When life in a Cambridge college gets too claustrophobic, chances are high that you are going to go on a day trip to the nearby village of Ely. (Pro-tip: Saturday return tickets are only £2!)

Ely is an adorable, pictoresque little village. It’s very small and very, very English. After doing the prerequisite touristic wander from the water through the cathedral, there’s not much to do….besides a traditional afternoon tea!

Enter Peacock’s Tearoom.

The interior is cute, albeit crammed: here’s one too many tables in the room! That said, it’s still quite doable.

The food is pretty yummy, a classic afternoon tea comes with four finger sandwiches, two scones with real clotted cream and jam, and a slice of cake of your choice. The sandwiches are fine, nothing too exciting. The scones are really nice, and the real clotted cream is so, so appreciated! After having had one too many teas with either butter or whipped cream, this was a very warm welcome back to afternoon teas, let me tell you.

The star of the show was the cake.
Oooh boy, this cake-  let me tell you. A coffee cake, layered with Baileys cream icing? All the yes! It was perfectly moist, the coffee flavours were subtle and yet obviously present, and the Baileys cream was the stuff dreams are made of.

Behold the tower of food:

They have many exciting teas to choose from, and it was a tough choice to make indeed! My partner went for a classic vanilla tea, which tasted like buttery biscuits when drank with milk. I opted instead for the Black Witch tea, from Bohea Teehandlung in Berlin. In the menu it is described as “A splendid and memorable spicy blend from Berlin; with star anise, ginger, apple, cinnamon and more”. What is the “and more”? I have no clue. Was it spicy? No, not really. That said, it was delicious! Strangely, it has all the flavours I link to Chai, but doesn’t taste like it. It has a vaguely festive thing about it, but is very autumnal. Simply yummy.

Overall, Peacock’s Tearoom is highly recommended – as is Ely in general! Both are quaint, traditional, and incredibly English.

Let me finish this off with a picture from inside the cathedral after Evensong. Enjoy!