DRESSERS - DORMANS MUSEUM - AFTERNOON TEA

Tea houses, tea pots, tea cups, tea rooms... you name 'em, I love em.

NEW TEA HOUSE - WEEK 7

OK, OK... I am sorry for being all quiet on the blogging front but hey, finishing touches take a lot outta ya!

But better late than never we have week 7 here before your very eyes.

WHEN THE FAIR CAME TO TOWN

As life has been super busy, what with the new shop and all, date nights have been postponed the last few weeks.

We had a few hours spare one Friday eve, so while paint was drying we decided to go to the fair and that would be our date instead. So off we popped, all wrapped up, to Yarm to check it all out.

PRETTY TWISTED HAUL

I really have been embracing my inner girlieness this month. After my Body Shop Haul, there was no stopping me. I was on a mission to fill my make up bag and bathroom full of treats and things that make these cold nights seem a little more bareable. Who am I kidding, I long for October all year round.

One of my friends was holding a baby shower, so I thought why not put together a little pamper box together for her. I decided to give one of our of independents Pretty Twisted a little go for some bath time treats.

NEW DO @ TONI & GUY

I will put my hands up and admit I have probably been to the hairdressers 3 times in the past 10 years.

I mean when you have a barber in the family (yes, like a man hair cutting person).Why do you need to go anywhere else when there is a pair of clippers always laying around on a Sunday? Why would I need to visit a hairdresser when my 18 year old cousin can pop up an ombre tutorial on youtube and shove on some of that bleach we found in the back of the cupboard? You're with me right? I never need to visit a hairdressers ever again.

NEW TEA HOUSE - WEEK 6

We have colour! Hurray! We have light! Hurray!

We are getting there and next week will see nearly all of the decorating finished, to then leave us to put everything in place and scrub up them floorboards.

PEANUT BUTTER KITKAT BROWNIES

I was ready to bake up some peanut butter brownies this week due to me stumbling upon this!!

I was ready and meant business until....

I received a link to some kitkat brownies from one of our lovely tea bees. I thought why not add these into my recipe and make everyone very, very happy?

BODY SHOP HAUL

I never buy beauty products and rarely talk about my make up or skin routine. To be honest I get very scared about disclosing what I do. I always think I am doing things wrong and that there are 'certain' ways to do stuff that I unfortunately do not know the secret to.

With all that aside I have in fact this month been embracing being a girl, and trying out some places a little out of my comfit zone. I have asked for help in shops and feel really chuffed with myself for trying out some new places and of course my bags full of treats.

NEW TEA HOUSE - WEEK 5

Clean, clean, clean, that is what we have been doing this week. Getting rid of all that dust. All the building work is really done. You know the knocking through walls, the plumbing and electrics they are all done apart from a few floorboards to be ripped up and relaid, and the last of the wood chip to be stripped. We have been doing more behind the scenes work this week too. The menu is getting finished off, new products will be making an appearance and most importantly those christmas hampers need to be designed. So there is a fair bit to get done. What I am trying to say here, is that we are nearly ready to put paint to those walls.

MIDDLESBROUGH LIVE

Who doesn't love a good bit of live music every now and again? Especially when there is tea and cake involved.

NEW TEA HOUSE - WEEK 4

Week 4 has been a blooming pleasure!! I am a visual kinda girl, and once a few bricks had been knocked down and a million deliveries were made, including my brand new baby oven, I felt right back on top of the tea loving world.

GLEBE COTTAGE

With renovations taking over the whole of my life, I am not too sure how I found time to take a few hours out to head into the North Yorkshire Moors and go for tea and cake with some of my favourites. But I did. It was great and a much needed escape from sockets and plasterboard let me tell you.

NEW TEA HOUSE - WEEK 3

There were tears. There was plenty of tears and tantrums.

This week is known as the 'hump week' - the way to make it better was for people to sing 'my hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely lady humps, ch ch check it out'

TEA OF THE WEEK - CARAMEL CREAM

Here we have a SUPER, BRAND NEW Tea of the Week for you!!

ORANGE POLENTA FINGERS

I have been banging on about polenta for quite some time now and decided, after eventually finding it in the supermarket... It's down the rice aisle or hidden away with the nuts, that I was ready to dabble with a little bit of this corny goodness.

NEW TEA HOUSE - WEEK 2

I knew Week 2 would be a bit of a slow one.

After getting quite a lot done in Week 1 having to wait on quotes from contractors is not something I can handle very well. But, after some pestering and bribing in the form of tea we got there.

BURGER WARS - MEATLIQUOR

I know I am still going on about my London trip but how can I not when I ate so many burgers?

10,000 BLOG VIEWS

Whoaaaaa Tea Lovers. We have just reached over 10,000 blog views. That is totally amazing. I was not sure what to expect when I started up this little online life diary sharing with you my likes, loves and delish recipes I have made up, but this is totally off the wall.

MEZE LOUNGE

This brand new Turkish restaurant needs no introduction. You will have probably visited already. If not, one of your friends or family may have, or you might have heard about it online. But if you really, really haven't heard of it you do now and you MUST go and visit. Welcome to Meze Lounge.

JOHN LEWIS - ROOFTOP GARDEN

I have heard about plenty of rooftop gardens popping up all over London this summer: the Kensington Roof Gardens, Dalston Roof Park and the most recent one, over on the rooftop of John Lewis, to celebrate 150 years of the department store.

NEW TEA HOUSE - WEEK 1

Week 1 has flown by...

You don't realise how much you can get done in one week. I am sure I have a one step forward and 3 step back situation on it's way, because thats just how it rolls for me sometimes. But for the time being: "holey moles" look at the difference!

NEW TEA HOUSE - BEFORE

As you know we are moving shop... literally! To a bigger, more fantastic Tea House, situated right next door to our current location.

This road is real old let me tell you! Which means all the buildings are real old, with real old fixtures, real old windows and real old lights, floors and walls... you name it, and its probably REAL old.

BURGER WARS - TOMMI'S BURGER JOINT

I am partial to a good burger once in a while... ok maybe a few. So visiting our Capital I knew there would be plenty of places to check out and find my ultimate favourite burger joint. I have been stalking the majority of burger bars through social media, on apps such as Timeout, and looking at other bloggers who share my love for a good bit of beef.

THE HAWKHURST VAULT

As a lover of both tea and cake I am also, naturally, a lover of the wonderful world of Instagram. I adore getting my fill and poking my nose at other people's foodie photographs. There is nothing more inspiring than a huge chocolate cake (that I just want to eat all in one go), to get me going.

BRUNCH IN SW12

   At the start of last week I decended on London. I tend to visit a couple of times a year to see what is going on in the world of tea and check out some amazing independent places too.

I also try my hardest to eat at least one burger a day and pig out for the the entire weekend. This visit was no exception.

Rising at 6am is not really what I want to be doing on a Bank Holiday, but for this I would rise and take the whole neighbourhood's dogs for a walk if it meant I could eat this every day of my life! I want to introduce you to M1LK.

SUNDAY LUNCH -THE VANE ARMS

Nothing beats a Sunday Lunch round Nanna's with the whole family and no where to sit - which is every Sunday for me. We like to call it 'Stuff your Face Sunday' and the goings on are exactly what it states on the tin. But every once in a while it's nice to venture out and have Sunday Lunch somewhere "in the sticks" with friends. Welcome to my Sunday...

With some of us living locally and some up in Newcastle we like to meet places we have never been to or in a village we would have never known existed. Having decided to meet in Thorpe Thewles, a small picturesque village not far from Sedgefield, we embarked on this sunny Sunday and drove away from the bright lights of Middlesbrough, to a pub called The Vane Arms.

We wandered in to take a peek at the menu only to be greeted by a fellow tea lover and one of our very own tea bee's! I knew instantly that we were on to a winner!  As we have chatted about The Vane Arms I discovered that other tea lovers apparently lurked here too. BONUS!!

We were joined by 4 of my best friends, and this little guy:

TEA OF THE WEEK - DUCHESS EARL GREY

We are HUGE Earl Grey fans over at Tea House HQ, so thought it would fit best if we introduced my favourite, the Duchess Earl Grey.

WEDDING FEVER

With two weddings down and another two to go my phone is stacked up with photos that really capture what life has been like lately. Two sets of best friends decided on taking their vows this summer. The weather forecast looked extremely shady for them both. However, they turned out pretty darn spectacular!! It was an honour to be there and watch them start their new married lives together.

BRASSERIE HUDSON QUAY - AFTERNOON TEA

As a little treat for winning Independent Shop of the year for the WHOLE nation, I thought I would celebrate like every tea lady would and head out for afternoon tea.

CRUNCHY CARROT CAKE

I can not believe it is August already. Like seriously where did the time go? We have had plenty and plenty of weddings to prep for this year creating some mean flavours and bringing back some oldies. As this month has already started and I feel totally behind with this blogging I thought I would kick it back off with a recipe.

DADDY G'S AMERICAN TAKE OUT

Life at the moment for me is all about burgers.  Everyone loves a good burger. I blooming love a good burger. What is not to love? OK if you are a vegetarian, but there is some super homemade veggie burger out there too! You should see my burger list!

FATHERSON @ THE WESTGARTH

Now I am a sucker for a good working mens club, the smell of old mucky beer. the stale stench of cigarette soaked chairs and the fact they only sell peanuts and the odd pickled egg. I would choose to go see a band in a mucky pub like this any day of the week. You know, one where the regulars don't really know what going on or why all of the Newcastle Brown has all been drank by these "youngsters",  listening to "that racket". What's not to love?!

DOSA HOUZE - SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENTS

I LOVE spice! At least once a week I need a hit! In our little town (we just can't seem to get that city bid) there is plenty of foodie places to visit where I can get that spice kick. But there is one little place nestled just out of the way down a little side street that you would not even realise was there.  It's like a little South Indian speakeasy where you have to be told by others or you just wouldn't know it was there. Their peanut chutney is to die for!

TEA OF THE WEEK - TEDDY BEAR TEA

HAPPY MONDAY! Happy new 'Tea of the Week': TEDDY BEAR TEA. You can find it over in our Etsy store by clicking here.

BANANA & NUTELLA LOAF CAKE

Ok so you love Nutella, right? But then banana and Nutella is even better. Why stop at banana? Any sort of fruit with a dollop of this hazelnut chocolate delight is the bomb!

INDEPENDENT SHOP OF THE YEAR

WAHOOOOOOOO!! We have officially made it to the VOTE in the competition for Middlesbrough's Independent Shop of the Year.

TEA OF THE WEEK - COFFEE & AMARETTO ROOIBOS

Well hello again tea lovers. HAPPY MONDAY! We have a delightful Tea of the Week in store for you: COFFEE & AMARETTO. You can find it over in our Esty store by clicking here.

TEA LADY WEARS - CO-ORD

Never one to look at all symmetrical in a photograph (wonky face, wonky smile, wonky eyes and one strange little body) I let that slide to get a few snaps of this delightful outfit. Is it a dress? Is it a top? Is it a skirt? You wouldn't know until you started the cartwheeling and it all goes wrong. Only then do you realise it's a skirt 'n' top. N.B. I haven't cartwheeled since I was about 14. I was never good and I am still quite terrible.

LITTLE MIRACLES

Well these little delights have just entered my life and I think they will be staying for quite some time! I stumbled across these Little Miracles by pure accident while browsing the empty fridges in Boots after Tea Lady duty. Okay, okay I know they look quite snazzy. Then you look closer and low and behold they are actually ICE TEA!!

WYNYARD HALL - AFTERNOON TEA

This weekend I had Afternoon Tea up at Wynard Hall. Two of my best friends are getting married and I was lucky enough to be part of the hen party! So here we have it... Afternoon tea, spas, mud baths and massages. YES PLEASE!!