Last week I turned 29, and entered the last year of my 20s! To celebrate, we usually go away for our birthdays (my boyfriend’s is a week earlier), but having spent all our money on the big trip last year we decided to only venture as far as our capital city – London.

Despite only living 30 minutes away from London, we rarely make the short journey up to the city. Mainly due to costs – unfortunately London is one pricey place to visit!

So we decided to make a full day of it. Starting off with afternoon tea at the Ritz. We arrived at 11:30 for the tea (so technically morning tea!), but it was the same traditional format, and still incredibly busy. Booking ahead is a must! Even for a morning slot on a Wednesday morning we booked at least 6 months in advance – be warned.

The afternoon tea was delicious, and the setting is beautiful. There is a good selection of teas to choose from – I went for a rose blend, and my boyfriend opted for chai. Both were great, but we were a bit disappointed they didn’t offer to let us change teas between pots. I have no doubt they would have if we’d asked, but being far too British to say anything we just accepted a second pot of the same each.

The sandwiches were lovely, and they provided me with a good selection of veggie options. The initial cake stand comes with sandwiches and pastries, but don’t be fooled into thinking that’s all you’ll get. After first stand they will come round with fresh scones, and slices of cake, plus top ups of anything from the stand. My advice is to go easy on the sandwiches to leave room for the wonderful sweet stuff!

We left feeling comfortably full and made our way over to the Palace Theatre for the second part of our birthday day out – the Harry Potter plays! All I can say it was brilliant and definitely worth seeing, if you’re able to get your hands on some tickets. Unfortunately I believe its sold out well into 2018, but it is possible to queue for returned tickets on the day if you have time to spare.

Our seats were great – second row from the front and able to see everything that was going on up close. Unfortunately, the first few rows are not sloped, so I did struggle to see past the person in front’s head at times. But this was rectified by sitting on my coat to prop me up a bit – did not want to miss a thing!

There is a bit of a wait between the two parts, but we came prepared and had booked a table at a pub across the road from the theatre – The Cambridge. Nice pub food, and they served my favourite wine (Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc) so a good place to pass the time between plays.

All in all a great day, and a wonderful way to start the last year of my twenties. The big 30 next year will hopefully be spent in New York – I’m excited already!

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