gardens | A Crafty Chai

Tag: gardens

06
Jul
2016

Vegan Afternoon Tea at Compton Acres, Poole

While we were in Poole for my Lush spa treatment, we also booked in an afternoon tea at Compton Acres. Phil had done a quick Google and found that they were one of few places that offered a vegan afternoon tea. As this is one of my favourite meals ever, we decided to go there. I hadn’t heard of it before, but there’s a lovely garden, with breathtaking views of the coast, a shop and a small garden centre. We arrived there with enough time to have a whistle stop tour of the garden.

Compton Acres Buddha Statue at Compton Acres Koi fish at Compton Acres As we didn’t have a huge amount of time, I didn’t take many photographs. I’m pretty sure we’ll go back there, especially as dogs are allowed, plus they do vegan cake and I’ll go far for that! The gardens are gorgeous, with lots of lovely areas and water playing a big part of the gardens. There are lots of areas to sit and enjoy the gardens, which lots of people were doing. We headed back to the cafe and awaited our afternoon tea. It didn’t disappoint.

Vegan afternoon tea at Compton Acres Vegan cheese and pineapple on sticks Vegan sandwiches at Compton Acres Three tiers of delicious vegan food. Three whole tiers. I really struggle to know what to put in sandwiches, save for Tofurkey and salad, so this was a real eye opener. When I saw that there was cheese and pineapple on sticks, I was over the moon! My favourite things from my 80’s childhood! Why don’t we see more of this?! It was delicious. Then came the cake. The chocolate cupcake was epic! I couldn’t finish it all. It was so chocolatey and rich plus I wanted to save room for the scones. They were accompanied by coconut cream and strawberry jam. The cream was quite runny, but that didn’t spoil it for me. The fact that I can still enjoy cream and jam on scones without animals being harmed is brilliant. I wouldn’t hesitate to go back to Compton Acres, whether it was for a cream tea or just to the gardens. Vegan friendly and dog friendly makes it a winning place for me!

19
May
2014

#BEDM – Trebah Gardens

categories: Blog Everyday in May, On Tour

Yesterday as Museum Day and in Oxford, we’re really spoilt with the amazing Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers museum. While we were in Cornwall last week, we didn’t visit any museums, but we did go to Trebah Gardens. It’s dog friendly, has lots to see and it has it’s own beach. Perfect.

It has such an amazing array of plants of all colours, shapes and sizes. We headed straight down to the beach upon arrival and enjoyed a salted caramel ice cream. Then we headed back up to the koi pond, via the water garden, which was incredibly tranquil. It was such a lovely place, we intended to go back, as the ticket is valid for 7 days. But alas, we ran out of time and didn’t make it. It’s definitely somewhere we’ll visit again next time we’re near. Poppy was welcome throughout the gardens and she loved it! There were so many smells for her that she was exhausted when we finished. Dogs have free entry and we even got a dog biscuit on arrival! So cute! The gardens were a real inspiration to me and I took way too many pictures. I love that the beach has such a history too, as it was used as an embarkation point for the D-Day landings. The boathouse that’s on the beach was also built by racing driver, Donald Healey.

Trebah Garden is now one of my favourite places to visit in Cornwall! How about you? What’s your favourite garden to visit?

21
Apr
2011

Ham House

categories: Food & Drink, Home & Garden

You may have read in one of my previous posts, Petersham Nurseries, that my OH treated me to a day in Richmond, London. While there, as the weather was so lovely we had a bit of a walk around. Thanks to the power of Google we soon discovered that we were near Ham House. I love looking at old things. It’s the next best thing to buying old things!

Had it not been so expensive (over £10* each) we’d have spent ages mooching round the house. However, we opted for the garden only. It was a lovely day so were happy to do that. It was amazing. Even from the outside the house was beautiful. I always like to imagine what it would be like to live somewhere like this & am always convinced it would be super cool! There were some amazing little huts in the garden which made me instantly jealous & demand that we have one in our (tiny) garden! The main gardens were for vegetable planting. This is something I’ve never really done but am desperate to do once we regain some kind of control over the garden. They had some lovely blossoms on the trees & some gorgeous & unusual flowers in the borders too. It was worth the £7 to get in, have a sandwich and get some ideas for the garden. A lovely little place & well worth the visit if you’re in the area.

After Ham House, heading back to the car, we walked along the Thames. We spotted this cute little chap who was linked to the polo club near by. Naturally we stopped to say hello, pet his nose & offer up any minty treats (which we didn’t have!). He wasn’t interested in us at all. He was interested in eating my handbag, which after the encounter was covered in green horse saliva. Nice!

My reward for being brave & not freaking out about a horse trying to eat my bag was my first 99 ice cream of the summer. I loved it – Sat by the Thames, watching cute little dogs running around, eating ice cream with a flake after such a lovely day. A fantastic location with lots of lovely things to see, do & eat. Perfect!

*We’ve thought since that maybe a National Trust membership might be the better way to go about seeing places like Ham House, though I instantly remember my Grandad being a member & it makes me chuckle! Might add a membership to my birthday list tho.