A very English affair.......

Does any other nations love  tea in quite the way we do? My mother is not a tea drinker, my father was, and I have reared three BIG tea drinkers, they were all weaned on Grandad's milky tea with three (yes three!!)sugars, but to that end not a filling to be seen.... They are all now down to one sugar but are tea addicts....I buy Dorset Tea in sacks of 1500 and pack a quarter off to Cornwall for my eldest daughter. My youngest came home with pride saying she was now the official tea maker at the stables because of her photographic memory enabling her to make perfect cups for each person there.  And then there is my son, who is off to Uni in the Autumn, 'mum' he said, 'do you know what I will miss most when I am away?'  'Me?' said I 'No! The cup of tea you bring me every morning!'........


 But with tea must most certainly go cake or at least a biscuit, a pause in the day to sit and enjoy a little quiet sustenance.  In my village for many years Saturday and Sunday afternoons sees  'Dorset Cream Teas'. From Easter to September a large banner hangs from my fence proclaiming we are open for business and directing passers by to our church hall. Here various local people host the afternoons proceedings, having made (or called in favours from friends) cakes, scones and tea breads.  You never know who will come in the three hours or how many.  The first ten minutes are always nerve wracking but then in they roll. The partially sighted gentleman with his daughter (both days) big groups of Lycra clad cyclists (tea and toast for them) passing motorists, friends and often the great and good of the village will pop in for a slice, or two to take home.  There are twins who come weekly tanned, in freshly pressed slacks and polo shirts arriving in their vintage motor from the big town far away. They have made friends with other regulars and can now be seen at village events throughout the year. It is an exhausting but wonderful two days, a glow surrounds us when the last customer has gone and we can sit and have a pot of tea and a scone, knowing that money will go to the church and a good cause of our choice.Shall we do it next year, we ask, it is so exhausting....but we will, we know because making and sharing tea with friends, neighbours and complete strangers is a very English affair and a delightful one indeed.