A very 'British' afternoon in Ely!

Me again! (That's getting a little repetitive isn't it? I'll have to think of a better way to start these posts!)

A couple of days ago my friend Alex and I spent the afternoon in Ely! We set off around midday into the Cambridgeshire sunshine (begrudgingly I might add, I would've been happy cuddling his dogs all day - I mean, look at them!?) 

 

Okay that's enough dog pictures....oh go on...one more won't hurt...this one is hilarious!

So yes, moving swiftly on, we arrived just in time for lunch and headed straight to Peacocks Tearoom, a quaint little place on the waterside of the very pretty town that is Ely. It's a very British thing, to 'take tea' isn't it?!

I've never been anywhere like it, the list of different teas on offer alone took up two pages of the excellent (and very witty!) menu - they are the only tearoom in the world that offers tea from every continent (except Antarctica...for obvious reasons)! I knew straight away it was well worth a visit, much to Alex's delight as he has been banging on about this place for years!

We settled down with our menus and I ordered a pot of the Sherlock Holmes blend of tea, which was a tasty mix of Earl Grey and Lapsang Souchong, giving it a unique taste that Peacocks describe as 'elementary & good' (told you they were witty). Alex ordered the Dr Watson blend, a mix of Keemun, Darjeeling & Lapsang Souchong, which he seemed to enjoy. Bit of a Sherlock Holmes theme going on there with our choices of tea!

Then came the food, we both ordered a twist on the croque monsieur - Alex chose the croque milord (the twist being spicy tomato chutney) and I chose the croque seigneur (with a hint of the tastiest chilli jam). It was all delicious! We also had some entertainment in the form of watching a group of ladies we nicknamed 'the selfie queens', they were sat on the table behind us having a jolly good girls day out and refused my offer to take a picture of them all together, insisting they wanted a 'selfie' - hilarious! (see the back of the above right picture).

It was quite the spread - I was so full after demolishing this that I didn't think I could eat another thing...that was until they brought out the dessert menu. We just had to have a piece of the homemade coffee cake with bailey cream liqueur icing - one word - YUM!

After we'd paid the bill I couldn't resist buying a little souvenir - I bought a bag of the loose leaf Mrs Hudson tea to take home and I can't wait to try it - it's described as 'china tea with marzipan and rose' and is in keeping with the earlier Sherlock Holmes tea theme! There's lots of gorgeous plants on and around the tearoom, these pink flowers were so pretty!

From the tearooms we moved on to Waterside Antiques, a store with three floors full of antiques, just a stone's throw from Peacocks! Having never been 'antiquing' I didn't really know what I was looking for...but what I do know is that I like pretty things, so pretty things I bought! I walked out with a bag full of goodies and a grin on my face. Firstly, I picked up two extremely pretty tea 'trios', I must've been in the mood for all things tea after our visit to Peacocks!

This one is Princess China

And this one is Foley China

And now, the crème-de-la-crème! I spotted this beauty in one of the antique jewellery cabinets! It is real silver with a blue topaz stone. Expecting it to either be extortionate or the wrong size, I held off asking to look at it until I'd finished scavenging around shop. I couldn't stop thinking about it though so I asked to see it and it fit PERFECTLY, I mean, what are the chances? And the best part...it cost me a mere £18...lovely!

So about the very 'British' aspect of this post. During my afternoon in Ely I felt like my 'Britishness' was affirmed...perhaps because Ely was overwhelmed with American tourists talking about how 'quaint' and 'British' everything (that I accept as completely normal) was...they went mad over this old fashioned ice-cream cart!

Gotta be honest, I was pretty taken with it too!

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Americans, I have some American family myself. It's just that their presence meant that I've never felt more British... except maybe the time I met some American relatives for the first time and they kept saying I spoke like the Queen...that was odd!!

That's all for now, hope you enjoyed this post in all of it's British glory...the word British is starting to sound odd to me now...I'll quit whilst I'm ahead otherwise I may as well have just posted a picture of the union jack instead of blabbering on about my day out!

Toodle-Pip!