Tea for Two

Hello, blog. It's been a while. I didn't expect to ever post again between work, being mom to now 8 and nearly-7 year-olds, volunteering, belly dance and marathons (I did 4 of those last year).  I've since given up dance due to back issues and am retired from marathoning (4 was plenty) so I found some time to take a friend out for tea for her much-belated birthday.  Like me, Nisha is also a fan of all things vintage.  I have really missed the old tea room I would visit with my mom which closed a couple of years back and thought this one might be similar.

It was a good long drive out to Winchester, VA to The Coach and Horses tea room, but it was worth it.  Nisha and I hadn't chatted in a while so it gave us a chance to catch up on the 80 minute drive.

This was the first indication we were in for something wonderful was this. c.1790!  

They were still all decorated for the holidays and it was so warm and cozy as we entered.  Every room had stenciled walls.

There were also wide plank floors throughout.  The room where we were seated had this piano ...

... and this fireplace.  Our table was the one just to the left.

The place settings were beautiful.  I was so excited!

Each of us had our own teapot waiting for whichever tea we selected.

Water glasses - absolutely beautiful.

I selected a chocolate tea and it was as delicious as it sounds.  Later, I got a pomegranite pear tea and that was obviously more fruity, but also wonderful.

I wanted to go all out, so I selected the George Washington tea which was pretty much all the tea courses.  The first course was either soup or salad.  I chose the soup which was a vegetable soup.  I was surprised that it was a cream based soup.  It was ok, but I have to admit that I wish I had gone with the salad (Nisha's choice) that had a pomegranite dressing.

Normally, we would have been served a tower with our food and desserts, but Nisha required a gluten-free meal (which they have available!) so we were served on platters instead.  No complaints here.  It looked amazing.  I didn't know where to start!  I got lots of delicious fruit - pineapple, oranges, blackberries and a strawberry.  An apple scone with devon cream and preserves. Also included were cucumber sandwich (my favorite), chicken salad, sausage pastry puff.  Dessert was a chocolate chip cookie, brownie, cheesecake, vanilla mousse and a small cupcake.  I came hungry and tried my best to eat it all but the cheesecake and cupcake came home with me.  It was just fantastic!

We took our time with dessert and our second pots of tea and chatted before considering the drive home.  We walked around and decided to explore a little so we headed upstairs.  These were quite steep!  Sign of the times with this house, I would imagine.

Upstairs were more rooms equally beautifully decorated.

This tapestry was in a corner.  

Passing through one room, this seems to be where they keep a lot of tea.  They are preparing to start selling it.

This bench was gorgeous.

We headed back down the stairs and out to the car.  Did I mention how steep the stairs was??

The sun was setting as we drove back and chatted more.  A really great day with a good friend.  I hope to visit again soon.

Whether or not I will blog more remains to be seen.  Realistically, I can't post the way I once did, but my hope is that another year doesn't pass before I blog again.  For now, it's date night - dessert and Downton Abbey with my husband.

Hope to be back soon ...

P.S. I did end up finishing that wall in my previous post and it's gotten quite a lot of use.  Maybe a topic for another post?