Would you like to join me on a little Sunday morning tour of my neighbourhood? I can offer you Victorian houses, chic boutiques, and croissants with apricot jam… yes? Oh good, then let’s get started!

Andre and I live in a cute suburb in South Manchester, and one of our favourite things to do on a Sunday morning is saddle up the Jack Russells and head out for Sunday brunch en famille.

Penny and Enrique always super-excited to hit the road:

First up, we walked down the road to the local park so the dogs could let off some steam. They looked so sweet scampering through the autumn leaves: 

And less sweet scampering through the filthy puddles!

Within half an hour, both dogs were covered in mud, so we headed home for a quick bath to render them suitable for public presentation:

With two clean Jack Russells in tow, we headed out again, and made our way to Burton Road in West Didsbury. This part of Manchester is crammed full of lovely streets of elegant Victorian houses:

Burton Road itself is fabulous, with wall to wall boutiques, cafes, bars and restaurants, and a lovely lively atmosphere.

We passed Pinchjos, our favourite tapas restaurant, and Moth (a wonderful interiors boutique where I purchased the rather marvelous white ceramic chandelier in our living room – check it out in situ here):

We wandered past Frog, a new furniture store which has recently opened. How awesome is this bird-decorated cabinet?

And Silver Apples on Orchard Street, which serves lovely homemade cakes, and hosts movie and jazz nights:

Finally we arrived at our destination, Folk Café:

Folk Café was previously called The Deli On Burton Road – and before that, it was a Polish Deli called (if I remember correctly) Meats Of Many Lands. Genius.

We sat outside in the autumn sun - Penny likes to sit on our knees to get the best possible view of the surroundings:

We ordered croissants and coffees:

Which we made very short work of:

Meanwhile, Penny and Enrique waited patiently for croissant crumbs:

Here are the shops immediately opposite Folk – see this is why I love West Didsbury, because it’s not pretentious and chi-chi. You’ve got the late night takeaway Canadian Charcoal Pit sitting next door to the fabulous Living Flowers (who did the flowers for our backyard wedding last summer) – which is next to contemporary art gallery Novus – which is cheek by jowl with a discount store. I like West Didsbury’s mismatched style a lot:

Our work done, we headed back home. Here’s a sneak peek of our secret garden from over the back gate – yep, I need to sweep up those leaves!

And that’s the end of the tour! I hope you enjoyed it. What did you do with your weekend?