New Goodies

I really love it when we add new stock - as a buyer you are always looking forward to a new season, new colourways, and just something new to look at and photograph!! So it's been a great week this week, as not only did I pick up our new pure beeswax terracotta candle pots from the beekeeper this morning, but our new leather placemats also arrived!
As the Doug, the beekeeper lives over in Gloucestershire we tend to meet halfway - this time we met in the carpark of the Air Balloon, by Gloucester. We must have looked very shady, as I pulled up next to his landrover, and I loaded up the boxes of the sweet smelling honey pots.
Just after I got back, the leather placemats and coasters were dropped off - so once we had checked off the stock -I could set to and photograph them. See the results online now!
I love real leather - one of my first buyerships were I really cut my teeth was mens leather jackets, and I learnt alot about the different skins and markings. I also learnt about some of the more dodgy curing processes involved in hides from India, hence I was paricularly keen to get British leather, as the animal has had a good life and would be humanely killed, and you ge excellent quality hides. I love the fact you get stretch marks, just like humans - it all adds to the character of the skin.
The timing of the new deliveries was perfect for the show this weekend - it will be the first time anyone will have been able to try our honey hand wash and hand lotion as well - so fingers crossed for a good response. Have a great Bank Holiday!

Boxes & diggers

The normal peaceful working environment I enjoy has been shattered with the arrival of diggers / builders and rounds of tea making. I'm not complaining though - we moved in a year ago and the front badly needed to be finished. The nice thing is, that I know the lads, as we are using the same builder, Dean Manning, and they are a good bunch.
It was a bit of an unknown as to when they were going to turn up, so I had gone ahead and ordered my hamper boxes. Luckily for the delivery driver he managed to sneak into the drive in between concrete pours.
Empty boxes certainly take up a lot of room - and the wicker trays, hampers and outers are now stashed into every conceivable hiding place. I had also ordered some shrink wrap to go over the finished hampers - and I made a few up on Friday. They looked the bees knees - our American friend who was staying over the weekend, ended up taking a few of the finished sets away with him.
This week its prep for the Four Shires Show in Banbury, this Sunday. Fingers crossed the weather stays fine. I am also putting together some special offers, as it is our first birthday next week - keep an eye out for our newsletter.

Hen House Envy

Ok - I've got a confession to make...my name is Tess and I am envious of my friends hen house!
The talented jeweller Jo Verity has been busy living the good life over in the lovely Malvern Hills, and has recently added this rather superb hen house (with hens of course!), to her garden.
Ok - so I am a little timid / scared of the winged things, ever since a very nasty one called "Pecker" used to chase me around my mums orchard when I was little. You had to go in armed with a cabbage stalk to beat them back, if you wanted to collect eggs.
Jo's team sound very different, and its great to get updates on their egg laying - apparently the first time one of the hens laid an egg, they were all running round chirping and flapping to celebrate!
I know I won't be the only one with this problem, my friend Amy also has HHE (Hen House Envy). Don't worry Amy - our time will come!

Happy Hampers!

I spent a few hours photographing our new Ochre And Ocre hampers today - you wouldn't think taking pictures of inanimate objects would be so difficult! Also trying to make soft textiles look good next to a box is not easy. I tried looking for inspiration on the web, but most hampers seemed to be filled with packets, cartons and bottles, and to be honest with you are fairly uninspiring. So you never know - maybe our new take on hampers with hit the mark!
I've got my third personal training session at BFFA tomorrow - after a week of a an annoying chest infection, I'm hoping I can keep up the pace. Especially as Sharon has had a week off, so she will be bouncier than ever.
The most exciting news of all though is that we are off to see U2 in Cardiff this weekend - I can't wait!

Christmas came early

Never work with children and animals - well we tried today with a very cute lil dog called Darcey - it was time to do some Christmas pics with our lovely new Venetien Red. My friend Amy very kindly agreed we could use her house, and I turned up armed with a table, table linen, crockery and ivy. Darcey thought the ivy was great - and proceeded to drag it out of the sack and troll it around the house, chewing.
Once we wrestled it from her jaws, the table was laid. Darcey was very keen to take part, and nearly suceeded with the table cloth trick, by sitting on the edge of the cloth. Luckily no wine was spilled!
She was a natural born poser, as you can see from the pics.
After a few snaps, we still had time to take Darcey for a walk in the nearby fields. A very muggy, humid day, but nice to be outside in the fresh air.
Just our new hamper pics left to do now - once the chocolate brownies and fudge are ready!

Burwarton Show in the Sunshine!

We were really lucky that it was sunny in Burwarton yesterday - and there was a really good turn out. We were in the Wire tent, and had some good friends in there too - Jo from Jo Verity Designs was next door. As an ex Visual Merchandiser, as you would expect her stand looked very stylish - with a great Victorian feel. Her screen at the back of the stand she decoupaged herself. (She does undertake commissions). She also had a lot of new jewellery and home interior pieces. It was very hard not to spend the days profits on her lovely pieces.
The Naked team were there as well - well not completely naked - just Naked soap! It was their first ever show, but I think a successful one for them.

A day to catch up -unload, and update the stocks today - although with the sun beaming into the office I think an hour in the garden might be the order of the day later!

No shows next week - but we are hoping to get some Christmas pics done at my good friend Amy's house; a beautifully renovated house overlooking the Malvern Hills. Its a chance to catch up with her mad Sussex spaniel Darcey as well, who has sad eyes like melting chocolate.
Just waiting for the fudge and brownie boxes from the team at As Sweet As, and then we can get the hamper pics done as well.

I hope you all checked out the Sage website, with the brilliant newsletter subscriber offer. Well worth starting your Christmas shopping early! (Can you tell we are working on Christmas already!). Don't worry we will be thinking picnics and bbq's at Christmas time!

Rain, and yet more rain....

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Ochre & Ocre are taking a stand at Burwarton show this week - (Thursday). I just hope that it stops raining, otherwise we will be swimming to the marquee. We are there under the Wire umbrella. Our good friend Jo Verity is exhibiting as well - so it will be a chance to catch up if nothing else. She has been adding some really cool interior pieces to her range recently - check out her website to see her new ranges.

Keep an eye out for our newsletter later on this week - we have managed to secure a fantastic subscriber offer from Sage - Inspired by Life. I was so impressed by my recent purchase from their site - we approached them to see if they would be interested in running an offer for our newsletter subscribers. They have agreed to offer our subscribers an amazing 20% off. Well worth checking out - and even getting some very cool and unique gifts stashed ready for birthdays and Christmas.

It is with some trepidation that I approach my next training session at BFFA with Sharon. It was only 5 days later that I could start to walk normally, as opposed to a John Wayne walk. I just hope this week is less severe, otherwise setting up for Burwarton show may be more of a challenge than expected!