A Visit to Buckingham and Stowe
The grounds of Stowe House have been under the care of The National Trust now for almost 30 years, which I think has benefitted the community enormously. As I visited the gardens with my membership to hand and my contained excitement radiating over my body, I could only describe the atmosphere as a hub of activity. Guests coming and going, and competitors gearing up near the lake ready for their next event to begin. It was gratifying to see the use of these historic buildings being accessed so frequently by the public and that is why my interest rose as I wanted to learn more about the National Trust’s efforts and those of the Stowe School.
Visitors like myself meandered through Stowe House on a guided tour, learning about past owners and the history of the school it was today. Then I headed back outdoors to explore the landscape and the impressive garden features. Once outside again; basking in the sun, I couldn’t help but scan around looking at all the remarkable architectural assets and Stowe’s famous landscaped grounds. It truly is a wonderland.
Image by #buckinghammarkets
As my day at Stowe drew to a close, I kept thinking about the remarkable gift that we all had the pleasure to take part in. This gift had been given to everyone, whether they knew it or not, from Stowe School when they donated the property to the National Trust so the grounds could be accessed by the public. I also thought about and instantly appreciated the army of gardeners and household staff who have maintained this legacy property for everyone to experience and appreciate for the longest time.
After my beautiful outing to the wonderland, I found myself strolling in to Buckingham; a little historic town with a pleasant look and feel about it. It was my Mum’s birthday coming up so I thought It’d be a nice idea to treat her and the rest of the family to afternoon tea at Buckingham Tea Rooms. I had heard such wonderful things about the afternoon tea there and I thought we would all be super excited to finally try it.
The tea rooms had beautiful décor and dainty floral china tea sets. When we arrived the tea room was already really busy, which was a good sign for sure. Once we were seated and seen too, there was no question about the fantastic customer service we received from our waitress throughout our stay. The food wasn’t just your typical afternoon tea that consists of cucumber sandwiches and scones either, there was such a wide variety of treats to sink your teeth in to. Each person in our party had more than enough food to fill up on and we also had the option to take food home in a cardboard box if there was a chance we wouldn’t finish it. I’d definitely suggest to arrive hungry!
I loved that everything was homemade and that the food was clearly made with lots of care and attention. There were so many seasonal flavours that I had the pleasure to taste which complimented each other whilst they danced around my mouth. One of the starters included a quinoa salad with feta and pomegranate which I’ve certainly never seen on an afternoon tea menu before! Everything was certainly very inventive and enjoyable and we all can’t wait to go again.
-Written by Bethanie Dowden before Lockdown began.