Tea at the Crooked House of Windsor

When I was in Kentucky with tea friends in March and they heard I was planning to go to Windsor, they suggested I visit the Crooked House of Windsor Tea Room while I was there. It was a terrific suggestion! Why is the Crooked House crooked? Well, according to its website, "In 1592, when Queen Elizabeth I was still on the throne, the original Crooked House of Windsor, known historically as Market Cross House, was built. In 1687, the council ordered this first Market Cross House to be demolished in order to build the neighbouring Guildhall. An acrimonious land dispute ensued. The council was ordered to rebuild Market Cross House and to make the Guildhall its present size. Market Cross House acquired its famous tilt due to the use of unseasoned green oak."

After the morning's train ride from London and several hours of touring Windsor Castle, we were famished! Alex ordered a sandwich plate and I ordered the Queen Elizabeth Afternoon Tea, knowing full well I would need to share, and I did. There was loads of food to eat!

I got to select two different types of tea sandwiches, so I selected the ham and smoked salmon ones.

When we got to the scones, Alex asked me why they had butter with them. Ahh, the joys of introducing someone to the pleasures of real clotted cream! The scones were delicious and had the texture of good biscuits back home in the South.

There was also a tasty raisin-filled cake, a pretty pink macaron, a raspberry tart, and a variety of cookies. Even sharing, we weren't able to finish it all and took most of the sweets and enormous grapes back to our hotel with us.

I drank their house blend of tea, which was a nice brisk black tea.

Here I am enjoying afternoon tea in Windsor.

Outside, as I was snapping photos of the exterior of the tea room, I couldn't help admiring these circular flower boxes near the road.

Primroses are not a flower I see very often in Georgia, and aren't they gorgeous!

Before we left, I checked out the shopping opportunities up and down the street and was delighted to see a T.K. Maxx, the English cousin of our T.J. Maxx stores. I had to stop by, and I was actually rather pleased to find the merchandise was pretty much like what I see at home! Oh, they had a few more china mugs and things than we normally see in the U.S., but I did not see one pattern I have not seen before. Good. I was worried we were missing out on something over there!

Fortunately for me, my husband has learned to recognize names like Cath Kidston, one of my favorite English designers, and he spotted this store in Windsor. Oh, how I longed to bring home some of those pretty teawares! But I was trying to stick to my self-imposed "one teacup per country" rule, and the Windsor Castle teacup had already claimed this spot for England. So I got this unbreakable teacup at Cath Kidston instead.

There were lots of terrific sights to see around Windsor, including this "phone box" artist Timmy Mallett had cleverly painted to look as if the Duchess of Cambridge were inside placing a call. I'm sorry to say I did not spot any actual royals while I was in Windsor, and when I read the papers I knew why Prince William, at least, wasn't around. He was in my neck of the woods, in Memphis, Tennessee, attending a friend's wedding the very weekend I was at Windsor!

Tomorrow: Birthday tea at Fortnum & Mason