Giving a Little English : Area establishments provide Anglophiles with a proper British experience.

American Anglophiles--those souls devoted to all things English--seeking to join the British in celebrating the traditional British Boxing Day on Monday, can choose from “wellie whanging,” to taking tea or making a reservation to see a satirical British play.

Boxing Day is rooted in the 17th Century, when collection boxes were placed outside churches over the Christmas holidays. Collections ended Dec. 26, and the contents were given to the poor. By the 18th Century, the Christmas box represented gifts of money to servants and tradespeople. This practice has diminished over the years (along with servants) but the custom remains to give certain tradespeople--such as dustmen (translation: sanitation workers) or mail carriers a Christmas box.

The 18th Century also spawned a Boxing Day tradition known as “wellie-whanging.” “Wellies” are Wellington boots, named around 1817 after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, who, on one occasion, is said to have thrown his boot at a servant.

This Boxing Day, Anglophiles can visit the Rose Tree Cottage and English Village in Pasadena to participate in wellie-whanging by throwing a wellie from 50 paces at the English tea shop owner, Edmund Fry. “The whole thing is totally ridiculous,” says Fry. “Everyone just has a good time and no one goes home miserable.”

MAYFLOWER CLUB “PANTO,” NORTH HOLLYWOOD

Although the run of the traditional English pantomime or “panto” usually starts on Boxing Day, in the San Fernando Valley the Mayflower Club will present its 29th annual panto--a satirical play that’s a silly twist on a nursery rhyme--beginning in late January.

The club, which started out as a British-American Club after World War II, is presenting “Hickory Dickory Dock,” directed by Joel Mondeaux, the veteran American actor and director, with a cast of Brits and Americans.

Panto is musical interactive family theater with a little Benny Hill-type bawdiness thrown in. It was conceived in the early 18th Century as a children’s introduction to theater, in which nursery rhymes and fairy tales were produced on stage. To maintain the adults’ interest, risque parts were added. Each panto comprises, among other cast members, a “dame,” with a saucy sense of humor. The dame is traditionally played by a man in drag, harking back to Shakespearean times when all the actors were men, while the young hero is played by an attractive girl.

ROSE TREE COTTAGE AND ENGLISH VILLAGE, PASADENA

Proprietors Edmund and Mary Fry--he’s English, she’s American--say the Rose Tree Cottage was the first English tearoom in the Los Angeles area. For 15 years, they have served a mostly Anglophile clientele, with about 90% of the customers American and the remainder English.

At high tea, they serve the works--finger sandwiches, scones baked in the Frys’ bakery, homemade jam and real Devonshire cream.

The Frys visit England three times a year to stock their village shops with such wares as antique lace, Liberty of London fabrics, British foods, maps, guides and antique costume jewelry copied from the collections of the likes of Queen Victoria and Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, and Sherlock Holmes hats and brollies (translation: umbrellas). The Frys make and sell their own jams, lemon curd (it’s a British thing) and shortbread.

HUNTINGTON LIBRARY, ART COLLECTIONS AND BOTANICAL GARDENS, SAN MARINO

Covering 130 acres of the 207-acre grounds, the 15 specialized gardens of the Huntington Library are arranged within an English park-like landscape of rolling lawns. Reminiscent of Olde England, there’s a Shakespearean garden with Elizabethan York and Lancaster damask roses dating to 1551.

A man drapes himself casually over a bench, listening to the delicate trickling of a bird fountain. An arched trellis frames a delightful pathway adorned with a curtain of overhanging roses. As you walk along this path, it’s easy--and glorious--to forget that there’s a congested, noisy freeway only a few miles away.

Until Jan. 15, the Huntington is presenting one of the finest collections of the pioneer of multimedia art, William Blake, a gifted poet, artist and printmaker. In his day (1757-1827), he was considered the quintessential eccentric Englishman. Today many may find his free-thinking, spiritual and artistic vision quite contemporary. After perusing the exhibit, stroll over to the Rose Garden Tea Room for an extremely proper English tea.

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WHERE AND WHEN

What: “Hickory Dickory Dock” panto.

Location: Mayflower Club, 11110 Victory Blvd., North Hollywood.

Hours: 8 p.m. Jan. 21, 27 and 28, 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 3 and 4.

Price: $10 general, $5 children 16 and younger. Children half-price only at Feb. 4 matinee. Reservations suggested.

Call: (818) 769-6370.

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What: Rose Tree Cottage teas.

Location: 824 E. California Blvd., Pasadena.

Hours: Noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday, with tea at 12:30, 2, 3:15 and 4:30 p.m. Concert teas at 3:15 p.m. Sundays, travel teas at 4:30 p.m. Sundays. Reservations required. Call one day in advance. “Wellie-whanging” 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday.

Price: High tea $19.50 (light lunch), cream tea $10.50 (dessert tea).

Call: (818) 793-3337.

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What: Huntington Library art collections and botanical gardens.

Location: 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino.

Hours: 1 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Closed Mondays and major holidays.

Price: $7.50 general, $6 senior, $4 student.

Call: (818) 405-2140.

Tea Room: 1 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, noon to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Reservations required. Call (818) 683-8131.