Summer Entertaining with The White Company.

It was a sunny and warm Friday afternoon.

The perfect weather for an outdoor English garden party at Eltham palace, hosted by The White Company.

It was an event about Summer entertaining. We were being shown the tips and tricks for a fun and successful garden party.Here’s a peek into the interior of the palace.

The 1930s Art Deco style reception room, with its gentle coral hues, totally caught my eye.

The owners of the palace during that period were Stephen and Virginia Courtauld.

I was interested to learn about the vivacious nature of Virginia. She had a snake tattoo that covered the whole length of her leg.

She would unapologetically expose her tattoo as she desired, a real defiance in the face of convention.
Back outdoors, simple and elegant white cloth bunting from The White Company adorned wooden fences around the garden’s perimeter. Check out the beautiful rock gardens surrounding the moat.These cascades of Wisteria were a true visual feast.Throw in a talented string quartet, and the formula for perfect Summer entertaining takes shape.

The White Company’s interiors stylist, Luke Batchelor, showed us how to set a gorgeous Summer table.

Effortless chic with beautiful tableware and a few simple tricks.Style napkins with flowers and fruit to give it an outdoor organic feel. Raffia is being used as napkin ties.

Pile the plates up according to courses.

I love these rounded shaped stoneware plates, part of the Artisan collection at the White Company.Add a bit of sparkle to the table with the Mercury collection of tea light holders and bud vases.

Don’t just add any tea light candle, heighten the senses with the scents of Summer.

I’m currently loving The white Company’s Lime and Bay fragrance range.We drank wine and water from the elegant Stemware collection.

I’m already a proud owner of a set of these glassware, and love the smooth curved feel of the glass rim, when sipping bubbly.

Heads up to their new glass drinks dispenser ( seen at the end of the table). It can hold up to 5 litres. Here they have added slices of lime and lemon, to give the water a citrus zing.

It would be the perfect vessel for cold brew peach tea and fresh lemonade, to quench that Summer thirst, don’t you think?I am seriously tempted by the versatility of this Pavilion lantern.

It is being used as a table decor feature, to showcase Summer greens. It can also be transformed into ambient lighting at nightfall, with lit pillar candles.
Add a bit of contrast to an all white table with this striped napkin.Here are some pops of pink and red from Summer drinks.

The Danvers vase is being used as a drinks glass, paired with the Danvers jug.More colour for your Summer table with Rosé wines by Williams Chase.

This rosé from Provence has a fresh fruity note of white peach and grapefruit. It pairs well with a salad Niçoise or grilled vegetables.

Talking about grilled vegetables, I now turn your attention to the delicious food we had at the garden party. Just look at the outdoor oven that our food was being cooked in.

We had the renowned former head chef of River Cottage, Tim Maddams, cook for us. He prepared the most delicious British barbecue.

You can see the Wood fired garlic flat bread with rape seed oil being cooked in the oven above.This was the Charcoal fired salt pollack with bay, rosemary and chilli that we ate.

It was beautifully seasoned with a balance of aromatic herbs. I loved the subtle kick of chilli to the palate.

The fish tasted so fresh and crumbled off into beautiful white bite sized chunks.

Its crispy, salty and lemon infused grilled skin tasted divine.

It was no surprise that we all made a bee line for the marquee, when we saw Tim’s team bringing over a fresh platter of fish, straight from the grill.We paired our fish with a dressed crunchy farm salad with edible wild flowers.

I’m not sure what the flowers were, but one of them had a very fragrant and distinct aniseed taste.This was my favourite dish. It was grilled asparagus with goats curd, lemon and mint.

These fresh green spears of asparagus were just the perfect tender to bite. They were sweet and nutty to taste, simply delicious when mixed with the creamy curd and tangy lemon.It would not be an English garden party without strawberries and cream. The cream was infused with geranium and limoncello. We had some crumbly, melt in your mouth shortbread to accompany.It was such a fun afternoon, to sit in the warm outdoors, having lunch and catching up with fellow blogger friends.

I spotted these large bamboo lanterns nearby with my favourite Lime and Bay candles.Check out this Henley outdoor mattress from The White Company, complete with scatter cushions.

If I had more time, I would have gladly lounged there all day with my picnic and Summer novel.It was a truly special event. Everywhere I looked, I was surrounded by the calm of nature.

This bridge led into a field of wild flowers, where roaming livestock can be seen wandering in the distance.Here is the view of the bridge from afar.Colours were everywhere, as we toured the palace’s gardens.From vibrant Irises

to bright fuchsia peoniesand purple Alliums.

It was such a perfect day of Summer Entertaining.

I’m feeling so inspired, and can’t wait to show you a few of the Summer tea parties that I will be featuring here soon on Little Big Bell.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

( All photography are by Geraldine Tan, editor of Little Big Bell. This is not a sponsored post. I was invited to The White Company’s Summer party as press.)