Yesterday, my adventurous b-chan took me to the Cauley Square Historic Village in the Redlands for a lovely afternoon tea 🙂 . I heard about the tea room at Cauley Sq. a few years ago but had never had the opportunity to visit, and the Redlands always seem so far away, though it’s only about a half hour drive. I think I have this impression because this area is mostly farmland, so it seems very isolated and distant.
Cauley Square was charming. It’s really an old railroad village that has been preserved and most of the shops are curious little antique stores. There are a couple of little restaurants, including the tea room, which looks like a fussy little old lady’s parlor full of doilies and old lace. The day was dark and rainy, but it made it seem as if we were visiting a little town up north, not in the middle of South Florida.
We had finger sandwiches and a savory clam chowder for lunch, and I had their very tasty blend of spiced tea. It would have been nice to order a pot of tea, but I don’t think the b-chan would have had much tea, so I enjoyed my cup of iced spice tea.
The antique shops were very neat and had a lot of unexpected surprises. I’ve always wanted to go antiquing, and I finally had my chance! One of the shops had a bunch of transistor covers – these heavy glass domes were part of old power lines – and I got a green one for myself (I saw them on Antiques Roadshow one time and thought they were interesting. Plus, I love colored glass and these have such a unique shape).
The village also has a very nice aquarium shop that sells tropical fish and they have a large koi pond near the entrance.
And if you notice that I used the word “little” over a dozen times when describing this place… well, there really is no other word for it. It is little.
marginalia and such 