Higganum Vision Group

SUNDIAL GARDENS AND TEA SHOP This rustic shop in a restored 18th-century barn in Higganum, Conn., is a mecca for those who appreciate gardens, exotic teas, and one-of-a-kind teapots. It’s stocked with at least 75 varieties of loose tea, and Ragna Tischler-Goddard samples every one before she puts it on the shelf. Among the rarest types are Li Shan oolong, a tea grown at 7,000 feet, and Chinese been cha, a hard tea cake originally created for the czars before the Russian revolution. The handmade Yixing teapots are works of art: a spider on a lotus leaf, a frog atop a lily pad, delicate handles that look like bamboo. The rich colors of these unglazed pots — cerulean blue, sage green, eggplant — are the colors of the clay, which is found only in a small area of China. During the holidays the shop stocks goodies from Tischler-Goddard’s native Germany: baumkuchen, or tree cake; marzipan from Lubeck; and Dresden stollen. In summer visitors come for the formal gardens. 59 Hidden Lake Road, 860-345-4290, www.sundialgardens.com