My mate, Helen and I hopped onto the double Decker bus from the car park to the town center of Bath. One of the first things we did was look for Jane Austen's museum. Before I booked my flight to the UK, I found Jane Austen Centre website and I knew I had to visit the museum. The house was located almost at the top of quite a steep hill on Gay Street. A young man in Regency costume, greeted us with a bow as he posed for another visitor to take a picture of him. We entered on the 3rd level which was the street level. The first stop was the gift shop. We looked around and found it was Mr.Darcy and Miss Elizabeth's faces on everything around the shop. Umbrellas, note cards and DVD's.
I overheard the young clerk tell someone about the tour which started in a few minutes. Helen suggested that we take the tour, it was 6 pounds and 95 pence. We walked up the narrow steps to hear the lecture and take a self guided tour of the museum. The building was five stories tall and made of the famous Bath stone. While waiting for the lecture we sat in a small room with antique chairs so delicate I was afraid to sit on it and perched on the edge. We were ushered into a small lecture room, where we saw slides and the guide talked to us about Jane's life. I was such a fan of her books but really knew nothing about her and her life was nothing like the lives portrayed in her books. The musem is situated in a house down the street from the actual or histircial Austen home at Number 3.
After the short lecture and tour we really wanted to have high tea in the Regency Tea room upstairs.
It was so quaint and lovely. The room was decorated as it would have been in the regency period. Tiny little tables with white table clothes and severe bow backed wooden chairs.
The waitress was in serving costume with the white apron and white ruffled headband. Our waitress was bouncy and very enthusiastic as she seated us in the corner by the window. It was almost too much to take in, the clear blue sky reflecting of off the wavy old glass and quarried sandstones buildings across the street.
I looked around the room and took in the atmosphere. I could see the room full of regency ladies wearing white kids gloves, hats and the long dresses with scooped necks and lace. It was almost as if I could hear their low toned conversations as they lifted their pinkie finger while sipping tea from the delicate bone china cups. Making sure that the spoon did not clink against the cup. It would be too "common" to do so.
We went wild and ordered the Mr. Darcy special which was so wonderful. We had pots of hot water and little pots of tea that came with a strainer. In a few minutes our waitress brought out a two tiered china tray with scones, clotted Devon cream, jam, and cakes. Also there were tiny triangles of cheese and cucumber sandwiches with the crust cut off both sides of the bread and lightly buttered.
The scones were hot flaky and crisp on the outside warm and sinfully moist on the inside. I have never tasted anything so perfectly delicious. Helen suggested that I put the clotted cream on one side and jam on the other and put them together and the combination is a flavor explosion of smooth, sweet and warm as the cream melts into the jam. There was hot tea with little lumps of brown and white sugar, real gingerbread cake and carrot cake all made from authentic recipes.
I can truly say that we were not eating daintly, had I not been in public I would have licked the bowl that the clotted cream was served from. I restrained my self as best I could. We drank tea, ate the cakes, scones and soaked up the experience. We languished over the food and stayed for almost to two hours.
It was so special to share the experience with someone from the UK who had not a real posh high tea or cream tea as the modern day Brits call it. Now, I love tea with milk and sugar. I will hold this memory fondly of the High tea with Jane Austen and Helen.
