It had turned into a cold and rather damp day, so a visit to the tea room was in order. This is in the old stable block of Hinton Ampner House and has a beamed ceiling, white washed walls and wooden tables and chairs. A sliding door leads out into an outside seating area with tables and a large canopy.
At 12.30 on a Saturday, the tea room wasn’t particularly busy although counter service was quite slow with a very slow moving queue. Wanting something hot, we settled on the chicken and whole grain mustard hot pot, having decided the red thai and pumpkin soup might be a bit too spicy and the sausage sounded a bit too trendy.
It came out in a big bowl with small pieces of chicken, large chunks of potato and carrot and sliced cabbage and leeks in a thin gravy. You needed a spoon to eat this. I found it to be a bit too heavily flavoured with the whole grain mustard which swamped the taste of the other ingredients. The large hunk of granary bloomer was soft and fresh.
The tea room serves a selection of home made cakes including the traditional standbys of Victoria sponge and coffee cake as well as scones and shortbread, but we didn’t indulge today.
Prices are reasonable and this makes a welcome break after going round the house and gardens.
