Ellenborough Park, a country house hotel in England’s Cotswolds, is serving an afternoon tea inspired by Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility,” with a menu of British teatime classics. It’s a limited run, though, and if you want a table, most of it has already gone by.
You’ll take the tea in The Great Hall, inside the hotel’s restored manor house. It’s part of a hotel group’s celebration of Universal Pictures’ new “Sense and Sensibility” film, which stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor Dashwood. Still, the theme stays light, and the menu names no dish after Elinor or her sister, Marianne.
The Manor House Dates to the 15th Century
Ellenborough Park sits on 90 acres between Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds, and the gallops of Cheltenham Racecourse. Its manor house dates to the 15th century, so you’ll be having afternoon tea in a building more than 500 years old.
Trifle and Battenberg Close Out the Menu
The Sense & Sensibility Afternoon Tea includes finger sandwiches: roast sirloin with English mustard, smoked salmon with cucumber and Coastal Cheddar with traditional pickle. On the savory side, the menu lists a caramelized onion and Double Gloucester tart, plus a cheese and chive scone with Cotswold honey butter.
You also get freshly baked plain and fruit scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. The cakes and pastries include a cherry and dark chocolate trifle and a raspberry Battenberg, along with treacle tart and carrot and walnut cake. You pick your tea from the hotel’s selection.
Book by Oct. 25, Then Stay the Night
The hotel has served the tea since Sept. 14, and it ends Oct. 25. It costs $52 (£40) per person, and you can book a table on the hotel’s website.
If you’d like to stay over, doubles start at $353 a night with breakfast. The hotel’s 61 uniquely designed rooms and suites got a refurbishment in 2023, and each one has a Hypnos bed with luxury linen.
Beyond The Great Hall, Ellenborough Park runs The Restaurant and the Horsebox Brasserie, and its spa sits in the hotel’s tower. Parking on the grounds is free if you rent a car, and the hotel has more than 120 spaces.
If you’re traveling to England before the tea wraps up, book it and a room for the same day. That way, you won’t have to rush off after the trifle. You’ll also have the next morning free to walk around the villages near Cleeve Hill before you head out of the Cotswolds.