To celebrate my daughter Kerri’s wonderful GCSE results, we headed over to a favourite venue of ours to celebrate – Poppins at Smithills, Bolton. This charming Mary Poppins themed tea room provides a fabulous afternoon tea in a Manor house setting.
Smithills Hall
Firstly, as a historian, I simply cannot omit to mention a little something about the beautiful Smithills Hall.
Much of Smithills Hall was built in the 15th Century and 600 years of history speaks to you as you walk through the building. I mean this quite literally; we have attended a number of ghost hunting evenings at Smithills throughout the years and have always experienced paranormal activity. Walking through the well lit corridors through the day is certainly a different experience to when the lights are extinguished in the dead of night!
The property is situated amongst beautiful gardens which make for a peaceful stroll.
The hall can be hired for various functions, most notably as a wedding venue. It is free to enter the hall and walk around the building and the beautiful grounds four days per week. See their website for more details.
Afternoon Tea
There are ample tables, however the tea room can get quite busy – bookings can be made in advance. We didn’t book our table, yet were seated within 5 minutes of our arrival (we spent a few minutes walking through the hall while we waited).
An extensive menu was brought to the table and a variety of choices are on offer, from simple sandwiches, cakes and an array of beverages. After browsing through the mouth watering menu, Brian, Kerri and I decided upon the ‘Poppins Indulgence Afternoon Tea’.
This consisted of a selection of finger sandwiches, mini savoury snacks, scones (with jam and cream), a selection of mini cakes and a slice of cake of our own choosing, (Kerri and I had carrot cake and Brian had lemon cake) as well as a pot of tea or a cup of coffee.
Our 4 year old Aurelia enjoyed a ‘Jane and Michael’s Afternoon Tea’. This was adorable! We have been to numerous establishments for afternoon tea, yet this was the first time Aurelia had the opportunity to have her own, miniature sized portion. Consequently, this made her feel especially grown-up! Aurelia’s ‘big girl’ afternoon tea consisted of ham sandwiches, grapes, a cupcake, a macaroon and a cordial drink (she did have the option of a babyccino!)
The Poppins Theme
The Mary Poppins theme works really well. The menu includes references to characters from the film, such as ‘Mr Bank’s Afternoon Tea’ or ‘Uncle Albert’s Splendid Tea’. Aurelia enjoyed trying on some of the hats reminiscent of the film, as well as trying out Mary Poppins’ iconic umbrella.
The Poppins Tea room Facebook page contains some photos of functions that have been held in the tea room, such as baby showers and wedding anniversaries. I think this would make the perfect venue for such special occasions. The Poppins Tea rooms are located on two sites in the Bolton area; Smithills Hall and Horwich. The staff are friendly and welcoming, the prices are extremely reasonable and the food is delicious. If you’re passing, pop in for a Poppins tea.
The afternoon tea looked delicious! Thank you for sharing!
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Many thanks Lia ?
This place is so cute. Thank you for sharing!
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Thank you Rhena 🙂
Pretty cool to see the halls still up with it being over 600 years old!!! Goes to show how great the architecture was back then. Afternoon tea looks super neat. I haven’t been to one before but appreciate the finger food. Glad Aurelia enjoyed it!
Nancy ♥
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Thank you Nancy for your lovely comments, Aurelia truly loves this place 🙂
Definitely wishing I lived closer so I could experience it myself! Everything looked so delicious, glad you had a fab time!
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It really is delicious Tasha. Thank you 🙂
I love afternoon tea and Mary Poppins so this would be perfect for me! I wish I lived closer so that I could visit, it looks amazing, thanks for sharing x
Em ~
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Thank you Em – ?
Oh boy, those pastries look hard to resist! ? So delish! I’d probably go there for those alone, haha! And aww, what a cute little girl you have there! ☺️
This place is so cute! ☺️
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It really is Jenny – we can’t wait to go back 🙂
This is SO adorable! It looks like such a wonderful time with delicious little finger foods!
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Thank you lovely – it was brilliant! xxx
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Thank you it was so delicious! xxx
I love this post! You always look like you’re having an awesome time! 🙂
I’d never heard of this but it looks amazing.
Thank you so much for sharing. x
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Awh how kind! Thank you so much my lovely xxx
I know this is an older post but I couldn’t resist as soon as I saw the words “afternoon tea”. I love going for afternoon teas! This looks like such a charming place and I love that they specifically catered for the little ones, that’s such a good idea to help them feel grown up and included. Lovely post.