Had an absolutely amazing time in Harrogate this weekend, involving After Eight shooters, too many bottles of wine and lots of laughter!
It's a shame these things don't come round more often.
NB for those who don't know, Harrogate is in Yorkshire, which is in the North and full of lovely friendly northerners who are a rather well off bunch!
Anyways, whether nursing a hangover or not, one place in Harrogate that should be visited is Betty's Tea Rooms!
You walk in and the immaculately polished counters display row upon row of delicate cakes and patissseries, some burgeoning with cream, others with jam, or raisins, or some other sumptuous dried fruits.
The walls are lined with every tea and coffee under the sun, which you all want to take back with you (Dammit, I only brought a small rucksack! And that was full of maybe-I'll-wear-it-or-nots)
The room itself is amazing. The coffees and teas reach the ceiling, the decor is polished gold-looking and all quite 20's conservative style.
Then you realise that it's not just a fancy cake shop as towards the back is a short flight of stairs framed by a lady wearing a slight smile, a Victorian-like long dark skirt and holding menus to a growing queue of customers.
So off we curiously teetered downstairs, peering into our dining area, which was all wooden panels and pictures made from an assortment of wood (too much wood for my liking!). Having sat down, I ordered a Ceylon tea with a slice of lemon (not the usual dash of milk I'm used to) and a delicious (and not too pricey!) toasted raisin tea cake covered in butter (yuuuum!).
Even the waitresses seemed typically from a Victorian era. They were all painfully young (painful for me, as I'm not quite to jeune myself anymore!) and had that hunted, nervous, victimised look about them that is mostly likely as a result of strict enforcement of politeness and decorum when serving a customer!
On the whole, I have to say the experience was pleasant and it meant I killed a bit of time waiting for others to return from the French Property Exhibition.
But one to DEFINITELY check out is Milan's Cafe - it had 3 or 4 rooms with different styles - wrought iron intricately designed tables and chairs - an assortment of mismatching armchairs in another. The armchair one was my favourite with typical rugs, a muffled noise level (perfect for a hangover - yes, again!) and a soothing but unfortunately fake flickering oil lamp that you can occasionally stare at & lose yourself in your thoughts for a minute or so. The armchairs are so comfy especially when you spend 2 hours in there reading your book. (Albeit a bit of a badly written crappy one - 'A year in the Merde' - it would be great on a conversational blog, with short sentences, undeveloped ideas, but not as a published lierary work).
I really should be off now anyway, so cheers for now peeps.
