Inspiration

I think we can all say that summer is slipping slowly away. The autumn leaves are turning down in Dorset. Lovely days of pouring rain here to stay in London. Bridie and I are manic in the shop, finding christmas treats (yes, that happens now) and excitedly preparing for the CABINET of CURIOSITIES which opens on the 28th – more to follow very soon….

But as a fond farewell to summer, and on our wish list for a dreamy June in 2010, will you just imagine how excited we were to find, in 1980s classic cookbook ‘The Englishwoman’s Kitchen’, the Duchess of Roxburghe’s silver picnic boxes… made at lavish expense for shooting lunches by the nineteenth century so-called ‘American Duchess’. We are not into the shooting but goodness we are into the lunch.

The forks, the apple, the grease proof paper (containing Coronation Chicken sandwiches). Could there be any thing more perfect from which to picnic?  Let us dream.