Perfect Purses

We LOVE these purses. They are practically perfect in every way.

Of course, if you love them as much as we do, please call and have Eric save one for you!

Tea Time

As we begin planning for our Portobello Road Pop Up, Meg has created some designs for linen and cotton tea towels featuring English themes. Using illustrations, old line drawings, vintage and antique maps, she creates collages with whimsey and history.

Taking lines from the British anthem, this design is an homage to the Queen.

This antique scheme for a country garden is the centerpiece on this design.

The original illustration for Alice in Wonderland and tea-time… What could be more English?

Strawberries and cream… Summertime in England.

Taking lines from the British anthem, this design is a nod to Britian’s storied history.

Locally, we have this amazing bird’s eye drawing of Baltimore from 1912, complete with many buildings you will recognize. The original drawing has been colorized for better clarity.

This is a collage of a vintage map of the Chesapeake & Delaware Bays, and our historic Maryland flag.

The Portobello Road Pop-Up begins on Friday, September 16th. We hope to see you there.

What’s New?

Summer’s winding down and autumn’s on the way. The changing of the seasons leaves us a bit melancholy, but we’ll do what we can to buck up and deal with it!

All of our gorgeous melamine plates, bowls and dishes are on sale for 20% off!

We LOVE Julia Reed and her newest book is simply amazing. Gorgeous recipes, beautiful images and funny stories. Julia does a lot of writing for Garden & Gun.

If you’re getting ready for some travelling, these great tote bags will take care of all of your needs. And you’re not likely to lose them.

These battery-operated tapers are the most perfect thing for those candelabras that are hard to reach, because you can turn these on and off with a remote control! And the “flame” even flickers.

The holidays are coming, and while it’s a bit early to be showing off our holiday goods, we couldn’t resist sharing these fun pinecones.

As always, if you’re interested in anything you’ve seen here, please call our man of all seasons, Eric.

Portobello: A Halcyon House Pop-Up

Our friend Meg, who has written the blog Pigtown*Design for the past ten years, and who is a lover of all things English, will be having a pop-up show at Halcyon House in mid-September. When Meg lived in England and Wales, she loved spending time poking around antiques fairs, car-boot sales and especially places like Portobello Road. Over the years, she has made trips back to the UK to shop for herself and her friends.

Meg shops for things she loves, figuring that if she loves them, others will as well. She has collected beautiful serving pieces from the late 1800’s, amazingly detailed mother-of-pearl handled silverware, and a great collection of individual English transfer-ware both in blue and white and polychrome, perfect for expanding your collections!

Please stay tuned for more details as we move closer to the date. And if there’s anything in particular that you’re looking for, do let Eric know.

We’re Outta Here!

…But just for a week.
We’re taking off for parts unknown.
Off to have big adventures and work on our tans.

Well, some are working on their tans, others are going to England.

Equestrian Show Extended

There is still time to come see Sam Robinson’s amazing equestrian art show!

We hope to see you then… if not before!

Buzz Off!

Now that it’s finally warm, and it’s Memorial Day weekend, it’s time to start thinking about being outside for parties, grilling or just hanging out under the sun (at last!). But with all of the news about bad mosquitos, especially the Zika-carrying ones, you have to think about keeping bad bugs away. But you also have to think about the bees, which are disappearing at an alarming rate because of the way we splash chemical bug deterrants around.

Worry no more! We have a great solution for you. Flyaway sticks, in their fun feedbag! We have tried these at the farm, and can’t recommend them highly enough. We only wish we could stick one on the cows’ tails to keep the flys off of them.

Although these sticks say they will repel unwanted guests, that’s only of the flying type, not the two-legged variety. You’ll have to take care of that yourself. Sorry.

But what if you don’t want to stick the sticks in your lawn or a plant? How about these elegant Chinese incense holders then!

If you want to reserve your Flyaway sticks, please contact our Eric to hold a set for you. It won’t bug him at all.

The Maryland Horse: An Artist’s View

On Monday evening, Halcyon House held an art opening to benefit Maryland’s horse industry, and the Maryland Thoroughbred Foundation. Local artist Sam Robinson, who is frequently seen at equine events in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, had his work was featured at this exhibition.

More than 60 of Sam’s recent works were shown and the sales benefitted the Maryland Thoroughbred Foundation. By the end of the evening, red dots were scattered all over, indicating that the paintings had been sold. (These pictures were taken before the crowds arrived!)

Luckily, there was a break in the weather and we had the most gorgeous evening, so we threw the windows open, put the bar on the back patio and took advantage of the Maryland spring!

The exhibition will be up until mid-June and we hope that you will come visit.

We Do Ladew

Once again, Halcyon House is participating in the Ladew Gardens for the 2016 Garden Festival on Saturday, May 7th.

Halcyon House will be bringing a wide range of items for you, your house and even your garden. We will look forward to seeing you there!

Tally Hoooo!

It’s Hunt Cup weekend! Are you ready? Do you have your equestrian-themed accoutrements? If now, we have them for you.

Wonderful horseshoe sconces

Detail of a silk tie

More silk ties

Just thing for your morning cup of coffee… or tea.

Bright silks all around!

Handcut silhouette

As always, if you see anything here that interests you, please contact Eric.

The Regalia of the Races

The last Saturday in April is almost like Christmas to us. It’s the running of the annual Maryland Hunt Cup, often referred to as the most difficult timber race in the world. In fact, the winner of the Hunt Cup is automatically invited to race in England’s Grand National steeplechase the following year (it’s held in early April).

Much of the planning for spectators at the Hunt Cup is predicated on the weather forecast. If it’s warm and sunny, then shirts and ties, and sundresses and sandals prevail. If it’s cool and overcast, you will see lots of tweeds, cords, Barbour jackets and wellie boots. Regardless of the weather, you will be marked as a rank amateur if you’re wearing high heels, ladies!

We could take a lesson from some of the race-goers in England with their tweeds and hats. When you see pictures of past Hunt Cups, everyone’s dressed in tweeds, jackets and ties and skirts, including the grooms. This gal in her mustard skirt and jacket and purple tights, and the gents in their tweeds look perfect.One of the highlights of the day, other than the race, is the pre-race tailgating. Competition for the prettiest and most extravagant picnic is fierce. But we figure that our table has an edge that no one else’s does: We use Stiles’ father’s Hunt Cup Trophy for our floral centerpiece!

J. Fred Colwill won the Hunt Cup three times, in 1938, 1939 and 1940, on Blockade, and after the third win, the trophy was retired and a new one was struck. All of these years later, it is back at the Hunt Cup, but this time holding gorgeous flowers from Stiles’ and Jonathan’s garden. Of course, the food and drink for the picnic is equally important. Luckily, it’s been cool the past few years, so there’s not much danger of things spoiling. We always have fried chicken, and have found that the Royal Farm Stores (RoFo) has very good chicken. You can order it ahead of time for the race.

People are going to pick at the food all afternoon, so finger foods are best. Chips and dips, cheese and crackers, pretzels and goldfish are all good. If you bring a salad, like we did, wait and let everyone dress their own plate, otherwise, it will get soggy. Asparagus wrapped in prosciutto is an elegant finger-friendly dish.What you want to avoid is people balancing their plates and using knives and forks, all while standing and trying to look chic. Add a napkin and a drink to that and you have a recipe for disaster.

We always like to have some sweets, and bite size brownies are always good. You can add chocolate chips or After Eight mints, or even swirl some raspberry jam through the brownie batter, to up your game on these traditional favorites. It’s fun to also have some fruit, like strawberries or grapes.Now, the critical element: the drinks. We always have Southsides. We have always used the late Mr. Lee’s Mix if it’s available, home-made if it’s not. As an FYI, if you’re trying to reverse-engineer Mr. Lee’s mix, and think that there’s one critical element missing, you are right. Try grating the smallest bit of ginger into the mix and see what happens!

We aren’t big fans of serving our drinks in Ball jars, instead, we use old silver julep cups. But all the pictures of drinks in julep cups were… juleps!Have some soft drinks and plenty of bottled water in a cooler, especially if it’s warm out. You don’t want to be responsible for over-serving your guests. That’s being a bad host.

Be sure to stop by and see our friend Sam Robinson who will have his paints and easel set up near the finish line. Sam’s a plein-air painter, and will be painting sketches of the day. It’s fun to watch him work and see how he interprets the scene before him.

See you at the race!

Reprinted from Baltimore Fishbowl, April 25, 2015

Save the Date!

Halcyon House is pleased to support the Maryland Horse Industry Foundation with this event.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this event.

Home Plate!

Just in time for summer, Halcyon House has a new line of melamine plates. You might remember the tacky old melamine, but the new wave of melamine looks exactly like the gorgeous Portugese or Provençal pottery, but without the weight and chance of breakage.

Come on by and check out the entire collection!

Light Up Your Life

Our blogger has been on vacation for the past few weeks, so we apologize for the lack of posts! But she’s back and is seeing the light!

We just got some of the most gorgeous lamps in, from Visual Comfort, one of the leading lamp-makers. They always have the most stunning lamps, and we’re lucky to be their stockist in the area.

If you’re interested in one of these, please contact the light of our life, Eric.