Knotting Hill with Bird & Blend and other fun finds in England


When researching Notting Hill, I was so excited to learn that it was only 20 minutes from Kensington Palace!

I knew I wanted to go to Notting Hill to see the Blue door from the Notting Hill Movie.  I also wanted to go to Alice's Antiques, and Bird and Blend Tea.  

All these shops were on one street.  It was super handy to find everything.

At the top of the street was Alice's.  This is a super tiny antique store.  It is just the one floor and only in one room.  There is not a lot of room to move either.   I did buy a few things here....


They has soooo many patterns for the pottery.  I struggled to make a decision.  I ended up with the red one for myself.  These pitchers were only £10....I wish I had bought a few more as gifts.  
I looked for Brown Betty teapots, but he didn't have any.  He said that those were hard to find, people don't like to part with them.

Outside were some fun crates, I looked for tea ones but didn't happen upon any.


My only other purchase was this fun old tea tin.



Down the street was this cute shop with a great kettle out front.


There were also vendors out on the streets selling items. 


I checked on this little tea pot/pitcher and they wanted 30 for it....I came home and found it at a thrift store for $3!!  Same one!  Whoop whoop!!



Then as we walked a little further, we found the Notting Hill Travel book shop!!!


I appreciate the fact that is actually a gift shop, but they kept The Travel Book Co signage up.


Then just a few yards away was the blue door!!  It was rainy and cold, but I can say walking here was worth it.



Then off to Bird & Blend.  I love this tea shop.

I discovered Bird & Blend around 8 years ago.  They have fantastic tea.  

https://www.birdandblendtea.com/


I searched Bird & Blend tea shops when I knew I was coming to England.  I then looked to see where the closest ones were to where I would be.  I was thrilled to see this shop was in Notting Hill and on the street I was going to anyway to see Book Store from the movie, Notting Hill.



So many fun teas!



I wish I had more room in my suitcase for all these goodies.








I finally made it here!!!  Wet, but I made it!!  It was great to be able to explore the store and talk to the staff.


Earl Grey Creme Latte!  So good!!!


This tea gets 5 teacups.  The flavors were spot on.  I loved the store- it was clean, the staff was friendly, and there were so many fun tea items to explore.






There is a cute little sitting area here.


The staff was so kind and helpful!  I was looking for a Bird & Blend pin, but this store was out.  They went and found me a key chain and even a tea to try for later.  






This tea, Snowball, was very good.  I really enjoyed the black tea base and the notes of chocolate and coconut.  I love coconut in my tea.  I also drank it with oat milk.  I thought it was really good!






Feel free to contact me to lead you or your group in England.  
I have a book you can order for the 7-day tour as well.  

https://a.co/d/2XkfVh9


Why plan your trip to England, when it can be done by experts for you!
Let us make all the plans, remove all the guess work, book all the appointments, reserve all the rooms, confirm everything for you, and guide you seamlessly around England while enjoying tea and giving you free time to do your own exploration.
We’ve already done the hard leg work and recommend these fun tea adventures and ask you to try a new one with us- the River Thames Afternoon Tea cruise.
The days for each activity may change, but this is the itinerary we have planned.

This is a day by day journal of your tea trip to England. See exactly what is planned for each day and journal as you go. Keep track of key memories.

Enjoy afternoon tea on Brigit's Tea Bus, a river cruise down the Thames, at Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey), in Bath at the Jane Austen Regency Center, at Kensington Palace, and at Fortnum and Mason.





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Kensington Palace Orangery Afternoon Tea

 

The ladies joked I needed a flag to lead them around London, so I found this queen flag for $5, it worked perfect!


We did a walking tour.  It went from St James Garden to Kensington Palace.  This was our real tour guide for the morning.  She was fantastic.  This is where we met her, at the Horse Guards Palace.  


Since it was rainy we did not think that the changing of the guard would happen...at least where they march in...but it did!  We got to watch them march right by us on the Mall to the Palace.


Here I am at Green Park.


Walking through Hyde Park



As we were at Hyde Park we saw more guards going by us.


Heading into Kensington Gardens


Just outside Royal Albert Hall

We walked up the hill and I have to admit I was tired and so ready to sit, lol.  Here is Kensington Palace.



I am not sure what I expected, but it was even larger than I thought it would be. It was just so stately and posh looking.  It was the birthplace of  Queen Victoria.  There are apartments now within the Palace.
Princess Diana lived here, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as Princess Margaret.  
And it is currently the official London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children.


https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/visit/the-orangery-restaurant/

The Orangery, where afternoon tea is served.
They were having a wedding reception here today, so we were super glad we had early reservations, other later reservations were cancelled.  Due to the rain they were moving the reception inside, this had not been their original plan.





Inside. This is not what I expected it to look like.  I thought it would be more open somehow, like a solarium.  





The menu.








I love the simple "O" on all the dishes.


Just so you know, this is pricey tea... and you spilt everything on the tiered trays.  All other teas, you would get one of each item, here you are splitting each item.  That makes this the most expensive afternoon tea. £56, but you only get half the food.



English cucumber with dill
Free-range egg mayonnaise
Smoked chalk stream trout
Gammon ham
coronation chicken with red pepper and baby spinach


Traditional Scone with Cornish clotted cream and preserves 


Chocolate croustillant
Mini raspberry Victoria sponge
Elderflower and lemon baba
Orangery Choux


The lovely group of ladies.


Enjoying my Earl Grey.  This was a nice Earl Grey.  Not overly steeped with a splash of milk.



Pouring my Earl Grey. 





For the price, I would have liked not to have to split all the food.  But, it was first rate.  Their Earl Grey was very good. I enjoyed it. 


See the queen?


It stopped raining...for now.  It really wasn't bad.  It would drizzle for a while and then it would stop for awhile and then drizzle again.



First is at the palace looking back the Orangery.  The other is at the Orangery, looking back at the Palace.


Headed to the Sunken Garden,  This was a place Diana was fond of and in 2017 it became The White Garden in her memory.


This statue was unveiled on what would have been her 60th birthday.




There are three children with Diana.  Once for William, one for Harry, and one to symbolize the humanitarian work and generational and lasting impact Diana had.


A beautiful seating area outside of the Palace.


As part of our tour package we were also allowed to tour the Palace.  There was a display of clothing through out the palace.  I did a brief walk through. 



Our AMAZING guide!!  She was fantastic.


Doll House on display.



There was a cake that was made of this dress!!!!





This was fascinating to me...all the patterns for different events.




I wanted to see the clothing, but not really interested in staying long.  I think I breezed through in about 25 minutes.  I was ready to move on to the next adventure.


We popped in the gift shop and I bought a pen, a teacup ornament, and a hair clip.


This is where we excited the Palace.


I really enjoyed the trees and seeing the fall foliage along our walk.


Outside of the Orangery and headed for our next adventure...Notting Hill- which is around a 20 minute walk.  This was a WET walk.





Feel free to contact me to lead you or your group in England.  
I have a book you can order for the 7-day tour as well.  

https://a.co/d/2XkfVh9


Why plan your trip to England, when it can be done by experts for you!
Let us make all the plans, remove all the guess work, book all the appointments, reserve all the rooms, confirm everything for you, and guide you seamlessly around England while enjoying tea and giving you free time to do your own exploration.
We’ve already done the hard leg work and recommend these fun tea adventures and ask you to try a new one with us- the River Thames Afternoon Tea cruise.
The days for each activity may change, but this is the itinerary we have planned.

This is a day by day journal of your tea trip to England. See exactly what is planned for each day and journal as you go. Keep track of key memories.

Enjoy afternoon tea on Brigit's Tea Bus, a river cruise down the Thames, at Highclere Castle (Downton Abbey), in Bath at the Jane Austen Regency Center, at Kensington Palace, and at Fortnum and Mason.




10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.





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