To your right is the cellar
door enticing you with dark timbers and leather lounges. On your left is the
French Bistro, huge and elegant and this is where you are greeted by the
friendly and professional staff. We
would have been happy to spend our afternoon in either room, however we were
there for High Tea and were unaware of the beauty that awaited us in The
Orangery Conservatory.
High Tea in The
Orangery Conservatory is more than lovely, it is delightful.
Walking through the
doors This Girl and The Only Child felt like we’d entered a wonderland. The most beautiful room filled with plush
chairs in various pastel colours with beautiful glass buttons, magnificent
crockery and silverware, crisp white tablecloths, chandeliers and most amazing
floral display (we were advised that due to small size of the room, they opted
for high quality faux flowers to ensure guests were not overwhelmed with scent
and so they can keep it looking ‘fresh’ all the time, no tackiness here the display
is simply stunning).
Sharlie was our host for afternoon and was
attentive, friendly, knowledgeable and skilled. She took the time to tell us about The
Orangery and Riversdale Estate and really made our experience the most
wonderful afternoon. The Only Child said that she felt posh and special, like
we were royalty.
High Tea was a
selection of savoury and sweet delights and comes with an endless supply of
your choice of teas or coffee for $40.
We chose to start our afternoon with a glass of Riversdale Estate
bubbles at $12 a glass, we both agreed it was a wine you could quite easily sip
all afternoon.
For drinking with our
High Tea The Only Child chose their Supreme Breakfast blend and This Girl had
their Indian Spiced blend, both served to us in exquisite silver teapots.
Our High Tea was made
up of three different sandwiches, egg and lettuce, salmon and cream cheese and
of course, cucumber, a savoury quiche, curried chicken sausage roll and their
traditional sausage roll as the savouries.
For sweets they serve a custard tart, chocolate peppermint biscuit
sandwich, mini pavlova with Chantilly cream and a blackberry, orange almond
cake and two different scones, date which comes with butter and plain served
with their own cherry and raspberry jam and clotted cream.
From The Orangery we
had a beautiful view out over the vineyard and the Coal River beyond, you might
be lucky like us and also catch a few planes coming in to land.
Riversdale Estate is a
destination that provides accommodation, a cellar door, French Bistro, High Tea
and from March, the only Peter Rabbit Garden outside of England of the UK. There is so much to explore and we are keen
to return to experience everything they have to offer.
Riversdale Estate is at 222 Denholms Rd, Cambridge.
Bookings for High Tea are essential, call them on 6248 5666
You can find the menu on their website and you can keep up-to-date with their happenings on Facebook and Instagram.
You'll drive past Frogmore Creek on your way to Riversdale Estate, another beautiful venue that will have you feeling like royalty, read our blog
here.