The common idiom “mad as a March hare” is said to stem from the rather manic behaviour displayed by hares in March during their mating season.

“Mad as a hatter” describes the insanity like symptoms caused by mercury poisoning. During the 18^th century mercury was commonly used by hatters to convert animal skins into felt hats.

In the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland the Cheshire Cat refers to both the hatter and his close friend the March Hare as mad although the Lewis Carroll characters do not bear this adjective in their titles.

The Hatter has become synonymous with his outlandish and whacky tea parties, full of fun and intrigue and this week we were guests at our very own Mad Hatter’s tea party.

The room was decorated beautifully, and we could clearly see the hours of work that had gone into setting the scene. We sat down to a decadent feast of sandwiches and cakes all bearing the hallmark “Eat Me” instruction tags of the original Hatter’s tea party.

It was a magical afternoon; we were transported through the looking glass and into Wonderland. It was the perfect Easter celebration.

Our host, the Hatter entertained us all afternoon with fun and games, all beautifully themed and when we had drunk our fill of potions and eaten our way through the colourful buffet, we were each presented with our own chocolate egg.

The sun was shining, we could hear the song of the birds and the laughter from the local children playing outside, it was an afternoon that I’ll remember for a long time.