Last autumn, I received an email out of the blue.  I had to read the email several times to convince myself it wasn’t a scam of some sort (sorry Jane!).  The email was a request to be interviewed for an article on afternoon tea in Yorkshire to be featured in the American glossy tea magazine called TeaTime.  And so was my introduction to Jane Pettigrew; an established writer, trainer and  speaker on all things tea.

Tea Time Cover

Once I had established Jane’s high credentials and was assured of her total discretion in not revealing my location and the desire to protect my privacy, Jane paid me a visit to Chez Shamwari.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous serving tea to someone so knowledgeable but I had nothing to fear as Jane was very gracious and put me at ease.  There was no standing on ceremony; simply a pot of my best Zimbabwean Tanganda loose leaf tea and a few home made goodies to accompany our discussions.

I was informed the magazine article would be featured in the summer edition 2015 and that I would receive complimentary copies.  I had completely forgotten about this until the postman knocked on my door a few weeks ago with a large envelope that wouldn’t fit through my letter box.  Having bid the postman a good day, I examined this large envelope with US postage marks and thought to myself what on earth could this be?  I had no recollection of expecting anything from ‘over the pond’.  Well, you can imagine my surprise and delight when the contents of the envelope were revealed.

I was very humbled on realising the esteemed company featured alongside me in the article and extremely grateful to Jane for ‘the email out of the blue’.

The full article can be read here.

A Taste of Yorkshire_1