Where: Ball Ground, Georgia Style: Early 1900s Southern home Tea Selection: 20+ loose leaf teas Teatimes: Tuesday to Saturday, 11, 1 or 3 Reservations: Reservations required Contact: 770-568-3945 or reserve here Cost: $35 Seasonal Afternoon Tea; $30 The Southern Charm Afternoon Tea; $25 The Duchess of Bedford Afternoon Tea; $20 Teen Tea (ages 11 to 17); $18 The Light Afternoon Tea; $16 Princess/Superhero Tea (ages 6 to 10); $13 Cream Tea Destination Tea Tip: The Grande Event is reservation only, for their lunch service as well, which includes salads, sandwiches and tea plates.
Destination Tea Notes: About one hour north of Atlanta, Carolyn Lyle opened The Grande Event teahouse this summer, in a beautifully renovated early 20th century home. With preserved original walls, floors and hardware, the rooms here are picture-ready for elegantly dressed friends to capture a memorable teatime photo. Don’t come here expecting the dainty finger sandwiches of a British afternoon tea. Cara’s years of catering experience show in how she styles her menus, featuring many of the favorites served in a traditional Southern tearoom, with scone and dessert selections changing daily. Each guest is asked to choose their own menu, perfect to accommodate friends with varying appetites. Friendly, accommodating servers check on us to make sure we have everything we need, but never make us feel rushed. It’s early days at this new teahouse, and we look forward to return visits to see how The Grande Event develops its offerings (like new Harvest and Christmas afternoon tea menus) and expands its gift shop to feature more local vendors.
At the front of the teahouse, two bright front rooms are warmed by wood ceilings.
White floors, walls, curtains, lighting and tablecloths in the front Parlour.
Welcome to The Grande Event
The length of the hallway displays gifts.
Our window-lit table at the ready, with a sweet touch of chair sashes
Our room might be one for bridal showers with this wall art: I am in love. Do you love me? I love you. You are beautiful. You fascinate me. You make me happy. You are the love of my life. I need you. Will you marry me?
Paned windows wrap around The Looking Glass room at the back of the teahouse, decorated in black, white and pink.
Tea Selection
Hello, Pretty Lady (talking to the teapot). Each menu comes with a pot of tea from a list with tempting flavors like Eiffel Tower (black tea with vanilla, caramel, bergamot), London Bridge (black tea with dried stone fruit, bergamot), Rich Caramel Toffee and Lady Blue (Ceylon with passionfruit, grapefruit, orange and grenadine flavors).
A cute addition to the sweeteners – little vials of honey
Scones & Spreads, Savories and Sweets
A garden salad is served on pretty glass fan plates. The Southern Charm Afternoon Tea includes a fried green tomato topped with pimiento cheese, while The Duchess of Bedford Afternoon Tea has a choice of soup or a half chicken salad sandwich.
Our tower included three afternoon tea menus (The Grande/seasonal, The Southern Charm and The Duchess of Bedford).
Overall, we would appreciate a tidier tea sandwich presentation, as afternoon tea finger foods are meant to be edible without muss. The Duchess of Bedford savories (bottom right) include: creamy egg salad, cucumber sandwich, harvest tuna salad, turkey and ham pinwheel. The Southern savories (top right) include: chicken salad croissant, deviled egg, stuffed tomato, ham biscuit and cucumber sandwich/benedictine (a Kentucky Derby cucumber-onion spread). The Seasonal savories (at left) include: chicken caprese, bacon bleu with salmon mousse, profiterole with house pimiento cheese and turkey apple sandwich.
A generous number of scones come with each tea menu, served with creamed curd and herb butter: Herb and Cheddar, glazed Cranberry White Chocolate and glazed Maple Cream.
The dessert selection for the day includes: mini pound cakes, espresso brownies and cranberry cheesecake bars.
We love comments! Destination Tea's comment policy shares a guiding principle with afternoon tea etiquette: please be gracious. We welcome honest comments that are not rude or scathing.
