A Fun Tea Table

This is a postcard I picked up in England years ago.

It is a photo of table set with Johnson Brothers English dishes. 

(and, of course a beautiful cream tea)

I have forgotten the name of the floral pattern.

This is a long story about a long-time collecting process of these dishes.

I purchased a vintage cup and saucer trio set years ago in an 

antique shop while traveling in Durango, Colorado. 

After that, I began putting 

together a complete set of dinnerware and two teapots piece by piece.

The dishes have different Johnson Brothers back stamps on them 

indicating the different ages of each dish.  

I even found some pieces at T.J. Maxx during the time I was collecting.

The table below was "A Teddy Bear Tea", a fun themed table I decorated using this set 

for the 2010 Berea Health Ministry fundraiser afternoon tea. 

I need to take these out of the china cabinet and use them more often. 

 

U.K National Cream Tea Day

 Friday, June 28th is National Cream Tea Day in the U.K.

Cream tea is a scone with jam and clotted cream served with a pot of tea.

It is a long-time British tradition served in tearooms, hotels,
farmhouses, trains and cafés and began in the 1850's.

The jam was always strawberry and the cream was always clotted.  

Notice the crust on the rich, thick yellow Rodda's Clotted Cream above?

Cream then jam, or jam then cream?  It's the difference between the Cornish

and the Devonshire cream tea and the cause of much controversy. 

 

 

 

 

These photos are from several afternoon cream teas we enjoyed during Austin's

third trip to England when Austin was nine years old.

What wonderful memories!