Past the animal cemetery, the grave of Margaret Greville, the rose garden and the vegetable garden is where I sit. On the sofa. In a cottage, in the grounds of Polesden Lacey in southern England’s Surrey (for all you global readers). PL was Mrs Greville’s weekend house, for parties – imagine! It is enormous, with a gold saloon that was made for gossiping about others in corners. At Christmas it is the most festive – almost aggressively so – of any stately home I’ve seen.
Anyway, I am kneeling on the sofa, looking out into the garden, watching the visitors and feeling very smug that I am indoors on such a drizzle of a day, with the promise of a jigsaw. And a chocolate bar so exquisite I am going to dedicate this whole column to it: Continuum Conceits Ile de Ré salted caramel sauce in 42% milk chocolate, chucked into my bag as an after thought. A small bar, just 45g but with chunky pieces. The chocolate is perfect: creamy but proper with a thick, thick underlay, and the salted caramel sauce, which I yawned at, is indeed, made with fresh cream and oozes delight. Isn’t this time of year all about self care?
Alexandra, the one woman behind CC, told me it was a special she made every year, but no longer stocked it. Nonsense, Alexandra, I said, channelling Mrs Greville, my readers must have it. So she has agreed to make a small batch of it, just for you, at £3.80 each and then they will be gone again until November.
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