“I’ve never been to Japan, but I’ve always been fascinated by the country. I wanted to see what a Japanese afternoon tea would consist of – our ones are a carb overload, with cakes you can’t even finish because you’ve stuffed your face too much, so I expected it to be a lot different – and it was.

The venue was Akira at Japan House, on Kensington High Street in London. You go upstairs to a clean-looking room with an open-plan kitchen: it was very white and minimalist. I took my friend Kerrie, who’s just celebrated her 50th birthday; we’ve been friends since our first day of school.

I love my herbal teas and you can choose from Japanese green teas or smoked black teas. I had the sakura, which is smoked with cherry tree wood. They describe it as clean, rich, botanical and fruity, and you really could taste the smoke.

Dame Kelly Holmes tries Japanese afternoon tea ahead of Tokyo 2020