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 

Art Deco Breakfast

Breakfast : England Preserves

  'England Preseves' condiments are the perfect accompaniment to a stylish Art Deco breakfast. 

 The artisan jams that 'England Preseves' make are locally sourced and hand made in Bermondsey. The company began in 2001, and the jams have made their way from the local farmers market to gourmet menus. I love the Art Deco design labels.

 They help make a quintessentially English and luxurious jam on toast -perfect for a quick Sunday breakfast.

England Preserves : Website
Toast knives : India Jane
Vintage Art Deco plates
Vintage Art Deco toast stand

Chase and Wonder : Shopping

Chase and Wonder : Fine design with British Personality 

 A while back I discovered the brand 'Chase and Wonder' at Pulse, London. (see previous post here)

 Recently, I spotted a street scene on a TV trailer for the 'London 2012 Paralympics', it was old London style with a beautiful green wood 'Paul Smith' store on it. I searched it's location down to be Park Street in South London, near to Borough Market.

 This Paul Smith store is a kind of concept store, quite unique in it's design and the goods it sells. To my surprise I found a 'Chase and Wonder' pencil case - the first time I had seen their goods for sale out of the trade show.

 I quickly snapped it up, starting up a conversation with the store manager about the brand - it had been selling well, and after our bigging the brand up, she said she'd be straight on the phone to the buyer to secure more stock!

 Park Street is a wonderful slice of old London town, with fresh produce shops, restaurants, wine bars and a couple of trendy shops.
 Immediately adjacent to Borough Market, and overlooked by the ultra modern 'Shard' building - it's a great cross section of London life.

 Pencil Case : Chase and Wonder
 Stockists : Paul Smith

Chase : Elderflower Liqueur / Rhubarb Liqueur

Chase : The finest Liqueurs

 A while back I discovered Chase Vodka (see previous post here) 

 Since then, I've been on the look out for other unique spirits in Chase's range. I've now added two of their finest liqueurs to my collection:

 Chase & Elderflower - The finest Elderflower Liqueur

 Chase & Rhubarb - The finest Rhubarb Liqueur

 Both are made using Chase Vodka - the finest potato vodka in the world, with the addition of the true rich flavours that come from Chase's beautifully ripened and carefully selected fresh fruit. There are no artificial flavours nor heat methods. They are the perfect compliment to champagne or cocktails.

 I came across these new additions to my liqueur cabinet whilst over discovering Borough Market and the surrounding area. Laithwaite's Wine is a cavernous wine cellar stocked full of interesting wines, champagnes and spirits. 

The spirit section at the back quickly drew my attention, mainly due to the vast amounts of interesting spirits piled high on tall wooden shelves...

 I'll be back at Laithewaite's Wine soon to stock up on some more interesting spirits, and make some inspiring cocktails too.

 Laithewaite's Wine : Stockists

 Chase Distillery : Home of 'The World's Best Vodka'

Pulse : London 2012

 Pulse at Earls Court, London showcases new design product in Home, Gift, Fashion, Accessories & Wellbeing. They also have a 'Launchpad' area for new and upcoming product designers.
 Two brands that caught my eye:

Tori Murphy

Woven & Made in England 

 

 Tori uses 100% Merino wool to create woven fabric based on her fine art designs. The fabric is woven in Lancashire, washed & finished in the Yorkshire Dales, and finally made into product in Nottingham.
 I particularly love the throws - in giant hand drawn linear checks, they are absolute British luxury. The touch of these hand finished throws is sublime, the quality of hand finishing and age old British craftsmanship is apparent throughout.

 Tori Murphy
 www.torimurphy.com
 info@torimurphy.com

 Chase and Wonder

 Fine design with British personality

 

 I was drawn to the Chase and Wonder stand by a fine art print stating: 'A man who lives within his means lacks imagination' - a great Oscar Wilde quote.

 Chase and Wonder's mission is to bring fine design with British personality back into peoples homes - they do this by producing high quality hand pulled screen prints, cushions and other home accessories alongside a range of stationary - all made in Britain. 

  

  

Chase and Wonder's new A/W 2012 collection features beautifully handcrafted stationary:

My two standout pieces are:

 Hand Letter Pressed 'A Gentleman's Writing Set' : Absolutely luxurious hand pressed writing paper and envelopes in a hand crafted wooden box. True Gent's British sophistication.

 'Sophisticated Animals Card Set' Boxed Assortment of 6 hand screen printed cards " Featuring lovingly illustrated whimsical animal portraits on greetings cards, all presented in a hand crafted wooden box.

All proudly made in Britain...

Chase and Wonder

www.chaseandwonder.com