Grey light, wind rocked trees, poplars opposite bowing and scraping in the gusts – the year tipping into Autumn. One of the grand classics of Paris hotels that is part of the Dorchester family orders up boxes of the jam we have made for the pre-opening of the UK’s Coworth Park, hotel with polo ponies attached. The plan is to give them as presents to their staff to mark the Coworth opening. Tea Together signs up for our second Garden Weekend in Belgium. We are regulars at the magical Journees de Plantes at the Abbaye of Aywiers, near Waterloo. A week later, for the first time, we shall be with our jams at the Park of Beervelde, where the theme for this Autumn is the Mulberry Tree. As we have promised ourselves a Mulberry for the back field, seems like a good omen.
With all that, it’s a glum kind of day and the arrival of Helmut, patron of the Petit Manoir at Gouy St Andre, the next village to St Remy, brightens us up. Helmut is, always,bright, wears red, and this time around, is bringing a box of his home-grown veg. His chambres d’hote are unlike any others, having about them a style and a verve that comes from the design sense of Jennifer and the dash of Helmut.
Surprise visit from Helmut and his veg
Then a call from our partner in Manhattan to say that one of the iconic hotels of NYC is in contact, with fond memories of Tea Together samples. Could be good.
