Tiny teapots

 

Tiny teapots

Miniatures have a peculiar appeal. Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is the largest and most famous dolls’ house in the world. It is a delight to see it at Windsor Castle, but there’s always such a press of people that there’s little time to study and appreciate the intricate detail.

I enjoy seeing other people’s dolls’ houses and marvel at the fine and considered work that goes into them, though I have not the patience to embark on one for myself. Nonetheless, I do like small things. Two that I have recently acquired, mainly because I like the look of them, are two tea infusers.

Both feature tiny teapots. The first is blue and white and measures 4 x 3 cms. It is attached by a chain to a wire infuser of 4½ cms which holds a quantity of tea leaves and is good for the more robust mixtures of larger leaves.

The second one is also a teapot which measures 6cms from spout to handle and 3cms from teapot lid to base. It is the actual infuser and has a smaller capacity than the teapot-weighted infuser. It has a tray on which it can be rested after removal from the cup by its short chain.

 

 

County flags – Berkshire

 

County flags – Berkshire

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Berkshire flag was registered with the Flag Institute in March 2017. It is the flag of the historic county. It shows a stag standing under an oak tree, both of which are traditional symbols of Berkshire and date back to at least 1627.

In that year, Michael Drayton (1563-1631), who was a contemporary of William Shakespeare, wrote a poem, ‘The Bataille of Agincourt.’ Agincourt was fought in 1415, and Drayton described the men of Berkshire marching in that battle under the symbol of ‘a Stag, under an Oake that stood.’

The stag shown is a red deer bearing twelve-point antlers, which marks it as a ‘Royal’, thus evoking the shire’s title as the Royal County of Berkshire, and also alluding to the deer herds to be found.  The oak tree bears reference to its wonderful forests.

 Berkshire has had historic ties to royalty since the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror began building Windsor Castle in 1070 and it was completed in 1086. The county was always known informally as Royal Berkshire but was designated ‘Royal County’ in 1958. It is the only royal county in the United Kingdom.

Berkshire County Council was abolished in 1998. The county remains as a ceremonial county, no longer administered as a single entity, but divided into six unitary authorities.