My Wonderful Experience Of Shopping At Twinings On The Strand.

 

Last Friday I went away to London to visit my family. I live in the North West of England, (a six hour coach trip away) so I only get to visit my family a couple of times a year, so I get really excited when it comes to a trip to the big city.

It seems I picked a wonderful week to go. The weather was hot, sunny, but, most importantly, dry. Aside from visiting London, I spent a wonderful day in Great Yarmouth enjoying the seaside. Even though I live at the seaside it's nice to visit different locations and see what other promenades and seaside town's look like.

But, the first thing I did after arriving (well, the day after!) was to take my mum up to London to go ... TEA SHOPPING! My mum is very good she doesn't mind walking all over London, and she knows that a trip to visit her will always include a trip to my beloved Twinings! 

So, last Saturday we set off nice and early. It was quite a trip to London as the tube wasn't working on the line we needed so it involved two buses and a train trip to get to Twinings. But it was well worth it. We arrived at the store twenty minutes before it opened so we had a cup of tea in a nearby cafe. It was quite nice, but they gave us red tea and it's not a favourite of mine, but, we soaked up the atmosphere and watched with interest as a company cleaned the outside of the Royal Courts of Justice which sits opposite.

Once the shop opened, I grabbed my basket and I was off .....

I had in mind what I had wanted to buy. I knew I wanted to stock up on Jasmine Pearls and a few other bits. Anyway, here is what I brought.

 

• 3 boxes of Jasmine Pearls.
• 2 boxes of Orange Pekoe
• 2 boxes of Classic Earl Grey
• 1 box of Pomegrante White Tea
• 1 box of Tangerine and Verbena White Tea
• 1 box of Lemon and Honey Green Tea
• 1 box of Winter Spice (for a friend).

I also brought a Bodum travel mug. I have been after one for absolutely ages, but they had always just been out of my price range. But on this trip, like the previous ones, my luck was in. The Bodum was on a reduced price. I paid £12.99 for it, saving myself £8. I choose the purple one and was beyond excited because now, I can take some decent tea when I'm out and about.

The one disappointment was that the shop had none of the Basil Lemondrop's Silky Pyramids that I'm desperate to try. I was told by a friend that she had brought the tea there, but the sales assistant told me they didn't have any. But, that was the only down side of the trip.

Twinings is well stocked, and has plenty of each blend of tea. The selection there is awesome and you can get some marvelous tea's. What I really love about this tiny little shop is you can get lovely larger sized caddies of the popular blends such as Earl and Lady Grey, but they also have a wonderful selection of fruit and green tea's too.

The shop is tiny and I mean tiny but somehow, even when it gets busy, it doesn't feel claustrophobic or as if your hemmed in. I tend to spend my time walking up and down, up and down!

The staff are really friendly, too. There is nothing you can't ask them, they are always there, willing to help and willing to do so with a friendly smile. I feel very comfortable there, and that is partly down to the wonderful staff who run it so well. It would be very easy for such a small shop to look messy and untidy but it is kept immaculate and has appeared so every time I've visited.

My mum got to taste some Pineapple and Grapefruit green tea. I don't think she was very keen on it, but it's good to be able to try before you buy, but she did come away with a box of Nettle and Blackberry.

I even got a glance of the one thing I'm desperate to own - a Royal Wedding caddie. I asked the nice girl on the tea tasting if she had any but alas they did not. And I still feel very sad about the fact I'm missing it from my collection.

I left Twinings walking on air. I feel really lovely once I've been there. And that has to be because of the wonderful staff who are not only friendly, but allow you to shop in peace without trying to pressure you into buying more then you want to, or something you may not like. And I appreciate that.

Twinings wasn't our last stop and we were off to Covent Garden to look around the shops. And I know that my Twinings bags got some interesting glances too!

 

And I will be the first to admit that coming away with just two jammed packed bags is rather restrained for me! 

I'd like to end this blog by saying a huge thank you to all the Twinings staff who made us feel special. We both really loved that. And you can be sure I'm visiting again in September when I'm in London once again.