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Finally
So four years ago our quest began to bring our triple award winning Tea Rooms to Plymouth, two years in and we were all set having signed on 51 Court Street and then covid changed the world.
So forward on another two years to yesterday where we had an appointment at the US Embassy in London to request our visa, and this was successfully granted so we have flights booked for 9th January and we are coming to Plymouth and bringing with us the authentic English tea Rooms that Plymouth deserves, we cannot wait.
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Sean & Michelle
Did you know in England we celebrate the 5th November every year with bonfires and fireworks sparklers and toffee apples, it is known as bonfire night!.
What is Bonfire Night?
On this date every year people across the UK will light bonfires, let off fireworks, and burn effigies of a man named Guy Fawkes. The reason we do this is because it's the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (1605) this was a failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London by a group of dissident Catholics.
Guy (Guido) Fawkes was part of a small group who plotted and carried out this attempted assassination in what became known as the Gunpowder plot their aim was to blow up King James I and his government because England was a Protestant country and the plotters were Catholic. They wanted England to be Catholic again, and thought they could force change if they killed King James I and his ministers.
So, Fawkes and his group hid 36 barrels of gunpowder in cellars underneath the Houses of Parliament in London, ready to set off a massive explosion.
However, one member of Fawkes' group sent a letter to his friend who worked in Parliament, warning him to stay away on 5th November.
The King's supporters got hold of the letter and the plot was rumbled!
Guards broke into the cellars where the gunpowder plotters were waiting. They were arrested and following lengthy interrogation, including much torture, they were found guilty and later executed in the following January in parliament, the very location of their foiled plot.
However as was normal for that time for serious crimes against the crown death was not enough so they were hung drawn and quartered, which literally involved cutting of their head and cutting the remainder of their body into quarters these were then displayed in the four corners of the kingdom as a warning to other would be traitors.
Hi,
It has been quite a while so we thought we would update you on where we are at, firstly, yes we are still coming, the shop is finished bar the carpet which arrives in 3 weeks then the only thing missing will be us.
Because president Biden tightened restrictions back in March for entry in to the US from the UK it meant that we are unable to get there still, we had hoped that when the UK opened its borders unrestricted to America this would be reciprocated however not as yet.
There are many rumors that come the end of summer this will be lifted so fingers crossed and if any of you happen to bump into President Biden please mention our plight.
Having this extra time has allowed us to further finesse our offering both in terms of our amazing tea and food selection however also with some very unique English gifts for you.
We are sorry that it is taking so long and although we feel near the end of the road we have a little way to go still.
We cannot wait to meet you all!
Kind regards
Sean & Michelle
Your Assistance Please!
We hope that you are all staying well and safe and have managed to get your vaccine.
We are after your help once again, this time with finding a Handyman for some general, painting, shelves putting up and that sort of thing!
Anyone you know and can recommend would be greatly appreciated.
We cant wait to open, hopefully late summer, and meet you all in person.
Kind regards
Sean & Michelle
Below is a copy of our latest update to our English customers we thought this may resonate with some of you in the US as well!
This past year has been difficult for very many people, none more so than those that have lost loved ones to this awful indiscriminate virus, along with those such as us who have been hit hard financially by the many shutdowns and its subsequent impact.
Circumstances such as these tend to bring out both the best and the worst in people and it is important to focus on the positive and ignore those that seek to bring others down with their inherent negativity, here at Shelly's our experience has been that we have experienced a lot of online bullying, calling the police, council, parish council, local MP`s, blocking the entrance to our shop with a vehicle etc by a few of our neighbours and then social media being what it is you then have the armchair warriors who feel empowered to add their spitefulness despite not ever visiting our village, all out of a bitterness that has nothing whatsoever to do with us continuing to serve our community 7 days a week, we had Christmas day off last year that is all, in order to continue to open and be here as a lifeline for many and a momentary light relief for others.
In these difficult times it can be hard to not take this to heart however to balance this and in response to the spitefulness we have had customers bring us flowers, people shop here for the sake of it to show support, write us cards and notes of support and this is in addition to the wonderful customers who have supported us throughout not only the last very difficult months but over the past years.
So we focus on the kindness that is still out there rather than the bitterness and nastiness exuded by some, you never know what is going on in people lives and we feel it is important to rise above the pettiness and try to bring a smile to someones day.
There is a choice to be made so choose positivity over negativity.
Keep smiling we will be out the other side of this soon.
Sean & Michelle
Where are we at?
Well 12 months ago when we signed the lease on 51 Court Street Plymouth we really did not anticipate we would still be in the UK unable to open, even after the initial outbreak of covid we remained cautiously optimistic that we could open late quarter 3 early quarter 4 2020, however it wasn't to be.
With everything delayed from permits to contractors to us being unable to get across the pond a 12 week project has taken almost 12 months made even more difficult by managing the project remotely from 3280 miles away .
That said when you witness the suffering of many across the globe we have paid a very small price really!
So where are we at now? well we have the final fit for the plumber and electrician and then the contractors will be finished, we are assured this will be by the end of January, everything our end is then ready to move, we are simply awaiting the US Embassy in London to issue our visas which is again taking a lot longer than would ordinarily be the case!
So then the all important question, when will you open? well our thought process is that we anticipate the embassy appointment being in March, however you may have heard on the news that the whole of the UK has been placed into another national strict lock-down for at least 6 weeks, as to whether this will delay further the embassy is unknown as it is impossible to get an answer from them in the circumstances.
Of course this may well be sooner as we have been in queue now for some three months already, once issued we have things fine tuned (one of the advantages of having so long to prepare) to 16 days from visa issued to fly out.
We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year!
2021 will be better just stay patient and strong.
We are delighted that for the third year in a row we have have won Tea Rooms of the year for 2021, a sure sign of great things to come in 2021!
We cant wait for you to try us!
How delicious does that Clotted Cream look? how many lbs of cream do you think we go through a year in the UK?
1700lbs that's 3/4 of a ton of cream!
So we would like to apolagise in advance to your artery's
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The British are Coming! - Shelly’s Tea Rooms of Plymouth, Massachusetts
www.shellystearoomsplymouth.com
Hi all, we would like to ask for your help, we have today at the very last minute been let down by our plumber and wondered wether anyone could recommend a good, reliable and not to expensive plumber we could contact.
Thank you in advance!
Well you certainly know your cake! it is indeed a Battenburg Cake, the origins of this beautiful cake are disputed, some say it was created to celebrate the marriage of Princess Victoria to Prince Louis of Battenberg in 1884. Others claim it was invented in the Prussian village of Battenberg. Yet another group argues it is simply an English cake, named Church Window, which had been around for years before being rechristened.
But wherever it originated, one thing is for certain you will love it whether it is served with your Afternoon Tea or simply by the slice!
Who can name this exquisitely colourful cake? a favourite of the British!
Answer posted Saturday!
Newspapers in the UK talking about Plymouth, check out the article in the link below:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8578319/The-Pilgrim-Fathers-faced-battle-survive-arrived-America...
In England one of our top national days has to be National Cream Tea Day, this year it is on 26th June, shall we introduce this to America next year what do you think?
WOW what an amazing response we have had, it just goes to show how many great people there are out there helping others!
As you will recall we had said we would pull 5 names as our winners, however with the response we received we wanted to give more, so we have doubled this to 10 people winning a gift voucher for 2 to indulge in our Afternoon Tea worth over $50-00.
We asked our great friend Lady Jane Howard, daughter of the late Earl of Carlisle, to pull the winning tickets.
So the winners are:
Sharyn Varney who nominated K P Pierce
Steve Martin who nominated Jessica Tynan
Shelley Terry nominated Amanda Weathers
Michelle McKenzie who nominated Eileen Campbell
Holly Spooner who nominated Becca Tinkham
Sheryl Nicol who nominated Keryn McGrath
Pamela Boucher who nominated Briana Mahoney
Katrina Darlin who nominated Rebecca LeBreque
Shelby Briggs who nominated Darren Scully
Linda Hylander who nominated Deborah Hylander
Congratulations to all of those that won, please email us at contact@shellystearoomsplymouth.com as we will require the posting address of the winners to send the vouchers to them.