We’re doing some tweaking of the itinerary for our trip and have an option to spend a day- or a good chunk of one- on our last day there looking around Hampstead Heath. We’ve never been there and it looks like a wonderful place to explore. If we were to celebrate our last day with an afternoon tea there, do you all have any suggestions? Thank you in advance for your time and thoughts!
Posted by
London, UK
477 posts
Kenwood House is on Hampstead Heath. I think they have a tea room/cafe.
Posted by
Middletown, RI
1245 posts
Right on the edge of Hampstead Heath is The Spaniards Inn. I don't think they do a proper tea, but it is a wonderful, elegant restaurant/pub. Great place to stop while in the area, but you may want to have a reservation.
Posted by
London
1328 posts
You'll have a better choice of afternoon tea in central London. It's more of a tourist thing. Have a nice walk and a cup of normal tea, you'll be grand.
Posted by
OP
United States
559 posts
We can definitely consider that, Gerry. I found one place in Camden that looked interesting and reasonably priced. Pembroke Primrose Hill. Do you know anything about it? We had thought about going to The Orangery in Kensington bc we didn’t make it last summer, but it seems to be a good bit out of the way.
Thanks PharmerPhil for that recommendation; I will check it out.
Posted by
London
1328 posts
I don't know that pub in particular, but Primrose Hill is a nice area, I mentioned before it's quite posh. I would associate it with Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Jude Law, Sadie Frost; that crowd. It looks like a regular pub to me, not somewhere you'd expect the "afternoon tea" experience.
Could you schedule afternoon tea for another day when you'll be in central London? The recommendations above for Kenwood House and The Spaniards are good for Hampstead. There's plenty to entertain you walking on the Heath and Hampstead itself has a lovely village feel. I wouldn't imagine many of the cafes or restaurants would be set up to serve afternoon tea in Hampstead. The cursory Googling I did to try to help you with somewhere pretty much drew a blank.
ETA: Kensington Palace is best reached from central London. It's west. Hampstead is a few miles north of Trafalgar Square. It would be a decent trek to Kensington from Hampstead. I'm all for visitors having a day out in north London though. Hampstead and Highgate is a good trip.
Posted by
Southern California
443 posts
You might try this link to see if anything appeals: https://www.hampsteadheath.net/cafes-pubs-restaurants We had tea and cakes in Hampstead with our friends back in 2011, but it was not what you would call afternoon tea. The outdoor cafe at Kenwood House looked interesting, but we had already had lunch at The Spaniard's Inn so I have no idea what food they served.
We actually walked from Hampstead Heath to Kensington last summer on our first full day in London. Visited Kenwood House, Parliament Hill, Primrose Hill, Regent's Park, walk along the canal until Paddington Basin and then street-level through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. But it's an all-day walk, so you would not be at The Orangery in time to have tea on that day. ;-)