I first found this lovely little place while visiting relatives in Henley-In-Arden a few years ago and became hooked, to the point of getting my fella to drive me to Henley when I fancied an ice cream while pregnant - under the pretence of visiting said relatives of course!
The last time I went was at the beginning of December 2008 and for the first time ate hot food in the Tea Room as well as a bowl of delicious Henley ice cream.
The tea room is laid out in a very quaint and old fashioned way, and it has a lovely bright and airy atmosphere. I enjoyed the hour I spent in here, my twelve year old got bored but read her Mizz and soon perked up when the food arrived!
My daughter had a full English breakfast which was freshly cooked and looked (and smelled!) delicious; bacon, sausage, fried egg, beans, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and toast plus something else that I can't remember were all beautifully cooked and Charlotte ate every single mouthful - unusual for her as she's a really picky child when we eat out.
I had a sausage & bacon baguette which was amazing, I'd asked for my bacon to be well done and it was perfectly crispy without being cremated. The crisp baguette was buttered very lightly so that the heat from the sausage melted it into the bread, a dollop of ketchup completed my meal.
We both had ice cream, of course, I had coffee flavour and my daughter chose banana fudge. The coffee ice cream was deliciously creamy and very authentic to the taste of real coffee, when I had a spoon of my daughters I almost wished I'd had the banana fudge though because it had an intense banana flavour but sweetened like an excellent quality fudge. Wow, I was in ice cream heaven!
I'd anticipated visiting Henley Ice Cream and had my cold box in the car so I could buy some of their ice cream for the freezer as there isn't a stockist local to me. They enclose the tubs in a hardy bubble wrap bag which helps to protect against melting, popping these into the cold box meant that my the ice cream was still frozen after the 30 minute journey back to South Birmingham. To take home I bought Ginger & Lime, Cherry, Banana Fudge, Pralines & Cream and Clotted Cream ice cream and this cost me around £15; sounds expensive I know but this is excellent quality ice cream which lasts for ages, plus this is cheaper than buying the equivalent of Ben & Jerrys!
The tea room also serves a selection of drinks, I had a coffee which was served with cream and brown sugar and my daughter had a milk shake made with delicious vanilla Henley ice cream.
Prices are slightly more expensive than eating in a standard cafe, but I was expecting this as it's such a pretty and unusual place to eat. read more