What naice things do you make sure are visible to visitors

Stunt pineapple is ace! You even get stately homes where on the arch over the driveway there are stone carved pineapples to prove to visitors that the owner is considerably richer than yow.
I don't do much, except make the hallway tidy. We have a big hallway, so if it's neat and sparkling with fresh flowers and a naice candle burning people might think the rest of the tip is like that.

We don't really do hot drinks so we have stunt coffee. Guests have been drinking the same small posh jar of coffee for years now. I just chuck it when it hits or surpasses by several months the best before.

I have had a lovely hand soap "apothecary 87" or something. Was given to me by a client. It was deliciously lemony. And the bottle was wonderful.

I kept the bottle and just refil with any old hand wash.

If I have guests I pick the pants up off the bathroom floor

I remember going to a Mums house that I'd met on maternity leave and lost touch with, then our kids met at primary school.
She really went out of her way to have the best things on show for a BBQ.
Organic Ketchup
Butchers bought sausages
We could also see the box for the weber BBQ and it was shinier than a shiny unused shiny thing
Anything 'nice' was out....except it all had the labels on still or wrapping so it was clear it had never ever been used before and it didn't detract from the dog poo in the kitchen, or the washing piled high on the dining table, although she took her time to fold it and read the labels out. I can no longer hear the brand Ellie without her 'saying' it in my head. Ellaaaaay.

For me the best thing about going to anyones house and what i try to repeat is wine in the fridge and fresh towels on their bed to use. People have been known to pop round for a cuppa and bring milk, so im clearly lacking the essentials!

In my house it's generally been DH who starts digging out the special stuff for visitors! I never bother with a tea pot, he always will! We have a tea pot, milk jug and sugar bowl set he loves getting out and dusting off, despite the fact that the tea pot dribbles and the milk jug is too small. The sugar bowl is good though, it has a matching lid and one of those bendy spoons.
We also have a lazy susan that I'd never bother with, but he always wants out even if it's totally impractical.
I just tend to do things like make sure the washing is put away and really go to town with the food!

I clean the house properly when visitors are coming, that is the luxury!

Not the point on the thread, but if you don't use liquid soap (especially not antibacterial) then you don't need to moisturise your hands. That stuff it awful. If I use it in the winter my hands crack and peel like a snake shedding it's skin. Horrible stuff.

We don't do anything - is that weird?! Would make sure they had clean sheets and towels, and that there weren't pants on the bathroom floor though. We always have fresh flowers and naice candles, so I suppose I do do that, but they are there all the time anyway.

I've been guilty of stunt pineapples. And a stunt pannetone which I bought because the fancy box matched our curtains.

DH does naice muzak. He plays 20s German jazz subtly in the background. Which makes a change from Springsteen banging out the tunes at full volume

Frika
I have a Christmas Set.
Good towels, lovely soap.
Ha ha. About the pineapple. We just have pineapple as I love them. Do you give it to them to take home? Since you don't like them.

Nothing. Guests are lucky if the house isnt in total chaos.

Yes, there's a long tradition of having pineapples for show. Around Georgian times they were often carved on your stone gate posts so people knew what to expect as they turned their carriages into your drive!

You could get a pair like that Wiggles?

I'm also guilty of getting the Molton brown out and returning it to the cupboard to be replaced by sainsburys cheapie own brand when they've left!

I do notice these touches in other people's houses though so I think they might notice in mine. I was at a lady's house yesterday admittedly a lovely expensive big house which I could only dream of but she had an expensive candle burning in the hall which smelt divine and was the first thing I noticed.. Off to tk maxx to get a cheapie version today!

I am however lusting after a complete tea service for Christmas

Get yourself down to your local charity shop - they always have loads of lovely vintage tea sets. Much prettier than modern ones.

I don't get out anything special for visitors. We have Waitrose own brand hand wash (ginger and clementine) which smells every bit as good as the most expensive brands. I make sure the towels are clean and that's about it...

So many Hyacinth Buckets on here :) I don't have visitors, really, much less unexpected. We have flowers and fruit generally. I'd get the downstairs tidy if I knew we had visitors.

at rearranging playmobil figures.

Having been trying to think of something as it sounds like the sort of thing I would do. The best I can come up with is having visitors usually prompts me to do stuff which have been meaning to get around to - usually putting a picture up on the wall or something.

Tatler magazine. (Actually very funny and well written). I make sure it's on top of my Love it! And Take a Break.

The brown sugar crystals are the best sugar for ponciness. Tate and lyle do them.

fozzle I think the victorians had greenhouses specifically to grow stunt pineapples to show off their wealth.
Stunt pineapples is brilliant.

I once read that a couple of hundred years ago, people rented stunt pineapples to put on the table at smart dinners.

Posh sugar cubes. But I still have the same cheap handwash from LIDL in the bathroom for visitors.

I have a special "tête-à-tête" espresso coffee set for two, with matching mini tray and sugarbowl (granulated, sorry!) for when mums join their kids on a play-date.
Kept at the ready for only those occasions.
I blame it on a childhood obsession with teaparties.

Nothing I can think of. We always have L'Occitane hand wash,nice candles etc. If someone is coming (rare,I don't really have visitors) I always give them a few of ds' pictures & say he drew this especially for you. He didn't. He draws a lot. There's only so many pictures I can keep.
Stunt pineapple

abyssinian you need to bake a heavily spiced fruit cake. That's the best smelling cake of all. Or make caramel.

I don't put anything special out for visitors but I do use the tea set we got on our wedding list.

Are the soap and pineapples for all visitors?

Are they on constant standby?

I am a little in awe of this but don't really understand how it works in practice.

(Or is the idea that the pineapple is so distracting that nobody notices the pile of laundry on the sofa?)