One of the reasons my husband and I moved back to England was because we missed going places and doing things. Not that there weren’t places to go and things to do in America ….. but we missed those oh-so-quintessentially-English places. Like antiques centres. Housed in 17th century buildings. With ghosts. And tearooms.
One such antiques-centre-in-a-17th-century-building-with-a-ghost-and-a-tearoom is the Bourne Mill Antiques Centre in Farnham, Surrey. It is our favourite spot for antiquing-and-tea. The building is a former mill (a little tributary still runs alongside).
According to the Bourne Mill Antiques Centre website, it was a drinking club in the 1960s, frequented by Mick Jagger! The club eventually closed down and the antiques centre later took over. Whilst it’s true that in some of these places you can’t always get what you want, wild horses couldn’t drag me away from here because there is something for everyone.
There are over 60 dealers displaying, and it has been described as an Aladdin’s Cave of Antiques. Indeed! It is a treasure trove. I love places like this, where you can rummage through baskets and dig deep behind lower shelves.
Oh, the temptation.
Is it true that you can never have enough teacups?
There are 4 floors to this building, with nooks and crannies everywhere.
More temptation.
You can walk around the entire building from the outside. A building that is 400 some years old just can’t help but be enchanting, can it? Oh look … a sign. With the word TEA on it! Shall we?
All the antiques centres we have been to in England have had tearooms on the premises; the one here at Bourne Mill Antiques Centre is our favourite. We like to arrive as soon as the tearoom opens (10.00), have breakfast (scrambled eggs on toast), then shop till we drop. Well, the truth of the matter is that he never lets me we don’t always buy anything, but even so – sigh – one does work up an appetite so after we’ve had a good look around, it’s time for tea and cake.
Did someone say cake?
I hope you have enjoyed poking around the Bourne Mill Antiques Centre with me. Later this evening I am going to upload the rest of my pictures on the Tea in England Facebook page and you will have a chance to see all the other rooms and goodies.
What’s that? Oh, right, the ghost! Here she is.
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I'm Denise, an American expat Anglophile living in Surrey, England. Rather conveniently, I love tea. The longer I live in this enchanted land and the more I see and do, the more I discover that in one way or another almost everything here has a tea connection. 
Fabulous post. I would love visiting Bourne Mill Antiques Centre, and, of course, having tea and treats in the Mill Tea Room.
Hi Phyllis, Thank you for your kind words. Ohhhh yes, you would love it for sure! Couldn’t you just see all of us from ATAA descending upon Bourne Mill? ha!
One could spend a whole day in there and not see everything! Love the room full of teacups and saucers and teapots! And how very wonderful to take a break for tea and cake right there on the premises so that you can get right back to browsing (or “mooching about” as my little English friend says!!) LOVE!!!
Hi Karen, That’s the nice thing about a place like this – you see something new and different every time you go. It certainly helps to have sustenance after a shopping session. LOL I’m glad you liked the post.
Love visitations by ghost especially in a tearoom. Now wouldn’t that be fun to have an encounter?
As long as they were a friendly ghost, like Casper! =:-o