Finally. the hardcover version of Entertablement – The Four Seasons is on Amazon’s shelves. Some miracle of efficiency seems to have overtaken the shipping department in the last week and the boxes which had been languishing in parts unknown have been located, received and made available for purchase. Alleluia.
To celebrate, and to say thank you to my loyal readers, I’m giving away three copies of the hardcover version of the book.
For a chance to win, please leave a comment on this blog post, telling me which is your favourite Entertablement post and what specifically you liked about it. It could be a tablescape, a recipe or a travel post.
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear your favourite is about the dynamic duo, Dundee and Clementine. Judging by the number of fans those two rascals have, I sometimes think I should abandon cooking and tablescaping and simply photo the pets. 😉
Subscribers/followers automatically get a second entry. Subscribe by email or follow on Pinterest or Instagram and let me know you’ve done so by commenting in the comments section.
A winner will be chosen on October 19th. This giveaway is open worldwide and is administered by me.
Thanks again to all my readers for all their support and encouragement. Good luck with the giveaway!
Update: The winners are Kathy H, Linda of AAO and Cheryl K. Congratulations! The contest is now closed.
I’m sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch.
Each and every posting on your blog in a very enjoyable read but my my favourite was the two part blog on Harewood House. There is a personal connection since my great-grandparents were part of the domestic staff there in the late 1800’s. How lovely to see photographs of the home where they were employed. Beautiful blog each and every time and the book must certainly capture all of that and more!
I have been a newsletter subscriber for a long time. I am also a Pinterest follower. Your tablescapes are my favorite. I adore your attention to detail. You have a magnificent collection to work with along with a fabulous backdrop. Your photographs are equally as wonderful. I especially love your vintage stemware. I can’t say I have a favorite tablescape as I love them all. I would be so pleased to win one of your books.
Thanks so much, Kathy! Vintage stemware is one of the hardest-working elements of my tableware collection. It’s a storage hog but really earns its keep, as it can feature in many different settings, giving entirely different looks.
I enjoyed your trip to Paris in the Spring. I traveled in to Paris, Reims and Strasbourg during Christmas season. It was a wonderful vacation but I loved Paris. Your table settings were beautiful! What a wonderful giveaway and count me in! Best of luck for a sellout!
Oh, Paris! Do you think we’ll ever get back there? Travel seems far away these days. I’m eager to see what they do with Notre Dame and am very glad I had a chance to see it before the fire.
Helen, I love your posts on the Christmas markets in England especially Chatsworth. Travel to the UK is my favorite destination but I have never visited in December.
I enjoy your classy table settings and wonderful recipes. Your storage solutions are inspirational for dish collectors.
Congratulations on your book.
Therese
Therese, we were all set to go this year with another couple to see some different markets, and had planned on returning to Chatsworth – we had a self-catering cottage all lined up. And you know the all-too-familiar story… I can’t wait to resume travel when things open up again.
Thank you for the good wishes on the book! I’m so excited it’s finally available in hard copy. There are many people out there who prefer the physical presence of a book; my husband Glenn, and business partner Gordon, being two of them. 🙂
GASP!!!!!! Barely breathing. This is wonderful news. Now I know friends overseas will receive their gifts in time for the holiday seasons. Mazel.
I’ll start with my first 5 then the rest to follow. I may change that. I want to keep three for myself. One for each floor where a cozy corner is. That special book by that special chair is wealth beyond my imagination.
Good luck, best wishes and may it never go out of print.
Kem
Thanks, Kem! I hope everyone likes the book. I had a blast writing it. 🙂
Hello again Helen,
Only 10. I don’t like greedy people so I I only bought 4 for now.
There may well be a lot of other fans who would like one or two or twenty.
Helen, I love all your tablescapes. You have such a playful style and pay such close attention to detail Your pictures are so beautiful but your added comments make the experience even more enjoyable. Your blog includes so many different interests. I’m always excited to see what you’re going to share with us. One that I remember was about a playhouse that you made under your stairs for your granddaughters. You put your love and attention to detail into making it so much fun for them. That was the day I signed up for your blog and I’m so glad that I did!
That playhouse gets a lot of use. The girls are barely in the front door before they make a beeline for it. I change the flowers in the window boxes, the wreath on the front door and the cushions on the little rocking chairs seasonally. You’ve reminded me that I need to do a follow-up blog on it, as I also got the dog park mural on the opposite wall finished. Thank you for the idea!
I’m also thinking about doing a blog on the dollhouse my grandfather built for me when I was a little girl, and Glenn refurbished for our youngest daughter, Lauren (now 30!!). Lauren wasn’t much into dolls, but she adored Puppies in my Pocket. Each “family” had its own room in the dollhouse. I kept a lot of Lauren’s toys and the grandgirls now play with those same Puppies in my Pocket. They’re considered “vintage” now. LOL. The girls are getting to the age where they’ll be ok playing with the dollhouse. The youngest is 4 and she’s a bit rough and ready, but the older girls should be fine with it.
I enjoy all your posts but my special favorite was one that used Noritake Reverie China, which was my wedding China. I’m no longer married but I still love and use that China.
Thanks, Joy. I’m fascinated by what people are mentioning as their favourite posts, as it’s giving me lots of fodder for future blogs. Connections to specific tableware and events seem to be cropping up quite a bit. I’m so glad you still have and love the Noritake set. As a friend of mine says, husbands come and go. Tableware is forever. 🙂
I’ve enjoyed as others have so many of your posts, and your unique way of combining information about the tableware, the seasons and the holidays in which to use them, along with recipes and your wonderful sense of humor. Of course, my favorites are your Highclere Castle competition posts,
I’ve often gone back and reread the excitement and buildup of the competition to the finale. I loved all the input from your subscribers, with their own unique take on the fabulous video entry that you put together to the long delay in announcing a winner. These posts were truly engaging and exciting to read.
They enhanced my own experience as a contestant as well, and elevated the experience for me. Thank you!
Gary! So great to hear from you. Didn’t we have fun with that whole contest, despite the rather questionable outcome? Thanks for the reminder, and especially for noting the shared excitement and input from our readers. Let’s put our heads together on how we might do something similar (with or without an outside contest). Maybe we could set up one of our own? Hmmm… Have you entered any since?
I am a bit new to your blog and have enjoyed every post. I like to make a cup of tea and settle in just as if I were getting a letter from overseas with photos, just as my mom did years ago when those letters and photos really did arrive in the mail.
I love how you make your table settings match with the seasons; nutcrackers or trees at Christmas, for example, and how you use real greenery and flowers to enhance the settings in simple yet exquisite ways, Thank you for sharing your talent.
I love them all but i think the wedgewood tea table was my favorite. All the blues blended beautifully with your garden background of blue hydrangeas. And all the work you put into the lace icing on the cakes was a labor of love and was so authentic looking. All of your tablescapes are so awesome and helps people to be more creative setting a table and inspires one to go for it all! I always look forward to your next post. Keep them coming. No pressure!!
Wasn’t that a fun day? It went from me fiddling around with that dratted fondant lace to enjoying a gracious tea under the pergola. I do love it when people actually enjoy the food; it’s not just for pictures.
I hope you’re having a lovely weekend. It’s warm and windy up here. Himself is beavering away on repairing and painting the porch. Some carpenter ants have been having a field day with the spindles and trim.
Linda, that’s a lovely vision. Settling in with a cup of tea and something to read is one of my favourite activities. I love “cozy” mysteries, including Krista Davis’s Domestic Diva series, and more recently, the Miranda James’ Cat series. The latest one made reference to some Golden Age mystery authors with whom I was unfamiliar, so I’m currently devouring Margery Allingham. I often listen to audiobooks when I’m preparing food or setting tables, and have loved Sara Rosett’s Murder on Location and High Society Lady series. I’ve just started her On the Run series.
Thank you very much for your comments. It’s helping with future blog and book topics.
Like my compadre Gary L, I also loved the Highclere Come and Dine posts. They were great fun to read and visually, they were stunning. However, I think my favorite post was the Goodwood post. I am always looking for irresistible ways to entice my husband to join us on our annual trips to England. He is also a car guy. I love the Goodwood idea! As always, thank you for the inspiration.
I was just responding to Gary on the Highclere event. We will have to cook something up. I’d forgotten how much fun that was.
I have loads more Goodwood pics, Linda, and will dig some out. Until all travel halted this year, we tended to time our England jaunts around either the Member’s meeting or the Revival. The member’s meeting is a lot less crowded, but the weather is iffier. I end up buying another blanket every time I go, it seems. They’re great for picnics, however, and just this week my granddaughter Maddie borrowed one to attend her now-held-outside Guide meeting. Brrrr.
There are so many classic car events in England, and places to visit like the Beaulieu museum in New Forest. Your husband would be in seventh heaven. If he’s an airplane guy as well, he’d love the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. They do a terrific airshow.
We’ve also participated in some car events in New England, as Glenn is a member of the British Car Club and the Morgan Club, through whom we’ve met some really fun people.
Speedweek is going forward next week!!! Awful weather, my Lord!
Between the compressed F1 season and the late running of events like Speedweek, I don’t think the poor drivers know where they are these days. It hasn’t been a boring season, in any event!
This is very helpful, thank you. I will look up the Member’s meeting and the Revival and will also show my husband your posts (again) and any new Goodwood pictures. I usually head over in late spring, but to me, there is no such thing as a BAD time to go to England.
In your fabulous book, I have enjoyed reading of your excitement to to find pieces of tableware on your must-have list. Aside from eBay and enthusiast clubs like the Haviland group and the Transferware Club, what is your best advice for finding elusive antique pieces of tableware? I find myself going down an internet rabbit hole paved with beautiful china trying to find pieces of a certain French transferware that I collect from the mid-1800s. I would love to learn from the master!
Linda, I put searches on eBay and hope things turn up. For antique pieces, I will pursue Google searches, starting with “images” and then moving back to “all” to drill down into various names of vendors. The latter method is how I managed to unearth the last few Gibson Girl plates. I’ve registered searches at a number of online auction houses, also. It’s a bit hit and miss, but when it’s done from the comfort of my couch, it can be a delightful way of spending a cold, wet day. Sure beats tramping around dusty stores and sitting through interminable auctions.
This is very helpful, thank you. Using the Google search, I have actually found one collector of my favorite faience obsession, Bracquemond’s Service Rousseau from 1867, who is ready to part with a few pieces. Thank you for the help.
What a fantastic service that is! Christie’s seemed to have some large sets in bygone days. Of course, I adore the tureens. Happy collecting, Linda. I hope you’re successful in snagging a few more pieces. 🙂
I think my favourite tablescape post is the fall Ashford Ironstone post. I love all things fall and particularly loved the use of blue for this fall table, not to mention the beautiful dinnerware and stemware. I’d love a copy of the book!
Ironstone is a wonderful ceramic, and Masons are among my favourites. That set is really bold, and you’d think would be quite limited as it’s so memorable, But it can be styled a lot of different ways. It’s all set up in my dining room as we speak. Great for fall.
Thank you for the comment, and the ideas. 🙂
I love (and pin) all of the posts. I think one of my favorite was the tour of all the cabinets you put that beautiful china and glassware. And of course, your lovely pets. And the sightseeing tours.
Oh yes, Storage. Collectors have a love/hate relationship with it, it seems. No sooner do we get everything all organized and put away, when new acquisitions magically sprout, prompting a rethink. LOL.
Dundee and Clementine send their best and thank you for your interest. They are basking in all the admiration. 🙂
And I need to get back to doing some travel posts. It seemed “off” somehow, to be talking about travel during the pandemic, but as time goes on (and on), I think I’m going to going to go back to them.
Dear Helen,
I took a peek at the Kindle version, and the photos are beyond gorgeous. My favorite table has to be Eau de Nile with Lilacs, with its swoon-able delicacy. Or the teddy Christmas…or the lily-of-the-valley. Oh, my ears and whiskers! I would love to have a hard copy, as I am a tactile learner and like the feel of turning pages. Now, what floor to keep it on?? I’m sure it will sell out quickly…
Thanks, Beatrice. Those are all so different, from cool elegance to cheeky fun. Delicate antique china and a bunch of hairy bears, many from Costco.
Speaking of different, I found that laying out a book is quite different to processing and selecting photos for the blog. With a book, there are far fewer photos per table; overall, you need lots of variety for visual interest, but some commonality for a consistent them. A blog is a self-contained piece that needs to have all those elements within itself while forming a piece in a long thread. It was both interesting and challenging. Then the dreaded proofreading. AAAGhghghg… But every project has its highs and lows.
Thanks for all your support. It means a great deal to me.
It is so difficult to choose just one! However, one of my most recent favorites is Eau de Nile with Lilacs. The stunning colors and beautiful tableware still make my mouth water. If ever I come to dinner no food will be necessary. I will feast with my eyes. Thank you for the opportunity to win your beautiful book, for writing and photographing your inspiring blog, and for the mouth watering recipes you share.
Thanks, Susan! That post has had a couple of mentions. Lilacs are such dreamy flowers. I sometimes wonder if we love them so much because they’re only available for a few short weeks each year. Their scent is divine.
After giving our scraggly old lilac a good prune in 2019, it died!! I’ve replanted but it’s going to take a few years before we have such abundant blooms again. Rats.
Dear Ms. Kain,
13 June 2020 … I happened to be looking at Replacements China Instagram and saw a photo featuring blue and white china ” Nautical Knots”-222 Fifth Sailors Knot and Nexus Sailors Knot. The photo was attributed to an unfamiliar entity-ENTERTABLEMENT!
The display was beautifully photographed and presented- who could have sent this photo?
I clicked on the link and low and behold found the most wonderful blog…ENTERTABLEMENT! Someone who not only loved dishes- but loved travel, took great photos and could tell a great story too! Oh happy day….I read every post…clicking “older” over and over and I could not believe my good fortune!
Finding someone who had such talent displaying china and being able to tell the story through words and photos was wonderful! The travel blogs are the icing on the cake, not to diminish the animal adventures too.
It is impossible to choose any one favorite setting, although all things purple are always in the running. And I too am a great fan of the blog on the storage of your wonderful collection…oh to peek into all those storage boxes!
I am truly a fan of all things :ENTERTABLEMENT and wish you continued success!
P.S. Couldn’t wait… was fortunate to already order a hard copy of you book!
I hadn’t realized Replacements had picked up that Instagram post. Well, I’m very glad it found you! And thank you for letting me know what you like about the blog. I’m squirrelling away the information; it’ll be fodder for future blogs.
Hope you like the book. 🙂
My favorite was the Highclere castle posts. Loved the stunning china and how everything went together without matching.
Congratulations on publishing your book! My all-time favorite Entertablement post (not that it’s easy to pick just one!) is “A Scottish Themed Tea with Paisley and Spode.” The tablescape is so beautiful: I really like the paisley underpinning everything and that the scale is full of color. The recipes, especially the deconstructed Scotch eggs and the Scotch tart, made me want to make all of them. Everything about the table and the food exuded warmth and comfort. I’m unable to see any of my family during the pandemic because of travel and other restrictions, and I’ve revisited this post several times in the last few months because it’s so evocative of the concept of home.
I’m subscribed to you on Instagram and will go subscribe to your blog, too (this IG link isn’t letting me do that here).
We had so much fun with that tea, Carolyn. It made me chuckle to see how much the little girls liked pulling up to the table and tucking into all the goodies. They drank cup after cup of tea, carefully stirring in the sugar and milk, eyes riveted on the task to ensure they didn’t slop tea into the saucer.
I’m so sorry you’re apart from your family; the restrictions are really tough on everyone. And I’m very glad you’re enjoying the blog! 🙂
I think the table you did with F&F Toulouse bird plates is my favorite! I believe that was the first time I discovered your blog, and have been a devotee since. I love your aesthetic, and get so much table inspiration from you! Congrats on the book, I can’t wait to enjoy it.
Oh, I loved that table, too. I kept it up in the dining room for several days. The little eggs were in danger of being batted to the floor by playful cats, but I was loathe to dismantle it.
I hope you like the book!
Oh Helen, I am beyond delighted! I had requested that my local library purchase a copy. However they always wait until a book has been in circulation for six months before they purchase, so I was impatiently waiting. My sister and I host tea parties frequently, and we have used many of your ideas to delight our guests. We will get so much enjoyment from this book in the upcoming holiday seasons. Thank you, thank you!
I’m so pleased tht you are pleased. 🙂
I hope that you and your sister enjoy the book. I’m contemplating a few tea parties in the coming months, myself!
Good morning Helen, my book arrived yesterday afternoon on a cold, wet windy day. After work, I was able to settle in and lose myself in a burst of beautiful dishes and recipes! Thanks again, and enjoy fall in your part of the world- it’s time for autumn tables 🙂
You are most welcome, Cheryl!
We are in full fall mode here, with Halloween just around the corner. It’s wet, cold and blustery. Perfect!
I just discovered you today. Came from Between Naps on the Porch’s Metamorphosis Monday. So this is my favorite of your post. Looking forward to checking back often. Congratulations on your Book!
Welcome, Marie! I hope you find lots to enjoy on the site. And thank you for the good wishes on the book.
Good luck in the draw. 🙂
Congratulations on your beautiful book. I love the abundance of flowers! There is so much to explore I have not found a favorite. Yet!
Thanks, Evelyn! I’m so glad you like it. 🙂
I am obsessed with color and to my delight you have table settings organized this way! The purple settings were so striking and vibrant. I was torn with the blue settings as well. I loved the travel sections and the recipes. Your book is so encompassing that I could wander along its pages for a long time. Beautifully presented.
Thank you so much, Lee. It’s nice to meet another colour fan. 🙂
Purple is hard to find in tableware, and I’m always excited to put together a table with it as the main feature. I wait eagerly each year for a certain variety of hydrangea to take centre stage.
I’m eager to get back to doing some travel blogs, so stay tuned.
So glad you like the book! Good luck in the contest.
Beautiful book!
Thank you!
All of your posts are so inspirational! I love that you can communicate so much – a mood, a movement, a moment – through a tablescape or choice of serveware/dinnerware. My mother in law recently told me that during times like these we really need refinement and to find the joy in every day beautiful things. She’s right; and your blog helps people do that. Amazing website and blog! Can’t wait to see the book in hard copy!
Your mother-in-law is a wise woman. In times of stress, finding pockets of joy in everyday life is so very important.
I’m thrilled you like the blog and hope you enjoy the book. 🙂
I still love the Cranberry Chutney from 2012! I make it very Thanksgiving because it always gets raves.
I can’t take credit for the recipe, but like you, make it every Thanksgiving and Christmas. One of my daughters makes small jars for all of her colleagues and it goes over very well. I love the spicy, tart flavour, so different from the more common, overly sweet jelly.
I love all of your beautiful posts. How can I choose a favorite? Your beautiful writing, coupled with the gorgeous photos and amazing table displays, make your blog one of the best anywhere. I particularly enjoyed your blog post, “Entertablement Abroad –Sudeley Castle,” on April 19. My 15th great-grandmother was Lady Elizabeth Fitzhugh, the grandmother of Catherine Parr who was the mistress of Sudeley Castle. For years, I have longed to travel there and be wrapped in the history of the castle and my ancestors. Your incredible photographs and story of the history of the castle were captivating. Wouldn’t we all have loved to have been a “fly on the wall” or a “cat under the table” to have heard the stories that were told and witnessed the great banquets that were held there — all the while hoping for morsels of food to have been left behind for us. When I read this post, I was completely swept away in time to a different place — far from this terrible pandemic — and time, which was tumultuous in its own right. Each of your posts takes the reader to a place wrapped in beauty and charm. I cannot thank you enough for this special gift that you bring to us! Congratulations on your book. It is a grand achievement, and each of us reading it will be enriched by its content!