Saltmarshe Hall

We had been given a voucher for Afternoon Tea as a present and to be truthful it is not something that we would have thought of ourselves. We made our booking, which was a painless experience and we awaited the day.

The hall is located in a quiet and secluded area to the south of Howden and is reached by travelling down some narrow lanes. Be careful when arriving at the postcode if you are using a SatNav as it can lead you to the farm located nearby but if you keep your eyes open it is clearly signposted at the end of the drive.

The first thing we noticed whilst driving up was the immaculate ground we were passing through. We parked up and made our way into the reception area where we were met by a member of the team who directed us to a sitting room to wait. We had arrived some 40 minutes early but this did appear to cause any problems and after a very short wait, we were taken to our table to start our new experience.

The afternoon tea arrived and we both looked at each other and thought, it looked amazing and then how on earth will we eat all of it!

One thing for sure is that you will not leave hungry, in fact, we advise you to plan your meals carefully for this experience so you can enjoy all that is on offer.

We had, 5 different sandwiches, an assortment of cakes including macaroons, shortbread, cheesecake, brownies and amongst other beautiful homemade treats we finished with one of the best scones I have tasted! It is up to you if want to eat it the Devon or the Cornwall way.

We were looked in on and asked if we wanted more tea and asked everything was ok but in no way were we rushed.

After finishing our tea, we decided to take a walk around the grounds as we were exiting the main building we met up with the manager who was more than happy to take time to talk to us. He went on to tell us about the rooms and how the hall has sought to position itself as a premier wedding and corporate venue. The hall does not have a restaurant per say if you stay at the hall you can enjoy an evening meal cooked by the resident chef and if the afternoon tea is anything to go by that will be a treat. In fact, it is a recurring theme, we were made to feel all the way through that nothing was too much trouble and that we were the centre of their attention.

The grounds are beautiful and are free to explore, they were very nice on the slightly cloudy day we visited and I expect them to be great on a sunny day.

In conclusion, this was a great experience and one that we would recommend.