On Monday 1st December, I woke up under the same roof that Charles II would have woken up under many times, many years before me. My wonderful Mr. C found a little piece of heaven called New Park Manor in the New Forest where we could enjoy a little much needed R&R. The Manor was a favourite hunting retreat of our patron King and his mistresses – Barbara Villiers even stayed there. It is now a hotel and spa.
The building is steeped in references to the Restoration. The guest rooms are even named after great women of the era and each door is hung with a portrait to match. We were in a suite named after the Queen, Catherine of Braganza. Our floor to ceiling windows overlooked the front of the property and into the forest. I disregarded the driving rain, opened up the heavy sash window to look outside and started to cry. I acknowledge that I was a bit tired and emotional (it has been a long, heavy year and this was our first break together in a long time) but there was history in this place, in the walls, in the ground, in the trees; there was a connection.
As I lay on the beautician’s table, I drifted in and out of various levels of sleep and awake whilst having a facial and tried to imagine how long the journey from London would have been for the Royal party. I tried to imagine the Royal table set up in the dining room that we ate in the night before. I imagined the King taking his walks about the grounds and leading the hunt out into the forest. Most of all I cursed myself for being a heavy sleeper and missing the opportunity to be haunted by some remnant of that time gone by. Before I knew it, I was being told to take my time getting up and dressed.
That afternoon, Mr. C and I bubbled away in the hot tub outside on a crisp December afternoon, watching the horses and deer frolicking in evergreen surroundings, and we wondered when our world would next be so blissfully quiet.
The moment we returned, the work resumed. I was painting sugar cameos, gilding sugar cherubs, stamping out sugar snowflakes and making load after load of ButterCream in preparation for Animal Aid’s Christmas Fayre.
I took Thursday 3rd out of my office to make 4 Dairy-Free Celebration Cakes to give out free samples. On Friday 4th, I was back at my desk looking after not only my own 2 bosses (a COO and SVP) but also the CEO of our company. This made me number 1 PA in the office for a day… and it was a busy one!
Once I was back home on Friday night, I was back in the kitchen whipping up 120 Vanilla Cupcakes.
Saturday morning, I made an early start on the Pretty Pleas, Cinnamon Swirl, Chocolate, Nell and Minette Cupcakes to complete the menu. By 12:30am on Sunday 6th December, 500 Cupcakes and 4 Celebration Cakes were stacked up ready to go to the Fayre. A bottle of Cava later, I was sound asleep.
The Fayre was amazing. Restoration’s stall was constantly busy and we met so many fabulous people. The free samples were a hit (who says no to free cake?) and the Cupcakes were flying off the shelves of our 7-tier cake stand. The feedback we got was amazing! Though a few potential customers may have been disappointed with our disregard for any aspect of healthy living at our table, the majority were enthusiastically enjoying a sugar-high on us! I have never seen so many happy faces!
So it has taken me this long to recover from the excitement and the long-hours but now I finally have the opportunity to say a massive thank you to everyone who came along on Sunday. Thank you for your custom, your comments and your lovely emails! Please do all keep in touch and I will be sure to keep you abreast of all things Restoration Cake.
And finally, I extend my heartfelt thanks to the amazing Restoration team, without whom, none of this would have been possible.
Kate – Thank you for your impeccable sense of style, thank you for staying up late with me on Saturday night icing Cupcakes, and thank you for staying on your feet all day on Sunday. You are the most stylish girl I know and you are fabulous. www.thefabricofmylife.wordpress.com
Josh – Where did you come from? I think you must have fallen in from the heavens! Who knew that you were such an amazing salesman? Thank you for your time, unfailing energy, and sheer class.
Chris – I couldn’t do any of this without you. Fullstop. Thank you for being my Mr.
Cx
