need lots of tea!), the taste of desserts and better sandwiches.

Have you visited Starters for afternoon tea? What did you think?