Set the table
One of the many things I fret about when I am in a fretful frame is people eating on the hoof. Why do it? Why dash hither and yon with a takeaway coffee in your hand? You're not enjoying either the journey or the coffee. It messes up the planet big-time in so many ways, and gives your body contradictory messaging which sends it into a blind panic. Take the weight off! Sit and enjoy your meals, in company or alone with a fab view. If you're at home, wipe down a table top, clear a space, get out some decent tableware and make a ritual of it.
There's something charming and wholesome and fulfilling about setting a table and eating at it consciously. My Welsh grandmother had a tea trolley which she would roll out for both elevenses and afternoon tea, laden with homemade biscuits and sponge cakes, a proper teapot and pretty china. Not forgetting the enormous roast dinner in between, accessorised with a gravy boat, silver cruet set, linen napkins and fresh flowers. My Scottish mother-in-law would effortlessly put together an enormous Sunday High Tea for a maelstrom of grandchildren and their frazzled parents. The little ones learned the importance of table manners and washing up afterwards - there were surprisingly few breakages of the iconic Blue Willow china which underpinned those chaotically happy meals.
Go to town! Make your own rules! I just urge you to set a table and sit.
Art Deco Teaset - £50
Mayer & Sherratt "Melba China" teaset dating from about 1920 and featuring a striking combination of black and white checkerboard and floral patterns.
Colclough tea or coffee set - £40
Love the retro feel of the clean structural lines coupled with a wild garden pattern. It's both fresh and autumnal, in excellent condition with no fading. Made-in-England bone china from the Ridgway Potteries, this set comprises six cups and saucers, six tea plates, milk jug, unlidded sugar bowl and large sandwich or cake plate.
Satin White Alfred Clough dinner service - £30
This dinner set comprises six settings as shown, a gravy boat with dish and an over platter. It is well-used condition, with fading to the pattern and gilt finishes. It is a Staffordshire Ironstone, probably dating from the early 1960s.
Wedgwood 8 setting dinner service - SOLD
Comprising 8 each of dinner plates, side plates, soup/salad plate, breakfast/dessert bowl with saucer, cruet set, gravy boat with dish, and two oval platters. I'm guessing that the original (careful) owner bought this collection over time, with individual pieces dating from 1957 to 1964. One of the dessert bowls has a hairline crack, but otherwise this set is immaculate.
Roasting dishes and platters - from £10
We have hotchpotch of roasting platters, the oldest and biggest on the bottom shelf are a bit more expensive, but the rest are mostly priced at just £10 each.
Purple and gold Deco teaset - £60
Stunning! This is what you wheel out when you really want to impress someone. Meghan, take note, should the father-in-law pop round for a cuppa, you'd best avoid flower sprinkles when the china is this regal.
Mixed-piece dinner sets
These are two different dinner sets from the early 1900s, with lidded vegetable dishes and oval platters. It's not your everyday china, that's for sure, but pretty and quirky if you wanted to mix it up a bit. Prices to follow! I'll try to get better photos and itemise each set when I've got more time.
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