St Mary's Inn Morpeth - Rustic Afternoon Tea Review

*This is a collaboration with St Mary's Inn

When St Mary's Inn near Morpeth closed its doors not long after we'd celebrated our wedding there we were absolutely gutted. We'd chosen it as our wedding hotel because we'd fallen in love with its charm, amazing food and cosy country vibes - we used to love popping in for a drink after walking in Northumberland and it was a great place to impress the parents when they came for a visit.

Thankfully St Mary's Inn have reopened their doors and are welcoming old regulars and new visitors with the promise of great food, ales by the fire and the perfect resting spot after a long ramble in the countryside. Having already visited for a quick G&T and Sunday Lunch we were keen to arrange a visit to try their brand new rustic afternoon tea which has launched this month.

For those who used to visit St Mary's pre-closure you may remember that their original afternoon tea was very similar to the offering at their sister hotel, Jesmond Dene House and although really lovely perhaps didn't quite fit the country inn interiors of St Mary's. The brand new rural afternoon tea is completely different and very fitting for St Mary's Inn and the warm hospitality and cosy corners you'll discover as soon as you enter.

Simon and I popped in to the Inn a few weeks ago to try out the Rustic Afternoon Tea and settled ourselves down in front of the fire for an afternoon of sweet treats, homemade classics and the chance to utter those words "yeah, I don't think we'll be needing any tea tonight".

Rustic Afternoon Tea at St Mary's Inn costs £15.00 per person and gives you the rare opportunity to "create you own" with lots of things to pick between to make your perfect tea. Each element of the afternoon tea stand is decided by you so none of that usual begging your husband to swap your cheese sandwich for the ham nonsense.  It's ideal for cutting out the bits you don't like and just enjoying a lot of what you love!

If you're a big foodie like me I recommend taking a few friends and ordering a few different bits so you can turn your tea into a big sharing feast. I love to sample everything off the menu but unfortunately dining with my husband involves a lot of me making Bambi eyes across the table to try and get some of his food (it doesn't always work!).

Tea decisions first of course and North East favourite Ringtons is on the menu with plenty of options including good ol' faithful English Breakfast as well as Earl Grey, Peppermint and some fruity choices.

The beauty of Rustic Afternoon Tea at St Mary's Inn is that they have a bar just a few steps away so if you actually quite fancy a pint of beer or a cheeky G&T on the side there is always that option too and if you want to go for the "official" upgrade you can get a glass of Prosecco with your tea for an extra £5.00 per person.

We always both order English Breakfast Tea and I was delighted when our pot showed up in a locally knitted tea cosy. How lovely!  Ours was decorated with brightly coloured flowers and fluffy clouds against a blue sky, it instantly reminded me of our adventures out in the Northumbrian countryside and so was very fitting alongside our Rustic Afternoon Tea.  It really added to the country charm and wow was I glaring at Simon when he took the pot's cute coat off to give the tea a stir!

Our food showed up a few moments after ordering and was a real feast for the eyes - perfectly served on a wooden stand I could immediately see this was a "rustic" afternoon tea.  Everything looked so good and cut into generous slabs, with a great amounts of fillings.

If the "Famous Five" were sitting down to an afternoon tea, I'm pretty sure it would look like this.

Sandwiches were up first and being an Honorary Geordie I was buzzing that we had the choice of Brown Bloomer or Northumbrian Stottie - no prizes for guessing what we went for. I love Stotties and would happily have them with every meal if I could (you've not lived until you've mopped up your dinner with a huge chunk of Stottie!). I just honestly don't think there's a better type of bread than a stottie and if it ever appears on a menu I have to order it without hesitation.

I almost ordered Ham and Pease Pudding but then remembered that I'd finally accepted that this North Eastern lass actually really doesn't like Pease Pudding and so instead went for the Cheese Savoury & Gem Lettuce.

Simon had opted for Smoked Salmon with Pickled Cucumber, Rocket & Cream Cheese and his stottie was the absolute winner. It took a few bites to work out why this sandwich was so amazing and we finally realised that it was the pickled cucumber that really made it perfect. I usually struggle to get Simon to provide me with any meaningful comments on what he's had when I'm doing a review but half way through he actually said to me "in your review, you have to say how amazing this sandwich is". He was going on about it so much that I somehow managed to convince him to cut me off a corner, and he was right. If you're going for the St Mary's Rustic Afternoon Tea this is the stottie you need to pick.

For those that love savoury you'll be wanting to book yourself this afternoon tea immediately because once you're done with the sandwiches you get another savoury treat! There's a choice between Beef & Onion Pie and Warm Cheese and Onion Quiche, both perfectly prepared, served warm with a delicious thick pastry crust.

It's the little things that please me most and one of my favourite things about the Rustic Afternoon Tea was the tableware. Slightly strange I know, but fellow afternoon tea lovers will know how frustrating it is when you have to tackle your tea stand armed with only a knife, fork and one teeny plate. At St Mary's Inn you get two plates and two sets of cutlery which is just amazing. I had a plate for my savoury, a separate plate for my sweets and two knives and forks to work with. Believe me, it was a game changer and everywhere that serves afternoon tea should take note.

I was pretty torn when it came to picking out which scone to get. I was very tempted by the Warm Cheese Scone & Butter but knowing how jealous I'd be of Simon's scone I thought we'd best order the same and we both opted for a Warm Fruit Scone with Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam.

They were huge, served warm out of the oven and when we cut into them I was so happy to discover they were the perfect amount of squish and crumble inside. I think every afternoon tea review I do I comment on how hard it is to get scones right and these ticked all the boxes.

Simon, being Simon got to the jam first, slathered his scone in a thick covering and left me with nowt! Muttering to myself I headed off to go and find more jam and came back with the biggest smug face when I revealed that I'd been given my own mini pots of jam in a variety of flavours.

I definitely had the last laugh and taking full advantage I covered one half in Raspberry Jam (my new favourite jam flavour in case you were wondering) and the other half in a, some might way, controversial choice - Blackberry. An absolute treat smothered in cream and enjoyed with endless cups of steaming hot tea I think the scones were my favourite part of the Afternoon Tea.

You won't find an over crowded tier of cakes on the Rustic Afternoon Tea, instead you get to choose between Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing or Warm Chocolate Brownie and believe me one cake is all you need because the cakes are huge.

We both went for the Chocolate Brownie and it was beautiful. Absolutely huge it was a real struggle to finish it off having already consumed all that food, I'm still not sure how we managed it. It was very rich and really chocolatey.  If you're not a professional in afternoon tea eating I'd highly recommend asking for a box to take this beauty home because it is a bit much after all that food and would be rather lovely to enjoy from the comfort of your sofa in the evening.

We really enjoyed the Rustic Afternoon Tea at St Mary's Inn, it was so lovely to experience something a little different and the food and service we received was faultless. I'm really hoping that word continues to spread about how great this place is, it really is Northumberland's hidden gem and if you're yet to visit them you must make a plan!

What you need to know:

• Rustic Afternoon Tea at St Mary's Inn is served Monday to Saturday from 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
• Afternoon Tea costs £15.00 per person
• Bookings must be made in advance online or by telephone
• Want to read more about St Mary's Inn? Read all about my wedding morning at St Mary's Inn here

Find St Mary's Inn

St Mary's Lane
St Mary's Park
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 6BL

stmarysinn.co.uk/afternoon-tea/

01670 293 293

We were treated to a complimentary afternoon tea for two in exchange for this honest review.