Little Hallingbury Mill Afternoon Tea

A few days before Christmas I met up with my friends for our annual Christmas / Birthday get together at the Little Hallingbury Mill near Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire. 

We'd decided weeks beforehand that we all quite fancied an afternoon tea date and my friend recommended that we try the Mill as they cater for Vegan's. When she first mentioned this I was pretty surprised that this place wasn't already on my radar and after looking at their website I was impressed to find that they offer vegetarian, dairy free and gluten free afternoon teas. It's not every day I come across somewhere which offers such a diverse menu like this, especially in the rural Essex / Hertfordshire region. I was pretty amazed!

When I called to book the afternoon tea and request a vegan option everything was handled really well and I felt assured that I'd be well looked after.  

As soon as we arrived at the Mill I knew we'd made the right decision and with everywhere so chaotic and busy just before Christmas it was nice to arrive somewhere so tranquil and cosy in the countryside. It was exactly what we all needed and it was the perfect location for a girly catch up. 

The Mill has a wonderfully rustic and shabby chic feel to it which is made all the more charming by the beautiful vintage china. When my finely labelled 'Vegan' three tiered stand was presented to me I was surprised by just how perfect everything looked. I've been to some pretty swanky places for tea recently, including The Savoy and Sketch in London, and I certainly wasn't expecting to find another lovely option so close to home.

Included in the tea were a selection of finger sandwiches with fillings such as cucumber, hummus & pepper and what I believed to be some kind of vegan friendly cheese. I cannot be 100% sure of this as sadly not everything was explained to us by the waiter and upon questioning he wasn't exactly sure what it was either, with the person he needed to ask also not being on site. This would perhaps be my only negative of the whole experience as with the lack of vegan menu on the table it would have been nice to know exactly what we were eating. Another downfall of this was that we didn't realise that the shot glass on top of the stand was in fact a savoury mushroom soup, and not a sweet item, so by the time we came to taste it it was sadly cold.

This slight complaint aside, the food was all delicious! The cakes were really light and moist and we ended up getting through quite a few teapots of the English breakfast tea. 

Considering how enjoyable the food, ambience and the venue was it's quite surprising that a dietary tailored afternoon tea here will only set you back a mere £16.95 per person. This is a fraction of what you'd expect to pay in London and, albeit a much more casual affair, it's certainly somewhere i'd look forward to returning to again.

Where is your favourite spot for a vegan afternoon tea? If anyone has any recommendations for anywhere in Essex / Hertfordshire or Suffolk i'd love to hear!