Winter Wonderland, Christmas Hampers and Problem Presents

Little did I know when I decorated Garden Cafe for Christmas this week that on Saturday morning we would wake to a landscape cloaked in powdery snow and lit up by brilliant sunshine. Many of you have taken advantage of the crisp bright weather to walk the paths around the Village and to end up in the Cafe for a warming cup of coffee and one of our toasted tea cakes. Thank you all for venturing out to us and especially to the County Council for gritting the main road through the village so that you could get to us safely.

We still have two tables for four free on the evening of Saturday 4th. December should you wish to come and sample Martin's new Lamb Shank recipe. My White Chocolate and Passion Fruit Verrine with Hazelnut biscuits is worth a try too! The Cafe is decked with twinkly lights, frosty allium heads and pink baubles and looks lovely in the candlelight.

We are running out of space in the Store for all our Christmas goodies. We have baskets and hessian bags that you can fill with our jams and chutneys and make an instant present. The Sloe Gin is back in! And our chocolates are a bit different from those you can buy in the Supermarket. For the first time we are able to offer a 'Vale of Belvoir' Hamper...well, almost. It contains a Belvoir Cordial, a wedge of our own unbeatable Stilton, a Mrs King's Pork Pie, 1/2lb. jar of Hickling Honey, Sophie and Boo's delicious chutney or marmalade and a decorated Christmas Cake from The Mixing Bowl. At £25 this makes a cracking gift for a family. Order now on 01949 81321 to collect Christmas Week.

Another local supplier, Brewsters, have re-introduced their Pale Ale and Porter in bottled form in time for the festive season and we are busy working on a Lad's Hamper as we speak!

Many of you say that you always find unusual things to buy in the Store and that we are particularly good at solving that awkward present for you. We have our Tootal Vintage scarves again this year for men, fun bottle stoppers and Simon Drew puzzle books. For the older person there are miniature pots of Fallot mustard, marmalade and chutney. And for that 9 year old granddaughter (going on 19) there has just been a delivery of fabulous appliqued and stitched purses, keyrings and compact mirrors which are really irresistible. If you want to be unique, then The Jewel Box's vintage jewellery display will get your heart racing!

Less than four weeks to Christmas and counting. Don't forget to order your Turkey from us. For those of you who missed out on our Wine Tasting, come and see our new range of well priced wines. Visit us first and find something different to wow your friends. It only remains to wish you a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year from all us at the Store. We'll be back with the Blog in February. Meanwhile, stay well and warm.

Jan

Christmas Turkey, Girls and Boys Night Out and the Sound of Laughter

The light is fast fading at 5.00pm as I write to you on the first Sunday that the clocks go back heralding our descent into Winter slumber! We have had some glorious sunshine this week and the trees and hedges have shimmered with their brilliant autumn colours before all the leaves are lost and the landscape looks wintery indeed. This week we will be reverting to winter hours in the cafe and closing at 3.30pm (last orders 3.15pm) on Tuesday to Thursday. We have found in the past that once the evenings draw in our customers are not keen to venture out in the dark or in poor weather. However on Fridays and Saturdays when our hours will be normal (closing at 4.30pm) we will be serving Hambleton Toasted Teacakes with butter along with our scones and selection of cakes. We have been asked by many of you to have teacakes on the Cafe menu but have not found any which we felt were special enough. Plump with dried fruit and infused with spices, these are really yummy and not too sweet.

Now that we are motoring rapidly towards Christmas, I must remind you of Chris Hortor's Turkeys which we have been buying every year as a family for nearly a quarter of a century! They are truly fantastic. Succulent and full of flavour, the meat is as good eaten cold as straight from the oven. We will be taking orders for them from now onwards and they will be ready for collection from the Store on Christmas Eve before 12.00 noon (cash or cheques only please). We will also be able to supply free range streaky bacon and chipolata sausages from Redhill Farm to accompany them. All these animals and birds have led happy lives before gracing our table and that is something to celebrate.

We want to make your Christmas purchasing fun this year and have laid on a 'Girls and Boys Night Out' for you on Thursday, 18th. November starting at 7.00pm when there will be a wine tasting to introduce a new wine supplier, Hallgarten, a long established importer with a particular emphasis on the restaurant trade, in fact a winner of numerous awards in this category. Our son Dan buys many quality wines from them for the table at World Service, and Phil Brodie from Hallgarten will be on hand at our tasting to introduce you to at least ten new wines we will be offering in the Store. You won't find these in the supermarkets! To clear the palate you will be able to sample a range of breads from Hambleton Bakery - an offshoot of the prestigious Hambleton Hall. Some of you may not be aware that we stock these fabulous slow release yeast breads on a Friday and Saturday in the Store and they have quite a following especially from those customers who find them more digestible than the normal quick rising doughs. Tickets priced £7.50 to cover up to ten wines on taste are available at the Store. The advantage of picking them up before the event is that you can waltz straight in!

We will also be decking out the Store with our full range of Christmas stock so you will have first pick of everything on the night. Faux suede bags, sari silk scarves, beautifully packaged jams and chutneys, unusual and well priced jewellery, fun purses and stunning soaps and candles...we hope you will find something for everybody and solve those peculiarly awkward presents.

If I could have a pound for every customer who has laughed at our humorous greeting cards in the hallway of the Store, I would be rich indeed! The quirky humour of Simon Drew, Matt, Spike Milligan and Spring Chicken has had many of you sharing a laugh and a moment of happiness. And it makes the staff smile when they hear you! Look out for calendars, coasters, playing cards and tea towels with some of the funniest phrases on them. They'll make good gifts for a whole variety of people.

Our Saturday evening openings at the Cafe are filling up fast so we are adding SATURDAY, 11th. DECEMBER to the list. Do book. We'd love to see you.

On a completely different note. Do you know about TROT (Toll Rides Off-Road) Trust. There is a new toll ride providing just under four miles of off-road paths for horse riders which links in with bridleways around Kinoulton. You can join for £65 a year which is £1.25 a week. That has to be good value and keeps you safer on a horse than riding on narrow lanes, particularly in poor light or bad weather. (contact Catherine Ellis on 07976 154952)

And finally, I am asking for your involvement once again as our loyal customers. The Daily Telegraph along with Mary Portas (Queen of Shops) is running a competition for the Best Small Independent Shop. It is split up into different categories and the ones which apply to us are BEST FOR FOOD and BEST CORNER SHOP/VILLAGE SHOP. We are very keen to take part in this because we feel that our trade is constantly being eroded as customers book online for home deliveries and supermarkets start to cater for every aspect of our retail needs. We have tried here to turn our corner shop into a destination store where customers can buy not only food, but greeting cards, gifts, wine and hopefully enjoy the experience of stepping over our threshold. To end up savouring an excellent cup of coffee in our Cafe looking out across our garden to the fields beyond takes some beating. If you agree with this, PLEASE VOTE FOR US by visting telegraph.co.uk/shopawards.

See you all on 18th. November

Jan