Afternoon Tea at the Joinery Workshop and Tearoom, Burnopfield

Last weekend we headed off to County Durham for afternoon tea at the Joinery Workshop and Tearoom in Burnopfield, the cutest little place we've visited for a while. One of the best things about finally having a car is being able to adventure out into the countryside and try out all the little tea rooms. Whilst I'm a big fan of big posh afternoon teas in grand hotels I have to say that sometimes the very best discoveries are the teas served in cute tea rooms off the beaten track.

Having only been open for 4 months, the tearoom is quite a find. With exposed brick walls, solid wood tables and the most beautiful pastel chairs with floral covers, the Joinery certainly made a good impression from the moment we stepped through the door.

 It was a particularly wet and miserable Sunday afternoon so we were happy to get a table by the window. There's some thing so cosy about being wrapped up warm indoors watching the rain outside. I love it!

Despite being there for afternoon tea we couldn't help but take a quick look through The Joinery menu and were particularly impressed by the small but perfectly formed breakfast menu that included a Full English for only £5.50.

Afternoon Tea at the Joinery Workshop and Tearoom is a full on foodie affair. When our stand appeared in front of us we started to wish that we'd worn baggier trousers, this one was going to be a challenge even for afternoon tea eating pros like us.

First things first, we poured ourselves some cups of tea into our beautiful mint green teacups. If we were ever going to get through our mountain of food we needed to be prepared!

Beginning at the bottom we started with the sandwiches.

Cute and dainty with the crusts cut off we had a nice selection of ham, cheese & pickle, egg mayonnaise, tuna & cucumber and cheese & onion. We were really happy to also find some savoury scones with butter smuggled away between the sandwiches, I love when an afternoon tea offers something different on the savoury tier.

The mountain of sandwiches was never ending so we decided to leave a couple to give ourselves room for the important stuff.

Simon eagerly grabbed himself a mammoth scone from the top of the stand just as I announced that I was planning on doing things in a different order this time.

I always overfill on scones (probably something to do with the amount of jam and cream I pack on to them) and then struggle to fit in cake and this time I was determined not to let that happen.

Simon reluctantly returned his scone and we set to work on the cake.

The cake tier was completely covered in sweet treats with every inch of the plate hidden by something delicious.  Chocolate dipped strawberries, biscuits, caramel shortbread and massive slabs of cake - it was hard to know where to start.

We weren't too fussed with the smaller cakes which we didn't really feel were needed on the stand as the absolute stars of the show were the huge wedges of homemade cake. If there's one thing we love on an afternoon tea stand it's homemade cake!

The slabs on offer were an indulgent chocolate orange and a generous chunk of lemon. To stop ourselves from arguing we decided to cut each slice in two and share (that folks, is the key to a happy marriage). Simon's favourite was the chocolate orange which was no surprise to me as he loves the flavour so much he chose chocolate orange as the top tier of our wedding cake.

For me it was all about the lemon cake which had a generous iced topping and a beautiful tangy lemon jam that sat perfectly with the sweet buttercream in the middle. Heaven!

 It was around this time that I suddenly realised Simon was no longer paying me any attention and was completely mesmerised by what was happening on the table behind us. Following his gaze I noticed people tucking into huge baps stuffed full of hot meat and gravy and plates of wedges. A quick scout through the menu and we were suddenly lusting after the "Sunday Special" a roast meat bap served each week with wedges for only £4.95.

By this point we were well and truly defeated. It's not often that an afternoon tea gets the better of us but this mammoth beauty was too much. We boxed up our scones to enjoy with a cup of tea at home later (Simon even managed to lovingly transport the cream home!). We were very glad we saved them as they were gigantic and very filling. I particularly loved the amount of sultanas that were in them, in my opinion you can never have too many sultanas in a fruit scone.

We loved afternoon tea at The Joinery Workshop and Tearoom and will definitely be returning to try out some of the cake and, of course, indulge in one of those Sunday Specials.

Afternoon Tea at the Joinery is £9.95 per person and booking is compulsory. To book your table call the Joinery on 01207 272 756.

We received  a complimentary afternoon tea in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and words are my own.