For those of you craving sweetness, there are a lot of options to tackle those cravings right here in Middelburg. We have Honeypie for red velvet cake, De Juf for millionaire’s shortcake and Expresszo for special coffees – but what if you want to take it outside of our beloved student town? Then hop on that bus, go by bike if the weather allows it, or just take the car towards the historic town of Veere. Besides paying a visit to Oma’s Snoepwinkeltje to satisfy your sweet tooth, Tabula Rasa recommends making a reservation at the Campveerse Toren for a high tea in style.
The Campveerse Toren is a gorgeous historical building situated right next to the water, and while you’re enjoying your three-course high tea, you look over the Veerse Meer and the little white sailboats passing by. The building is home to a hotel and a restaurant, and is a very popular event location because of the historical look and feel. It’s the perfect setting to enjoy a limitless amount of tea or coffee, and a selection of homemade sweet and savoury bites. Usually the high teas are served in the tower of the Campveerse Toren, with soft purple chairs to sink into for around 2 hours, shiny silver cutlery on perfectly set tables (Lumière from Beauty and the Beast would approve) and étagères full of sandwiches, cakes and tarts. During the sunnier days, though, you can also be seated outside, which is nice to soak up the sun and watch German tourists stand in line for at least 20 minutes to get gelato from the nearby ice cream shop. However, for the full high tea experience, I would recommend sitting upstairs in the tower, because your bonbons don’t melt, you can sit more comfortably and you can experience eating with historical silver cutlery.
A high tea at the Campveerse Toren costs €22,50 per person, which is a mere €2,50 more expensive than Honeypie. For this price you get unlimited tea or coffee, a selection of homemade cookies and chocolates, scones with clotted cream and jam, tarte tatin, chocolate brownies, quiche Lorraine, and a selection of sandwiches. Most of the bites are home-made at the restaurant of the Campveerse Toren or made locally in Zeeland. They are beautifully presented at a three-layer étagère, with on the bottom layer four kinds of sandwiches (smoked salmon, crab salad, egg salad and parma ham), on the middle layer freshly baked scones and on the top layer homemade bonbons and other little sweets. While you’re enjoying all that goodness and completely stuffing yourself, a little silver teapot gets refreshed without you even noticing, and tarts and quiches are delivered to your table fresh from the oven. For just a little while, you feel like you’re living that Downton Abbey life and it does feel pretty damn good.
For a high tea at the Campveerse Toren you can make a reservation via their website. Although it is quite expensive, you do get your money’s worth because of the beautiful historical location, the quality of the food and the experience of sipping tea in a fancily decorated tower.
Eden van der Moere, Class of 2017, is a literature, linguistics and theatre & media studies major from Goes, the Netherlands.
