A Relaxing Breakfast

This morning I had a very relaxing breakfast with some friends at The Chocolate Cottage which is situated at Highfields in a very picturesque area about a ten minute drive from Toowoomba. If you are ever visiting the Toowoomba region and find yourself with time on your hands, do visit the cafe in The Village Green which is north-west of the city on the New England Highway. It is on the other side of the highway from The Abbie Lane Arts and Crafts Village that has that fabulous quirky garden I posted about last month.

In the Village Green you will find some fascinating little shops nestled together and bordering the large outdoor seating area for the ever  popular Chocolate Cottage which opens for breakfast at 8.30am and is a great place for locals to meet up with friends. I took the above photo of the chair next to me while I was having brekky. All the chairs have been painted different colours with interesting 'sayings' on them and they fit in well with the vast array of unusual gifts which are on sale in the cafe.  

After my friends left I took a stroll around the Village Green and asked the various shopkeepers if I could take photos for my blog and they were all very happy with that. The first specialty shop I came to was Herbal Harmonies which stocks these beautiful bird cages.

I just love the colour of them. Inside the shop there is such a large variety of gifts there that you could spend lots of time just browsing and it is a perfect place to buy a gift for a special friend....

 ....and, very wisely, the owners have had the foresight to realise that that was going to happen and have provided a seat for bored husbands so that they can keep occupied reading some men's magazines  while they wait instead of looking at their watch.

 

 The next stop was Jaybelle Home Decor and Gifts which doesn't have a website to link to at present but they have the most cute knobs for sale....

 

....as well as colour coded gifts which were actually pink but I forgot to change the setting on my camera. Duh!

Don't you just love that teapot?

 

Lastly I called into The Quilters Angel patchwork shop and I was very pleased that I had so far resisted the urge to start patchworking as my budget would have been blown after seeing all the fabulous fabrics and patterns that are available.

Patterns are on sale for these dolls, etc. and, if you don't have a patchwork shop where you live, you can buy online from their online store.

  Believe me, if you are interested in patchwork, you could spend hours in this store. It is packed with fabrics, patterns, dolls and everything imaginable that you would need if you were a patchworker. There were another couple of shops in the Village Green which I didn't visit so, as you can see, there are lots of interesting specialty stores there to browse through when you visit. 

We live in a beautiful area on the Darling Downs which is on top of the Great Dividing Range and there is a scenic lookout between Highfields and Toowoomba where you can pull off the highway and look down into the valley. On a clear day it is the most amazing view.

So, do call into Highfields if you are ever in Toowoomba and I am sure you won't be disappointed.