Stanton Dining room

Setting the breakfast and waiting on table isn’t a chore in Stanton’s dining room.

I feel a long line of women standing behind me during the daily rituals of handling Wedgewood china, polishing silverware, arranging flowers from the gardens, starching table linen, replenishing fruit bowls, hand washing the older china and glass.

Since one of the windows faces the east, the room in the morning is awash with sunlight (except on those ‘soft’ days, as the Irish so romantically call them), and on the colder days, the open fire gives off a comforting glow.

Breakfast is an event here, in which everyone has a part to play, as large or as cameo as they can cope with before their first cup of coffee.

Discussions of the day’s planned activities, recommendations, must-see attractions, the finding of common interests/friends/occupations — the table welcomes it all.