#Blandford: Review: Celebrating The Queen's Birthday the Elegant Way

Miniature Gluten Free
Scones went down a treat!
A Beatons Tearooms' Soirée is always an elegant and sparkling affair but seldom includes 'royalty'. However, on the Queen's real birthday (21st April) The Mayor of Blandford Forum, Councillor Steve Hitchings, local business owners and some of Beatons Blandford's most regular customers welcomed a very regal June King from Upton as their Guest of Honour at Beatons for its 'Scones, Thrones and Ninety Milestones' celebration.




June King, Beatons Blandford's  'Alice for the Evening'
arrives in  style in an open topped Bentley
June acted as 'Alice' - the character referred to in the specially composed song for the evening - set to the music of 'They're Changing the Guards at Buckingham Palace'. The team thought it would be great to have a real life 90 year old 'Alice' for the song to be sung to! Link to the full lyrics of the song being sung here. June was nominated by her mother, Mandy Clement-Doble when the tearooms appealed to the local press (who were magnificent in spreading the word and covering the event) to help them find 'an Alice' turning ninety, like the Queen.

June may not be an Alice but is a somewhat of a celebrity in her own right, having been a Dorset resident all her life, have written a book 'Memories of a Dorset Parish' and still be giving talks on aspects of the county such as 'Dorset Buttons!' She made a great 'Alice for the evening' and even arrived in style in an open topped Bentley lent through Philip Palmer of FarmerPalmers near Poole, before being shown to her 'throne', a beautiful pink ribboned rocking chair kindly lent by neighbouring Mandy Ford and Lisa Douglas, co-owners of 4ever Vintage.

After a few words of welcome, 'Alice' and over sixty guests listened to girls from Blandford's Performing Arts Theatre Academy perform the piece before toasting the real Queen. Throughout the evening, local saxophonist Wendy Allen played a relaxing set of jazz classics.

However, perhaps the real stars of the show were the miniature cream tea gluten free scones, painstakingly created by Ben Moxham (Beatons Blandford Manager and Chief Recipe Creator for the group). Ben admitted perfecting their crumbly texture had been an extended 'labour of love'! Already being previewed at Beatons Blandford, they form part of the Gracious and Gloriously Gluten Free High Tea on the Beatons Elegant Options Menu launched that evening for those with different dietary desires. 

Note! It will be available in all Beatons Tearooms from Monday 9th May... read more on our menu for those with special dietary desires.

We hope these comments give you a taster of the evening and that you'll come in and try our Elegant Options Menu - or indeed our classic menus which change throughout the day - soon!



'We had a ball and were quite in awe!!' Mandy Clement-Doble and family

'Just a quick email to say how much we enjoyed last night’s soiree, and we wish you all the best with the new menu! It was delicious.' Kathyrn Clark, Lesley Shand Funeral Service
With thanks to our local press and for more detail take a look at and check out Dorset Society magazine next month!

http://www.blackmorevale.co.uk/Blandford-tea-rooms-welcome-guest-honour-Queen-s/story-29168020-detail/story.html

http://www.theftr.co.uk/mrs-king-is-queen-for-a-day/

#Blandford: Queen's 90th Birthday Celebration

Happy faces getting ready to sing
The Tables Are Laid at a Blandford Tea Palace
We know it was a bit tricky for our guests to hear all the lyrics of our song for The Queen on her real birthday - clinking glasses and whispers from the back! We thought we'd put them up for you to enjoy reading (or singing in your head!).  For the full story of our Celebration Soirée click here.

With thanks to Sam Ryall (keyboards) and Rebecca Hollands (Principal) Blandford's Performing Arts Theatre Academy.




'The Tables Are Laid at a Blandford Tea Palace'

The tables are laid at a Blandford tea palace'
To honor a monarch like A A Milne's Alice
Meet sweet Dorset ladies who are ninety years young
And others whose lives have barely begun... at this palace

Tea's being served at this elegant palace
'They've portraits of royalty too', whispers Alice
'I'd love to be photographed what do you think?
Then framed and hung against deep fushia pink' ... in this palace

The Signals are marching down to this palace
We bet there's a Christopher, Robin and Alice
For Beatons has food for the military
And options that even include gluten-free! ... at its palace

Everyone cheer and raise your glass chalice
Wish The Queen many more years in her palace!
Then lashings of tea and jam, cake and scones
Celebrate those who've reached ninety milestones... at this palace...
at this palace... at this palace...
  

© Liz Darcy Jones


#tea: benefits which are more than skin deep!

I'm not usually a fan of fruit teas (sometimes I find them a little insipid or too sweet). Not so this tea - Strawberry and Kiwi. It's got a lot more to it than just strawberry and kiwi pieces: add in apple, rosehips and Hibiscus petals to make it the perfect choice for those who are looking for a healthy tea to make their skin glow and even lower high blood pressure or cholesterol!

It also tastes really fruity. The sweetness of the strawberry and rosehip is offset by the distinctive slightly tart flavour of the Hibiscus petals.

It's never too early to try an iced tea!

As for health benefits?

What better tea than this for your skin? It's packed full of vitamins C and A - great for skin. Hibiscus is also reputed to add to the skin's elasticity, and kiwi fruits have a rare fat free form of vitamin E in their make up...

For the growing number of customers who are looking to eat healthily as well as indulgently, this tea will be a perfect match for items on our 'Elegant Options'  menu. What is it? We're talking Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, High Protein/Low Carb and Vegan adaptations of some of our favourite current menu items.

Makes life sound like a bowl of... strawberries, doesn't it?

Liz
Beatons Central