Afternoon Tea with Kids at Mercure Aberdeen Ardoe House

Afternoon Tea with Kids at Mercure Aberdeen Ardoe House 

Mercure Aberdeen Ardoe House hotel, a beautiful country pile in rural Aberdeenshire, now offers a startling wonderful but simple idea – a Young Diner’s Afternoon Tea.  Why isn’t every hotel doing this?

What makes this genius – apart from the cake – is that any hotel can claim to be ‘child friendly’, but by putting a ‘Young Diner’s Afternoon Tea’ on the menu, in black and white, you are going beyond the ‘child friendly’ platitude where they nibble from your plate. Ardoe is actively catering for the little terrors, and this is terribly important to families because, as a parent, I am now confident in bringing my cherub with me and feeling welcome.

Setting – Afternoon Tea with Kids at Mercure Aberdeen Ardoe House

Ardoe House could be a backdrop for a costume drama – the perfect setting to take tea (even with a rugrat). We were led through to the drawing room with its log fire, historical portraits and unblemished sofas and I had a slight panic – perhaps a toddler was too young for tea, what would he do to the furniture etc.?

But to encourage other parents to just go forth and try things, Mr Toddler somehow sensed this was special, check him out reading his book waiting for his order to arrive. I was blown away, though I did remove his shoes as a precaution.

Then he decided to take in the grounds with a jolly good look out of the window.  To be fair in a building like this there’s a lot to look at, the fine art of distraction was relatively straightforward.

Quick Service

The service at Ardoe was quick enough for a child’s extremely limited window of patience, which as any parent knows means a great deal. Mr Toddler was offered a choice of ham or cheese sandwiches and a soft drink as part of his afternoon tea. Before long he had food in front of him.

The Children’s Afternoon Tea

But let’s cut to the chase, cos I know you really just want to see photos of cake. Mr Toddler’s afternoon tea looked totally different to mine yet just as appealing. Yes, his was the child’s version but not in that naff chicken-nugget-second-class-citizen kind of way, but in a yummy-celebrate-being-a-kid way.

He hoofed down the ham sandwiches. He sampled the hundreds and thousands bread pieces but was a little unsure, but they certainly looked pretty.

Next up, Chocolate Crackle Cake, Strawberry Jelly with Ice-cream, Ardoe Chocolate Shake (unexpected bonus for me), a Strawberry Marshmallow Skewer, and a Smartie Cookie.

Meanwhile, for adults, the afternoon tea includes smoked salmon sandwiches, plain scones with clotted cream and jam, a Chocolate Brownie and Caramelised Passion Fruit Tart.

The children’s afternoon tea was a treat, and it was nice to see fruit and milk incorporated into the child’s version. I also appreciated that the Young Diner’s Afternoon Tea was as beautifully presented on a cake stand as any adult version.

This experience is open to all ages, I can picture three or four generations sitting down together just sharing some time and cake together – never forget the cake.

Lastly, with so many toys in circulation having an experience with your child, or buying a voucher as a gift, rather than another toy, is a novel option.

If you liked more ideas of things to with kids in Aberdeen, then click here.

LOWDOWN

Mercure Aberdeen Ardoe Hotel is situated in thirty acres on grounds on the South Deeside Road, a short taxi ride from Aberdeen city centre and its train station.

Afternoon Tea is available from 12 noon till 6pm. The Classic Afternoon Tea is £19, the Chocolate Afternoon Tea is £21, the Gluten Free Afternoon Tea is £19 (requires 24 hours notice) and it’s £12 for a Young Diner’s Afternoon Tea (requires 24 hours notice).  If it’s a special occasion, or if you’re just in the mood for some bubbles, upgrade to a Champagne Afternoon Tea for an additional £9.50.

I opted for the Classic Afternoon Tea whereby you select between roast beef, smoked salmon and dill or egg sandwiches/a plain scone or a whisky soaked sultana scone/tea or coffee.

Often you have to order afternoon tea as a couple, but it’s no problem to order one adult afternoon tea and one young diner’s version.

Scots2Travel were guests at Ardoe Hotel.  Mr Toddler’s opinions are his own as, trust me, you can’t feed a toddler anything he doesn’t want to eat.

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