Miss Spenser's Friends Across the Pond

Dear Tea Friends, please meet Miss Spenser’s Friends Across the Pond, Alan and Ilse Ridgeway of Horsham, England.

Last Fall, we received a note from Alan stating he’d like to visit our tearoom in 2011 while they were visiting family in the Des Moines area. He had filled out the contact form bearing an “English” address. Miss Spenser asked, “Is this guy for real?” (smiles) Well, we are happy to say, “Yes, these folks are for real!!”

This past June, we had the privilege of meeting Alan, his wife, Ilse, her sister, Erika, and her husband, Paul. Now, you can only imagine our concern when we realized that we would be hosting tea to ‘real’ English people!! Of course, we had done our research on English tearooms, but as you know, we hadn’t formally been there yet. We felt much like Mrs. Cratchit when she had her doubts about the flour concerning the plum pudding!! However, as soon as they arrived, they quickly put us at ease and Alan reassured us that we had the scones, “just right.” Whew!!

Alan & Ilse

From there, our friendship has continued to blossom and Alan and Ilse have agreed to share with Miss Spenser’s blogging friends ‘their’ England and ‘their’ life at least once a quarter. (We hope more often, but hate to impose too much!!) If there are things that you’d like to know about England, pass those questions on and we’ll see if we can get them addressed!

Be watching next week for our first entry: “Autumn in England.” You will not want to miss some gorgeous foliage!! Until then…warmly welcome our new blogging tea friends!!

Thank you Alan and Ilse for your willingness to share “a bit” of England with all of us here on Miss Spenser’s Blog!!