The occasion, as if I needed one, is a special birthday treat with an emphasis on the \u2018special\u2019 \u2013 but the hospitality at Cliveden never lets special slip into snooty. The atmosphere is that of a welcoming countryside home (an extremely grand one, to be sure) where the staff are personable while professional, and the service is impeccable without being overbearing. There\u2019s a pleasant mix of people around; ramblers emerge from the woodland to stroll on the parterre, and gardeners are tending to the magnificent flowerbeds. Somewhere in the enormous mansion a mid-week wedding is being expertly and discreetly conducted, with only sneak peaks of happy wedding guests pottering<\/p>\n
on the terrace giving the game away. We get to watch it all from our Agatha armchairs with a glass of champagne; as far as Wednesdays go, it\u2019s not bad.<\/p>\nSublime food and a sweet takeaway\u2026<\/h2>\n I always love a good nose around Cliveden \u2013 at the mish mash of austere portraits spanning hundreds of years, each hinting at a different moment in the estate\u2019s 350 year history, then marvelling at the change in interiors as you walk from the rich reds and wood panelling of the great hall into the bright, elegant Andre Garrett restaurant with its golden flourishes bathed in sunlight from the vast south-facing windows. But today is all about the food.<\/p>\n
The funny thing about afternoon tea is how dainty it looks when it arrives, compared with how enormous it feels when you\u2019re half way through eating it\u2026 Of course, it didn\u2019t help that when offered more sandwiches, sausage rolls and quiches we really, really couldn\u2019t say no, even though we hadn\u2019t yet embarked on the scones. All of it was absolutely gorgeous; the savouries were moreish, the scones were fresh from the oven and served with plentiful homemade jam and cool clotted cream, and the cakes were\u2026 too much for us to finish! Luckily, our lovely waiter was more than happy to box them up for us to take home, complete with a sweet personal touch.<\/p>\nThe whole thing was accented with Cliveden\u2019s blend of loose leaf tea, which was readily replenished without asking, and a cold glass of Tattinger Champagne. After two hours of uninterrupted luxury, we sensed that the steel grey sky was about to perform its bucket-emptying routine again, and reluctantly vacated our armchairs.<\/p>\n
On our way out we spotted the newly married bride and groom having their photos done at the front of the house. I wished the bride congratulations as we walked past; in her mid-length fringed dress she looked like a chic guest of Nancy Astor at one of the legendary Cliveden weekend parties in the 1920s, and she gave me a beaming smile.<\/p>\nI honestly can\u2019t recommend the experience highly enough, and likewise I can\u2019t think of enough excuses to make a return visit (I mean, there\u2019s birthdays, anniversaries, other Wednesdays\u2026) as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
Whether for a wedding, a meal, or a luxury getaway, find out more about Cliveden Country House Hotel here<\/a>, cliveden house<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s June, and thanks to the classic English summer – weeks of rain followed by sunshine followed by a little more rain, just for good luck \u2013 the Buckinghamshire countryside has exploded into luscious, bottle green life. I can\u2019t be sure, but I think we can see all of it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-luxury-venues","category-wedding-venues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Cliveden](\"http:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Cliveden_3-1.jpg\" "\\"Cliveden")
![\"Cliveden](\"http:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Exterior-1201x566-1.jpg\" "\\"Cliveden")
![\"Afternoon](\"http:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/afternoon-tea-berkshire-cliveden-house-1-1.jpg\" "\\"Afternoon")
![\"Cliveden](\"http:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/46240803-1.jpg\" "\\"")