Chigwell Tours Self Guided Vintage Bus Ride and Steam Train Ride for Two with Afternoon Tea

We had a lovely day out, the vintage bus was novel, North Weald Station is a beautiful quaint little Station, it's like stepping back in time, beautifully maintained, there is a cafe and toilets, the Station staff went above and beyond, very friendly, helpful and informative. The steam train was lovely, we managed to get a carriage at the back and it almost felt like we were going to Hogwarts! Ongar is a cute little village with some lovely cafes and pubs, being Sunday most of the shops were shut, we did visit the cheesemonger and the flint Church, and walked a little along the nature walk, found a cool pub for a cold drink, it was a scorcher. There isn't a huge amount to do but we enjoyed a wander around. Afternoon tea at Allez Allez was delicious, the staff were very friendly, I think it's the best scone I've ever had, the finger sandwiches and tiny cake bites were tasty too. The tour company had doubled their usual bookings this day so it was busy, hence they spilt the afternoon teas into 3 different cafes, the afternoon teas were booked for 1.25, but alot of people turned up at 12 and the cafe accommodated them, which was very decent of them but put them under alot of pressure, I'm sure some people will grumble they had to wait, so bare in mind they were almost an hour and a half early for it. I can't fault it, we were also a little early for our afternoon tea so were happy to sit in the cafe garden and wait. It wasn't a long wait. We had a lovely day out.

The afternoon tea was very disappointing the scones was very hard the sandwiches very dry not happy at all

A very nice and interesting tour, and our guide was very informative as we continued on our walking tour.

The train and bus ride were very good. The tour company took money off me for a church tour and a guided tour of Ongar, only to be told that you can't do both so I have wasted £12. We were told to go to the wrong restaurant. Couldn't hear guide. Cafe for 'quick break had run out of promised treats and clearly could not quote with the numbers.

The vintage bus ride was in a LT Routemaster, so hardly vintage. We were expecting a 1930s something, BUT it was okay. The steam train ride to Ongar was fine, though the engine's brakes were inoperable for the journey back, so we had a diesel. Also okay. Thanks to excess numbers of participants the Afternoon Tea was not in the advertised location, BUT the alternative, which had been organised at short notice, was still really good. All in all an enjoyable day.

Lovely day. The Stream Train was very a real treat and the staff/Volunteers were friendly and helpful. The additional trip to Greenstead Church was excellent.

Emails from Chilgwell Tours have two different start times and the programme/times for the day differed . Our agenda did not mention the Afternoon tea described in the voucher so we had to chase that up on the day. Maybe just a little disorganised.