Landscapes with Tea
It might just be the sanest thing to do today – retreat to the garden that is – and indulge in the flora and fauna that abounds. If you can find one as eclectic as Sunny Side, then join us and pour yourself a cup of tea.
That we’re both house and garden proud might not be a truth universally acknowledged by many. What we discovered recently is that when an artist of the stature of Heather Sutherland Wade describes her garden as ‘no big deal’, it’s best to totally ignore her description and listen instead to your own inner voice. We’re thankful that we did, but we were left with the painful dilemma of not wanting to leave the artist’s sanctuary.
Caterer Janeth Senior and stylist Laurel de Mercado embraced the eclectic environment (we loved the dramatic intervention of the red heliconias) and laid what they called a rustic table.
Senior’s menu included: freshly baked scones complete with strawberry preserves and clotted cream, a platter of fruits (strawberries and cream and the sweetest of grapes), miniature fruit tarts, orange muffins sliced ever so carefully and then filled with slices of smoked turkey breasts and kissed with hot pepper jelly. There was also callaloo quiche, her signature Dundee cakes, and lemon squares.
Laurel took from Heather’s kitchen square plates by potter David Pinto with mugs and teapots by Jean Bushay Taylor.
The garden tour took us to corners of orchids, sunvanda, heather and yellow shrimps, a nice little corner in which to nibble dainty cucumber sandwiches and ever so tasty salmon tarts.
The white begonias were a great stop to enjoy the fruits and let’s not forget those amazing earthenware pots in which were placed the orange muffins. The garden, we discover, is as functional as it is eclectic; much attention is paid to creating shades in which to sit and enjoy nature, the formidable view and the mountains. The ornamental wild banana plant becomes the perfect spot to yield to our sweet cravings and savour the Dundee cakes and lemon squares.
Cousins Arianne Thompson and Rachel Heather Wade are part of the garden tour too and appear ‘still life’ as they share tea against the magnificent backdrop of Heather Sutherland Wade’s landscape painting, aptly called Sunkissed.
Our little tea time idyll is over, but we hope we’ve given you pause to see your own garden through new eyes.