We love to walk and spend a lot of time doing it, especially when travelling. Whilst in New York recently, we had spent a couple of hours in Central Park and were strolling down Madison Avenue on the way back to our hotel when we spotted La Terrine, a shop with an amazing display of European dinnerware, particularly from Italy and Portugal. Of course, I had to go in. Just looking! 

Look what followed me home. The pattern is called XVII Century — hand-painted in Portugal, with slight variations within an overall cohesive theme, notably the navy blue trim and the animals depicted.  

It’s similar to the Provence pattern produced for Williams Sonoma. Century XVII offers a larger selection of pieces and each piece is different. The mugs are a wonderful shape and have a lovely feel in the hand – perfect for that first cup of coffee in the morning. I’ve combined with set with Old Williamsburg Deep Blue glasses from Replacements.com, a go-to favourite.

La Terrine were a dream to deal with. The pieces were very reasonably priced and shipping was arranged with no difficulty. Happily, no extra suitcase purchase was required (for a change, it seems).