National Trust Book of Afternoon Tea

Quickly clean the pan, return it to the heat, melt the rest of the butter, and fry the eggs. Divide them, the gammon and the sauce between two warmed plates and serve immediately.

Chill the loaf for a couple of hours. Then take a bread knife, dip it in a jug of hot water and dry it before cutting a thin slice from the loaf at right angles to the base. Repeat until you have six thin slices (there will be some left over), dipping the knife in hot water and drying it between each slice. The dipping process makes it easier to cut neat slices.
Pass a rolling pin back and forth across each slice of bread to flatten it a little. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on each slice. Season each with a little chopped dill, some black pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. Distribute the slices of smoked salmon neatly and evenly over the top.

Better to do a few things well, rather than divide attention between many.

blinis with smoked salmon

Seating should be comfortable and informal, with little tables on which to put cups and plates. Set parameters for time – say three till five o’clock, or four o’clock till six – and within this guests may come and go at times to suit themselves.

eating should be comfortable and informal, with little tables on which to put cups and plates. Set parameters for time – say three till five o’clock, or four o’clock till six – and within this guests may come and go at times to suit themselves.

Use pretty china, present the

There is one final question: to add milk to the cup before the tea or afterwards? Both sides claim logic: the ‘milk in first’ camp claim a longer precedent, saying that, originally, a little milk in the base of a precious porcelain tea bowl or cup helped lessen the possibility of it cracking when the hot tea was added. Proponents of adding milk after the tea say that hot tea scorches and cooks the milk very slightly, impairing the flavour, and also that adding milk later allows the drinker accurately to adjust the quantity according to taste. Perhaps it’s best just to think that it is your cup of tea, and it should be how you like it.

The water should be freshly drawn. Soft water is best. Those who are really serious about tea use filtered tap water or spring water. Fill the kettle and bring it to the boil. The tea should be made as soon as the water boils (if it is allowed to go on boiling, or re-boiled, the tea will taste flat), so the pot must be ready. Warm it, either by filling it with hot water and leaving it to stand for a few minutes before pouring the water away, or by swilling hot water round the pot and emptying it. Take the pot to the kettle.

A chance to dress up and socialise, or the centre of a busy family routine, a pause in a work-loaded day, an excuse for a chat, a biscuit or more, snatched in a break or taken at leisure, tea means many things to many people. It has become a constant in British culture, much enjoyed by all.