I have to start by saying this is not how I live my life! I think it's the first and only time ever that I have bothered to make such an effort with a drink, I tend to whizz as quickly as possible from one thing to the next and find it difficult not to be doing something all the time, and the thought of sitting still and doing nothing makes me feel strange and fidgety. And I never bother to set the table for a cup of tea like this when it's just me, or two of us.But then if I don't make an effort to have space in my day to stop, think and appreciate what I have got then my day is emptier, it just becomes a list of chores to get through.
So I am going to try and do this more often. It was such a beautiful afternoon and we'd had a busy day so it was lovely to stop and pick some flowers from the garden. Can you spot who suddenly came to join me, just for a fleeting moment:
Must love wallflowers as much as I do! The beautiful deep, velvety red is one of my favourites.
The china cup, saucer and milk jug are my latest e-bay purchases.
I have been wanting some proper tea cups for a while but it took me a while to find some I liked - these are apparently from the 50s and are made by Colclough, which I'd never heard of- very pale green and very pretty, and I'm not sure what's come over me really because I'm not a flowery or pretty china person at all. I bought some more today, on e-bay again, and they've got flowers on, so I must be having some kind of a personality change. Once I'd put my tablecloth on the table and laid everything out it felt like being in a cafe for tea!The garden is at its best right now, it never quite regains this level of promise and colour again.
It's a long thin garden with a veg patch at the end and it gets progressively messier and weedier the further you get from the house. I'm busy sowing some summer-flowering annuals but it really is best in the spring and it was lovely to come down this morning to see the sun shining through the leaves and tulips.
You have flowers
ReplyDeleteI have weeds
Your new cup looks nice
Oh wow.
ReplyDeleteFirst - well done with snapping that beautiful butterfly!!!! Spring is definitely here!
And you have a wonderful garden - the wallflowers are gorgeous, your borders are beautiful and the snowdrops(?) are huge!!
Now as for your amazing tea set and service... well what cha I say?!?! How extremely civilised and properly perfect!!! I love the hint of green on the teas set. I can't wait to see your flowery ones. Tea served like so in a beautiful setting with freshly picked flowers is the most sublime way of spending a gorgeous sunny afternoon!
Well done you for making this effort - it's worth it, really!
Take care
x
How lovely! It looks like a set from an Edwardian film .... I am very jealous of your lovely garden, especially your lawn.
ReplyDeleteMy lawn is full of holes dug by our silly dog, and one of my new plants was tossed around in a plant pot yesterday! AAAggghh!!!
Love Kathy xxx
Ooohhhhh, your garden is just lovely. I wish I could have teleported over for tea yesterday, as I never did get around to having a cup here. :-)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers and the china is so pretty. It's a shame most of us don't have the time to make the effort with the "little" things anymore.
BTW, no, I didn't get any nap to make up for the lack of sleep and in fact, that's how most nights go. Except I don't usually close the bedroom door because of Annie's jumping at it. This morning it was Nicki, tearing around, knocking things over and meowing his fool head off while "killing" his toys. LOL. It's always an adventure! And I'm almost always sleep-deprived. :-D
Tea in the garden.....fab! Now you have to take us photos of your vegetable patch, pleeeeease! x
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks a tranquil delight and tea on the lawn sounds so grand doesn't it. Enjoy every bit of this hazy sunshine!
ReplyDeleteThat looks so inviting, mines without sugar thank you! Funny I have just found some colclough china, but with pink roses. Its lovely and I adore your green set.
ReplyDeleteWell thank you all, I'd love to have you all round for tea! I promise that I DO have weeds but didn't really want to take pictures of them, and as for the lawn, it is half moss and further up the garden is three-quarters moss and clover with buttercups and daisies, so it's really not as good as it looks. The veg patch is bare at the moment Katherine apart from a big bushy rhubarb that we inherited, I am growing some lettuce, courgettes and sprouting broccoli so I'll have to take pics when they're in the ground - they're all in the tiny greenhouse at the moment! The white flowers under the tree and picked in the jug are Anemone Blanda - very pretty, I highly recommend them for needing absolutely no care whatsoever after planting - they come in a range of colours too and I must try and get some more to plant in the borders.
ReplyDeleteI love this post- how springy it looks!
ReplyDeleteI love the tea tableset, and the garden looks fabulous!
It looks so tidy and, how nice, the sun is shining there!
Have a lovely start of the week,
Annalisa
Postcard perfect! And once again, your flowers are so pretty!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is absolutely beautiful! Our is like a postage stamp in this house :o( I really miss having a nice big garden.
ReplyDeleteLooks a perfect tea party! The flowers & flutterby are lovely
x
What a fab idea, I am dhte same as you and have a real problem sitting still doing nothing - I certainly is an art isn't it :-)
ReplyDeleteYou have wallflowers already? I have china envy -a lovely purchase, can't wait to see the flowery ones.
ReplyDeleteWow!!
ReplyDeleteYou have a wonderful garden !!!!
So BEAUTIFUL :-)
You have a lovely garden, I would love to pop in for a cup of tea in your little garden cafe, most inviting.
ReplyDeleteAlisonx
x
How elegant! If I come over, will you serve me some Temptations in your garden? ~Crikey
ReplyDeletePee Ess: That sounds Biblical, doesn't it? Hee Hee!