Can every weekend be a Bank Holiday weekend? Oh wait, almost every weekend in May IS a Bank Holiday weekend! Well, it’s at least 50:50, and that’s good enough for me!
I feel like we really nailed this past Bank Holiday Monday. We spent the day with our good friends Ian and Michelle (along with our Teddy and their lovely Tilly, of course) talking weddings (Ian and Michelle are getting married in October!) and walking miles upon miles around Richmond. We must have walked 8, if not 10 miles that day (easily!) and that was good because we also ate quite a lot of really great food. Michelle used to own a florist’s shop in Richmond (she’s so talented, and will be doing the flowers at our wedding!) and so knows all the best places to visit in town. After a trot round the park and through the Isabella Plantation to tire out the dogs (we didn’t see one single deer! I was equal parts sad and pleased, because as much as they are gorgeous I’m terrified Teddy will charge at them…) we headed over to Petersham Nurseries to eat cake and wonder at the audacity of charging 900 odd pounds for a rusty iron bench…
Petersham Nurseries is tucked away down a tiny side road in Richmond, and is pretty much a photographer/blogger/Instagrammer’s paradise. There are vine covered conservatories, walls heavy with flowering wisteria, slate tables that act as the best high-contrast backdrop you could ask for against bright white plates, and vintage carts full of carefully arranged pot plants and herbs. Michelle was certain I’d love it, and she was so right! We stopped by the tea shop for lunch, and ate slices of The World’s Most Expensive Cakes whilst Teddy and Tilly kissed under the table and made ‘I’m being ignored want to come and stroke me?’ eyes at all the people who passed our table.
Post-lunch, we took a stroll along the river into the centre of town, in search of Danieli’s and some of their famous gelato. Michelle had been raving about their biscuit and pistachio flavours, and they didn’t disappoint. (Though I wound up mint-choc-chip-ing, which was insanely delicious too. Fresh, creamy mint flavoured gelato, peppered with so many shaved chunks of bittersweet chocolate. Amazing. Even Teddy got to taste a little lick, and loved it too.) Jason tried the pistachio flavour, and declared it delicious. Definitely a place we’ll be heading back to next time we’re in town. Oh, and for my gluten-free friends and readers- Danieli’s have a gluten free cone! I didn’t try it myself, but thought I’d pass along the message for those of you who eat a gluten-free diet and fancy having a ‘proper’ ice-cream in a cone this summer!
All in all, the day was kind of perfect. We came home feeling grateful for good friends, and good conversation, and I think I maybe got my first new freckles of this year. The best.
^^ I’m wearing :: dress from ASOS, denim shirt (worn as jacket) from H&M, and boots from Hunter. ^^
How did you spend your Bank Holiday weekend? (p.s. Photos from the last time we visited Richmond Park, in the freezing cold!)
