Join us for our FREE monthly Afternoon Tea. On the 2nd Tuesday of each month during the Spring and Summer we host a high tea with hors d'oeuvres, live music, and a guest speaker. Proper dress is required. Ladies must wear hats and men ties. Registration is required and limited to 15 guests. To register, call Rose at 484-706-9061.
2016 Teas
This year our Teas will feature live music performed by Berks Opera’s executive director Tamera Black with piano accompaniment by Lars Potteiger
March 8: chocolate demonstration and tasting by Maria Lorah of Lorah’s Handmade Chocolates. Chocolates will also be available for purchase.
April 12: Tamera Black, Berks Opera Company's Executive Director, will discuss the work of Berks Opera and its upcoming events.
May 10: Kayla and Grace Simmons, A Touch of Grace Body products and vintage shop.
June 21: Sheila Sacks from Sheila Sacks Designs, grower of loofahs and creator of handmade glycerin soaps. Read press release.
July 5: Mother/Daughter Tea. Heidi Kelly, cancer survivor and owner of HKelly Designs will feature her unique handmade purses and handbags. Ladies 5 and up may attend. Dresses and hats required. Limited to one mother/daughter pairing. Grandmothers welcome too.
September 13: Organizing guru, Vali Heist of The Clutter Crew and author of Organize This! will present.
Teas resume in May.
This year our Teas will feature live music performed by Berks Opera’s executive director Tamera Black with piano accompaniment by Lars Potteiger
March 8: chocolate demonstration and tasting by Maria Lorah of Lorah’s Handmade Chocolates. Chocolates will also be available for purchase.
April 12: Tamera Black, Berks Opera Company's Executive Director, will discuss the work of Berks Opera and its upcoming events.
May 10: Kayla and Grace Simmons, A Touch of Grace Body products and vintage shop.
June 21: Sheila Sacks from Sheila Sacks Designs, grower of loofahs and creator of handmade glycerin soaps. Read press release.
July 5: Mother/Daughter Tea. Heidi Kelly, cancer survivor and owner of HKelly Designs will feature her unique handmade purses and handbags. Ladies 5 and up may attend. Dresses and hats required. Limited to one mother/daughter pairing. Grandmothers welcome too.
September 13: Organizing guru, Vali Heist of The Clutter Crew and author of Organize This! will present.
Teas resume in May.
Background
Afternoon tea was introduced in England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. At the time, it was usual for people to eat only two main meals a day--breakfast and dinner at around 8 o'clock in the evening. The Duchess would become hungry around four o'clock in the afternoon. Her solution was a pot a tea and a light snack, taken privately in her boudoir during the afternoon. Later friends were invited to join her in her rooms at Woburn Abbey. This summer practice proved so popular the Duchess continued it when she returned to London, sending cards to her friends asking them to join her for "tea and a walking the fields." Other social hostesses quickly picked up on the idea, and the practice became respectable enough to move it into the drawing room. Before long, all of fashionable society was sipping tea and nibbling sandwiches in the middle of the afternoon.
Traditionally, the upper classes would serve a 'low' or 'afternoon' tea around four o'clock, just before the fashionable promenade in Hyde Park. The middle and lower classes would have a more substantial 'high' tea later in the day, at five or six o'clock, in place of a late dinner. The names derive from the height of the tables on which the meals are served, high tea being served at the dinner table.
We learned from a former servant of the mansion's original owner, Mary Dives, that the ladies of Reading society would gather every Tuesday to enjoy afternoon tea. They would arrive in their chauffeur-driven cars, wearing their hats and finery to discuss the latest gossip. We continue this charming traditional albeit with a bit of a modern twist.
Afternoon tea was introduced in England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. At the time, it was usual for people to eat only two main meals a day--breakfast and dinner at around 8 o'clock in the evening. The Duchess would become hungry around four o'clock in the afternoon. Her solution was a pot a tea and a light snack, taken privately in her boudoir during the afternoon. Later friends were invited to join her in her rooms at Woburn Abbey. This summer practice proved so popular the Duchess continued it when she returned to London, sending cards to her friends asking them to join her for "tea and a walking the fields." Other social hostesses quickly picked up on the idea, and the practice became respectable enough to move it into the drawing room. Before long, all of fashionable society was sipping tea and nibbling sandwiches in the middle of the afternoon.
Traditionally, the upper classes would serve a 'low' or 'afternoon' tea around four o'clock, just before the fashionable promenade in Hyde Park. The middle and lower classes would have a more substantial 'high' tea later in the day, at five or six o'clock, in place of a late dinner. The names derive from the height of the tables on which the meals are served, high tea being served at the dinner table.
We learned from a former servant of the mansion's original owner, Mary Dives, that the ladies of Reading society would gather every Tuesday to enjoy afternoon tea. They would arrive in their chauffeur-driven cars, wearing their hats and finery to discuss the latest gossip. We continue this charming traditional albeit with a bit of a modern twist.