What is a teakend? A weekend filled with tea events and tea rooms, of course!

Barb and Rachel-Rose at Sweet D's in Linden

The grand dame of Downton Abbey, the Dowager Countess, delighted fans when she asked the question, "what is a weekend?" As a member of the aristocracy, Violet Crawley, like those in her social circle did not have a job, and consequently did not comprehend - unlike the band Loverboy - what everyone else is working for.

But what about the two days after Friday when they are devoted only to tea?

We at Barb's Tea Service would like to introduce a new word to the English lexicon: "teakend" -  a weekend filled with tea events and tea rooms. It's a term whose time has come! and it perfectly describes how we spent this past Saturday and Sunday.

At the Schoolcraft Community Library, with Director, Faye VanRavenswaay

On the road again, BTS presented two Downton Abbey-inspired teas this weekend. On Saturday, we were at Schoolcraft Library, in a lovely little town near Kalamazoo, at the invitation of library Director, Faye VanRavenswaay. It's a wonderful community and we enjoyed spending time on the west side of our home state.

Refueling with amazing peanut butter pie at Chocolatea

After our tea presentation, we took a short drive to Portage and paid a visit to Chocolatea, a tea venue with a lot going on. Like its name implies, there's chocolate and there's tea, but there's so much more (as if that wouldn't be enough!). They sell a variety of goodies aside from chocolate truffles. There's brownies, cookies and peanut butter pie!

Paying a visit to the Tudor House in downtown Kalamazoo

Then on to downtown Kalamazoo where we found the Tudor House. This tea store was featured in the September/October, 2014 issue of  Tea Time Magazine's (as was the author of this blog!) when the magazine  highlighted Michigan tea venues.  A welcoming store with so many varieties of loose tea, you could spend an afternoon trying to decide which ones to take home.

Getting set up at Sweet D's with Rachel-Rose

We stayed overnight in Kalamazoo, enjoyed a leisurely morning at our hotel and then headed back east and center of the mitten state. About a half hour past our state capital, there is another quaint small town of Linden, where we had our second Downton Abbey presentation. Here we were guests of Dee Birch, owner of Sweet D Confections and Tea Room. The tea room is beautiful - full of period charm and vintage tablescapes. Dee provides an afternoon tea that is delicious and generous in portions. You will never go away hungry!

Dee Birch, Debbie and Marie and Rachel Rose

Many attendees dressed in Downton Abbey fashion and we enjoyed meeting every single lady who came for tea.

We traveled many miles, met so many wonderful folks at our tea events and loved every tea room along the way,

We'll make each stop its own blog story, but wanted you all to be the first to know. . .

What is teakend? It's absolutely awesome!