Nearly 50 people attended the Bell Homestead’s fourth annual Eliza’s Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea on Sunday, May 11, 2025.
Prior to the pandemic, the national historic site put on a buffet brunch, however with increasing interest for an afternoon high tea experience, organizers opted for an alternative format with two separate sittings.
Katy McDonald, museum assistant for the Bell Homestead, said that Sunday’s menu was all homemade in the homestead’s café.
“Today we have a couple of different sandwich options. We have egg salad on a croissant, ham and havarti cheese on multigrain, a classic cucumber sandwich with mayo and dill on top, and chicken salad sandwiches,” she said. “For dessert, we have two different kinds of scones, blueberry and plain, as well as hello dolly bars, brownies and shortbreads. Of course, we’re also serving up orange pekoe tea, a decaf early gray, and we started the guests off with a nice, fresh mimosa.”
Following each sitting, guests also had the opportunity to head over to the old Bell family home with one of the homestead’s two summer students for a small self-guided tour.
McDonald added that even if people have visited the historic site before, the event is a nice opportunity for them to experience something new.
“It’s a great way for us to bring people back to the homestead and offer them something a bit different. Even if they’ve visited the café before for dessert, these days we don’t typically serve lunch so it’s a nice little sit-down experience for them,” she said. “It’s a pretty popular little event and once it’s advertised, it typically sells out pretty fast; even this year, it sold out a couple weeks ago. I think a lot of the people who come to the event love it, they usually bring their friends and their kids along so it’s nice to see everyone having a good time.”
The Drake family, who were attending the event for the first time, said they were impressed with the event.
“It’s just lovely, the atmosphere is wonderful, the little teacups are just gorgeous and the food has been delightful,” said Linda Drake.
“It’s awesome that they’re all dressed up and in character too,” added Dawna Drake. “I also like that it’s really quite lovely and cozy here, it has a nice intimate kind of feel to it. It’s really been a whole experience and we’re looking forward to heading over for the tour afterwards too.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
