Crown Dorset Staffordshire china

I found this pretty Crown Dorset teacup and teapot at a local thrift shop last week. 

The footed teacup has a pretty Montrose shape.

So far I’ve not been able to find this pattern online.  Does anyone know what its called?  The flowers look like poppies to me.

It is marked Crown Dorset, Fine Bone China, Staffordshire, England.

This is a new kind of cookie I tried with my tea today.  It is a brand that is new to me.

 

The Yohay Baking Company makes a variety of products, but is  known for its gourmet fudge.  The lemony teapot shortbread cookies were quite good with my afternoon cup of tea.

 Be sure to visit Terri and Martha for their wonderful Teacup Tuesday posts.

August Moon Tea Room

On Saturday I visited August Moon Tea Room in Barnesville, GA.

Since I was the hostess for our group (Atlanta Scarlett Hatters), I arrived early and was greeted by a friendly server and shown to one of their pretty rooms.

Each table was set with different colors and china.  The table where I sat was lovely in lavender.

The other ladies ordered from the lunch menu, but I had chosen the full afternoon tea.  Some of the lunch menu choices were pan seared salmon salad, grilled pimento cheese and almond chicken melt.

There were delicious sandwiches, a fresh fruit cup, strawberry scone with lemon curd and cream, sweets and two delicious mini puddings (lime and red velvet).

The assorted pansies decorating the plates were a welcome touch of spring beauty.  My full tea included a cup of soup and chicken salad on a croissant.  I chose a pot of Lady Londonberry black tea.

Maggie Cameron, owner of August Moon Tea Room, was a former partner and chef at Miss Bessie’s Tearoom in Barnesville (now closed).

There is lots to see in this tea room.  Check out the picture of this ladies basketball team in 1905.  There are many tea wares and hats displayed and also a gift shop.

Even the restrooms have displays with vintage hatboxes, hats and gloves.

This was a pleasant afternoon tea experience that I hope to enjoy again soon.  Miss Maggie is a friendly and entertaining host.  Be sure to ask her why she decided to call her tea room August Moon.

Tower of London Tea

While visiting Harney & Sons to place an order for more Hot Cinnamon Spice tea (amazing how fast I go through 50 of these teabags), their Historic Royal Palaces tea collection caught my eye.

The website states that “Historic Royal Palaces is the independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace. Historic Royal Palaces helps everyone explore the story of how monarchs and people have shaped society, in some of the greatest palaces ever built.”

I’m not usually a fan of fruity blends, but this one is wonderful – the fragrance is outstanding.  It is a Chinese black tea blended with dried stone fruit, oil of bergamot and honey flavor.  On the pretty tin it states that the blend is reminiscent of Elizabethan preserves.

Historic Royal Palaces has a very fun and interesting website to visit.  There is so much history and intriguing stories and photos of the palaces and the monarchs and people who inhabited them, that once you start exploring this site it’s hard to stop.

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Green, white and orange tea sandwich. 

Have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Garden Tea For Two

In an earlier post I mentioned that one of the books I purchased at the Book Worm had a lovely idea for teatime.

This tea for two garden tablescape is so pretty and romantic.  It is from the book Decorating with Collectibles & Heirlooms by Connie Duran.

   

Baking your favorite pound cake recipe in individual Bundt cake pans is a great idea for teatime.  The little cakes look wonderful served with a dollop of whipped cream, fresh berries and mint.

There is a pound cake recipe in one of my Barefoot Contessa  cookbooks that I’ve been wanting to try, but first, I’ll have to find some mini Bundt cake pans.

New Tea Finds

I didn’t do much shopping on a recent trip to VA, but I did purchase a couple of tea themed items at Cracker Barrel.

 

This mug that says “In the Tea Party of life…my cup overflows”.

A cute teapot pillow hanger that states “It’s Always Tea Time Somewhere”.  I wonder, should the dangling teabag say fresh steeped instead?

When I returned home I once again searched (with no luck) for the cute nightshirt that Angela found at Marshalls.  Then I checked at Ross and found these two piece pajamas in a pretty blue and yellow print.

Although I really like this Carole Hochman set, I’d never pay $68.00.  It just happened to be Tuesday – senior 10% discount day at Ross.

This is my kind of deal – $11.99, plus an extra 10% off – perfect.  Now if only I could find some bargain tea theme socks to replace the two pair that I wore out. 

Tea At Seven Springs

We drove to Powder Springs with a couple of boxes full of books to trade at The Book Worm and had tea at Tea At Seven Springs.

It has been a while since we’ve been to this tea room.  The owners have now opened their coffee shop next door, with a shared kitchen.

The interior of this cozy tea room looks just as we remembered it from the last visit.  There is quite an eclectic mix of furniture, china and accessories.

Christian ordered the children’s tea, I had the light afternoon tea, and Don selected a ham & pineapple croissant sandwich plate.

The chicken corn chowder was delicious and so was the chicken salad. 

The light tea also included pasta salad, frozen fruit salad and a butterscotch almond scone. 

My Panyang Congou tea was delicious and Don enjoyed his Caribe blend.  They are both sold by Harney & Sons.  The tea room gift shop also had Harney & Sons tea available for sale.  I was tempted by a tin of loose Hot Cinnamon Spice tea.

It was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.  I’ll have to tell you about my book trade.  I thinned my library by a few dozen books, but then I came home with several new ones.  I’m really happy with my autographed copy of the Deen Bros. “Y’All Come Eat” (signed by Paula and both the boys). 

There was a lovely idea for tea in the “Decorating With Collectibles & Heirlooms book that I picked up (I’ll share later).  I also added two more Company’s Coming volumes by Jean Pare to my cookbook collection.  One has a recipe for fairy cakes and blanc mange, which I recently read about in The Dark Road To Darjeeling.

Now I’ll start a new box of books to trade and look forward to another trip to Powder Springs sometime soon.

 

Mrs. Hardesty’s Tea Room

One of the highlights of our trip to Massenutten was a visit to Mrs. Hardesty’s Tea Room in the Hardesty-Higgins House in Harrisonburg, VA.  This tea room is housed in the Hardesty-Higgins House Visitor Center.  Construction on the building was completed in 1853 and it was home to Harrisonburg’s first mayor, Isaac Hardesty who lived in the house with his family during the early years of the Civil War.

The city of Harrisonburg purchased the building in 2001 and began renovating and restoring it in 2003.  It now houses Mrs. Hardesty’s Tea Room, a gift shop and the Valley Turnpike Museum, as well as the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Civil War Orientation Center.

We arrived after our 3 o’clock time slot for our afternoon tea.  Lunch is served until 2, then afternoon tea from 3 till 5.  The space is cozy and inviting and very welcome after rushing several blocks along Main Street in a cold blustery wind.  We had been visiting Harrisonburg’s excellent Fire Museum down the street and the time got away from us.  We shouldn’t have worried – the Lieutenant at the Museum called ahead and told them we were on our way.   

 

We made our tea selection from an extensive menu of over 65 loose leaf teas.  Don chose Angel’s Dream and I had Keemun Panda.  Christian had a pot of the European drinking chocolate.

His children’s platter looked lovely on a cake stand and offered several of the afternoon tea selections that we also enjoyed.  His special scone was chocolate chip.

Our three tiered tray had a selection of nine or ten wonderful sandwiches for each of us.  They included chicken salad in a phyllo cup, a delicious pimento cheese, tomato spread on pumpernickel roll ups, cheese scone with ham, cucumber, egg salad, veggie spread (with tomato garnish), turkey & Swiss and a wonderful melted Gouda cheese with apple slices on raisin bread.

The scones were delicious too – cranberry orange flavor served with thick Devonshire cream and marmalade. 

The sweets were hard to resist –  we polished off the plate.  I was going to leave the dark cookie with the icing, until Don reminded me that it was made with Earl Grey tea.  We very much enjoyed the Battenberg lace squares, sugar cookies, lavender fairy cakes, cinnamon bread, cream puffs and shortbread. 

I’m sorry that I didn’t take a photo of the cute little tea cozies that were snipped off across the corners, instead of rounded.  I’ll be keeping them in mind for a future sewing project.  I also forgot to make note of the maker of my teacup which was lovely.  Of course Christian was in some of the pictures, but he was having one of those days and pulling such faces, well I’ll spare you.

There were many beautiful cups on the tables and I was shocked to learn that they go into the dishwasher, are sometimes bleached and often are accidentally broken. 

Too bad Mrs. Hardesty’s Tea Room is so far away from my home (about a ten hour drive), it’s definitely worth a return visit.

Teacup Tuesday–Royal Albert

Returned from Virginia to find daffodils blooming in the yard.  I’ve been feeling under the weather, so this was a pleasant surprise.

This is a cup that I’ve shown before by Royal Albert.  I thought the pretty colors and floral pattern would make a fitting container for the daffodils.

This bone china teacup is the Byron pattern from the Sonnet Series.

Be sure to visit Terri and Martha for more Teacup Tuesday.