Yesterday wonderful Bess and her husband Johnny invited a few of us over to their house for afternoon tea in the garden. Their lovely home used to be an old dairy, so the front of their house has these gorgeous dark green barn doors. The path where horse-drawn milk carts used to run through is now home to their patio terrace, shaded by a soft covering of ivy. The riverside meadow that used to be the grazing yard for the cows is now their enchanting garden, complete with a winding brick footpath and an arching tree branch acting as a welcoming entrance into the garden.
Just boil some water with green tea leaves and some fresh mint. Let it steep and cool. Once it's at room temperature, add plenty of ice cubes. Yesterday I believe we also had some fresh squeezed lemonade in it. Stir it all up and you're ready to enjoy the perfect refreshing drink on a warm day.
Next we had traditional tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. Bess said she only uses the finest jam, Little Scarlet. It's a sweet jam with plenty of strawberry chunks in it. It was the perfect jam to go along with Bess' freshly baked scones. She was nice enough to write the recipe down for us using card stock and special India ink.
As soon as I scan the scone recipe, I'll post it here and share it with you!