Attend : Woburn Coffee House

Woburn Coffee House, 21 Market Place, Woburn.

 Bank holiday weekend calls for a day out in the countryside : we visited historic Woburn, a perfect Georgian village. We were visiting to take afternoon tea at Woburn Coffee House.

 Situated in a 400 year old house on Market Place, Karen and her team have created a beautifully fresh boutique coffee house: a modern traditional interior, combining mix match crockery, and a beautiful walled garden to sip Pimms in the summer months.

 We were presented with an amazing 5 tier platter of finger sandwiches, scones, slices of cake, brandy snaps, Mille-Feuille and beautifully crafted cream profiteroles in the shape of swans.
 Whatever you can't manage can be taken home in a goody box...

Woburn Coffee Shop features a tranquil walled garden, opened up in Summer months for afternoon tea and Pimms.

 Woburn itself is a quintessentially British village - dating back to Saxon times. It's even been listed in The Sunday Times as one of the 'best places to live in Britain'
 The village has lots of cool antique shops, restaurants, gift shops, a farmers market and great scenery - all this, and only an hour from central London...

Woburn Coffee House
21 Market Place,
Woburn,
Bedfordshire.

Reservations : 01525 290050
Web : Woburn Coffee House 
Web : Woburn Village 

Must try : Champagne

Newly discovered Champagne

 Discovering some new Champagnes; 'Beau Joie' - a copper armor clad bottle of a Champagne, and the new trend of White label Champagnes - 'Moet & Chandon Ice Imperial' and 'Lanson White label'.

'Beau Joie' is a relatively newly launched Champagne, and yes it's mainly about the show off bottle; a copper wrap that is claimed to keep the Champagne cool out of an ice bucket, but really I think it just looks incredible.

 On the actual Champagne side, it is a 'grower' Champagne, and a 'zero dosage', both of which are emerging trends in the Champagne market (as I discovered at 'Battleground Champagne')

The other emerging trend is the new 'White Label' -
 Moet & Chandon were first of the mark with 'Moet & Chandon Ice Imperial' designed to be drunk over ice from a balloon glass. Exclusively available poolside, so I've yet to find this in a shop
 'Lanson White Label' is described as fresh, zesty and refreshing - a more informal style of Champagne, again recommended to be served in a wine glass rather than a flute, it's more suitable for day drinking (I like!) and ideal for the addition of fruit, to further enhance the flavors.

 Hopefully I'll write more when I've tried them!

Links:
Beau Joie Champagne
Moet & Chandon
House of Lanson

Construct : Cocktail Sunday

Cocktail Sunday : Classic Champagne Cocktail

 A simple, yet elegant and impressive cocktail - that depends purely on it's ingredients. Champagne, A sugar cube and Bitters.

 An elegant Champagne I discovered whilst in France : Canard Duchêne - Grand Cuvée Le Victorieux - Charles VII. An impressive bottle; a complex, refined and elegant Champagne.

 
 Bitters: A great travel kit to ensure perfect cocktails on your travels, containing 5 different bitters. I used 'Jerry Thomas Bitters' - these bitters reveal citrus and dried fruit aromas which unite with the spicy flavors of cloves, angostura bark and cinnamon.

 Classic champagne cocktail recipe in 'Make - Guides & Recipes'

 Champagne
 Website : Canard Duchêne 
 Bitters
 Website : The Bitter Truth
 Stockists
 Website : Selfridges
 

Veuve Clicquot Sardine

Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut Champagne has been renamed and rebranded in this special edition gift set:
'Veuve Clicquot Ponsardine'

 Packaged in witty Veuve Clicquot Sardine tins, complete with ring pull opening.

 The name is a clever play on the Champagne house's history: The champagne gained popularity when Barbe Nicole Ponsardin, the widow of Francois Clicquot, took over the champagne house. Ponsardin's father liked the association with his family name and the fish so much, that he included a sardine jumping over a bridge in his coat of arms...

 This display of bottles and tins are in another giant Sardine tin.
 Seen in Harvey Nichols 5th Floor wine shop.

 Harvey Nichols 5th Floor Wine Shop - Stockists