Festive Afternoon Tea at the Best Western Moat House, Stoke on Trent

What do you do when you want to give your tween daughter a really special treat? A small gift maybe or a shopping trip? I absolutely love gifting time together and experiences which is why I think afternoon tea for just the two of us is the perfect way to spoil her without filling our house with more unwanted plastic! The Moat House afternoon tea sounded just ideal!

We picked the Best Western Moat House Hotel in Stoke on Trent for our Mummy / Daughter day out. This is a brilliantly located 4 star hotel with everything you need for a family friendly stay in the city. It has a pool, spa and is within walking distance to plenty of shops, a water park, things to do and restaurants. The hotel has huge historic links to Stoke on Trent. Beautiful Etruria Hall in the hotel grounds was once home to Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the famous Wedgwood pottery empire. The hotel is even lovelier decorated for Christmas.

The Festive Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea is a British custom which dates back to the 1800’s. It’s had a huge resurgence in popularity recently with fancy hotels around the world offering up their interpretations. Often with a theme but always including mini sandwiches and savouries, pastries and bite sized sweet treats. And of course something us Brits take very seriously, tea! For any of my overseas readers, no, this is not something we do everyday, it’s an occasional treat, but one of my very favourites.

We arrived at the Moat House in the late afternoon and our pretty table next to the window was all set up for us ready to start. We had crackers on the table so of course set about pulling them and rocking our party hats. So far, so festive!

Our lovely waitress started by offering us drinks, a tea for Piper and a strong coffee for me. We’d been Christmas shopping before we arrived so I was in desperate need of a pick up!

Then out came our selection of treats. I love afternoon tea, it’s so very British, so fun and the tiny sandwiches and bite sized cakes somehow convince me I can eat more than usual! Piper loves them for the wide variety of choice and sweet treats, this one would eat sugar all day if she could!

Our afternoon tea was delivered all at once in an attractive box style holder. Included in the tea were:

A selection of sandwiches

Triangle shaped of course, two each. We had turkey and cranberry, beef salad, egg mayo, tuna and cheese and pickle. Served on either white or brown bread. The turkey was my favourite, I loved how it fit with the festive theme. Piper devoured all the beef which was apparently yummy!

Pastries

The pastry section consisted of a profiterole style filled pastry and a chocolate éclair – one each and delicious.

Sweet treats

These were of course Piper’s favourite. We had a small slice of Victoria sponge each – which was perfectly moist and sweet and a chocolate brownie cake which looked lovely. There was one each but Piper enjoyed it so much, she ate them both!

Scones

My favourite part of any afternoon tea are the scones. Probably due to all my childhood holidays to Cornwall, devouring Cornish cream teas at every opportunity! We had one each and it came with a very generous tub of jam and oodles of clotted cream. Heaven!

As part of the festive theme I was offered a glass of mulled wine which came with another treat – a mini mince pie. By the end of our visit we still had loads left so asked our waitress if we could take some home for Mr AWTYK. She happily found us some extra napkins to wrap up our leftovers.

Princess Afternoon Tea at the Moat House

We arrived just as another of the Moat House’s experiences were beginning. And we half thought we had turned up to the wrong place. The reception and bar area were full of young girls dressed as princesses. Ready to enjoy their very own afternoon tea – in a separate ballroom. We did pop our head round to take a look and they were having heaps of fun. The princess characters had all the kids on the dance floor playing games whilst Mums and Dads sat, enjoying their treats, chatting with friends. This would make a perfect afternoon tea experience for any younger girls. It’s just £8.95 for kids and £16.95 for adults. I’ll pop an updated date for Christmas 2020 on here when they announce it.

Parking at the Best Western Moat House

There is plenty of parking available at the Moat House. It’s free but you will need to input your registration number into the machines at reception to ensure you don’t get fined. We opted for the 3 hour stay option and it gave us plenty of time to enjoy our afternoon tea.

How to get to the Best Western Moat House

The hotel is only 8 miles from the M6 motorway making it easy to access from most of the UK. It’s located in Festival Park which is well signposted around the city.

Etruria Hall,

Festival Way,

Stoke-on-Trent

ST1 5BQ

Cost of Afternoon Tea at the Best Western Moat House

The festive afternoon tea is just £16.95 per person. Amazing value. To book your space just call the hotel’s booking team on 01782 609988. They have dates available throughout December. It would be a lovely way to get into the festive mood with a group of girlfriends.

Whilst you’re in Stoke, I highly recommend checking out some of the other fabulous Christmas events in the area. Have a look at my post on the best Christmas Events in Stoke on Trent for inspiration.

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We were gifted a festive afternoon tea for two in exchange for this review, as always, all opinions are mine and Pipers.

We were invited to The Best Western Moat House as part of my role supporting #mystokestory, an initiative to highlight the many amazing cultural activities Stoke has to offer. I love being an official ambassador of this wonderful campaign, and am really enjoying all the fantastic activities Stoke has to offer. If you’re looking for more brilliant ideas, events and things to do in Stoke make sure you take a look at the Visit Stoke website for inspiration. Be sure to use the hashtag #mystokestory to share all your own days out in Stoke on Trent.

This post may contain affiliate links which means I receive a small commission if you book via one of these links at no extra cost to you. I really appreciate each and every click!