Hall Plume Teapot

I bought this Hall “Plume” teapot while on my trip to Berea Kentucky with the Traveling Tea Friends.  It is a six sided pot, with pale pink glaze, designed by Disraeli.

During the 1940’s the Hall China Company decided to issue a series of six Victorian style teapots. The series was not well received and was discontinued a few years later.

This is quite a heavy little four cup pot.  I think the six sided shape and plumes are unusual and pretty.  This is the first pale pink teapot to be added to my collection. 

There is another pot in my collection from a trip to Kentucky for the Paducah Quilt Show in 2000.  It is a Homer Laughlin teapot in the Skytone pattern.

Now I’ll be on the lookout for the other Hall teapots from the Victorian series – the Murphy, Benjamin, Bowknot, Birch and Connie (all in lovely pastel colors).  ☺

Greentree Tea Room

The Traveling Tea Friends left Boone Tavern Hotel around noon to travel to Lexington, KY for our afternoon tea/lunch at Greentree Tea Room.

This tea room is located at 521 Short Street (downtown). 

A quick glance at the March menu confirmed that this would be a delicious afternoon tea.

The Potato Leek Soup was delectable and was followed by a yummy (and quite large) Irish Oat Scone with Blackberry Jam & Fayette Cream.

Next was a dish that I found unusual for afternoon tea, a wonderful serving of Spanakopita (baked in a square pan, instead of little pastry triangles with spinach & feta cheese filling).

Something else I liked about this tea was the fact that the sweets and sandwiches were served on a buffet table.  For someone like me who prefers sandwiches over sweets, this was perfect.

There were Corned Beef, Poppy Seed Egg Salad & Benedictine sandwiches.  The desserts included Bailey’s Fudge, Pistachio Cupcakes & Greentree French Filled Wafers.  I took a photo of Angela’s plate to include the sweets.

There is no tea menu, but our server kept our teacups constantly filled with Irish Blend Tea (l-r Angela, our pleasant server and Lynn).  I thought that this blend suited the food very well. 

Another fun feature of this tea room is the opportunity to shop for fine antiques before or after your meal.

If you will be visiting Lexington, KY, I would highly recommend enjoying an afternoon tea at the tasteful Greentree Tea Room.

Thoroughbred Park, Lexington, KY

On day three of my trip to Berea, KY we drove to Lexington to have afternoon tea at the Greentree Tea Room.  Lexington, KY is known as the horse capital of the world.

We stopped at Thoroughbred Park to admire and photograph the amazing life sized equine sculpture of artist Gwen Reardon.

It’s not hard to see why many consider Ms. Reardon to be the best equine sculptor in the world.

It was thrilling to see these seven thoroughbred horses and jockeys captured in such detail, as if in the middle of a race.

You can get an idea of the scale of these works in this photo of Angela (Tea With Friends blog) on the left and myself.

We couldn’t stay long at the park, since our reservation for tea was at noon and that was another great experience I’ll share later.

 

Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride,
Friendship without envy,
Or beauty without vanity?
Here, where grace is served with muscle
And strength by gentleness confined
He serves without servility; he has fought without enmity.
There is nothing so powerful, nothing less violent.
There is nothing so quick, nothing more patient.

- from The Horse by Ronald Duncan