Mothering Sunday:
TEA AND TUSSIE MUSSIES.
We are opening The Priory Tea Rooms, and cloister gardens, for the first time on Sunday 14th March for Mothering Sunday.
After two and a half years of work we are ready to welcome guests to this beautiful and historic site.
We hope you will enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the gardens and the whole experience of a traditional English tea as it should be in the heart of Devon.
Our teas have been specially selected, and blended by Edward Templeman our resident beverage expert. Edward is passionate about quality and flavour. We will be offering a selection of high grade Black, Green, Oolong, and Lapsang, single estate teas as well as our own house blends. All our teas are loose leaf teas, and we will take time to serve them correctly to your table to ensure that you will taste them at their best.
If your preference is for coffee we also have a range of the best coffees we can find, and our staff are being trained to serve them as they should be, I think you will taste the difference.
Other beverages include herbal and tisanes, and local organic fruit juices. We will also be serving The Priory’s own selection of homemade cakes pastries and savoury dishes.
All teas will be served to the table on English bone china, by our team of waitresses/waiters.
So why not treat your Mother. All Mums will receive a traditional gift of a handmade Tussie-Mussie from The Priory.
What does "tussie-mussie" actually mean? The word is sometimes spelled "tuzzy-muzzy". The word "tuzzy" refers to the Old English word which means a "knot of flowers". Muzzy refers to the damp moss wrapped around the stems to keep them moist. Before the invention of "posy holders" the flowers did not last long and were cumbersome during dining or dancing. Jewelers rivaled one another in making these holders. Many were quite ornate and there was a wide variety of shapes and styles. Bosom bottles were tucked into the decolletage of a dress. Tiny holders were also worn at the waist , in the hair, or secured with a brooch.
There were two styles of the "tussie-mussie"----formal and informal. The formal nosegays had concentric rows of flowers with a rose or other fragrant symbolic flower in the center. Rows of flowers, leaves and herbs formed tight rings around this central flower. Informal "tussie-mussies" were more casually arranged.