Wednesday 23 June 2010

Tea with the Queen

We had rather an exciting day out yesterday - attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace!

The boyfriend got an invite to one of this year's royal garden parties because of his job, and I got to tag along too :)

We were picked up in the morning by the civic car, along with another couple, and were driven down to London (stopping for lunch on the way). Unfortunately cameras aren't allowed inside the palace grounds but we took a few photos outside before queuing up outside the gates with our passports and tickets at the ready.


I spent the whole day being totally entranced by what everyone was wearing. So many fancy hats and lovely dresses (this dress was particularly popular!), and lots of people were in uniform or national costume and lots of the men were wearing top hats. Needless to say it was the most posh party I've ever been to...


As you can probably tell from the photos, the weather was fantastic. We had a delicious afternoon tea (with mini cucumber sandwiches, little pastries and cakes, and chocolates with little gold crowns on them) and had a lovely time exploring the gardens. I didn't see the Queen and the other royals in attendance but the others saw her leaving.

There's a nice video about the garden parties here though it doesn't show my favourite feature - a wonderfully quirky 15 foot (5 metre) high urn that sits in the rose garden. Every garden should have a giant urn!

I'm busy catching up on emails etc now after my day off - being my own boss makes it much easier to take a day off in the middle of the week, but gosh my inbox fills up quickly when left unattended...

14 comments:

AmyE said...

I love the gardens at Buckingham Palace. I went to a Queen's Garden Party a few years ago but it was a little dull (probably the company rather than the actual event though!)

Things Hand Made said...

gosh, how exciting, I have just posted how dull life is in Twinklebury just down the raod. Did you make you hat/headpiece?

Nancy said...

What a great experience! I definitely need an urn like that in my tiny little garden.

JO SOWERBY said...

congrats on the special day and the stunning dress and hat. my mum and dad went to a garden party last year and ended up finding themselves on the DVD!!!!! Glad u had a g8 time
Jo xxxx

Bugs and Fishes said...

Things Hand Made - I bought the hat from Marks and Spencer. I did think about making my own but took the easy option :)

Lisa at lil fish studios said...

How exciting is that! What a fun story.

Mary said...

It sounds like you had a great day out and the weather has been so lovey. Love the dress and hat.

Sue Hayton said...

No wonder you haven't been posting so much recently - getting ready for the big event!!

Love Sue

Anonymous said...

How cool! Too bad no pictures, I would have loved to see all the hats people brought to wear. :)

Scented Sweetpeas said...

Fab, hope you held your little finger out whilst sipping tea and eating cucumber sandwiches lol :-)

ROROISM said...

ha! how posh and cool!
and hurrey for the head accessory:-)

flowerpress said...

Tea with the Queen, I love it!

Anonymous said...

how fab!
And just recognition for all the sterling work S does in his ward.

Caroline and Jayne said...

OOOh one little day you wont forget i'm sure xxx