Blossoms Up!

Inspecting the hedgerows last week was an absolute pleasure. Warm temperatures, many critters tweeting and twerping and a wonderful display of blossom on the Blackthorn. We are hoping for a good fruit year with lots of Sloe in particular for our traditional handmade Sloe Gin, fingers crossed.

The Spring sunshine made me drag our BBQ out of hibernation and dive headlong into the salad bowl again. A bed of fresh mixed green salad leaves, drizzled simply with our new harvest Villa Montalbano Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a little of our Elderflower Vinegar is hard to beat when accompanying a little impromptu BBQ.

So if this first May bank holiday weekend lives up to be as sunny as expected, plan to break outside with possibly a Citrus Sundowner or Rhubarb Bellini Cocktail or two to get started and a sumptuous meal including the first of many Summer salads. Roll on the weekend!

Events News

Spring fair season is in full bloom. This weekend we are attending for the 5th year running the brilliant Dales Food Festival at Leyburn in North Yorkshire. Food loving folk come from the hills to visit what is now regarded as one of the top food festivals in the Country.

Mark and Emma-Jane will be dancing on the stand as usual with a fresh batch of our delicious Organic Rhubarb Vodka Liqueur to try amongst other delights, so if you are passing the beautiful Yorkshire Dales or fancy a day out, I cannot recommend this event highly enough as a foodie paradise.

The Dales Food Festival will run daily between Saturday 3 May and Monday 5 May. More information on all our booked events for 2014 can now be viewed on our Fairs & Events page, which is updated regularly.

Staff News

It is always sad to say goodbye to our loyal Staff, but we wish both full timers Becky Salter and Lysander Watson-Hays all the best for their future careers. Opportunity, however, comes to others from their departures and we have great pleasure in appointing two new full time members of Staff from within. Rose Gregory and Joanna Perkins have both been promoted as Assistant Shop Managers in Edinburgh and Oxford respectively.

Our recruitment for a new position in our York shop has now been filled and we welcome Emma-Jane Windras to the York team. Thankyou to all the many hundreds of applications we have received. There will be more opportunities within the Company soon, so please stay in touch if you are still keen to join us.

Have brilliantly sunny weekend and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Yours, Angus