A Tea-Time Ritual from the Tea Rooms .. AT MY ROSE GARDEN

A Tea Time Ritual 

Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that mean the most.  For instance, nothing can be lovelier than a hot, soothing cup of tea on a cold July day.  Simple choices can bring a touch of comfort to a gloomy day.   Choose the tea to suit the mood ... maybe Earl Grey ... lovely with a slice of lemon, picked fresh from the lemon tree.  Or, perhaps an uplifting cup of English Breakfast ...  preferably strong, with a hint of full cream milk.  

Indeed, a simple tea ritual can be both soothing and uplifting.  A dainty, porcelain tea cup, swirling with pretty flowers, adds a special touch to the tea-drinking ritual.    And, of course, tea is even better when brewed from loose tea leaves.  So a pretty, well loved tea pot is just the thing.  Fill the tea pot with hot water, then empty, to warm the pot first.  Measure the tea leaves, one round spoonful per person and one for the pot, into the now-warm teapot.  Pour over freshly boiled water.  Turn the teapot slowly 3 times clockwise, then 3 times anti-clockwise, and allow the tea to ‘draw’. 

Set a tea-tray with pretty pieces; milk in a flower-sprigged china creamer, sugar in a dainty sugar bowl.  Lemon slices on a small porcelain tray.  A tiny teaspoon just for tea, placed on the tea saucer.  Add a lacy, hand-embroidered (‘fancy-worked’ as my mother used to say) doily.  For a special touch to the tea-tray, a tiny, china tea cup with one freshly picked, full blown rose. 

 And to finish off this delightful ritual, perhaps a little light reading ... definitely nothing gloomy, or newsworthy ... a snippet of Vita Sackville-West’s insights from her Sissinghurst garden.  

Or a gorgeous English gardening magazine with a delicious story celebrating Margery Fish, whose stories of her cottage garden are now classics.  

Or, take a pretty card and write a short note to a friend ... guaranteed to make you feel very virtuous as you sip your tea! 

Now, settle into a sun-lit corner in the garden, and ... indulge.  Sip, dream and breathe-a-while. 

A simple ritual ... worth repeating often.