Afternoon Tea & Garden Parties

Appears in
The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook
The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook

By Annie Gray

Published 2019

  • About

DAINTY AFTERNOON TEAS ARE A FIXTURE IN the world of Downton Abbey. From the robust, cake-heavy library teas of Lord Grantham to the refined setting of a genteel tearoom, the variety of experiences seen on screen reflects the enormous range of tea-taking occasions in British life.

Having a cup of tea and something light to eat in the afternoon was well established as part of the daily pattern of meals by the early twentieth century. Tea itself had been introduced to the country in the mid-seventeenth century, when it was very expensive. The price gradually came down over the course of the next one hundred years, however, and by the Victorian era, it was enjoyed by all.