Welcome 2025!

Remember when the year 2025 was in the far distant future?  Well it is here now!  And at Willowbrook Manor, the quarter century is starting out good!

For those of you who are new to The Willowbrook Word, I’m Terry, owner and caretaker of Willowbrook Manor English Teahouse and Farm Stay. My mother, author Liz Adair, lives here as well. She has her own corner of this newsletter. We always have a giveaway, so make sure to read to the end.

We Found It!

My most recent newsletter shared the story of a broken teacup that I keep in a box in the attic (click HERE to read). Well, I’m delighted to tell you that a replacement was found! A special thanks to Rachelle S who made a long-awaited wish come true when she messaged me with a link to where I could purchase this teacup.

I texted Angie, and I am keeping the newly acquired teacup in a safe place until she can come again for tea.

The best part of this story is how you readers pitched in to help find a cousin to the original broken teacup. Lauren N made a special trip to her local antique store to snap pictures of a similar teacup. Several others wrote in suggestions of where to look. One participant said it felt good to be a part of the search for a teacup that would help homeless women and children with a $100 donation.

I agreed. And that same sentiment is a segue into sharing my winter fundraiser: The Valentine Tree.

Hearts for Homeless Children ~

Willowbrook Manor’s Christmas Tree is now the Valentine Tree! This is Willowbrook’s first ever Valentine fundraiser for homeless children. It is also a way to say ‘Happy Valentines Day’ to your favorite people.

Here is how it works: You can make an online donation of $5 for a pink heart, $25 for a red heart, and $50 for a heart of gold that will be placed on the tree. When you make your donation, there is a place at checkout where you can type a note with the name(s) of your Valentine(s). I will write the name of your valentine on the heart of your choice, snap a picture of it on the tree, then email the picture to you. You can then share it with the person or people you love.

100% of the proceeds from the Valentine Tree go to Family Promise, which serves homeless families. My goal is to raise $1,650, which will house a family for one month. Will you help reach the goal? Click HERE to order your Valentine heart and provide shelter for homeless children.

Valentine Tea ~

This is a favorite tea picture for me. It’s my Uncle Ron, his lovely wife Mary, and my two cousins, Sarah and Malynda. It’s from five years ago, but I still remember the yummy feeling of us sharing tea together.

Valentine Tea provides that feeling of sweet, gentle connection. Click HERE to reserve your table.

Mothers Tea ~

This picture is from 2019 when my dear friend Patty traveled to the Pacific Northwest and enjoyed tea with her daughter Sierra. Now Sierra has a family of her own. I marvel how quickly time slips by, and I’m grateful for the tea-memories made within the walls of my home/teahouse.

The reservation portal just opened for Mothers Tea. We sell out every year, so make your reservation earlier than later. Click HERE to book.

Saying Goodbye ~

The curved desk at the top of the stairs has been there since we moved into the manor twenty years ago. I had six young children when we built the house, and I needed my office to be accessible and centrally located. It was handy to have it on the landing overlooking the front door and within earshot of every room in the house. I really loved working at this desk.

With the children grown now, my office has shifted to the couch. The desk has not been used except to gather piles, so the time had come for it to find a new home. The desk went to a good friend’s house this week.

Saying Hello ~

A tall china hutch now stands in the space where the desk used to be. We have adding seating in the English Thyme Room which is on the second floor. This china hutch will be where upstairs guests can choose their teacups.

Bike Tour Business for Sale ~

When I began my business plan back in 2017, my vision was to run a history bike tour business, beginning each tour with tea and scones with fresh-picked herbs from my farm. I called it Tea and Tour, and featured three different bike tours down the Cascade Trail. They included the self-guided Sedro Woolley history tour, Farm to Forest tour to Lyman, and the Northern State Hospital guided tour.

Tour posts along the bike routes share the rich history of the area. The bike tours have been a huge success and have been featured in many magazines and promotional videos. But it is time for a new owner to take on the bike tour venture. I will continue to focus on the farm and tea-related events.

Downtown Sedro Woolley has an outdoor location that would welcome this turn-key summer bike-tour venture. I am selling the business package that includes all permissions from the city, county, and Port of Skagit. It comes with tour posts, history files, promotional materials, 12 beach-cruiser bikes, six E-bikes, helmets, safety vests, rain jackets, bike locks, picnic baskets, a large event tent, bicycle safety signs, and most importantly, promotional support help get the word out. For more information click HERE.

Time for Liz ~

This is where I turn the pen over to my mom, author Liz Adair. Here she is:

Liz Sez ~

Yesterday morning I got pulled into the vortex of Terry-the-Tornado. She dragged me out of my cozy hermitage early in the frosty morning to travel twenty-five miles upriver to Sauk Mountain Pottery. We had an appointment to interview potter Steve Murray for Terry’s new YouTube project Red Falcon Road.

I must concede I was well rewarded for venturing east on the two-lane highway that hugs the Skagit as it winds deeper into the Cascade Mountains. The deciduous trees that screen the river in the summer were bare, offering splendid river vistas in wintry shades of steel gray.

Moreover, I found Steve Murray fascinating. He is not your usual potter. Well, maybe he is, as he’s the only one I know. But how many potters build their own houses from lumber they’ve milled from logs they themselves have felled? And build their own workshops? And kilns? And floor tile? And…well the list goes on. But all of that will come out in our interview.

The bonus of the trip was meeting Steve’s wife, Nicola Pearson, who is equally fascinating. Active in the theatre world in London, Paris, and New York, love brought her to this remote section of Northwest Washington three decades ago.

Down to earth and practical, one gets the idea that Nicola has made the most of her years living close to nature in the Pacific Northwest. She has chosen to pass on the lessons she’s learned through the medium of plays. To that end, she is involved with Women’s Work Productions, a group of Seattle-based theatrical veterans and storytellers dedicated to bringing women’s history to life. You can read about her award-winning play HERE.

Nicola is also a novelist. She has a whodunnit series featuring Callum Lange, a NYC detective who retires to live in a yurt on Sauk Mountain and keeps being pulled into local mysteries. But it’s her earlier debut novel about a cosmopolitan actress who falls for a potter living a simple and fairly rustic life that sounds fun to me. It’s art imitating life or maybe art fictionalizing life. As it says in the liner notes on Amazon, How to Make a Pot in 14 Easy Lessons is about clay and love and the surprising unpredictability of both.

I always tell aspiring writers to hang out with other writers. Nicola Pearson is a writer that I hope to have the good fortune to hang out with some time.

~ Liz

Back to Terry ~

Here is where we have our monthly giveaway!

This Month’s Winners ~

The winners of my Willowbrook Floral Aprons are:

• Ruth C from Port Orchard WA
• Cindy H from North Bend WA

Herbal Jahva Tea Giveaway ~

Herbal Jahva Tea is one of the best blends I make here at Willowbrook Manor. It has roasted dandelion root, roasted hickory root and barley malt, making a rich and delicious coffee-like tea that tastes best with heavy cream and English toffee syrup. It is my go-to tea for dessert. I’m giving away three bags of this signature tea. Click HERE to enter to win. And please leave a little note to let my mom and me know how you are doing. We love hearing from our newsletter family.

That is All for Now ~

This is me trying to keep one of my trees from falling over in between baking cinnamon rolls. Next newsletter I will update you on the beaver situation that is causing flooding on my farm and making trees fall over.
-t

Post Script: This newsletter was scheduled to go out the day the California fires began. But I couldn’t send it when there was so much devastation and loss happening. I have loved ones who lost everything in the fire. Mother Nature’s power can be catastrophic, and my heart goes out to all who have been displaced, whether by fire, flood, earthquake, volcano, tornado, or hurricane. There seems to have been a lot of them lately.

Much love, hope and strength,
-t