Afternoon Tea at Laura Ashley Tea Rooms in Shirley

Hey!

Last month I turned 25 - ahhh I'm half way to 50!!

I had a wonderful weekend with dinner at Miller and Carter with my boyfriend and then Afternoon Tea with one of my best friends, Cara. I thought I'd share the afternoon tea with you because it was such a beautiful place and I had never heard of it before myself. 

We went to the Laura Ashley Tea Rooms in Shirley, they have a few locations around the UK and you can find your nearest one on the website. It was a beautiful room within a hotel, all decorated with Laura Ashley interior and had a really relaxing atmosphere. The afternoon tea itself cost £20 each which I think is a really good price, you got refillable tea and refillable cakes or sandwiches!

I couldn't fault any of the food or the tea, it was all perfect. 

If you have any dietary requirements then just tell a member of staff, we both have a nut allergy so they gave us all cakes that we could eat and so I was able to enjoy all of it. They even do vegan afternoon tea, I really appreciate places that cater to everyone. 

I'd really recommend going there if you are looking for somewhere special to go 

for Afternoon Tea in the midlands! 

Lauren x

Keeping in touch with my bestie!

Hey!

I am so excited to be back blogging again and have so many ideas for the future. I will soon be heading to Amsterdam for our yearly trip so I am looking forward to sharing that with you!

It is so important to stay in touch with people who are special in your life, me and my best friend Jess grew our strong bond through 3 years of university together. There's nothing like a friendship or relationship that you have made through uni, you have practically grown up together and been through some of the hardest times together. Me and Jess live around 140 miles away from each other but still make the effort to see each other every 3 months and this time it was my turn to visit her. 

For our first night we went into Southampton to Revolucion de Cuba for some food and cocktails, wow I am getting hungry just writing this ha ha! The food was sooo nice, the cocktails not so much. I don't really rate the cocktails to be honest, why is it at some places the cocktails look so gorgeous on the menu then when they come they look nothing like the pics? Is it just me!?

Top is from Missguided - Plunge knitted body in camel

For starter we had Tapas, Roasted Sweet Potato, Gambas Pil Pil (aka prawns) and the Albondigas (aka meatballs). No complaints, all true deliciousness!

Check out the menu HERE

For main we both had the Chicken Enchilada which again was so tasty and totally moreish! 

Desert we went for the Pornstar Pavolva. Now, I have to be honest this wasn't the best and we did actually send it back the first time because we thought the cream tasted sour. I think it may of been the prosecco whipped cream that it made it taste odd, they gave us a fresh one, it still didn't taste the best so we just ate the fruit and the one piece of meringue we could find. 

Still, it was good for a photo!

Next up, THE perfect brunch stop. 

The Orangery Tea Rooms at Arturi's Garden Centre in West End, Fairoak, this place was honestly stunning and so Instagrammable. 

I had so many messages from people on my Instagram asking where it was. 

We went here for a lovely brunch and the room we sat in was interior inspo to the max, beautiful tiled ceiling and floor, plants, leather sofas and even a huge bird cage with all tiny beautiful birds inside. 

Oh and the food was really yummy too 😋.

I went for the full english and a pot of tea, I think it cost me around £10 for the both so it was also very reasonably priced considering the beautiful location. 

We also had a nice day trip in Winchester, had a walk down the

riverside and did plenty of catching up. 

Don't forget to make time for the people that matter the most to you!

Lauren x

Fashion and Food Brief - Food Styling & Botanical inspired cocktail recipes

Still life covers all areas within fashion and is used as a valuable marketing tool for all designers, labels and brands. As part of the main advertising strategy for growing or established labels, it is visual information that is paramount to to any successful advertising campaign. 

For this project we had to create a 4-5 (I did 6 because of the title page) page still life fashion and food editorial for a chosen magazine, my chosen magazine being Lula.
We had to do a lot of food research and development including a research trip to London which is where my idea stemmed from. I went to a bar and restaurant called The Folly: www.thefollybar.co.uk
which is a botanical inspired restaurant with a garden lounge and flower shop too, it is a gorgeous place with a great atmosphere. From this botanical theme I created my food trend pages, I took inspiration from botanical diagrams but incorporated food and fashion into them instead of plants and flowers. Along with my botanical theme I also researched into organic and healthy foods to help me decide which food I was going to use, I used a range of herbs and spices as well as fresh fruit and vegetables.
Instead of using garments for this brief we were told to only use accessories, the accessories are inspired by the Spring/Summer 15 ready - to - wear collections. The accessories I have labeled with the designer on my trend pages are the designers which I have taken inspiration from and chosen my accessories very similarly.
I wanted to make my work look as organic as possible, which I think I have achieved well. I really enjoyed this brief and it was a brief that was completely out of my comfort zone, so it was a great challenge. I think it is so important to always look around you, read books, look online and just generally keep inspired because its those inspirations that keep you excited, enthusiastic and full of ideas.

Along with this botanical themed post I have some great botanical inspired cocktail recipes which are perfect for the summer season which is approaching fast, in the UK anyway! You can create these cocktails using ingredients from your garden, grown by yourself.

The first cocktail is Lavender Lemonade, easy to grow with a beautiful aroma, if you are fed up of your average lemonade recipe then this is a great alternative. 

Ingredients: 

Lavender sprigs 

Lemon juice 

Sugar and water

Step by Step: 

- Bring one litre of water to the boil in a large saucepan until 1 ½ cups of sugar have dissolved.

- Squeeze the juice of about six lemons into the mix, before sprinkling in some fresh Lavender flowers

- When it cools, the drink can be served with ice and garnished with lemon slices and Lavender sprigs for decoration. 

The perfect drink for daytime, with a meal, or in the evening is Elderberry Sparkling Wine.

Ingredients:

Elderberries 

Water

Honey

Any sparkling wine of your choice 

Step by Step: 

-  The drink needs to be set for at least 24 hours before you can give it a taste

-  To make the Elderberry syrup, boil 1 cup of water with ¼ cup of dried Elderberries on the stove, covering the pot and leaving to simmer for 20 minutes. 

- Once it has cooled, strain the berries, pour the liquid into a bowl and stir in ½ cup of honey. 

- Simply add the cooled syrup to your favourite sparkling wine for a sophisticated summer treat.

And the final cocktail is Rosemary Gin Fizz which is a great choice for a garden party as it only takes a few minutes to make.

Ingredients:
- Fresh Rosemary
- Lemon juice
- Honey
- Gin
- Sparkling water

Step by Step:
- Cut the fresh Rosemary into three one-inch sprigs, and mix together ½ teaspoon of honey and the juice of one lemon in a drinking glass.
- Pour in the gin and sparkling water, give it a stir, and add some ice.

These recipes have been put together by the team at Best4hedging, they specialize in hedging, topiary and trees.
https://www.best4hedging.co.uk/


I will definitely be trying out these recipes myself so I will let you know how I get on, please feel free to let me know your thoughts on my still life fashion and food work too.

Lauren x