I miss a huge raisin scone, the size of my fist, warm and crumbly. I loved slathering it with it tons of cold, clotted creamy goodness and then going light on the strawberry jam which was great for my friend because she loved to plunk dollops of the stuff on her scone like an excited kid at the beach shoveling heaps of sand on an ever-increasing fortress. The best part was the white porcelain pot of cinnamon tea complete with a silver strainer. I would stick my nose into the steamy pot and waft the sweetness which was necessary to get the full effect. All of this was housed within The Orangery – a room of great height and length. It is all brick on the outside and all white on the inside with white walls, white table cloths and white chairs save for the baby orange trees that serve as centerpieces on each table. There was never that much noise during tea time but only low chatter probably because everyone respected the expected calm of the hour.

My girlfriends and I – a strong tea and scone lovin’ triumvirate – took any and every opportunity to come to the Orangery. It was one of our favorite pastimes while in London as it not only allowed us to indulge ourselves but to also sit down and take a breather. We were so busy working, exploring the city, and planning our upcoming Eurail trip that it would have been easy to just let everything pass us by without any appreciation. Our breaks in The Orangery let us lap the appreciation on. To be honest, most of the time we just talked about how much we were going to miss these scones and searched for the waiter to bring over more mini cups of clotted cream and jam.

In the hustle and bustle of travel, stop for a moment, sit down and soak it all in and it wouldn’t hurt to have a fat scone or some other comfort food in hand while you do so.

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