Italianate Glasshouse — Attraction in Thanet

This tea garden attached to an ancient glasshouse, hidden away in a remote corner of King George VI Park in Ramsgate, is so charming and idyllic that it has a vaguely unreal quality.

Combined with the suspiciously low prices (less than half the cost of a similar treat in Costa Coffee or Starbucks), the mismatched fancy china, delicious home-made cakes and the erratic opening hours ("The Tea Garden is open weekends on fine weather days" states the website ambigously) and its proximity to extremely basic refreshment huts in the park or on the cliffs that tend to be packed with sunburnt sandy types accompanied by screaming kids and barking dogs, you would be forgiven for imagining that you'd walked into some kind of magical tea garden wormhole which only opens when the planets are in exactly the correct conjunction, or something.

There are home-woven lavender spindles, actual towels and knick-knacks in the lavatory cubicle. They put complimentary Nice biscuits in the saucers of our tea cups. We were en route to a booked lunch, or would have stayed for sandwiches which we saw passing by to other tables and which looked delicious.

We shared a slice of perfect Victoria Sponge, and eyed up a tempting carrot cake.

Certainly it was closed when we've tried to go in on a previous visit, leaving us pressing our noses sadly up against the bars, and our friends who live locally assure us the glasshouse is open MORE often but that the tea garden is not always operational, leaving them to wander sadly through the glasshouse wishing for cake and tea.

You might want to try telephoning in advance to avoid disappointment, or if you feel lucky, head in its direction on a sunny weekend, cross your fingers, click your heels together and...

Heads up to any other black folks/POC that are thinking of visiting the glasshouse for tea. Staff in general were pretty dismissive and unhelpful. Normally, I wouldn’t think anything of it. Sadly one server was so rude in particular that it gave me a feeling I’m sure other POC are familiar with. I don’t normally leave reviews at all, let alone negative ones, but I feel it necessary to warn others who may have a similar experience - I didn’t feel welcome...

A beautiful step back in time. Scone teas/ coffees/ real lemonade. Plenty of cream and jam and a pot of tea. Visit the greenhouse and see the 200 year old cacti. Pictures of Sir Moses Montefiore who lived here and left his grounds for the people to enjoy. Dogs must be kept on leads. Live music too. Open from Spring to...