Afternoon tea

This weekend we had tea with the family at Villa Augustus in Dordrecht. I have posted about this place before. It is one of my favourite restaurants. It has good food and the garden is fantastic! Last year the garden won the prestigious price 'Garden of the year' by the magazine 'Gardens Illustrated' and the London Garden museum. Just a few photo's to show you a bit of the atmosphere.

We will be leaving for France tomorrow. I hope the lovely sunny weather will accompany us! I wish you all a Happy Royal Wedding & for the Dutch ladies a Happy Queens Day! See you again next week.

Veel lieve groetjes, Madelief x

Birthday cakes

Although I celebrated my birthday with a tea in a restaurant nearby, I simply had to make some cupcakes. You never know who might visit unexpectedly! I always enjoy preparing the cakes. They are easy to make and always look and taste good. 

I found some lovely old tea plates by Royal Albert on Marktplaats recently (the Dutch Ebay). When I had a closer look I realised they resembled the PIP plates my daughters gave me for my birthday last year. It's funny how things that were once populair, often become trendy again years later. Look at Laura Ashley. The brand was hot in the 70s and 80s with their floral patterns. Now it's Caths Kidston and Greengate that are very popular with the same thing really.

The porcelain of Royal Albert brings back good memories. I can still remember my mother collecting them when I was a child. Because they were terribly expensive, she bought one cup at a time. Although I liked the mens teacup 'Forget-me-not' very much, I thought the rest was rubish. How things can change when you get older :-)! Is there any china you particularly like?

Have a lovely wednesday!

Lieve groet, Madelief x

Happy Easter!

Just a short post today to wish you all a sunny and happy Easter with your families! This year Easter is  special to me, because I will be celebrating my birthday and that of my middle daughter. No garden party this year, but we are off to have an afternoon tea with our family in a special place nearby.

I will be joining Jane's party Flowers in the Home.

A lovely Easter to you all!!

Lieve groet, Madelief

Garden project

The garden looks lovely at the moment. All the touches of green, the pinks and whites of the blossoms and the blue of the grape hyacints and forget-me-nots. Even the buds on the trees look pretty. Some like they are made of silver. This weekend I planted some Dahlia tubers (different varieties), put the seeds of  the Sweet Pea's (hierloom bicolour mixed & elegant ladies), Zinnia's (Green Envy, Purple Prince, and mixed colours), Cosmea and blue Delphiniums into the ground and started on my first big garden project this year.

Two years ago my husband bought an old metal garden set for next to nothing. We put it behind our garden house and never really used it. We simply could not find time to clean it up and paint it.

This weekend the time was right to make a start. As you can see on the photo's I made a mess of it. Even dropped the paint can! Pfff, luckily the paint ended up on the plastic and not on the terrace. I have still one more chair and a table to go, but I can already see how beautiful it will look once finished.

Wish you all a lovely day! I am off to my garden!

Lieve groet, Madelief x

Garlic, Parsley, sweet peas & fruit bushes

part of my herbal patch

To the Zoo

As some of my followers may know, my family and I live in a 1930's appartment on the 2nd and 3rd floor. We have a roof garden and two balconies, but we never really had a garden until three years ago, when we rented our allotment garden.

As we live near Rotterdam Zoo, we used the Zoo as our garden and playground, when the girls were younger. They grew up with the elephants, the lions and the polar bears. We visited the Zoo regularly. After all these years it is still a place I love. Not only for it's animals, but for it's gardens as well. We don't have a subscription anymore, but we try to visit at least once a year. Today's photo's were taken during the fall. The Chinese Anemones look amazing!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lieve groet, Madelief