Welcome to the 860th Tablescape Thursday! I’m back in Ohio, getting ready to experience a second spring. The daffodils are up, and the earliest flowering trees are just beginning to bloom, I love spring so don’t mind going through two springs at all.
A few days back I received a lovely email from Elena. Attached were beautiful photos! Elena said, “I was given a set of bone china tea cups that were my grandmother’s. There are 12 in all, and every teacup/saucer set has a different color and pattern.
Elena shared, “The tablecloth and napkins were my mother’s. I always loved the pale mint green color and was surprised that it just fit the table without its leaves.
Pretty flowers!
A Bird’s Eye View…
Elena said, “So, I always used to get confused between High Tea, and Low Tea as I always thought high tea meant fancy. Not so!!! High tea is served on a high table (dinner table) and is a hearty meal served after 5 pm with tea. Low tea is served on a lower table (think coffee table) and is a lighter fare, usually started with finger sandwiches, and scones— and finished with small sweet cakes like petite fours. Served around 2 pm, it was meant to hold you over until a later dinner.
Such a gorgeous stack!
The Madelines look so yummy! Everything looks divine!
Elena found her chargers from TableclothsFactory a few years back. They are currently available in sets of 8 with free shipping here: Gold Monaco Style Glass Charger Plates. The dinner plate is Enoch Woods and Sons English Scenery and the salad plate is Edelstein Moss Rose. Servers and pots are a mix of both patterns. Teaspoon and butter spreader are Rogers Cotillion silverplate.
I wish I lived in a neighborhood where tea parties were a thing. I don’t care for hot tea but maybe I’d be allowed to participate with iced tea. lol
Be sure to have a scone or petit four before you leave, Elena has plenty! 🙂
I wonder if the teapot is Enoch Wood and Son’s English Scenery, too?
Another beautiful teapot, could it be in Edelstein Moss Rose?
The finger sandwiches are beautifully displayed and ready for hungry guests!
Elena, Thank you for sharing this wonderful tea party! What a joy it must have been for those who attended!
Looking forward to the beautiful table settings linked for this week’s Tablescape Thursday!
If you are participating in Tablescape Thursday, please be sure to add your permalink below, and not your general blog address. To get your permalink, click on your post name, then copy and paste the address showing in the address bar, into the “url” box when you link up. You’ll need to include a link in your post back to the party to link up and participate. That’s so visitors to your blog will be able to find the party and the other Tablescape Thursday participants. Requiring a link back also prevents businesses and scammers from linking up to sell their products. Please, don’t add your post name/blog name ALL IN CAPS…it tends to create big spaces between the rows of links. Please do not link up table settings that were just recently shared in the last few weeks for Tablescape Thursday.
I loved the different patterns. Just beautiful
Thank you so much Natalie!!!
You really must be putting the miles on your car!
Not too badly since I’m a homebody for the most part. lol
Just an elegant table!! I used to make tea sandwiches for a lovely lady in our church for her women’s meeting s at Christmas. Beautiful!
Thank You Sheri! My Mom LOVED tea way back before it was popular!!! I remember surprising her with something like this way back in the 80’s!!!
Elena, how beautiful. I would so like to have family treasures. I am not a tea person either, but I came across Rooibus, a herbal tea from Sri Lanka, that was awesome when you are sick. I love Petit Fours.
You send out the invite for your tea party and all nearby will join you !
How sweet Myrna, Thank You!!! I have always loved petite fours, even when I was very young!!! I hope my children will love my family heirlooms as much as I do.
Oh, I would love to be invited to a tea party such as this! And thanks for the explanation between high and low tea. How funny, it’s all about the table height! I read an author who has a character who is always on about her ‘elevenses.’ So she must have made up her own tea schedule, lol. Thanks Elena and Susan for sharing such a lovely table.
Oh what Fun! I have never heard of elevenses before so I looked it up. Between breakfast, elevenses, high tea, low tea and dessert I think the English just want an excuse to drink tea all day!!!! So glad you enjoyed the tea table!
Lovely party table! The pink is so pretty in those china patterns. I did recognize the little pink cakes with the tiny leaf detail. I bought them too! I still go for tea and the yummy treats.
I know, doing this table has made me want to bake scones again!!! Thank you for the comments Lynne!
Beautiful setting! What a wonderful gift from Elena’s grandmother. The teal and gold teacup and saucer is sublime!
Thank You so much!!! Yes, the only problem with the tea cups being all different is that I always wish I had more of a certain color/pattern!!!
<3
I have hosted many many afternoon tea parties over the years. I have had requests for coffee for those who don’t care for tea. But if I had a dime for every person who has tried perfectly brewed tea with incredibly good tea leaves – well, let’s say many have been converted, haha. Elena’s china and tablescape is gorgeous. And by the way – an important distinction – a fancy tea with tiered trays and cones and petite fours, etc. is an afternoon tea – not a high tea. A high tea is a supper at a high table with meat and not usually fancy. So many people get that term mixed up thinking high tea is “high society,” but no, ma’am, it is referring to the table and is a late supper. But afternoon tea (usually a delicate foods ladies gathering) is fancy……..ideally with hats and gloves and beauty.
Susan, I will be hosting a tea for spring one of these days and if you will be in Dayton I’d love to have you attend. I will have coffee too in case my tea doesn’t sway you, haha. : – )
Absolutely loved this table scape!
Thank you so much Lorelei! It was fun to put together!