Places & Spaces is a new feature here on Ducking Fabulous, for me to share all my favourite places in the world with you. And to keep track of them for when I want to revisit, if they’re not local. To kick off, here is the (wonderfully local) gorgeous Tea & Sympathy shop in Crouch Street, Colchester.

Walking through the door is like stepping into another world. Jo and Melissa who own and run it have curated all manner of beautiful stock (and Ducking Fabulous jewellery is stocked here too – I’m honoured!) including handmade and vintage clothing, accessories and homeware. They also have beauty therapists on the first floor, and run all manner of workshops from Christmas wreaths to blending your own body lotions to nipple tassel making, and recently turned the whole shop into a speakeasy for the night.

My photographs don’t do the atmosphere justice, but here they are anyway…

Shelves of gorgeousness as you walk through the door:

The view from the counter on one side of the shop, and along the front of the shop: 

Tea, coffee and workshop area in the front of the shop, surrounded with gorgeous things to buy:

Fabulous Jo, mistress of all she surveys: (and to the right of this picture, there is a rail of vintage clothing for sale that runs the entire length of the shop – it’s both exciting and lethal!

The first selection of Ducking Fabulous jewellery in situ – most of which has now been sold and replaced 🙂

I love going there to shop, to chat and sometimes just to chill out with a cup of tea. It’s a gorgeously inspiring space and the workshops I’ve done have been among my favourite ever evenings – there’s nothing like being creative with likeminded local people! I’d class it as Creative Space and Head Space as well as the Inspiration tag it has in the post title – it’s very quickly become a focal point for me in my quest to get to know the area and more people here better… and I bloody love it!    

If you’re in Colchester, pop in and see Melissa & Jo, they’re at 113-115 Crouch Street (which is the fab independent part of Colchester). They can be found on Facebook (search for Tea Sympathy and friend them, much more info than the page!) and also on Twitter – @alittlesympathy.