Taking Tea at the Derry and Toms Café

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

Today however we have headed south-west across London, away from Cavendish Mews and Mayfair, over Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to the comfortably affluent Kensington High Street. Here, amidst the two and three storey buildings that line either side of the street stands the elegant Edwardian department store of Derry and Toms*. It is in the café on the top floor, beneath the ornate ceiling with its central domed light well, that Lettice has an assignation with one of her Embassy Club coterie of bright young things**, her dear friend Margot. Margot recently married another of the Embassy Club coterie, Dickie Channon. The newlyweds have been gifted a Recency country “cottage residence” called ‘Chi an Treth’ (Cornish for ‘beach house’) as a wedding gift by the groom’s father, the Marquess of Taunton. Margot, encouraged by her father Lord de Virre who will foot the bill, has commissioned Lettice to redecorate a few of the principal rooms of ‘Chi an Treth’. It is to discuss her ideas for redecoration that Lettice is meeting the newly minted Mrs. Channon for afternoon tea.

The pair sit in a cosy nook at a quiet table for two laid with fine white napery, gilt edged china, glinting silverware and gleaming glassware. The hubbub of quiet and polite, predominantly female, chatter drifts around them, for the spacious café is filled with Edwardian matrons and their daughters or other well-heeled young women all enjoying a fine repast. Many have been shopping in the departments on the floors below their feet. The chatter is punctuated with the sound of cutlery quietly tapping crockery and the clink of glasses as they enjoy what the Derry and Toms Café has to offer.

“Oh, how heavenly, Margot darling!” Lettice sighs as a decadent blackberry tart of glistening fruit topped with a dollop of rich fluffy white cream is deposited in front of both of them by a waitress dressed in a black uniform with a pretty white lace cap and apron.

“Have you truly never been here for afternoon tea, Lettice darling?” Margot asks as the waitress makes a discreet retreat from the table.

“Never.” Lettice acknowledges, shaking out her napkin and draping it across her lap.

“I’ve been coming here ever since I was a child. Mummy used to bring me here as a treat after we’d been shopping downstairs.” Margot smiles at the memory. “That was back when Mummy was fun to be with. Not like now. Where did your mother take you shopping in London?”

“Mater?” Lettice looks queryingly at her friend as she takes up the silver sugar basket from the tray before them and spoons a teaspoon of sugar into her empty cup. “She never took me shopping in London.”

“Never?” Margot asks, shocked.

“Never. You know she hates London. That’s why she seldom comes here, unless she can’t avoid it.” She replaces the sugar basket on the tray with a clunk. “No Mater always orders anything she wants through the Army and Navy Stores*** and has it shipped from Victoria Station on the railways.”

“Let me pour, darling.” Margot says, reaching for the silver teapot which stands behind the coffee pot, out of Lettice’s range. As she pours tea into her friend’s cup, she asks, “Didn’t you tell me you used to come to London and stay with an aunt who was an artist?”

“I did.” Lettice smiles warmly as she remembers the occasional London holiday. “Dear Aunt Eggy lives in Little Venice****.”

“Well that’s just across the park,” Margot points in the general direction of Kensington and Hyde Parks as she replaces the teapot on the tray.

“Well, Aunt Egg never brought me here.” Lettice says smiling, taking up the milk jug and adding a dash of milk to her tea. “No, she is a Pontings***** shopper, and that is where we went for afternoon tea, although usually we went to have tea with one of her many fellow artists or literary friends instead.”

“Your mother would have hated her doing that with you.”

“Oh she did. She loathes Aunt Egg’s bohemian lifestyle and artistic friends.”

“Which is all the more reason why you love her, and her friends,” Margot chuckles conspiratorially..

“Indeed I do, Margot darling!” Lettice joins her friend’s chuckles with her own gentle, slightly naughty laughter.

“Well, since it was always the House of Value that you used to take tea at,” Margot announces, picking up her own cup of coffee and taking a sip from it. “You’ll find afternoon tea here a great treat.”

“I do hope so.” Lettice says as she breaks the pasty of her tart with her knife and fork. It gives way easily, a tumble of blackberries spilling forth, staining the white porcelain of the plate as it does. She lets out a small squeak of pleasure as she takes her first mouthful of luscious blackberries, thin sweet pastry and cream. “Oh this is truly divine, Margot darling!” she enthuses as her eyes drift up towards the ornately painted ceiling above.

“I told you,” Margot replies with self-satisfaction, breaking the pastry of her own tart. “Now, how was the Hunt Ball? I’m so sorry we couldn’t make it after all. The Marquis and Marchioness take precedence I’m afraid.”

“How was dinner with your new in-laws?” Lettice asks, dabbing the edge of her mouth with her napkin, dislodging a few crumbs that scatter down into the folds of her floral crepe de chiné frock.

“Ghastly!” Margot admits. “Positively ghastly! I don’t know how they can live in that awful, dark and drafty pile of old rubble.”

“Cold, was it?”

“Frightfully. All high ceilings and not a decent fire to be had in any of the hearths, not even in our bedroom. No wonder my mother-in-law always looks so grim. That’s what comes of living in a beastly old mausoleum! Her face must be permanently frozen like that because of the north wind blowing through her overstuffed and dark drawing room.” The pair chuckle together at the thought of it. “I’m so glad that Daddy had ‘Chi an Treth’ electrified. You should see all the stains on the ceilings of Taunton Castle from the chandeliers and gasoliers******. Dickie will have to pay for electrification when he becomes the Marquis, and get some proper heating and new plumbing, or we shan’t live there. I mean, who would want to live there when you have a perfectly divine little flat in Pimlico.?” Margot pauses mid thought. “Hang on! This wasn’t supposed to be a conversation about me or dreary old Taunton Castle. I asked you about the Hunt Ball.”

“Well actually, you asked me here to talk about the design ideas I have for ‘Chi an Treth’,” Lettice corrects her friend.

“And to talk about the Hunt Ball,” Margot counters.

“Oh well,” Lettice says, looking down demurely into her lap with a smirk on her face as her cheeks blanch with slight embarrassment. “Since you ask, it was actually much better than I thought it was going to be, what with the likes of Sir John Nettleford-Hughes,” Lettice cringes at the mention of his name. “And Howley Hastings on parade.”

“Who?” Margot asks, her eyes widening.

“Oh that’s just what Gerald and I call Jonty Hastings. As children we locked him in the linen press of Gerald’s house and he howled frightfully to be let out.” Lettice giggles at the thought. “The name just sort of stuck.”

“And?” Margot asks with excitement, holding her fork of blackberry tart midway between her mouth and her plate. “What happened then, if it wasn’t Sir John or Howling Hastings.”

“Howley Hastings.” Lettice corrects her friend. “I ended up meeting Selwyn Spencely, whom I also haven’t seen since we were children.”

“Oh I’ve met him at one of Dickie’s friend’s parties.” Margot announces. “He’s an architect, at least until he takes over from his father as the Duke of Walmsford! I say, he’s quite dishy, darling!”

“He is.” Lettice agrees primly before taking another bite of her tart.

“Oh you are an awful tease, Lettuce darling!” Margot drops her fork back onto her plate with a small clatter. “What happened with him then?”

“Well, nothing much really, Margot darling. I mean, we could hardly do anything much, what with half the county staring at us, not to mention Mater, whom I didn’t dare look at for fear of seeing her anxious look as she watched us like a hawk from her gilded chair. Her sense of excitement was palpable, even from her respectable distance. I could almost feel her breath hot on the back of my neck.”

“How ghastly.”

“True.” Lettice agrees, picking up her cup of tea and taking a sip. “What isn’t ghastly is that we’ve agreed to meet here in town, the next time he’s up in London.”

“And when will that be?” Margot gasps, hanging on Lettice’s every word.

“I don’t quite know, but its sure to be soon. He has my telephone number, so he’ll give me a tinkle when he does.”

“I say!” Margot enthuses with a burst of soft clapping. “How absolutely thrilling, darling!”

“You’re as bad as Mater and Pater, Margot!” Lettice scolds her friend with a tempering hand. “We just said that we’d meet, that’s all.”

“Oh I know,” Margot admits with a guilty look beneath her stylish new russet cloche hat. “But it’s a start. Marriage really is heavenly, Lettice darling. I just want you to be as happy as me!”

“It’s only ‘heavenly’, as you put it, if you marry the right man, like you married Dickie. I don’t know if Selwyn is the right man for me yet.”

“Well then,” Margot says matter-of-factly as she takes a sip of her coffee from her gilt edged cup. “Best you meet him again soon and make up your mind.”

“Now,” Lettice says in a very businesslike tone. “Whilst we’re on the subject of making up minds, I’d like to share my thoughts on what your ‘Chi an Treth’ drawing room might look like.”

“Oh very well, Lettice darling.” Margot says with a deflated sigh, replacing her cup in its saucer. “Only if there isn’t any more to tell.”

“About Selwyn?”

“Well, who else, darling?” Margot replies, exasperated. “You wouldn’t hold out on your very own best friend, would you?”

“Of course I wouldn’t hold out on you, darling!” Lettice raises her elegant hand to her throat in mock shock. “How could you even say such a thing.” Then she smiles, to prove to Margot that she isn’t offended. “But there really is nothing else to tell.”

“But you will tell me, when there is, won’t you?”

“The very moment,” Lettice agrees. Then she pauses and thinks before correcting herself, “Well, perhaps not the very moment, but shortly thereafter.”

Suitably satisfied, Margot settles back into her white padded seat. “Very well, we can talk about ‘Chi an Treth’ then.”

“Finally,” Lettice breathes a sigh of relief, inhaling the sweet fragrance of the pretty pink roses in the vase on the table.

“Well, what were your thoughts?” Margot asks.

“I was thinking, since you want the rooms to be lighter, that perhaps we might paper the walls with the same wallpaper as I have in my flat. It lightened up Cavendish Mews no end.”

“Oh yes, Lettice darling! That would be wonderful. And of course I want all modern furnishings, with a sofa in eau de nil.” Margot says with delight. Waving her hand dismissively she adds, “Get rid of all that ghastly dark old fashioned furniture and replace it with clean, bright lines.”

“But some of that furniture really is quite suitable with clean lines, Margot darling. I really think…”

“No!” Margot folds her arms akimbo. “I won’t have that ghastly old furniture, when Daddy can buy me perfectly good new pieces. I want it to be modern and up-to-date, just like our London flat. Goodness knows enough of the house will have that ghastly dark furniture in it, but not my drawing room or dining room. I want light and brightness.”

“Very well Margot. Brightness and light are what you shall have.”

“Miss Rosevear will look splendid hanging in her gilded frame on the wall of the drawing room with your white wallpaper as a backdrop.”

“Oh, so she is staying at ‘Chi an Treth’ then?”

“Well of course.” Margot replies, her forehead crumpling. “I mean, we brought her back to London with us, but Dickie has only sent her off for authentication, not to be sold. Where else would she go, but back to her home where she belongs?”

“Oh I am glad to hear that, Margot.” Lettice smiles. “Now, about carpets. I thought green and blue like the ocean.”

The pair settle back in their seats and discuss animatedly the plans Lettice has for ‘Chi an Treth’, their happy chatter blending with the other female conversation about the Derry and Toms Café, both happy in each other’s company and enthusiastic about their topic of conversation.

*Derry and Toms was a smart London department store that was founded in 1860 in Kensington High Street. In 1930 a new three storey store was built in Art Deco style, and it was famous for its Roof Garden which opened in 1938. In 1973 the store was closed and became home to Big Biba, which closed in 1975. The site was developed into smaller stores and offices.

**The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of Bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London.

***Army and Navy Stores was a department store group in the United Kingdom, which originated as a co-operative society for military officers and their families during the nineteenth century. The society became a limited liability company in the 1930s and purchased multiple independent department stores during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1973, the Army and Navy Stores group was acquired by House of Fraser. In 2005, the remaining Army and Navy stores (the flagship store located on Victoria Street in London and stores in Camberley, and Chichester) were refurbished and re-branded under the House of Fraser nameplate. House of Fraser itself was acquired by Icelandic investment company, Baugur Group, in late 2006, and then by Sports Direct on the 10 August 2018.

****Little Venice is a district in West London, England, around the junction of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the Regent’s Canal, and the entrance to Paddington Basin. The junction forms a triangular shape basin. Many of the buildings in the vicinity are Regency white painted stucco terraced town houses and taller blocks (mansions) in the same style.

*****Pontings was a department store based in Kensington High Street, London and operated from 1863 to 1970. Pontings started out as a small drapery business by Thomas Ponting. Between 1899 and 1901, Pontings replaced their old premises on Kensington High Street with a new building designed by Arthur Sykes, which was completed in two stages and cost them £14,000. The new building had a large basement and four storeys above. Between 1906 and 1908, Kensington Railway Station was rebuilt, and as part of the development a new arcade was built. The Ponting family also purchased many Kensington properties which were later used for rental income throughout the 20th century, netting the family a small fortune. Pontings also purchased the whole of the western side of the arcade before construction had started. However, the expansion of the business and the building programme had seen the company over-extend itself, and in December 1906, Pontings sadly went into liquidation. John Barker and Co., a fellow Kensington department store, purchased the business for £84,000 in April 1907. Pontings continued to operate under its own name with its own buying team and had its own distinctive image, labelling itself as the House of Value. After the First World War, John Barker & Co. expanded, buying the department store between the Barkers store and Pontings, Derry and Toms, in 1920, and also purchasing the freehold of the Pontings site for a total of £78,000. Barkers also added a cafe on Wright’s Lane run by its catering subsidiary the Zeeta Company, and refurbished the store in 1923. Pontings finally closed its doors in 1970 after a massive sell off of all its stock. After a short spell as the Kensington Super Store the Ponting’s main building was redeveloped between 1976 and 1978.

******A gasolier is a chandelier with gas burners rather than light bulbs or candles.

For anyone who follows my photostream, you will know that I collect and photograph 1:12 size miniatures, so although it may not necessarily look like it, but this elegant café scene is actually made 1:12 size artisan miniatures from my collection, including a few items from my childhood.

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

The silver galleried tray, tea pot, milk jug and sugar basket in the foreground are made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. The coffee pot with its ornate handle and engraved body is one of three antique Colonial Craftsman pots I acquired from a seller on E-Bay.

The gilt edged cups, saucers and plates I acquired when I was a teenager from a high street doll house miniatures specialist. They are part of a complete tea set. The glasses, which are hand blown glass were acquired at the same time.

The berry tarts with their whipped cream toppings, which look good enough to eat, were made by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering in the United Kingdom. The pink roses were also made by them. The porcelain vase in which they stand was made by M.W. Reutter Porzellanfabrik in Germany, who specialise in making high quality porcelain miniatures.

The two chairs are made by the high-end miniature furniture manufacturer, Bespaq.

The floral paintings hanging in their gilt frames I acquired from two different sellers on E-Bay.

The patterned wallpaper is beautiful hand impressed paper given to me by a friend, with the purpose that it be used in the “Cavendish Mews – Lettice Chetwynd” series.

Posted by raaen99 on 2022-04-24 06:21:06

Tagged: , miniature , 1:12 , 1:12 scale , dollhouse miniature , dollhouse , toy , antique , artisan , café , dining room , dining table , dining chair , furniture , Georgian , Edwardian , dollhouse furniture , painting , cutlery , crockery , dinner set , white and gold dinner set , teapot , teacup , milk jug , sugar bowl , sugar basket , tart , blackberry tart , flowers , plate , coffee pot , roses , vase , afternoon tea , lunch , luncheon , pink roses , berry tart , Bespaq , glass , glasses , wallpaper , table , chair , tablecloth , vase of flowers , Savonarola chair , tabletop , tabletop photography , miniature room , diorama , tableau , cup , saucer , department store restaurant , department store , department store café