The World of Siân

Hurrah, at long last the delightful afternoon teas have returned and it was kick started with a meet up with the Biffa's (self given name for my little group of lovely ladies).  We decided to meet up in Cheltenham as it's roughly half way between Bridgend and Stafford along with being a nice place. We decided to rendezvous at the Cheltenham park and ride.  I have to say one of my main priorities when visiting any where is that they have a decent easy to get to park and ride.  I mean, why battle with the inner town systems of somewhere you haven't a clue when you can just park up and jump on a bus which does the stressful bit for you. On arrival into the town we got our bearings by heading to the nearest decent looking pub and as we were driving the strongest thing we opted for was caffeine.  Still it gave us chance to have a natter, exchange some gifts and decide where we wanted to go and if anyone had anything in particular they wanted to get.     ...

Well if you haven’t guessed I do enjoy an afternoon tea even though I don’t have a sweet tooth.   For my last birthday my lovely friend Fordy got me two vouchers for afternoon tea at Weston Hall , Stafford.   Having a browse on line beforehand this looked like a marvellous setting. We arrived at this lovely building which was very picturesque the only down side was that it was quite close to a main road and this spoiled the view a bit but the noise levels weren’t too bad.   We headed into the Cellar restaurant where our afternoon tea was booked and showed into the lounge area where we would be having it.   Mr Bus and I chose some lovely sofas to sit on next to the fire, although it was the end of May we went the weather was still cold and wet so this was welcome. For our afternoon tea we could choose from a range of teas or coffee and we opted for Assam, being one of our favourites.   We were expecting to wait a little while and started to have a nose at...

Ms James and I booked another afternoon tea, what a great way to spend a flexi afternoon. We were meant to be going the Mad Hatters tearoom in Cardiff but due to a mix up in dates we couldn’t go. Both of us wanted to try out Pettigrew Tea Rooms after following the guy who runs it on twitter ( I want to bake free ) from before he opened it and following his dream through to reality. Well… it’s in a glorious setting just off Cardiff Castle on the entrance to Bute Park. It’s a really quaint looking place, but there is not only the room downstairs but upstairs as well and when the weather is fine there is outside seating. We were greeted as we entered and shown to a table. The décor of the tea room was lovely with a variety of pieces of furniture giving the place its own unique character. There is also a display cabinet to show off the tempting goodness of the wonderous cakes on offer. There was an awesome array of teas on offer and we decided we would leave the tea until a...

Well yesterday saw my first afternoon tea of 2012, which for me in comparison to last year is very late and only one by now is shocking. I took a lovely half day flexi to meet up with fabulous Ms James, after a mix up with meeting places and a break down in communication we were finally on our way. A little bit early to head straight to the venue we decided on a quick one in the brilliant pub the Mochyn Du which is near Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. The Mochyn Du is a lovely pub with a mix of old fashioned pub and modern furnishings and to be fair it works very well. It was nicely quiet as well with the odd group of people enjoying lunch. The bar staff were lovely and friendly. Unfortunately we weren’t able to stay longer and headed off for our champagne afternoon tea at Jolyon’s at No.10. Jolyon’s at No.10 is on Cathedral Road in Cardiff and not to far along either so easy to get to and easy to find. On arrival we took our seats and our table was laid by a very nice, f...

Well yes, I have been at it again. The 2nd December my fabulous friend Fordy and I went on a lovely day trip to Bath. We love our girlie day trips and thought we would combine this one with the Christmas market and afternoon tea (of course). As it was a day off from work we allowed ourselves a little lie in so didn’t set off too early, this did mean that we missed all the rush hour traffic and had a lovely drive down to Bath. The weather was nice and bright but it was cold, which got us in the mood for a Christmas market. We arrived at the park and ride and it was full, we drove round trying to find a space, just as we were about to give up and try and find somewhere else, a bus from town pulled up and we were able to follow people off the bus to a parking space. Then came the wait in the queue for a bus, it was so cold and we wished we had layered up a bit more. Luckily we weren’t waiting long and we were on a bus into Bath centre. On arriving we got our bearings and star...

One fine Sunday afternoon at the end of November my great friend Ms James and I went to the secret supper club vintage afternoon tea and Christmas tree decoration making. We found the venue and were greeted by some lovely people who run the secret supper club. We were shown through to the room where it was being held and met by lovely bunting surrounding us and the table all set with lovely vintage china tea cups and saucers, along with lovely tea pots and accessories. Once all the guests arrived we got down to the workshop on making our own Christmas tree decorations. This was great fun, choosing the shape we wanted in the right colour felt and then what we were going to use to decorate it. From buttons of all shapes, sizes and colours to an array of sequins in a rainbow of colours. We were shown the best way to sew these on, then stitch around the felt adding a hanging hook and then leaving a gap to stuff with wadding and finally stitching it all together. In the middle of ...