🌿🗝️ ✨Let us make your spring a little more magical… BEGINS APRIL 7 ✨🗝️🌿
April is unreliable: briefly charming, occasionally warm and then suddenly not.
We prefer something more consistent…like cake.
From April 7 to June 30, our Secret Garden Afternoon Tea arrives 🌿🗝️✨
A softer, sweeter escape inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, where robins watch, keys unlock magical doors and everything feels just a little bit whimsical.
Head of Pastry Mark Mitson and Executive Chef Julia Hetherton have been busy creating a four-tier feast that can fix at least 83% of life’s problems (we did the maths).
Expect an array of treats including...
🐌 Cheese pastry snail
🪴 Potting Shed vol au vent
🍅 Tomato and mozzarella arancini
And then the bloom…
🍓 Strawberry Hearts
🌹 Rhubarb and Rose Trifle
🍋 Lemon Awakening ❤️ Robin's Egg Hidden Treasure Macaron
🗝️ Walled Garden Opera (with key, obviously)
🍫 Tea in the Garden Chocolate
Plus sandwiches, scones and a Hidden Garden Tea with peach, apricot, vanilla and flowers. Feeling extra?
🌸 Cherry Blossom Cocktails
🍒 Cherry Thick Shakes
A small note…
From April 7, Afternoon Tea will be £37.50pp (our first increase since summer 2024). Rising costs are hitting hospitality hard and your support means everything right now ❤️
Book now:/afternoon-tea/menus
🎧 Your 2025 Wrapped: The Assembly House Afternoon Tea Edition 🎧
You spent 2025 listening to…
Playlists for the restaurant I spend FOREVER creating. Clinking glasses. Gasps across the room when the top tier comes into view.
Top Teas of 2025…
(in no particular order because we love them all equally)
✨ The Nutcracker Afternoon Tea
🧚 Peter Pan Afternoon Tea
🌸 Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea
🐇 Hare Comes Easter Afternoon Tea
💗 Pink Afternoon Tea
🧜 The Little Mermaid Afternoon Tea
🔥 Bramble and Bonfire Afternoon Tea
🎃 The Assembly House of Horrors Pink Halloween Afternoon Tea IX
🎄 ’Twas the Night Before Christmas Afternoon Tea
🍽️ The Christmas Dinner Afternoon Tea
Your 2025 tea personality…
Incredibly good taste. Most discerning customers in Norfolk. Devilishly attractive.
Minutes spent with us…
Thousands of guests every week. Countless teapots. An unholy amount of cream.
You were in the top 1% of…
Our favourite people ever.
Thanks for spending your year with us.
Same time next year? We’ve got new themes and new flavours lined up for 2026 and absolutely NO intention of calming down 🏩💖🪄✨
✨🎄 SATURDAY NIGHT UPDATE: FGS, CHRISTMAS HAS BREACHED THE PERIMETER 🎄✨
I know. I KNOW.
It’s May. There are still tulips about. Somewhere in Norfolk, somebody is bulk-buying Calippos because they’ve heard rumours of a heatwave later in the week.
And yet…here we are.
The Christmas Igloo page is now LIVE on the website because I have finally remembered to do my actual job instead of expanding my pun library ahead of the next post involving cheese.
LAST year, your favourite dates disappeared faster than a tray of pigs in blankets left unattended in an open-plan office, even though some of you approach Igloo Booking Day like it’s Glastonbury tickets - multiple devices, strategic WiFi positioning, the family WhatsApp group primed, designated diallers handed the ultimate responsibility
And honestly? Respect.
🎄 Christmas Igloo bookings open on Tuesday 19 May at 9am. You MUST call to book on 01603 626402
Now: the phones. Every single year we optimistically say: “this year the phone lines will be absolutely fine.”
And every single year, the phone system responds by briefly entering its own Victorian fainting spell.
HOWEVER.
This year I have thrown actual money at the problem, which historically has also been my ultimate parenting strategy and, surprisingly often, has worked beautifully.
We have a brand new phone system with an actual queuing system, which should mean things are calmer, smoother and significantly less Hunger Games-adjacent than previous years.
Will it still be busy? Absolutely. Will there still be moments where you question modern telecommunications? Potentially.
But we are trying. Earnestly. Expensively. Let's put it this way, I will be in a lead-lined room avoiding the world at 9am on Tuesday, just in case.
Menus, details, festive nonsense and winter magic are all now here:
/christmas-2026-at-the-assembly-house/igloos
Gather your people, charge your phones, winter is coming.
And apparently so are all of you at exactly 9am.
🍑🐎🍸💋Everyone’s talking about Rivals…💋🍸🐎🍑
Meanwhile, we’re here serving the only kind of drama we actually need: four tiers of glorious tea treats arriving in convoy like they own the place.
While Rivals may be all about spilling the tea, we try very hard not to. Those tablecloths are expensive to launder.
Also, The Secret Garden Afternoon Tea contains considerably more cake and far fewer emotionally unavailable men* than Rivals which, honestly, feels far healthier.
The Secret Garden Afternoon Tea is here until June 30 and frankly…there ARE no rivals 💅🌸😉
* We’re not including you, Freddie Jones/Danny Dyer. Not yet.
✨🎄 FGS ASSEMBLY HOUSE, IT’S MAY 🎄✨
Yes. MAY. The trees are green, the evenings are light, discussions are lively about whether or not we need a 'light jacket'. Next door had a barbecue at the weekend after a hopeful Friday of sunshine.
And yet here we are, preparing for Christmas Igloo bookings, which go live on Tuesday 19 May at 9am.
LAST year, the prime dates vanished faster than a Quality Street tin left unattended in a staff room. I mean not the Milk Choc Block. No one wants that one.
Some of you approach Igloo Booking Day with the tactical precision of a military operation: there are spreadsheets, there are alarms. Somewhere in Norfolk, a woman named Stephanie is already logged in wearing fingerless gloves and breathing calmly into a headset.
We will be releasing all the menus and the details of how to book in the next few days, which is because I haven’t got them ready yet. Should I have done this some weeks ago? Yes. Will it be worth the wait? Yes. Am I a silly goose? Also yes.
Gather your people, winter is coming. Granted, in seven months. But also in 5 days, depending how you measure time.
So yes, FGS IT’S MAY.
And yes, Christmas Igloos go on sale at 9am on Tuesday.
See you on the phone lines. God speed.
🗳🥁 THE GREAT SCONE REFERENDUM RESULTS ARE IN...🥁🗳
After one of the closest-fought races in modern bakery history, with tensions high across the nation and several undecided voters found crying quietly by the fountain, we can now declare the result of the Great Assembly House Scone Election.
At 18:47pm, following recounts in Devon, Cornwall and one very heated discussion near the pastry section…🥁 THE WINNER IS… 🥁
🍓 Jam First wins by a country mile 63%🍓
🥛 Cream first: 22.8%
🧈 Butter, then jam, then cream: 7.6%
🤝 Peace treaty/one of each/just give me a scone: 6.5%
A decisive victory for Team Jam, who will now form a majority government with a strong mandate to dollop recklessly 🍓
Scenes outside The Assembly House tonight were emotional. One woman was seen waving a napkin while shouting “THIS ISN’T THE COUNTRY I GREW UP IN.”
Another simply whispered “jam protects the cream” before disappearing into the dusk.
Turnout was extraordinarily high, proving once and for all that Britain will ignore every real problem available in favour of arguing passionately about dairy placement.
Head of Pastry Mark Mitson, speaking from what sources are calling “a position of quiet smugness”, thanked supporters and urged unity: “we may have voted differently tonight… but tomorrow, we butter together.”
Meanwhile Team Directors have refused to concede and are believed to be seeking a judicial review after allegations of tactical voting, butter interference and suspicious activity from within the WI.
Thank you to everyone who cast their vote, spoiled their ballot by mentioning butter, or launched into a 14-comment constitutional argument with strangers.
Democracy remains alive and well, even if we are violently opposed to the results.
Do colours make you happy? Do flowers bring you joy? Do you love making things? Do afternoon teas and cake make you smile? Do all of these sound like a match made in heaven… Join me at Norwich Assembly rooms on May 23rd for a half day paper poppy making workshop and morning tea “Assembly House style”
A real treat for your soul. Paper flower making brings a deep level of satisfaction and joy and if you’ve never tried it then you’re missing something special.
A workshop for beginners and experienced crafters where you’ll be guided step by step through the process and create a beautiful vibrant poppy and bud to take home in a pot. Relaxed, engaging and rather addictive!!
You can buy tickets by calling the Assembly House on 01603 626402
@assembly_house
#paperflowers #norwich #norfolk #poppy #craftworkshop
Georgia & Tom!
Another fantastic wedding at the Assembly House in Norwich.
A really lovely ceremony, followed by a reception down the road at the Marsh Harrier.
Congratulations again you two!
✨🍻 OUR ASSEMBLY HOUSE LAGER IS BACK (AND READY FOR YOU) 🍻✨
Turn lunch into a linger with this beauty from Ampersand Brew Co, the brilliant brewers over in Diss, which is every bit as good as it looks.
And speaking of looks…the can. It shimmers in pinks, purples and blues and features our beloved Norwich skyline, with Norwich Cathedral, The Forum, Norwich City Hall and Norwich Castle all playing supporting roles to the star (us).
Inside? A fridge-filling classic: FELD Helles Lager (4%).
Light, crisp, gently malty. A soft citrus lift from Tettnang and Mandarina Bavaria hops which is properly refreshing. (And also vegan and gluten free, for those who like their lager with a side of inclusivity.)
It’s perfect with Afternoon Cheese, Afternoon Sea or a long, lazy lunch.
🍺 And here’s the important bit: you won’t find it anywhere else: not in shops, not in supermarkets, not tucked away in a brewery fridge.
Only here: crisp under the chandeliers, exactly where it should be. Come and have one. Then maybe another.
🏩🌸🌸The Assembly House: A Field Guide to Things People Think (and why they’re gloriously wrong) 🌸🏩
There seems to be a persistent belief among some people that approaching us requires a deep breath, a steady nerve and possibly a butler named Nigel to grant entry.
Let’s clear a few things up.
1. “It looks too posh. I can’t just…walk up the drive.”
You absolutely can. People do it every day. No one has ever been turned away for “insufficient grandeur”, in part because I work here and regularly look as if I have fought a blackberry bush - and lost. We are not intimidating, we are like eager-to-please puppies.
2. “You probably have to wear black tie just to have a cup of tea.”
You do not. You can arrive in jeans and trainers or you can arrive in a ballgown and sweep dramatically through the hallway. Either way, we will emotionally support you with tea and cake. We might draw the line at a clingfilm bikini (we might not).
3. “I’ll feel out of place.”
Only if you object to being warmly welcomed, generously fed and possibly very delighted. We specialise in making people feel like they belong here, whether it’s your first visit or your 50th.
4. “It’s probably all style and no substance.”
If by “style” you mean chandeliers, history and rooms that know how to make an entrance, then yes. If by “substance” you mean excellent food and proper hospitality (in a good way), then also yes.
5. “It must be eye-wateringly expensive.”
We are not the cheapest cup of tea you’ll ever have. But you’re not just paying for tea. You’re paying for the moment, the setting, the brilliant team, the chance to spend some time in a stately home without the entrance fee, social media written by a humble genius.
6. “It’s only for special occasions.”
We ARE the special occasion, darling.
7. “You probably have to whisper.”
Not unless you’re sharing a particularly scandalous secret. Although we’d prefer you included us if you are.
In conclusion: Yes, we are beautiful, yes, there are chandeliers, yes, things arrive on plates looking like works of art. But underneath all of that, we are simply a Georgian mansion, standing before you, asking you to come in, sit down and love us ❤
Fairy Light installations that make that first dance even more magical ✨🤍
Venue - @assembly_house
Photographer - @steve_harrowing_photography
DJ & Lighting - @epic.events.norfolk
#wedding #firstdance #weddinginspiration #norwichwedding #weddinglighting
