This countryside afternoon tea has been named one of the world’s greatest things to do in 2026 by TIME magazine

Teeny crustless sandos, jam scones, mini sponges, dainty china cups of earl grey, there’s hardly anything more quintessentially British than an afternoon tea. And our friends across the pond go crazy for it. Now, there’s one particularly special afternoon tea that has made it onto American magazine TIME’s World’s Greatest Places list 2026. 

The publication’s 100-strong list is divided into two categories: places to stay and places to visit. It features a fish market in Australia, a spa in the Faroe Islands, a contemporary art gallery in Uzbekistan and, most importantly for fans of tiny food, an afternoon tea aboard a retired luxury train here in the UK. 

The Maid of Somerset, a restored 1921 British Pullman, is permanently parked up in the garden of the Creamery, a restaurant at Castle Cary station. The luxury carriage was transformed into an afternoon tea salon, its original mahogany marquetry and brass fixtures polished and given a new lease of life. TIME added the Maid to its list of the greatest places to visit for 2026 for its quintessentially British, but down-to-earth, service. 

The locomotive is run by Karen Roos and Koos Bekker, the same people behind The Newt, the nearby three Michelin key country resort (one that Time Out gave a gleaming five stars). TIME wrote that ‘unlike the stereotypical snooty high tea’, the service on board the Maid is ‘steeped in the good humour—and obsession with quality—that typifies Roos’ and Bekker’s projects’. 

Its afternoon tea menu sits at a reasonable £35 per person (£45 if you’re tempted by a glass of bubbly) and features a toothsome spread of cakes, buns, scones and sandwiches filled with roast beef, waterlip cheese and cucumber or beetroot hummus and pesto. For the tea part, there’s a selection of 11 different loose leaves, from a classic English Breakfast to a more adventurous dandelion cleaver and rose.

The only other British place on TIME’s mega-list was London’s V&A East Storehouse. You can read why that made the cut here. 

Discover all of the best new things to do in the UK in 2026. 

ICYMI: The surprise UK city that just beat Berlin and Amsterdam in Time Out’s 2026 ranking of the best cities in the world. 

Plus: The world’s 6th most beautiful place is in the UK

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