After a short walk from Bond Street station Mumma Mead and I ended up arriving a little early to the Millennium Hotel, Mayfair. The hotel is located in the very picturesque Grosvenor Square and is one of the many hotels and embassy’s which surround the large garden in the centre. Luckily enough Mothering Sunday fell on a very sunny Sunday indeed so we took in the sights before making our way through the hotels revolving doors. They lead us into a very suave lobby decked with gorgeous chandeliers, luxurious purple velvet setting and monochrome floor tiles.
At reception we were greeted by Gemma and James who organised the event and introduced to some very polite members of staff who led us into the bar for a flute of prosecco while we waited. More bloggers soon arrived accompanied with their mums and I’m sure they’d all agree it was a real nice change to have our mums around at a blogger event. After a little mingling and having a giggle with Haydy and her mum about how us Essex girls were invading Made in Chelsea soil we were given a little brief of what the day would hold, not only would we get to treat our mums to a spot of afternoon tea but we were also to be taken on a tour of the hotels most desired suites and function rooms.
Our tour soon begun and we were taken through to the rear end of the building which is home to a private entrance and car park for more important guests. I soon found myself gazing out the window drooling over a handsome red Ferrari parked up in the drive, the guide obviously caught me as she said, “we do attract some beautiful cars.” You can say that again.
The building was a once a 18th century mansion and you can really tell when we begun exploring the larger rooms which are now used for functions. All the door and wall detailing was beautifully carved not to mention the amazing ceilings paired with some of the most sparkly chandeliers I’ve seen.
We were then taken back to the front of the building, into the lift to be shown some of the more luxurious rooms available. Each of the rooms had their own individual name and entering was like walking into a little home with spacious rooms big enough to fit the huge group of us. The rooms are commonly used for conference meetings so they not only included a room with a large table but also had their own bathrooms and king sized beds, which of course, me and my mum had test out! It would’ve been rude not to, right?
It was then time for the best part, tea time! We joined Anna and her lovely mum and got settled for the feast. I was pretty excited as me and my mum always say we will go for afternoon tea but just never seem to get round to it. We began by ordering our choice of tea, I went for a pot of loose leaf Darjeeling. When I’m at home or work, like many of us I just squeeze my PG tip and let that be that, however if you’re gonna do afternoon tea you’ve gotta do it right! We were advised to let the tea brew for four minutes before pouring it through the strainer into the dinky tea cups, part of the cutest wild strawberry design crockery by Wedgewood.
Then out came the star of the show, three tiers worth of beautifully presented finger sandwiches, freshly baked scones and cakes. In traditional afternoon tea style we held back the temptation of the cakes and worked our way up the stand delving into choice of cucumber, salmon, chicken and egg sandwiches. Memories of squished lunch box sandwiches seemed to have scarred me for life however you could really tell the freshness of them making them hard to resist. More sandwiches were soon bought out however we all had our eyes on the scones which were still slightly warm. We had a choice of clotted cream, jam and lemon curd and I decided to mix things up a bit by going for lemon curd over jam and it was to die for, truly one of the best scones I’ve ever tasted.
The head chef, Paul Danabie came out to meet us and talked us through the selection of cakes. I went for the Viennese finger which had rich chocolate on either end and my mum went for the Eaton mess which I’m guessing she enjoyed seeing as she saved none for me!
I feel really privileged to have treated my mum to such a lovely afternoon so thank you very much Scarlett, Greenlight Digital and Millennium Hotels for the unforgettable day!