以前、Cliveden House に泊まったときにディナーをいただきましたが、あまり好みではなかったので今回はレストランでのディナーは頂かず、アフタヌーンティーをすることにしました。夫の弟夫婦が車で30分程度のところに住んでいるので、ジョインしてもらって一緒にアフタヌーンティーを頂きました。
When we stayed here once before, we had dinner at the dining room but we weren’t very impresed so this time we decided not to have dinner here and have an afternoon tea instead today. My husband’s younger brother and his wife live about 30 minutes from here so we asked them to join us and enjoyed the afternoon tea together.
今年のバレンタインデーに夫と2人でここでアフタヌーンティーをいただいた時はダイニングルームで頂いたのですが、今日は日曜日で、日曜日はラウンジで頂くそうで、わたしはダイニングルームの雰囲気がとても良いと思ったので残念でした。こうして写真で見るとラウンジも悪くはないのですが、写真よりもずっと暗いのです。そして、テーブルの配置も細長いテーブルで2人がソファーに、後の2人は両端に座ることになり、端と端が遠くて話もしづらかったですし、ソファーは深くてもたれかかれないので座り心地が悪いのも残念。その上、日曜日は1人5ポンド（1000円弱）高くなるので、チョイスがあるなら日曜日以外がお勧めです。今日はお祝いということでシャンパンもいただきましたが、アフタヌーンティーの内容はほとんどバレンタインデーのものと同じでした。
My husband and I had afternoon tea here once before on Valentine’s Day this year and it was served in the hotel’s dining room. However, we found out that they serve it in the the main hall on Sundays. I much prefered it in the dining room so I was a bit disappointed by this. From the photos, the lounge also looks quite nice but it is very dark, much darker than on the photos. Besides, the seating arrangements were very awkward. 2 people sit on the sofa and the 2 others sit at either end of the table, and the table is very very long so it was very difficult to talk to each other for those at the ends. The sofa was very deep so you cannot sit back – when you do you are almost laying down. I recommend to have afternoon tea here during the week or on a Saturday if you can, especially because it’s 5 pounds more expensive per person on Sundays. We had a glass of Champagne each (except my brother-in-law, who had to drive) but the afternoon tea itself was almost the same as the one we had on Valentine’s Day.
スコーンは前回はすごくドライで飲み物で流し込む感じでしたが、今日は反対に中まで焼き切れていないような感じで少しベタっとしていました。日によって、焼く人によって違うんでしょうね。
On Valentine’s Day the scones were extremely dry – so dry that you had to drink something to wash it down. Today, they were slightly under baked and a little wet and sticky in the middle. I guess they are different every day depending on the baker.
