Armagh’s Georgian Weekend took place on the last weekend of November, and as the name suggests, is a festival that invites people to experience what our ancestors experienced in the 18th and early 19th Century. While attending the festival, you’ll get a chance to delve into Georgian Armagh, through the buildings, by socialising with characters, and by getting a taste for the food and drink.
I attended two events during Georgian Weekend, those being the Tour of the Archbishop’s Palace — which came out on Wednesday — and a Georgian Afternoon Tea at the Palace, which is what we’re getting into today. But this review is going to be completely different from the other tourism reviews I’ve done so far, as it took place in exactly the same place where the tour took place, Palace Demesne, or the Archbishop’s Palace.
The event wasn’t meant to start until 4 o, clock, so we didn’t have to hit the road as early as we did for the tour, but there were a couple of obstacles when we were going up, mostly because the sun was quite low. For this reason, it took considerably longer for us to arrive at the palace, but we arrived not long after everyone else arrived, so it wasn’t that bad.
After making my way up in the stair lift, I was welcomed to the Dining Room like a Georgian Lady. My mother and I were bowed and curtseyed to as we went in, to the greetings “Good evening, Madam” which made me feel extremely special, as one of my carers who I had with me being greeted with a “Good evening, Sir,“ phrase.
I was given a choice between Prosecco or non-alcoholic beverages on my way in, and since I am a disabled person who enjoys being as normal and bad as I can be, I chose a wee bit of the Bubbly. We were then guided to our table, where we stayed for the rest of the evening.
The Georgian gentry gave us all a welcome speech, and we were then able to enjoy the evening — but I did end up breaking away from the Georgian tradition of not eating until after the men finished eating their meals, in an act of rebelliousness against the Georgians who lived in the past.
A silhouette artist came over while we were waiting for the food to arrive, and did silhouettes of us that we would take home with us. We had to stare into the candlelight on the table for this to be done, but I think the one of me looked very impressive, which I’ll import a photo of for you to give your own thoughts about.
The food on offer was a selection of sandwiches, as well as scones which you would eat with cream, as well as chocolate brownies, apple tarts, ginger snaps and small jellies.
Everything was extremely tasty, and with a nice glass of Prosecco added in, it was perfection!
Some Georgian characters came over every now and again to talk to the diners and to ask if you were keeping to the cultures, which added a great element of entertainment to the evening. I got to chat a bit more to them when we went to get my picture taken with the portraits of George II, George III and Queen Charlotte, and even got my picture taken with some of them as well.
So overall, the Georgian Afternoon Tea Party at the Palace was highly amusing, with great food, drink and entertainment added in as well. The way I was welcomed to the palace made me feel like I was part of a Georgian Upper Class or Royal Family, and it was nice being welcomed to the event like that. The roll that the Georgian characters also added to the highly entertaining evening, be that thanks to the Gentry, the Urchins or the Gin Soaked Ladies.
And for that reason, I will rate the even 5 stars.
So with all of that done, I would like to thank everyone who has viewed all my content in the last few months. I have grown in followers, subscribers and statistics, so thanks everyone who has helped this happen.
The reason why I am saying this is because this will be my final blog on my phoebelyle.com site until after Christmas, although there will be some YouTube and Podcast content coming out before then. I will return on Boxing Day or some day after that for a Christmas special on everything I get for Christmas, and on New Years’ Eve, both my PL Tech Reviews Channel and Phoebs Lyle Journalism podcast will also get a bloopers trail, and that will go up on The Phoebs Lyle Podcast as well. I will then upload a Birthday Special on the 8th of January for my 25th birthday, but I’m going to take a break for a couple of weeks after that, so I can brainstorm some more ideas for me to bring to you in the New Year.
There will be some blogs and videos being uploaded to my Technology site, https://technologyreviews.co.uk/ before then, which will be uploaded to The Phoebs Lyle Podcast as well.
So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone, and for those who might be reading this but don’t celebrate those festivals, Happy New Year to you as well.
I will be back with more of these posts for you in 2023!
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