There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy the good of his labour. Ecclesiastes

This morning we went for tea at one of my all-time favourite establishments, the world’s oldest museum restaurant at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It has three beautifully designed period rooms, The Gamble, Poynter and Morris Rooms, named after their designers. These rooms date from 1868 although there was a “hideously ugly” refreshment room previous to these dating from 1856.

The Gamble Room looks like one of the richly and gaily-adorned cafes of Paris. The walls and columns are covered in colourful glazed ceramic tiles, there are embellishments of cherubs and cupids, grand mirrors, stained glass windows, carved scenes with elephants and camels and an enamelled pressed iron ceiling.

The Poynter Room has glazed ceramics on the walls mostly with a Dutch blue paint. The tiles were painted by female students attending a special porcelain class for ladies at the National Art Training School. As well as patterns of flowers fruit and peacocks, the sets of tiles on the upper walls represent the months and seasons and signs of the zodiac.

The Morris Room is circled in a plaster relief of olive boughs and a frieze of hounds chasing hares. There are signs of the zodiac and images of medieval women performing domestic tasks.  The ceiling is covered in geometric patterns and floral arabesques pricked directly into the wet plaster. The windows are of bullseye bottle glass and the wall panels a deep forest green. Hints of the organic patterns that would later make Morris famous can be seen in the undulating olive boughs that wind through the room’s plasterwork.

For the record we had Millionaire’s shortbread, Pain au Chocolat and English Breakfast tea. About 500 calories.