Bridgit’s Bakery London Tour Bus Afternoon Tea

Thistle hotels invited me a long to their fabulous blogger event this Sunday and when I heard what they were getting up to wide horses couldn’t hold me back.  The email read:

 ‘Hi Melanie,

 You’re invited to a London bus tour with a difference this Sunday 7th June.

 In an event organised by Thistle Hotels, you’ll board a traditional red London bus for a tour of the best sights of our capital – but you’ll be sipping on afternoon tea during it!’

I was tempted to respond ‘yes, yes, yes, I’m all yours’ but displayed a degree of control and responded in a, well let’s say more reserved and professional manner.  The group met the lovely Haydy who had been involved in organising the event and the very sweet Tom from Thistle Hotels who was not at all intimidated by the hoard of women that had arrived at South Bank just near the London Eye.  From there we were collected by a classic London Routemaster bus.  This bus tour is run by Brigit’s Bakery based in Covent Garden and they even have a boat tour available.

The Bus

Through the window we could see beautifully displayed finger sandwiches, cakes and pastries as we stood outside excitedly awaiting the ladies that were running the tour to direct us to our seats.

Up to the top floor so we were ushered so we would have a great view of the city sites.  Each booth like seating area had its own table and tantalising afternoon tea laid out.

The Sites

Once seated, we set off to tour some of London’s most popular tourist attractions.

Perched on the top floor of the bus one could say we had a birds eye view of the various sites that we passed (posted in the order they were seen).

Harrods, always great for a spot of shopping.

Such a tour enables you to discovered other attractions too that are only available to visit for a limited amount of time like the Natural History Museums Sensational Butterfly House back again for its seventh year.  This is just a short walk from The Thistle Park Lane and Kensington Gardens Hotels.

Thistle have a hotel that is situated approximately 3 minutes (by foot) from Marble Arch.

The group was having a fantastic time and two of the bloggers so engrossed in the moment began to belt out ‘I Want it That Way’ by the Backstreet Boys!  My camera threw a wobbly after when I tried to download the video of this and appears to have eaten it, how gutted am I!

We were clearly having an amazing time and the food looked so good that you could see others on ‘normal’ (and let’s face it not as exciting) tour rides looking through our windows enviously.

The Afternoon Tea

As we took in the views of the various sites we nibbled on such quintessentially English delicacies as the classic afternoon tea staple ‘cucumber sandwiches’ and ‘ham and cheese sandwiches’ each with a little something extra added to give a delicious, moreish and interesting slant (you’ll have to try them and see!).  Little mushroom quiches, sandwiches and salmon blinis also graced the selection (these were gorgeous too).   The mini custard doughnut and chocolate macaroons were my favourite out of the sweet treats.  Everyone was fast to take photos of the delicious spread before them so they could tuck in.

Heads turned as we drove by and waved at the tourists scurrying around busily. Some would take selfies in front of the bus as we sat in traffic.  Drinks consisted of a range of teas, water, orange juice, coffee or hot chocolate and I opted for the latter and sipped it out of the bottom heavy travel mug.  I discovered part way through that the plates were stuck down with suckers which explained why I hadn’t knocked mine over (good thinking guys).

Part way through the ladies came and served scones with jam and clotted cream which were just as delicious as the rest of the food.  Myself and the lovely Clare (a blogger too) discussed which way we liked to eat our scones.  This is how I like mine having had years to experiment.  I find the cream sticks better when added first, the Devon Way. Apparently, those from Cornwall eat it the other way around.

How do you eat yours?

What Did We Think?

It was lovely to get to see the various London attractions that one would expect a Londoner such as myself to have seen (well I have now!).  As we toured I also made a mental note of the locations of the various Thistle hotel sites. They seemed to be well located for those wanting to not only visit the sites but also experience the hustle and bustle and of course shop until they dropped.   Thanks so much for inviting me guys I had a Fab time.

I was invited along in exchange for a feature.  All thoughts are my own.

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