Christenings, milestone birthdays, funerals, summer garden parties and the odd corporate afternoon. It travels well, it works outdoors, and it is the easiest food in our range to serve to eighty people in a garden with no kitchen.

Finger sandwiches

• Cucumber and Cream Cheese
• Smoked Salmon with Lemon and Black Pepper Butter
• Roast Beef with Creamed Horseradish and Rocket

Savoury accompaniments

• Scotch Quails Eggs
• Mini Quiche Lorraine
• Tomato Galettes with Pesto
• Homemade Cheese Straws

Something sweet

• Plain and Fruit Scones with Devonshire Clotted Cream and Strawberry Conserve
• Lavender Shortbread
• Mini Lemon Curd Tartlets
• Bite Sized Triple Chocolate Brownies

How it is served

On stands to the table, or laid along a long table for people to help themselves — the second works better with a larger group. Tea and coffee, and a glass of English sparkling on arrival if it is a celebration.

Allergens

All fourteen declared allergens are listed against each dish on request, and we ask for every dietary requirement in writing before the tasting. Our kitchen handles nuts, gluten, dairy, egg, fish, shellfish, soya, celery, mustard, sesame, lupin, molluscs and sulphites, so we cannot guarantee any dish is free from traces. (gf) gluten free · (gfo) gluten free on request · (v) vegetarian · (ve) vegan · (vo) vegetarian on request Reeves Events holds a 5-star food hygiene rating.

What afternoon tea is usually for

It is the most useful format we do, and the least glamorous. It works because it feeds a room of people who are standing and talking, needs no seating plan, and does not turn an afternoon into a meal.

Christenings and naming days. Small children, a wide age range, and a start time that is decided by a church rather than by you.

Wakes. The most common choice, because it is gentle, it can be scaled up on the morning if more people come back than expected, and it does not require anybody to sit down in a particular seat. See funeral and wake catering.

Milestone birthdays, particularly where the guest of honour would rather see everybody than be seated at a top table.

Long meetings and client afternoons, where a second service is needed but a second lunch is not.

The things that go wrong

Sandwiches made too early. They dry at the edges and nothing rescues them. Ours are made on the day, close to the time, which is a staffing decision rather than a recipe one.

Scones served cold when they should be warm, or warm when there is nowhere to put them down. It depends on the room, and it is worth deciding in advance rather than on the day.

Tea that runs out. Sounds trivial; it is the single most common complaint about any afternoon tea anywhere. Urns and enough hands to keep them going matter more than the pastry.

Numbers and timing

Afternoon tea scales more forgivingly than a seated meal, which is why we suggest it when numbers are genuinely uncertain. Tell us your best estimate and we will plan sensibly above it.

It suits anything from ten people in a sitting room to a hundred and fifty in a hall. Above that it becomes a buffet in all but name, and we would say so.

Warm scones, and the argument about cream

Scones should be warm, and they should be baked that morning rather than the day before. That is the whole of it, and it is the thing most caterers get wrong because warm scones are a logistical nuisance and cold ones are easy.

On the Devon and Cornwall question we take no side and serve both, with the cream and the jam separate so people can be as strongly opinionated as they wish. It sounds like a joke and it is genuinely the most reliable source of conversation at an afternoon tea.

Tea, properly

Leaf tea where the room allows it, and enough hot water to keep going for two hours rather than one. Somebody should be moving through the room topping up rather than waiting to be asked, because the people least likely to ask are usually the ones who most want another cup.

Coffee for the third of the room who never wanted tea, and something cold for children and for a warm afternoon. It is a small thing that makes an afternoon tea feel generous rather than rationed.

What we need to know

Whether people will be seated or standing, because it changes what can be served. Whether there are children, who eat differently and earlier. And roughly how long you want it to last — an hour and a half is the usual shape, and two and a half needs more food rather than the same food spread thinner.