A few years ago, me and my Mam decided to start our own Christmas Eve tradition. Having finished all our wrapping, and rather than sit in the house all day, we decided to jump in the car and head to Newcastle to have our nails done at Malmaison, followed by an Afternoon Tea. Ever since, we've made the Afternoon Tea our annual Christmas Eve tradition. It's an excuse to venture out the house for a few hours, escape the hustle and bustle, and enjoy some time together. For the last few years, we've headed to Malmaison, enjoying views of the quayside and staying away from the city centre. This year though, we decided to head to Hotel du Vin, enjoying the cosy fire with a pile of finger sandwiches, scones and cakes, and a few glasses of champagne.
Despite living literally over the road from Hotel du Vin, I'd only ever been once for a drink. But housed in the old Tyne Tees Steam Shipping Company building, it's definitely always been one of my favourite buildings on the quayside. So it seemed like a good time to try out their afternoon tea! After a pretty chaotic couple of months, it's been pretty hard to feel festive at the moment. But getting there and taking in the garlands, fairy lights and wood burner, it was hard not to feel Christmassy. So we ordered a couple of their Champagne Afternoon Teas and spent a couple of hours chilling out and catching up on gossip, before heading outside to snap a few photos. Although since the light was fading fast, most of them turned out a little on the blurred side.
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