A Weekend of Afternoon Tea

The first post of this new blog and it's beginning with me looking like a greedy pig having afternoon tea twice in two days! I promise, I'm not normally like this, normally I have a healthy and balanced diet, but this is the start of my 'birth-week' (so named as I can never just limit the celebrations to just one day!)

Afternoon tea #1

The first, on Saturday was at The Richmond Tea Rooms in Manchester with my older sister and her family. It was a lovely place, with great food, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to review that at a later date as I did not fully explore the access due to having two strapping blokes with me who made the obvious access issues a doddle.

Picture from Google Images

Briefly, as you can see from the image, there are two steps at the entrance and then once you navigate those there is a small flight of steps, maybe 7-8, just inside the door leading to the main reception area. I noticed a chair lift on the right of the staircase but as I had my partner and my brother in-law there they (rather unceremoniously) carried me up the stairs, so I didn't have any need to ask how I would have got up the first two in order to get to the chair lift. It looks like I will have to go back for another afternoon tea there just so I can properly assess the access for you all. Looking at the photos of our food on Saturday below you will see what a challenge that will be! *greedy grin*

It's also worth noting that they do have an accessible toilet, which I spotted as we were making our way to our table, but it had an 'out of order' sign on it. I asked the waitress if that was the only toilet and she said that it was fine to use... so I'm not quite sure whether the sign was a deterrent so people did just nip in, or whether it just hadn't been taken off.

Afternoon tea #2

The second afternoon tea was at a lovely little place in Edgworth called The Wellbeing Farm. I booked the table a couple of months ago when I came across the website as I looked at wedding venues (not for me!) and I saw that they do themed afternoon teas at regular intervals throughout the year. As there was one scheduled for this weekend, the weekend before my birthday, I asked Dan if he would take me as one of my presents. When I called to book, the staff were very helpful and when I asked if there was wheelchair access, which I doubted due to it being a working farm, the young lad was very helpful and told me all the details I needed to know. Including that there was a ramp, an accessible toilet and also that I would be seated at a table that was in a suitable place so I didn't struggle getting through the tearoom.

I wasn't disappointed on arrival either. There was a disabled parking space right outside the front entrance, very easy to get out of the car with enough space on both sides, but the ground underfoot was a little rough, it could be difficult for some to push over this but as a relatively able manual chair user, I managed to get across pretty easily. I've taken photos to try and show what it was like but I'm no photographer, they're only taken on my phone.

That's my car in the disabled bay and those double doors are the entrance.

After we'd eaten our fill of sandwiches and cake, and drank a bucket full of tea, we had a walk around the farm and the terrain was pretty much the same except with a slight incline, but again, it was quite easy for me to push around. We came across the resident llamas and donkeys and had a quick peek at the barn where they hold the events and wedding etc, but didn't dare go in to far in case I got carried away imagining my own wedding there!

On our way out of the main reception I picked up some leaflets about the services they offer, including llama trekking and cookery classes. The interesting thing was that the llama trekking is also accessible, they have a specific route which can be completed by younger children and those in wheelchairs which, for a location which is practically in the middle of nowhere, I thought was simply brilliant. The views are amazing from up there in the hills and to think that they offer something which is accessible and that little bit different has definitely made me want to check out that service a little bit more; llama trekking might just be my next birthday present!

Overall, The Wellbeing Farm exceeded expectations for access and I would definitely recommend a visit if you can. I'll leave you with some of the views from around the farm... and meet the donkeys and llamas too! Oh, and, that's me... not to be confused with the animals!