Sunday 4 August 2013

Coffee mornings.

One of the things I really enjoy about village life is the Coffee Mornings, usually run by a hardy group of ladies who enjoy doing this sort of thing.   We have one in our village over the Winter on the first Saturday in each month and it is always well-attended.   My friend W always calls for me and we go together.   For me, as I live outside the village, it is the only time I get to see some of the folk I know.

But I often also go with a group of friends to such events as this at a nearby village of Constable Burton.   In Victorian times almost the entire village belonged to the 'Lord of the Manor' but gradually over the years parts of it have been sold off.   It is a pretty little village and is the next village along the valley through which our little beck flows.

Yesterday three of us, thanks to W (who collected us), went to the Coffee morning the the Village Hall.   The Hall itself is lovely, fairly newly refurbished and with a huge selection of books which you can browse and buy cheaply.   But what makes this really special for me at any rate, is the trouble that is taken to dress the tables beautifully.    Every table has a hand-made cloth on it, some lace, some crocheted and some embroidered.   All the tea pots are pretty ones and the cups are china cups.   There was the added treat yesterday of toasted tea cakes with raspberry jam.

Opposite the Village Hall is the village green, which slopes down to the beck (our beck) and which has blossom trees - beautiful earlier in the year.

It was a lovely morning.

Today the farmer is walking.   I have a long list of jobs - a piece of writing for our Writers' meeting this week; the VAT return for the business; two loads of washing (the forecast for tomorrow is for pouring rain all day); a baby's cardigan I have knitted which needs finishing off; a new Henning Mankell mystery to read; Tess to walk; lunch to get (I intend to invite my son and his wife who have just come back from a week away).   So I am not short of things to do.    

Have a nice day.




13 comments:

John Going Gently said...

Love the tablecloth

ArtPropelled said...

The tea seems to taste better when poured out of a beautiful teapot.

Rachel Phillips said...

Do the VAT return first and then everything else will simply fall into place.

Heather said...

Those coffee mornings sound delightful and I swear that tea and coffee taste better from a china pot and cup.
Enjoy your busy day. It's pouring with rain here so I hope the farmer and his companions are keeping dry.

Hildred said...

That looks like the perfect coffee party, Pat, and a lovely place to catch up with old friends.

Pondside said...

A coffee morning sounds like a very nice tradition.
You've a full day. I'd have come to a standstill with the new Henning Mankell novel!

Dominic Rivron said...

We missed this month's as we were down South at the time. A great institution, though.

Willow said...

I would enjoy coffee mornings too !

Cloudia said...

What a fun full day!
Enjoy, friend



ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
~ > < } } ( ° > <3

mumasu said...

Scone and Raspberry jam, one of my absolute favourites :)

Pete Thompson said...

Funnily, there’s a village in East Yorkshire, north-east of Hull, called Burton Constable. I don’t know if this is the same Constable family but there’s one member, Sir Marmaduke Constable who was known as ‘the little’, who died in 1518 and is buried at Flamborough Church with a prominent memorial. He was an interesting character: despite his small size he was a formidable soldier who fought for Edward lV, Richard lll and then for Henry Vll and Henry Vlll in just about every conflict of that period. At the amazing age of 70 (a very old man in those times) he commanded the left flank of the English army at Flodden and was in the thick of the fighting throughout the battle. Strangest of all, he is supposed to have died from swallowing a live toad which ate his heart.

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

It sounds like a wonderful day - the food and table setting are lovely.

One always seems to find plenty to keep busy with, doesn't one? I like having a list of things to pick from.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Yes Pete, we occasionally drive through that village in East Yorkshire and wonder whether there is any connection. I would have thought not because it is the Wyvill family who live here. But having said that theif family name, which has come down through the generations is Marmaduke - so I really don't know. As for swallowing a live toad - yuk!
Thanks to you all for visiting - wish you could have all been there.