Afternoon Tea Etiquette With American Women Of Surrey

I recently enjoyed a trundle down to Cobham in Surrey for a special afternoon tea etiquette event. The American Women of Surrey are a group of friendly entrepreneurs, explorers, stay-at-home mums, professionals with one thing in common - they are an international group, all looking to meet new people, make good friends and learn about their new country of residence. The group offer their members exclusive events and general networking meetings, shopping days, family get togethers and couples cocktails, all geared towards helping to welcome new families to the UK and help them to settle in with valuable information to get them acquainted with their new surroundings - they even help their members with the British lingo so as not to get confused when it comes to the old fashioned post office queue or what a jumper actually is, topics we may take for granted as Brits ourselves! As well as these sort of events, they also offer their members classes and skills sessions to help them learn new tips and tricks as they socialise. Within their events they also have the chance to buy items from local suppliers of garments, crafts, jewellery and so on, supporting local businesses by offering them stands within their regular meet ups at this hotel. I was recently invited to join this super friendly group for afternoon tea at the Hilton Hotel in Cobham, not too far from Thorpe Park in Surrey, to host a talk as a guest speaker for the ladies. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was welcomed with the warmest of smiles from the room of around 60 AWS members, offered a fantastic cup of tea to steady my nerves before I set off teaching these ladies how to behave at afternoon tea. As always, my talk was ever so slightly tongue-in-cheek, teaching this group with my ready-made presentation on how to enjoy your afternoon tea in a traditionally "British" way, advising on the best way to hold your dainty porcelain teacup & saucer, how to break your scone and how to stir your tea correctly. The Q&A session after my talk was fascinating, as we discussed within the room how everyone calls mealtimes different things such as "dinner", "tea" and "lunch" all potentially meaning the same mealtime, but can confuse the heck out of many different people any which way - it was a hilarious conversation and a very interesting topic in equal measures. After my talk, the hotel served the ladies a beautifully presented afternoon tea tier with scones and dainty cakes and they put their newly learned manners into practice whilst I mingled and had some great conversations on our favourite topic (afternoon tea) and shared notes on the best high teas within the UK. This was a brilliant day, I loved every minute and I can't thank FloraLinda and the AWS team enough for their hospitality and for inviting me along as a guest speaker for their monthly event - I'd love to join them again in the future, it was a real pleasure. To find out more about booking me for afternoon tea etiquette talks or workshops, or to discuss adding this as a bolt on for your own afternoon tea event or offering, click here.   Read my new "About Me" page here! You can also read about Miss Sue Flay's "Around The World In 80 Stays Challenge" and other Secret Stays & Reviews here. See more of my travel videos here and more of my food review videos here. Or get in touch via social media through Facebook, Instagram & Twitter for a natter about life in general! Please note - This visit was following an invitation to take part in the event on the day of my visit. I am in no means obliged to blog or write about their offerings, but I simply choose to share with my readers, should I enjoy the experience. Any questions or to discuss a "Secret Stay" or review, please do email:hello@misssueflay.com