Ochre And Ocre - from small acorns...

Fairs and Filing

2012-01-27T13:54:00.000Z

There seems to be a never ending pile of admin at Ochre HQ at the moment - orders to be logged and stock updated, bills to be paid and filed, and what feels like piles and piles of paper. Although we strive to be green in all aspects of our business, we recycle, shred and reuse, and try to do as much as possible online, we still seem to end up with a desk covered in stuff.
We have occasional purges where afterwards we feel very self righteous and Monica like, then we go back into the spiral of mounting piles of stuff.
With the big Spring Fair approaching at the Nec next month, we have extra piles dotted around - piles of samples requiring ironing and labelling, paperwork that needs to be taken(more paper!), and random props - a few mannequins dotted around and a ladder!
Going from working all day in the beautiful Malverns, with stunning views and the ability to get up and stretch your legs in fresh air when ever the want takes you, to spending a very long 6 days in the NEC, with no daylight and recycled air is not something we are looking forward to - but it will be the first chance we will get to get a reaction to our new design and feedback from existing retailers of the Ochre And Ocre brand, so we are weirdly excited.
Right better get on with reducing the next pile....it's nearly the weekend!

Happy New Year - finally!!

2012-01-20T14:37:00.000Z

Why finally you ask?? Because I have been woefully tardy on updating our blog, but I do have good intentions of keeping it more up to date this year! (New Year resolutions and all that!)
We have already had a busy start to the year at Ochre HQ - the Clearance sale has been going great guns, and it is great to start seeing some empty space on the store shelves. Just in time as our new addition to our British Collection, Katie is arriving shortly. We had a great photo shoot with our photographer pal Rachel Spivey just before Christmas.(a sneaky peak at one of the new images below). It was a lovely clear day, which gave our images a beautiful winter light. We have been laying out our new brochure, and trying a few new things in there to give it a revamp.
We are also working on giving our newsletter a fresh look and have a new feature that we are very excited about starting in February. More on that in a later blog.
Our annual trip to the Spring fair is only a few weeks away as well - and we have been updating our stand ready for the wholesale crowd. So as you can read, although we've been quiet we certainly haven't been putting our feet up, it's full steam ahead here ready for an exciting year at Ochre And Ocre!

Christmas Fair

2011-11-15T14:09:00.000Z

Due to the extra family members this Autumn Ochre And Ocre are not attending the usual Christmas Fairs and shows. I have to say it has been nice not to have been a travelling salesperson and packing up all of our stock into my tardis like car. (It never seems to fit when I repack after a show!I once travelled home from the Country Living Fair with a plastic stool around my neck, and boxes on my lap - as a passenger I must add!)

I obviously felt like I was missing out so I came up with the idea of doing a mini fair at Ochre HQ(aka as our family home!). It will be a chance to raise money for my two favourite charities, our local Hospice and Cancer Research). Also to help promote my business more locally and meet the natives....I do hope they are friendly!
However this has resulted in us having to finish off the last few jobs in the kitchen, resulting in long weekends and late nights. I know it will be worth it when it's done, but once again as D day approaches I do wonder why I add extra stress to my life, on top of the website and brochure, oh and a baby and a puppy!.
Luckily two of our good friends will be in supporting roles with their wares - the very lovely Emma and her Little Soap Company, and the talented Jo Verity with her beautiful decoupage. We are very fortunate to live in such beautiful surroundings so if nothing else visitors can enjoy the views!
If you are intersted in coming along this Friday and Saturday do drop us an email to our customer service address and we can send you the details and a map, (essential!)

Better late than never!

2011-10-13T13:50:00.001+01:00

I have been very tardy of late with my blog entries - I blame it on my to do list. You see my to do list is constantly evolving - some entries have been on there for months, constantly pushed to the bottom by more demanding items. Wrapping and packing orders always takes precedent over any other jobs, although of late even those are taking place by the midnight oil. I am quickly discovering that babies and puppies require a lot of time, ok scrap that, all your time! The sleeps and snoozes are getting shorter and more random, whereas before I could set my watch by them, and plan my business day, now it is snatched moments here and there. Whilst I have been living this very un Virgo like circumstances, Autumn seems to have crept up on me, and suddenly there are more jobs. Due to the unseasonably warm weather the tomatoes I had been saving for Green Tomato chutney have turned red, and so were turned into Asian Chilli jam. I just look despondently at the apples falling off the trees, with no spare hands to pick them, as I take my hourly turn around the garden with the new puppy and baby! (Puppy nappies would almost be a good idea less accidents!).
The toadstools have been popping up all over the common, and the leaves dropping faster than a strippers feather boa, due to the high winds, and dry conditions.

But I am slowly ticking things off my list - our kitchen now has water and heating (all mod cons here!), the bathroom is liveable and "almost" finished. The garden is looking well maintained (ok I didn't actually do it, but it was on my list!). Business wise the new samples are underway for our Spring launch, the photoshoot date is booked, and the new brochure layout is almost there. My main problem at the moment is when I do get a quiet moment, when the two babies are sleeping, I am blinded by to do lists - the main one, the scribbled down by the phone one, and the when I have time one..... now I better get started on my Christmas one!

Autumn Already!

2011-09-08T09:54:00.000+01:00

I can't believe that the leaves are falling off the trees already - I know it's been a dry summer, (albeit without much sun??), but it does feel so early. Autumn makes you want to curl up in front of a fire at night, drink hot chocolate and have long walks through woods kicking leaves around. I wish! Life is just as hectic as ever - Baby Ochre is teething, which means lots of distraction techniques are required to help the poor wee chap forget about the erupting white ones.
Our new Ochre And Ocre brochures have arrived -so me and Mr Ochre have spent the past few nights sitting in front of the tv with a glass of vino, (so not all bad!), stuffing brochures into envelopes. Once again it's not until you do this exercise that you realise how many typos you've made! Despite scouring the mailing list before printing off the postage labels -I still managed to type Newscastle?!
The other exciting thing happening is preparation for the pending arrival of Puppy Ochre - stairgates to be fitted - play pens to be built -multi purpose obviously for both Baby and Puppy Ochre! Plus many a happy if late hour spent web browsing for cute new collars and harnesses in which to dress up our new arrival.
Our third Birthday seems to have past in a whirl - without us hardly having chance to celebrate the fact we are still trading through tough times. But no rest for the wicked only a 1000 or so stamps to stick onto envelopes, and I'd better get my screwdriver out to fit those stair gates!

Courgette Crazy

2011-08-09T12:36:00.000+01:00

Image via WikipediaIt's that time of year again, when the veg patch has gone slightly crazy, and seems to produce vast quantities of one vegetable at a time. Our friends groan as we appear with yet another bag of courgettes as gifts, and poor Mr Ochre has yet another meal with a cunningly hidden green vegetable lurking inside.
I'm finding new ways to utilise the abundance by making use of the new Aga. Sundried tomatoes, (albeit done in the Aga rather than the Tuscan sun), are making a welcome addition to our salads. Slow cooked Mediterranean vegetables, sprinkled with chilli, make a quick and easy pasta topping. Last year I made several different types of chutneys and ketchups, which we gave as Christmas presents along with local cheeses. We are hoping to bottle sloe gin this year, which I'm sure will be well received at Christmas.
With the kitchen refit nearly complete - just the electrics and worktops to go, I'm already perusing my recipe books in eager anticipation of mass cook ups, I just need to find the time in between packing orders for Ochre And Ocre, looking after Baby Ochre and as ever DIY!

A-Day

2011-07-19T11:52:00.000+01:00

We are very excited at Ochre HQ today, as D Day has finally arrived - renamed A Day, as our shiny new(reconditioned) Aga has arrived. From the lovely folks at Aga Twyford, it is the ultimate in recycling, and it looks as good as new. It does make you wonder why you'd pay for a brand new one. I've chosen a classic white model, as it is the best backdrop for the Ochre And Ocre textiles, when we do our next brochure shoot in our own kitchen. I suspect I won't get away with putting it through as a business expense, unfortunately!!

I grew up with a version of an Aga, (A Cleopatra oil range), and have many happy childhood memories; Helping to make Welsh cakes on the top, my mums kitchen filling with the smell of baking. Sitting with my back to it, when it got really cold. Slow cooked stews bubbling away. Woolly hats warming on the top before going out in the snow. My then boyfriend(now husband) had the shock of his life, when he came to stay the first time, sat down for a farmhouse breakfast, and the door of the warming oven swung open, followed by a loud Baaaa and a small lamb fell out. (No, we weren't cooking the lamb! They are a great reviver). So I know how they are more than just a cooker, but a very central part of family life.
I have already started scanning websites looking for recipes, and have started to stockpile some ideas. If any of you out there are Aga fans I would love it if you could share your favourite recipes. What to make the first time??? It has to be Welsh cakes..yum!

Friday Feeling

2011-07-15T15:37:00.000+01:00

Even though I work from home, and often work through the weekend, I still get that Friday feeling. I'm not sure why - it must be ingrained after years of working in an office.
Friday's in London used to be quite special, as often there were informal get togethers in bars and pubs as you waited for your train home. In summer when it was hot people would spill out onto the pavement. Living in a rural location now, I still like to kick back and chill out, even with a 3 month old - so we were very excited when a rather gorgeous Gastro pub opened up on our doorstep. Now as much as we want to keep it to ourselves, I suppose it's in our interest to share it! The Inn at Welland. In a lovely setting, decorated with soft muted greys, and BTC lighting, the food is pretty good too! Fortunately they welcome tiddlers, and with lots of outside seating you can make the most of the weather, and enjoy a smog free drink! Happy Friday everyone!

Routine

2011-07-04T10:07:00.000+01:00

One thing I am discovering with a young baby and working is that you have to be a lot more flexible. I am quite a creature of habit and in my pre baby days I loved to start my day with a walk or bike ride in the Malverns, before spending the day working on Ochre And Ocre . Now my day seems to be snatched moments of work interspersed with feeding and changing. My phone answer service is certainly getting more business, as holding a baby, and a phone leaves no hands free to write. So I tend to have to call customers back during nap times.
My other baby; the house build / renovation also takes large chunks of time. Builders are also creatures of habit; they like to have their tea breaks at set times, and I've learnt if I'm not there ready with their brews, they walk muddy booted into the house to make their own. Not to mention the constant questions throughout the day, as to what thickness of ply they should use, where I want a pipe positioned - I do feel like I'm blagging it a lot of the time. The end is nearly in sight, as the doors are being fitted this week, and plastering this weekend, I'm busy dreaming up all kinds of meals we can have once I have the use of a hob and oven again!
With all this going on something had to give, and it's been our garden. We have inherited a beautiful garden, or rather it has the potential to be beautiful if it were tended. I am the first to admit I'm not a gardener, I like to look at the finished piece, but I can't tell a weed from a flower. So it was after much soul searching we took the decision to employ a man who can. It feels rather bourgeois, to have a "gardener", but my need to sleep means there are no free hours in the day at all.

He came for the first time last week; and such is the scale of the task he asked me where I'd like him to start; I vaguely waved at an area, not knowing quite what the plants were and suggested he start there. I hope it won't be like using a mechanic - once they know you know nothing all kinds of problems ensue! I am still responsible for the veg patch and greenhouse - which is currently going great guns, and I'd welcome any recipes that use cucumbers, but don't need a cooker!

Monica's Unite!

2011-06-16T12:43:00.000+01:00

Image via WikipediaHands up all you Monica's out there - there are a lot of you I know, sometimes closet Monica's, some who are very much out there! For those of you wondering what I'm talking about, Monica is a character of the US sitcom Friends, who likes to clean, some say even finds it therapeutic. I have to admit to having Monica like leanings, which is why I am finding it really hard at the moment. With the arrival of Baby Ochre I was willing to let standards slip slightly - but with builders, plumbers and plasterers in every room of the house bar one, I feel like I am coming out in a rash due to the need to hoover and polish. We are now hopefully on countdown, signalled by the plasterers being here, but unfortunately with plastering comes that fine white dust that hovers in the air and settles everywhere, white footprints up and down the stairs, plus the odd bit of old render which has been pulled off the wall, dragged through the house and dropped down the stairs.
Everyday I think, "maybe I'll get the hoover out this morning, whilst the baby sleeps", then by mid day I've given up, slumping into despair at the state of the house. I'm also a Barefoot Monica, normally I wander around the house barefoot, bliss after wearing heels in my previous life. But a few well placed splinters, and bits of cement have soon put paid to that; instead of my bohemian feet, they are more slumdog. I know, I know it will be worth it in the end - but it seems to never come at the moment!
If you are a Monica, and feel the need, the need to clean, you will be more than welcome to help when we are done!

Visitors

2011-05-26T12:30:00.000+01:00

We have had lots of visitors to Ochre And Ocre HQ recently; as well as the numerous well wishers for Baby Ochre, there have been some of the winged variety.
We were surprised to come across a swarm of bees that had decided to make their home in the end of a roll of fencing wire in our orchard. Fortunately we have a friendly local beekeeper, who came to investigate. It turns out the bees were probably from one of the pollinating hives on a nearby field of oil seed rape. Unfortunately the Queen Bee was no where in sight, and without their queen the swarm was slowly dying, and there was nothing that could be done to help them. The bees were tipped onto the grass and as the beekeeper rather quaintly put it, they could go back into the life cycle as bird feed. Later on that evening the orchard was filled with 100's of little songbirds eating up the bees.
Apologies for the poor image but Baby Ochre and I were advised to stay well back whilst the bee keeper investigated.

Also recently arrived are our own mini flock of sheep and lambs; whose main employment is to eat the grass in the orchard, thus saving time mowing. (We are very keen for any time saving schemes at the moment!). The lambs are at an age when they are just starting to play independently from their mums, and have spent the first few days roaming their new home, checking out all the places to hide and jump off!

With all the sun and rain we are having at the moment everything seems to be growing very quickly - Baby Ochre is nearly out of his newborn sleepsuits, and our veg plot is quickly filling up with radishes and lettuce. If only our new kitchen extension would grow so quickly!

Baby Ochre

2011-05-12T14:01:00.000+01:00

I think I have a fairly good excuse for not updating my blog for nearly a month - we were somewhat taken by surprise by the early arrival of Baby Ochre. 4 weeks early, and weighing in at a light 5lb 8oz, our daily routine has been slightly disrupted.

Fortunately he sleeps most of the day, unfortunately not much at night time. So although I have peace to sort things out in the office, make calls and pack orders during the daytime, lack of sleep is making it hard to concentrate, and stay awake!
I know the common advice given is to sleep during the day, but unfortunately it wasn't just us who were caught out by the early arrivals, the builders were still in full demolishing mode, so during the day jack hammers, steel saws and cement mixers whirl. Whilst Baby Ochre seems blissfully unaware, and snores away softly, I cannot sleep through the noise. So instead I blurringly try to continue with my daily jobs, inbetween feeding, nappy changing, and making countless cups of tea for the builders.
Once again our lovely customers have been very understanding, and patiently leaving phone messages with the answer service, so that I can call them back when I have a free hand, (I quickly realised I couldn't hold the phone, baby and write at the same time!). I also had to time the calls in between the power tools, so I could at least hear the customer at the other end of the line!
I know when it's all done it will be fab - I'm hoping it will be ready in time for an Autumn photoshoot with the lovely Miss Spivey, so we can shoot the new ranges for our Spring brochure. In the meantime I am getting quite adept at cooking on a single ring camping stove, and typing one handed as Baby Ochre snores softly in the crook of my arm.

Spring babies

2011-04-13T15:45:00.000+01:00

Spring has well and truly sprung in the Malverns - we currently have the cutest pair of baby rabbits living under our store. They race up and down the drive, nibbling the weeds, and generally looking cute. I know if they appeared near my newly planted veg patch I wouldn't be quite so keen on them.
The lambs are also roaming the common. We had a bunch hanging around our gate last night - they've got to that age where they are more confident and cheeky; racing each other up and down the hills, and trying their luck at getting into our garden!

There are lots of baby calves too, all gangly legs, and completely fearless when it comes to road sense! Once again my daily trip to the Post Office has become a game of chicken. They tend to wait until you are almost driving past them, before making a bolt across the road.
Even the pigeons are at it -there was a very cute pair necking on the fence last night.
We are also on our own countdown for Baby Ochre, suddenly it's no longer a distant date, but a fast approaching reality! But sitting in my office, looking out at the blossom on the trees, and the Malvern hills, it's a pretty cool place for a baby to be brought up.

Forward Planning

2011-04-01T09:49:00.000+01:00

Well we survived the Country Living Spring Fair - all rather more accurately the long suffering Mr Ochre survived the fair, as I spent most of last week in hospital, proving that you don't always know what is around the corner!
He did an absolute sterling job, especially when you consider the stand was in part of the Women In Rural Enterprise (WIRE) group. A huge thank you to all the group who I know where "keeping an eye on him" through the week! Surprise sellers this year where our new Aga pads, with several orders having to be sent out after the show.

Above: Thank you to Robyn who helped out at the weekend.

With baby Ochre fast approaching, my la la la worry about it when it happens attitude has had to be a bit more focused, especially when it comes to ensuring the day to day running of Ochre And Ocre continues smoothly. Having an online business rather than bricks and mortar does mean you are more flexible, but only to the limitations of technology. So even though I had my Ipad with me, and could access emails, making phone calls and sending out orders is a bit more tricky from a hospital bed, especially with an intermittent signal. Our lovely customers were more than accommodating, and were happy to wait a few days for their orders, but it is not ideal.
Not knowing what is around the corner, has made me forward plan even more than usual; writing the bones of the monthly newsletters, (it is so hard to keep them different and not just pure marketing), planning promotions, press and our Autumn brochure, and juggling the stocks, (not too much that we are stock heavy, but enough that we can fulfill retail and wholesale orders). Once again Mr Ochre will be stepping into the breech, along with our multi skilled book keeper Amy, and I will be holding mini refresher courses on how to wrap and despatch our orders!
I've also started the long process of new designs and colourways for next Spring, knowing that the photography will need to be done early Autumn, to allow for Press and photography, it's not actually that far away.
If nothing else the past few weeks have taught me that I need to be more flexible, and dare I say it, go with the flow sometimes, a hard lesson to learn for a self confessed control freak!

Spring Has Sprung!

2011-03-07T16:23:00.000Z

Loads has happened since my last post in the world of Ochre And Ocre. Our shiny new brochure was sent out last week. I was fortunate that my Mum came to visit at an opportune time, so I had an extra pair of hands to deal with the mammoth task of sticking on stamps and address labels and stuffing the brochures. It's a monotonous task, and I know there are companies you can pay to do it, but as a small company every penny counts!

The new colourways also went live online - and they have had an instant reaction which has been fab. I had expected the Isabella red to get a good response, but have been pleasantly surprised that customers have been loving the Madelaine Ochre spot as well. There are going to be some very pretty tables around this Easter, laid with our polka dot table runners and napkins.

It is especially lovely when we get notes and phone calls back from our customers saying how much they love their new deliveries - it really does give you one of those warm fuzzy feelings!
Although the NEC Spring Fair is over, the follow up work continues, and we've been busy packing up the wholesale orders, and sending them out. We are thrilled that our new ranges are going to be in so many lovely shops across the UK including, RHS Wisley, The Golden Goose in Frome, The Hen House in Southwell, Etcetera in Guernsey, Home Sweet Home in Sherbourne, Kettles in Dunkeld, Cornflower and Calico in Stroud, and Country Corner in Swanage.
We have also sent our Isabella Blue peg bags out for a promotion being run with an eco friendly washing powder which is a great link up for Ochre And Ocre.
We are excitedly waiting for our new Melamine placemats to arrive, made in the UK, with our pretty Isabella and Madelaine designs on them, we should have just enough time to get them labelled up and packaged in time for the Country Living Spring Fair which is fast approaching.....!

Highs And Lows

2011-02-15T16:05:00.000Z

If you ever want to extend your life, take a stand at a show! I find you have to exercise extreme willpower not to look at your watch during the quiet periods, otherwise you will literally find yourself counting the minutes.

That said we had a really good time at the Spring Fair in Birmingham last week. We had a record number of wholesale orders, and some really positive enquiries from retailers ranging from London department stores to Garden Centres and some lovely independent shops. I already know from last year that some of the enquiries can be real slow burners, taking months to come to fruition, but it gives us chance to manage our stock levels, as cotton prices have risen yet again, and it is getting harder to get hold of Organic Cotton yarn.
It was really nice to hear so many positive comments about our ranges from trade professionals, and it was really gratifying that so many could see the quality difference immediately.
After such a high, our week at the show ended on a sad low, with the loss of Gertrude, our gorgeous bulldog. We have had her from 8 weeks until nearly her 14th Birthday, so we are very aware how lucky we've been, and anyone who has met her will know what a character she was, always making her presence known. If you had called the office you are very likely to have had loud snoring in the background - I promise you that was Gert not me! Since I gave up my "proper job" to run Ochre And Ocre, Gert and I have spent most days together in the Ochre And Ocre office, so I have to admit to finding it a very quiet space this week. Luckily there is much to do following up from the show, catching up on office work, and sorting out stock and displays for our next big retail show, Country Living Spring Fair, keeping me occupied and my mind busy.

February Already!

2011-02-03T12:24:00.000Z

Is it me or is this year flying by already! Our big wholesale trade show (The Spring Fair)is fast approaching, closely followed in March by Country Living!
I met up with the super talented Rachel Spivey this week, at her rather lovely Leamington studio, to get the last few shots done for our brochure and online. As usual though, half our time was spent gassing about business and assorted stuff, before getting down to the actual business of photographing our new placemat range. (Check out her website by the way - she's updated it with some lovely new wedding pics).
We had to use our ingenuity when it came to finding a suitable "table" to shoot the mats on - and ended up with a coffee table balanced on top of a dressing table! Hopefully you will be none the wiser from the pictures!!

The brilliant and very patient Lindsey has tidied up our brochure and it's winging it's way to the printers - even after several proof readings, I still spotted a major error this morning on my final read through - sometimes you just read what you want to read rather than what is actually in front of you. It's a relief to have that sent, as next week all our focus will be on the wholesale side of Ochre And Ocre. We've already had some positive responses from our mailing to the independent shops, so I'm hoping the new colourways will get a good reaction from our lovely retail customers.
I'm really pleased with how our new placemats have turned out - printed here in the UK, they have a really nice finish, and the fabric texture effect has worked in printing.
Now we just have to wait for our new Organic Cotton stock to arrive later on this month, and hopefully start selling!

January Blues..and Red's, Greens and Ochres

2011-01-24T17:04:00.000Z

Our first ever January sale is over, and now it's onwards and upwards with 2011. There is a lot of forward planning this month; we have our Wholesale show in two weeks time at the NEC, where we will be showing our new colourways in the British Collection. Followed a few weeks later by the Country Living Spring Fair; a lovely show where it is hard not to spend all your takings!
I always get excited about new additions to the range, and I can't wait to see the first reaction to the Isabella Red and Madelaine Ochre. The Country Living Fair will be the first time I get a face to face real punter reaction, as the trade show buyers tend to be planning ahead, for the Autumn season.
We have been putting the finishing touches to our new brochure, with help from the very talented Lindsey Joyce. I tend to put together a very rough mock up of how I want each page to look, along with the text and pics, and Lindsey somehow manages to turn it into a professional looking brochure.
In preparation for the launch of the new colourways, I've also started to make Lavender Hearts in the new colourways. As boredom tends to set in quite quickly, I try to batch the tasks - spending a few hours one day cutting them out, sewing on the brand label another day, and so on, until it's time for the final stuff and stitch. A lovely fragrant job, which I tend to do sat in front of the tv at night, aided and abetted by Mr Ochre!
Right - it's swatch cards next, a night ahead of me of double sided sticky tape and piles of swatched fabric.

New Year - January Sale!

2011-01-05T15:50:00.000Z

We have had a great initial reaction to our first ever sale at Ochre And Ocre. I was determined that it should be a "proper" sale, with genuine reductions. As an ex buyer I know all about special "sale buys", and I hate getting conned by the not so real savings. Another bug bear of mine is when you purchase something in a sale, then two weeks later it is reduced even more. It does make you feel like you should have held off a bit longer, to save those extra pounds - everything in the Ochre sale is only being marked down once, so as to avoid upsetting those customers who have purchased already.
Some of the lines in the original Chateau collection will remain marked down to clear, but all the print ranges, Organic Cotton table cloths and napkins will have new pricing for 2011.
Since we originally launched Ochre And Ocre in 2008 all the prices have been held. But in order to run a profitable business, (a sensible goal I think!!), we have to increase our pricing for two reasons. When we first bought the range the sterling to euro exchange rate was strongly in our favour, but this has declined hugely over the past two years. Another more recent issue is the price of Cotton. There are major cotton shortages worldwide, and Organic Cotton is even more scarce. I read on the BBC Website this morning that Next are increasing their prices by up to 8% due to the cotton prices. As a "small" company, we are at the back of the queue against the bigger retailers in trying to grab some of the remaining Cotton stocks.
Allowing for all the above factors, because we are only "small" we are fortunate to have small overheads, and more flexibility than some of the larger firms, so our price increases are modest, and still allow us to be competitive. It will be interesting to see how 2011 will pan out, but I am optimistic of a good response to our new additions to the ranges this year, and am grateful to have a loyal and growing band of customers.

Christmas Holiday!

2010-12-22T12:44:00.000Z

My last blog of 2010 - so a chance to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and lots of health, wealth and happiness for 2011.

A special thank you to a few key players whose support has been invaluable.
Ms Rachel Spivey for her amazing pics - Lindsey Joyce for adding that magic touch to my unfinished artworks! Phillippe Oligario for keeping the website looking trim, and my long suffering husband for allowing Ochre And Ocre to take over our home / life / weekends! Not forgetting our loyal customers, without whom there would be no business!

As a "home worker" the current weather does not have the same impact as when I was office based - with minimal commute, there is no excuse not to carry on working, although psychologically I still find something about the snowy weather that makes you want to shut down the computer and go and play in the snow! However it has impacted our deliveries, with couriers refusing to pick up from us, we can't offer our guaranteed next day service, and the Post Office under siege from all the delays it has become impossible to offer our usual 48 hour turnaround. I just hope come January it will all be back to normal.

We are closing for our Christmas holiday from 1pm on Wednesday 22nd December until January 3rd, when our sale starts. We are closing a day earlier than originally planned due to the weather conditions. There are a few piccies attached to give you an idea of the conditions here - and hence why a trip to the Post Office is not so straightforward!

We are holding our first ever January sale from January 3rd until January the 17th. With over 90% of the range included in the sale, we have some big markdowns in order to clear our stocks ready for new ranges arriving at the end of February. More about the new ranges next year........

So have a good one! x

Christmas Build Up

2010-12-14T15:21:00.000Z

With all our Christmas shows finished, it is nice to be able to catch up in the office again. The bulldog is certainly pleased that her daily routine is no longer disrupted by early mornings, and late nights with shelving and boxes moving in and out of the house.
The weather has certainly been challenging over the last few weeks - I won't even start my rant about courier companies who have used the Scottish weather conditions as a reason not to bother collecting / delivering parcels here. I know we are based in the middle of nowhere, off a dirt track, but if dear old postie has been able to make it up here most days, (and the Ocado man thank fully!), there really is no excuse. I have to sing the praises of the Postal service - as our first class parcels seem to have been arriving without a hitch.

The scenery has certainly been pretty here in the Malverns, last week we had a very heavy frost, and the whole Common had an ethereal, Narnia like feel to it. I took a few pictures of the garden to show just how thick the frost was.

With Christmas, and our last posting day fast approaching, orders are still coming through steadily, and lots of people have been taking advantage of our free gift wrap service. I have to admit though, after spending hours wrapping gifts up for other people, I'm not that keen to wrap my own gifts! Boxes and ribbon sounds like a better plan!

Planning for next season is full steam ahead, sorting out our new brochure, setting up new lines, and preparing for our first ever January sale!

Eco Dining

2010-11-23T16:10:00.001Z

I am always amazed by how many interesting people I get to meet and chat to, now that I run my own company. Back in September, I received a random phone call from James Strawbridge who was after some Organic table linen for a new venture at the family farm in Cornwall. You are likely to have heard of his father, Dick Strawbridge, from his 'Scrapheap' days, ‘Coast, and also from 'It's not easy being green', which James was also involved with.

Dick is also an exceptional chef and this year has been seen competing in the prestigious BBC show ‘Celebrity Master Chef’. This is where our Ochre And Ocre table linen fits into the story, as there are very few companies out there, who sell Organic table linen, of a high quality, in colours other than beige, so we were thrilled when Dick & James decided to use our Organic table linen for their dinners at Newhouse Farm in Cornwall.

James sent along a few pictures of the tables laid up which I thought I'd share with you.

If you fancy joining Dick, James and family for lunch, or an evening meal, you can get more information on their events section on their website.

Photo 1: Ochre And Ocre Organic tablelinen

photo 2: The team (left to right: Jim Tomson, Charlotte Strawbridge, Dick Strawbridge, James Strawbridge, Holly Strawbridge)

photo 3: The table laid ready

Photo 4: Dick Strawbridge

Grumpy Dog....

2010-10-26T12:28:00.000+01:00

As in any office environment, occasionally working together for too long can cause niggles and gripes, and it is no different here at Ochre And Ocre. We are busy preparing for our big Autumn show this week, The Spirit of Christmas, which involves lots of boxes everywhere, shelving, and general chaos.
Those of you who have been following my blog, will know I share my office space with a lady of advanced years, who is prone to grumbling when the phone goes, teetering at the top of the stairs when you are trying to take an order, and generally making sure her presence is felt at all times.
This week is no exception, but for once I have to see her point of view, as the office has been over run with gift sets, and cardboard boxes, making it very hard for Gert to make it to her "desk" under the window. I know that the sight of all these boxes does tend to unnerve her, trauma from seven house moves in six years, so I have made a concerted effort to clear her a pathway across the office this morning!

I also promised you some pictures of the beautiful Malvern countryside around here, in all it's Autumnal glory. The one morning I remembered to take my camera out with me, it was very frosty, but the light first thing is so warm, and golden, if I time it just right there is often a beautiful sunrise over the Cotswold Hills, hard to capture on film, but lovely to watch as I climb the Malverns.

Autumn

2010-10-13T11:29:00.000+01:00

Apologies, I know this poor blog has been sadly neglected as of late, but in the Ochre And Ocre world lots of Autumn fairs have been keeping us busy.
We are very excited to have received our new sample colourways of Isabella And Madelaine, ready for the Spring launch, and we are just starting to pull together the props for our forthcoming photoshoot.
Once again aided and abetted by the talented photographer, Rachel Spivey, we will hopefully be working our magic to turn a kitchen showroom into a homely, chic kitchen.
On the home front, the Autumn harvest has been done, our giant pumpkins are picked, the last of the marrows despatched to willing recipients, (I don't think I will put in quite so many Courgette plants next year!), and the apples are picked ready for storing. All around us on the Malvern Hills, the trees are starting to turn their leaves, the fern has been cut down, and the smell of bonfires is in the air, as people tidy up their gardens before the winter. I promise I will get out there with my camera soon, so I can post a few pics of the beautiful scenery around us, but for now I must get on with making Lavender Hearts in preparation for the photoshoot!

Julia Mitchell Distinctive Floral Design

2010-09-25T13:22:00.002+01:00

To coincide with the start of our special feature on floral table decoration in next weeks newsletter, I wanted to give you the full background to Julia Mitchell of JM Distinctive Floral design.
I met the lovely Julia through my local WIRE group. Julia did the beautiful flowers for us on our recent shoot at the gorgeous Ettington Park Hotel, but she has dealt with far more illustrious clients than Ochre And Ocre!!

OO: Tell us briefly about your business?

JM: I have a team of florists who are all trained to the same level and we provide 'fabulous flowers for happy occasions'. I did the whole 'life begins at 40' career change and became a full time florist six years ago.

It can be cold, stressful and exhausting but I love it!!

I have a workshop rather than a retail premises and only provide flowers for weddings and events. No two weeks are the same and no two weddings are the same.

I work mainly within Warwickshire and the Cotswolds but have recently created the designs for some fabulous events at Blenheim Palace. I have also worked at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons

which was an amazing experience.

The majority of work so far has been weddings and we create everything from the bouquets and buttonholes to decorating the inside and outside of a church as well as stunning table designs. I only take on one event per day and always deliver and oversee everything myself. I have to make sure that everything is perfect before myself and my team leave a venue. I will never be able to grow my empire as I am a complete control freak!

OO: Any famous clients?

JM: Depends how famous! This year I have created designs for 'Strictly Stars' Anton du Beke and Erin Boag. They have held several dance breaks at The Wroxall Abbey Estate, and I created the table displays for their Gala Dinner. As a huge Strictly fan myself I did also create a bouquet for Erin so that I could have my photograph taken with them both!

Apart from that lots of prestigious corporate clients but no one really famous.....yet!!

OO: What is your favourite flower to use as a table decoration?

JM: That's a tricky one. It sounds quite boring but I adore roses. They come in so many different colours and sizes now, I never tire of using them. Apart from that my favourite more unusual flower is gloriosa. It's a very delicate flower in a very striking colour combination of bright pink edged in yellow. It expensive but looks great with just a few flower heads floating in a bowl surrounded with candles.

OO: How do you decorate your own table at Christmas time

JM: It depends how busy I’ve been in the run up until Christmas!

I’m actually much more particular about my door wreath than my table as this usually goes up at the beginning of December. For the last couple of years I have used a floral foam ring as the base for

my wreath rather than the traditional moss base. This gives a more contemporary feel and this year I will be using massed hydrangea heads with just a few roses and fresh herbs such as rosemary. It will of course be finished with a large bow and a hint of Christmas sparkle.

Getting back to the table, probably a large hurricane lamp with a circle of flowers around the outside in rich reds and golds.

OO: What should you think about when planning table decorations? Eg height... / fragrance...

JM: I only ever do table centres that are either really low or really tall. So many clients say that they don’t want tall because they have been at events where the flowers are straight in front of you. I just don’t understand why florists create designs like that.

The tall designs that I create are at least 70cm high from the table, they create a real ‘wow’ when guests walk in the room but are totally out of their eye level when they sit down.

If it’s a large room then what’s really ‘on-trend’ at the moment is to have half tall and half low designs. This ensure that you still get the wow as guests walk in but you also have more colours low down when everyone is seated.

I love using fresh herbs in designs, rosemary is a real favourite for both it’s colour and texture. Also this year I created the designs for a marquee wedding that wanted a real ‘country feel’. In addition to the rosemary, I also included mint which looked and smelt amazing.

In the run up to Christmas we will be sharing Julia's tips for different table decorations through our newsletter, and website blog. If you would like to receive a copy of the Ochre And Ocre newsletter just drop an email to customerservice@OchreAndOcre.com and we will add you to our mailing list.

Autumn Fairs

2010-09-23T12:19:00.000+01:00

Ochre And Ocre are about and about a lot over the next few months, attending lots of shopping events and Christmas Fairs. We know nothing beats actually seeing the quality of the product up close, so if you are in the area, it would be great to meet you at one of the shows. Please let us know if you need anymore information regarding location or times of any of these events.

24th September; Macmillan Coffee Morning at Hatton Village Hall, Hatton, Warwickshire

28th September Travelling Souk at Micklefield Hall, Hertfordshire

1st October Worcester Hunt, at Worcester Rugby Club

5th October Travelling Souk at Frome Valley Vineyard, Herefordshire

7th October Travelling Souk at Lyford Grange, Oxfordshire

12th October Travelling Souk at Delbury Hall, near Ludlow, Shropshire

13th October Talk at Kingswood WI, Herefordshire

18th October Travelling Souk at Gunthorpe Hall, Rutland

3-7th November Spirit of Christmas at Olympia

10-11th November Shipston Home Nursing, Warwickshire

15-16th Travelling Souk at Southrop Manor, Gloucestershire

19th November Cotswold House Christmas Shopping Fair, Chipping Campden

20th November The Croft School Christmas Fair, near Stratford

22-23rd November Travelling Souk at North Hidden Farm, Hungerford

27th November Save the Children Christmas Fair, Leamington Town Hall

6th December Charity Lunch & Shopping, Hockley Heath, Warwickshire

We will be taking our new Christmas Gift ranges, along with an edited selection of our Organic Cotton table linen, kitchen textiles, and pure beeswax candles. As space is limited at some events, if you are coming to see us at a particular event, and particularly wanted to see something, or want to get a particular size Organic Cotton table cloth please drop us an email, and we make sure we have it there to show you.

Autumnal Feel

2010-09-08T08:25:00.000+01:00

September is a real transitional month -every year there is talk of an Indian summer, and whether it happens or not I don't really mind, because I really love it when the trees start to change colour, and the landscape turns to that lovely soft Ochre palette, and I can finally pull out my long boots and opaque tights!
There have been some fantastic mushroom rings, growing just outside our gate on the common. I'm not brave enough to see if they are edible - they certainly don't look or smell like the field mushrooms we used to eat for breakfast when I was little.

For Ochre And Ocre it's all about prepping for the upcoming shows. Extra dates seem to be added on constantly - we start slowly in September with 2, 6 in October, and 9 in November. I've worked out I have 8 days at home in the office in November! Trying to "guesstimate" likely sales is a dark art, I know I have spoken about before, just how many sets do I need to make up in advance?
It will also be interesting this year to see the response to the new brochure, and whether it brings in a new type of customer, or are we just diluting our existing customer base?
I'll let you know at the end of the season!

Birthday Celebrations!

2010-08-27T11:40:00.000+01:00

The excitement is building at Ochre And Ocre HQ, as we approach our 2nd Birthday next week! We launched the website two years ago in pessimistic times, the recession was looming, the press were critical, but we were optimistic, wet behind the ears, and ready for a new challenge. Fortunately we survived - and having learnt a huge amount in two years we are looking forward to our third year of trading.

In the past year we have added over 32 new lines, with our lovely new British Collection, exclusively designed for Ochre And Ocre by Lindsey Joyce. Our new brochure is printed and awaiting despatch in September, a huge thank you to Rachel Spivey for some beautiful photography. We have also added some more gifts and hampers, all with that chic Ochre and Ocre twist - making it easy to find a Gift solution.

Not content to rest on our laurels work is already underway for new additions to our range next Spring. Samples are being finalised and photoshoots planned.

We have over 20 shows this Autumn, including attending the huge Spirit of Christmas in London for the first time. We will post the dates and locations nearer the time for our Autumn shows.

You can now also buy Ochre And Ocre at a select range of lovely independents, including the gorgeous homewares shop Tinsmiths in Ledbury, the green Herb Farmacy in Hay, Kettles in Dunkeld, and GreenDays in Crieff.

So if you would like to join us in a toast, please raise your glass to

" Ochre And Ocre, Year Three...the adventure continues!"

Getting in a pickle with Delia

2010-08-16T08:25:00.000+01:00

Those of you who follow my blog will know that we recently moved to the Malverns. A beautiful setting with lovely views - yes the house needs quite a lot of work, but as I said the views are stunning, and provide an easy distraction when trying to do any accounts.

We also inherited when we moved here a small orchard and vegetable plot - and it suddenly seems to be going into overdrive producing damsoms, plums, sloes, apples, courgettes......you get the gist.
Now I hate waste, so I decided to do my Good Life bit and make some chutneys, pickles and even ketchup. So over the weekend our kitchen has been a hive of activity of chopping, blending, stirring and bottling. As ever Delia has been the oracle, with her sound advice on sterilising, checking consistencies, and do's and don'ts.
We are now the proud owners of 6 large jars of pickled onions, 8 jars of Green Tomato chutney, 6 jars Courgette chutney, 6 jars Plum chutney, and waiting to be bottled the Plum ketchup. So I must apologise in advance to all my friends and family, as your Christmas presents will not be hard to guess! Just keeping my fingers crossed that they are ok when they emerge from their Black box in 3 months time.

Christmas!

2010-07-29T13:51:00.000+01:00

Ok - I know it's not technically Christmas, but for Ochre And Ocre we had a an early celebration yesterday. With help from the glamorous Rachel Spivey and her trusty assistant Linda, along with Julia Mitchell, we transformed the private dining room at Ettington Park Hotel into a stylish Christmas scene.

Firstly I should mention the Hotel - 'cos it was gorgeous! Ettington Park Hotel felt like you were stepping back into time to a more glamorous age - the rooms were all beautifully decorated, with high ceilings, wooden panelling, and fine paintings adorned the walls. Sumptuous drapes on the windows, beautiful antiques and fresh flowers everywhere. You felt as if one should be partaking of afternoon tea. Unlike many establishments of this type the staff could not be more helpful and friendly. They were very courteous, smiled and said hello, and you felt like it was a place you could really relax.
We were using one of the private dining rooms for the shoot, a beautiful panelled room with stained glass windows and painted inscriptions. It was perfect for a Christmas shoot.
As Julia had said when preparing the flowers it is very hard trying to get into the Christmas spirit when it's hot and muggy outside. Another problem is finding flowers that would be in season in December. But the flowers looked fantastic - and smelt divine. Not just because of the flowers, but she had used mint and Rosemary in the arrangements, which mingled with the smell of the warm beeswax candles, the smells were certainly evocative of Christmas. Look out for lots of tips from Julia in our Autumn newsletters.

We had a tight window in which to take the pictures, sandwiched between the breakfast and dinner shift, but with a lot of hard work, no lunch, (sorry guys!), and concentration we pulled off two completely different looks in a few hours.

The photographers Rachel and Linda

Attached our a few pics of the shoot in progress, the "proper" pictures you will have to wait until the Autumn when they will be on the Ochre And Ocre website.


Julia Mitchel at work

Lights, camera action..

Photoshoots and Brochures

2010-07-20T13:16:00.000+01:00

The sunshine may have disappeared - although hopefully only temporarily, but I am still finding it hard to settle down and start and finish one thing, there are so many things happening in the world of Ochre and Ocre at the moment.

The shoot went well with Rachel Spivey last week for our Christmas brochure, and the lovely Lindsey Joyce is putting the finishing touches to the artwork. Lindsey seems to be so multi talented - not only coping with Isabella and Madelaine, (her children not our designs!), but she also seems to work all hours on different graphic design projects. I can't wait to see the finished brochure - a whole 20 pages!! It feels almost like we are launching all over again.

Last night I trekked across to the depths of Northamptonshire - to a very pretty little village called Walgrave, to give a talk to the local WI. It was my first proper talk, so I was quite apprehensive, but the ladies were all very welcoming and soon put me at ease. They seemed to find the Ochre story interesting, and had quite a few questions at the end.It was interesting when I asked for a show of hands to gauge how many people shopped online to see that only a few put their hands up. Hopefully the new brochure will help to expand us into a whole new our customer base.
Next week we are teaming up with Rachel again, this time for a full on Christmas sparkly glamour shoot! (No models but loads of gorgeous table linen!). We are very fortunate that the lovely people at Ettington Park Hotel have allowed us the use of their beautiful chapel. I am really excited as this time we will also have the support of another talented lady - Julia Mitchell. Julia does some really beautiful flower arrangements and will be helping to dress two very different Christmas looks. I met Julia through WIRE, and she has a very similar background career wise to me. It's lovely seeing people taking the risks, and doing a complete career change especially when it works as well as Julia's.
Later on in the year you will be able to see more of Julia's work, and she will also be sharing some of her tips for dressing the perfect dinner table.

Road Blocks

2010-07-02T14:48:00.000+01:00

I never know quite what I'm going to come across when I set off for my daily trip to the Post Office. It is only a mile away - but in that mile all kinds of hazards and obstacles seem to pop up.
This morning a rather cute Highland calf took an age to cross over the road - I couldn't resist taking a snap of him on my phone. This was after sitting there for 5 minutes for the flock of sheep to walk slowly up the road!

Yesterday I was following a car across the common, and they couldn't get the sheep to move out of their way - I must have looked like the local nutter as I jumped out of my car behind them and shooed the sheep off the road.
Apparently it is worse in the winter as the cattle hang around on the road when it is icy as they like to lick the salt!
We are busy working on finalising our Autumn brochure at the moment - with help by the multi skilled Lindsey Joyce who also designed our Isabella print. Isabella herself is currently on our homepage looking very fetching in her apron!
When we originally started nearly 2 years ago now - we only ever intended to be online - but we keep getting requests for a brochure, and hopefully it will enable us to reach a new part of the market.

We have had some really good press coverage of late - our Isabella apron is in this months Country Living on the Emporium pages, and in the August edition of Period House you can see our Isabella fabric.

We Did It!

2010-06-16T11:18:00.000+01:00

We have had quite an eventful weekend at Ochre HQ. We undertook the challenge of climbing the 3 Peaks in 24 hours. Climbing 3 hills doesn't sound particularly tough, and each one individually is not too bad. But doing one then sitting in a mini bus for a few hours, then another, then another, and your legs start to ache, and oh yes - normally you would sleep in a 24 hour period.
Ben Nevis was the hardest - it is the biggest, it starts with the steepest incline, and starts to get quite cold as you reach the top. (There was snow!).
There were a few mishaps, mainly the mini bus not starting several times - thank you to the local cabbie who got us to the first Peak, and to the AA man who shows our driver how to use this magic spray on the engine.

Scafell was the next, and we set off in daylight and came back in the dark - it was quite eerie seeing the headtorches of all the other climbers in the distance. Once again the mini bus cut out in a lane somewhere in the Lakes - then 10 minutes later it did it again. Thankfully by now Paul T our driver was quite adept at getting it going.

As we entered Wales it was raining quite heavily - our hearts sank, last time we had practiced on Snowdon we got very wet- but as we drove further into Wales the rain started to ease off.
When we reached Snowdon it was just starting to get light - and as the sun was rising there was a fantastic play of light on the hills. We set off for the last climb at 4.15 am. Knees were starting to get very sore with the constant climbing, and we were running on empty. But a brisk walk along the Miners Track and a final sprint for the finish ensured we achieved our target. We finished as a team, with 10 minutes to spare - a huge achievement, and a relief that it's over.

Daily Routine

2010-06-08T17:05:00.000+01:00

It's funny how quickly life gets back to normal - and living in our new abode feels like home.
The bulldog has settled in - and quickly established her routine. Sleep until 6, have breakfast, sleep until 9, small snack and wander around the grounds(!), sleep until lunchtime, little stretch, then start playing merry hell from about 4 as she wants her tea!

Life for Ochre And Ocre has quickly resumed it's routine as well. Still internet connection issues which make it quite hard - you are half way doing something when suddenly the connection dies, or worse I get an email on my Blackberry saying I've had an order, but I can't log on to print it off.
I pay more for having my Broadband through Eclipse Internet, but it is worth it as I can at least speak to a friendly human, and they have been trying really hard to resolve things.
We went to our first show since moving last Saturday, and it was quite a fresh start, as we've upgraded our shelves and signage. We think it's clearer and neater - comments welcomed. I know I now need to update the banner, but it's another cost again, and you do wander if it makes a huge difference?

This weekend it is our big challenge - the Three Peaks. As well as me and Mr Ochre, our book keeper Amy is doing it as well - nothing like taking the whole team down in one go is there! Maybe we should be more like royalty and not travel together! We will be posting updates on Facebook, lets hope the weather is dry!
I caught up with Jet from Dinner Party Allotments on the phone today, as she has just come back from her first major show, (Chelsea), and was being a very harsh judge on herself. I wish there was some site / forum where small businesses could share info truthfully on good / bad shows, what advertising works, or doesn't work. Unfortunately everyone seems too keen to set up sites and take money off you. Anyway not only had Jet managed to get her stand on the BBC, she also had loads of journalist's interested.

Jet with Rachael de Thame at Chelsea.

One thing I've always found from shows is that you get something from each show, even if it's not sales.
It is very hard when you are working from home, without that support network of colleagues, and help desks, you can drive yourself into ever decreasing circles, and question what you are doing.
When Emma, (Naked Soap) and I were talking to Wilfred from The Black Farmer at the Cirencester Polo match show last weekend, it was very telling when he was asked how does he manage to step back from things and yet still get everything done. The word "we" was used a lot - for instance "when we update Facebook". Unfortunately for most of us there is no we - and although we have different external supports, the day to day is very much "I".

The Rural Idyll

2010-05-20T13:38:00.000+01:00

We made it - all our belongings, the dog, the Ochre stock. It was only a county away, but it did require military like planning. Yes, we are saying never again, and yes I know we said that the last 6 times!
I bagged the best view in the house as my office - with far reaching views across common land towards the Malverns. It did require that a wall was demolished to make it a workable space, but it now has a double aspect, and obviously meets the bulldogs approval as she is snoring away happily in her box.

I won't bore you with the stress involved trying to sort out a phone line - but it took over a week before we had a proper connection. So a special thanks to Amy for letting me become her new local stalker, and use her computer to print out orders!
There are loads of new "projects" we are aiming to do on the house, once we catch our breath, and we'll keep you updated. The plan is to try to source everything as local, green and British made as possible.
We have already planted out our veg plot, (when I say we I do need to acknowledge that we called in the experts, Mum And Dad! - we can't wait for the first signs of growth. Although a battle with the local rabbit population has already ensued. They have had free rein for a while, and are not taking notice of our finely raked soil. Rabbit pie anyone....??
So ok, it's not quite the Good Life, or River Cottage, but I suspect life will be a little different here, and I will endeavor to entertain you will tales from the hillside!

Quick Update

2010-04-29T12:58:00.000+01:00

I wasn't expecting to get chance to update the blog before we moved - but there are only so many hours you can spend cramming things into boxes.
You will be pleased to read the BT saga has been resolved, after several hours on hold to call centres in India, and some very frustrating conversations.

We had a mixed reaction at last weeks Sudeley show - it was wonderful weather, although a bit airless inside the marquee. The first two days were fantastic - good footfall and good sales. The weekend was still good footfall, but it felt more like most people were out for a family day out than a shopping trip.
I met a lovely new company there called Lark Home - and succumbed to one of their gorgeous English leather satchels, (in aged silver). They are just setting up, and Sudeley was their first show, as well as launching their website the previous day. Keep an eye out for them, with good ethics, (sourcing from the UK), as well as good taste, (beautiful ceramics), I think we might be seeing more of them around.

Well I'd better get back to the boxes......

Planning And Packing

2010-04-20T15:08:00.000+01:00

After what seems like years but was really only 3 months - our house sale has finally gone through! This means that for the first time I need to not only move house but move a business as well.
The house move doesn't really phase me - I have done it several times, this will be our 6th move in 7 years, so I admit sorting out packing / change of address seems quite straightforward.
The more difficult challenge will be trying to keep the business running with as few interruptions as possible.
The first challenge as always is BT - I have to admit that I don't lose my temper very often, but I do find dealing with BT call centres very frustrating. With an online business the phone line is probably the bit I am most concerned about - followed by the internet connection. Worrying about curtains / furniture and post pales into insignificance in comparison.

Minimising the amount of disruption to the Bulldog is probably number 3 on the list. As she has got older, the sight of any bags / boxes and luggage turn her into a quivering jelly. Setting up for shows sends the poor dog into deep trauma. She will be shipped off to my parents again to have a little holiday on the farm - although now she is older she has become more demanding, so she does tend to outstay her welcome more quickly these days!

Once the dog is sorted then the more straightforward bits like office stationery / website can be dealt with, as well as shifting all the stock

Moving will also bring some exciting new additions to the Ochre And Ocre range that we have been holding off on, until we move.

So don't be surprised if you don't see many blog updates over the next few weeks - but I hope to be able to back online and incommunicado by the second week in May, (BT willing!).

As routine as it gets!

2010-04-09T15:12:00.000+01:00

The strange thing about this self employed lark is that there is no set routine. Where I have worked in big corporations before, set things happen on set days; meetings about the figures, meetings about ranges, meetings about meetings. Working on your own there is none of that, but it still never ceases to amaze me how bizarre my week can be sometimes.
Today I had my 5 minutes of fame on the local radio station. It was a bit of a cheesy daily feature about local businesses, who get a song played of their choice if they let someone go home early. There in lies the problem; I work on my own, from home, so I guess I might just log off a bit earlier tonight instead!
On the plus side the DJ was great and mentioned Ochre And Ocre loads, so you never know what it might bring.
Gert as usual was trying to get involved by snoring very loudly from her box - I woke her up just before my allotted time and tried to move her from my office onto the sofa. But I should have listed to that old adage "let sleeping dogs lie", because snoring is nothing compared to barking, as she decided she wanted to be let out several times in a row, just before I went "live".

I am off to Marlborough tomorrow for a show. It is a fund raiser for Cancer Research, a cause I am quite passionate about, but apparently we are in for a few days of sun shine, so I hope the local Marlbourians turn up, and don't have a garden day.

Tired but happy!!

2010-03-31T10:53:00.000+01:00

Life is starting to get back to normal after a hectic week at the Country Living Fair. It was our most successful show to date - mainly down to the new British Collection. (Thanks Lindsey for doing the designs!)
We had so many positive comments ; "so much nicer than Cath Kidston", (my fav!), "lovely to see something fresh", "so nice to see such soft colours".....it was a huge boost to my confidence, and it wasn't just comments, the sales reflected the feedback as well. For the first time ever we have sold out of two lines; ironing board covers and peg bags. Repeat orders are already underway, but as a evangelic non ironer, I was amazed at peoples response to the ironing board. (By the way Garden Trading I think you owe me some commission - I could have sold 25 of your boards last week!).
It is a hard and tiring week, from dragging all your stock and props up two flights, to keeping your legs crossed waiting for an opportune moment to dash to the loo!
It was touch and go when we were loading up as to whether we would have to jettison some of our props, as despite having empty bags, in the rush to load the car it didn't all quite fit in the way it had when we loaded it at home! Resulting in me having to sit with the stool around my head, two bags under my feet and one on my lap - really pleased when it took ages getting out of town due to some major football match.
As always after such a hectic week, as soon as you stop your body says it needs a rest - so I am currently sneezing and sniffling at my desk! Needless to say the dog has left the room in protest to avoid the germs!
Very annoyed as I haven't had the energy to train with Sharon at BFFA this week, so missing my weekly aggression vent as well as gossip catch up!They are about to launch their new look and revamp the dojo which will look fantastic!

The only down side to being self employed is there is no one to do your work whilst you are away - although I have to admit my husband did a sterling job last week sending out orders whilst I was away, and I've not had any complaints so they must have been ok!!!

But we still have over 50 swatch cards to send out, newsletter to finish, and the horrible accounts so I'd better get on with it!

Spring Has Sprung!

2010-03-16T08:30:00.000Z

It's lovely sitting in the office first thing in the morning - the sun streams through the windows, and Edgehill Escarpment shimmers in the background. Outside in the garden the first of the bulbs are peeping through, and with lighter nights it will soon be t shirt weather!
Even the bulldog has taken to sauntering around the garden more, sniffing the air - as opposed to the dash across the lawn and jog back when it's cold.

We are mainly preparing for the Country Living show this week - packing up boxes and suitcases - preparing labels, and swatch cards, and bubble wrapping props. As ever the age old question is just how much stock should we take, especially with the new additions.
A lot depends on how much we can physically stuff into the car!

I'm also catching up with Rachel Spivey this week - officially to finally drop off her long overdue stock of the new Polka Dot range - part payment for her fab photos. Unofficially because she is taking me to a new haberdashery shop that has opened in Leamington Spa - we both have big dreams of making lots of new clothes and tarting up old ones, but at the moment neither of us have got much further than talking about it! I tend to spend my evenings sewing Lavender Hearts are sticking fabric into swatch cards. Apparently the shop is stuffed with beautiful ribbons and fabric, but knowing I've got a busy few weeks ahead I must be strong and not buy too many new projects!

New Range finally launched!

2010-03-05T15:28:00.002Z

I'm guessing you are all really fed up with hearing about our new ranges by now! But like any proud mum, after months of planning, nearly missing deadlines and errant deliveries, (more about that later), our chic new British collection finally went live on the site this week.

All seemed ok, the first order was almost immediate, and everything seemed normal, until the lovely Nicola from Daisy Green tried to place an order for her mam for Mothers Day. She tried, and tried, and the computer kept saying no! In a mild panic I rang Philippe, from Blue Earth Solutions, but we could not see what was wrong. He could place an order ok, but I couldn't - after a few hours of trying different browsers, and even computers, my Cluedo skills came to the fore, and by a process of elimination, and step by step analysis I found the rogue element. A small little ; - yes just a semi colon. In computer speak apparently in the wrong place its akin to a formula when typed into a sentence. Phillippe quickly removed the offending dots, and we were back on track!

Thankfully Nicola was patient, and willing to try again - it worked, and it was resolved just in time as another two orders came through just an hour later!

Once again, it was times like this when you realise that you really are on your own, working from home, with no help desk to call upon. But also once again, thanks to a strong network of friends / contacts, there are ways to resolve things.

Being a planner, I like things to run on time, and be under control, so the fact that the lorry carrying the stock had a broken axle and was being fixed somewhere in the South of France on Wednesday did nothing to soothe my frazzled nerves - luckily all has been resolved and the shipment is back on track!

Fortunately I had requested several samples initially, so I was able to fulfil the initial orders.

With only two weeks now before The Country Living Show, there is still lots to sort out - and as always trying to plan what stock to take and guess at likely sales levels is no easy task!

We are going to do a miniature version of the stand we had at the NEC - it had a great reaction, and showed off the new ranges brilliantly. We still have a few tickets left for the show - so if you are interested drop a note to our customer service email, with your name and address and we will get them in the post to you.

Unique Wooden Napkin Rings

2010-02-23T16:19:00.001Z

After driving miles through snow storms, into the depths of Northamptonshire seeing the latest work from Peter the woodturner was a warm welcome.
In exchange for a large piece of Welsh Blackthorn from my Dad's farm and some hard currency I was in possession of several sets of our gorgeous new wooden napkin rings.
Peter had invested in a new polishing brush (thingy), but it has given the napkin rings a really smooth tactile surface that contrasts beautifully with the bark and natural wood textures. One set even has a bit of green moss left on them, (treated with spray lacquer so it is perfectly hygienic).
He had also done two sets of 6 - something we have been asked for in the past. Obviously as every set is unique I have found the easiest way to help customers select a set is to send them a picture of every set, and they can choose.
They are really unique gifts - the kind of thing that becomes an heirloom, and are perfect wedding presents. I have attached a few pictures of some of the sets for you to ooh and aahh over!

Isabella & Madelaine Launch

2010-02-16T15:54:00.000Z

Our new British collection was really well received at the Spring Fair at the NEC last week. It was a wholesale event, but it was great to get feedback from other retailers. Isabella the blue design was the most popular, and people were loving the fact that it wasn't yet another ditsy floral. The greyed off colourways were also loved - both in the Sage Green and Campden Blue.

We can't wait to get the new collection online - the stock is due to arrive in 2 weeks time. It's really exciting that some really lovely stores up & down the UK will also be carrying our range.

It's funny which items attract the most interest, and our new peg bag was really popular.

No time to rest between shows - Ochre And Ocre are taking part in the Country Living Spring Fair in a few weeks time, so we need to plan our new stand layout, and work out how we are going to fit all of our stock onto a small site. We are there under the WIRE umbrella again, (Women In Rural Enterprise). Jo Verity is also taking a stand there for the first time. Watch out for our March newsletter - we will be giving away some free tickets to the fair.

Crystal Ball Anyone?

2010-01-27T12:21:00.000Z

Image by Jayjay402 via Flickr

I often wish I possessed more magical powers - being able to predict lottery numbers would certainly be really useful, and in my past and current role being able to spot bestsellers and knowing how much to buy of each item would be a really handy skill.

But alas, unless any of you has a spare crystal ball, (willing to collect), I have to resort to a special recipe, evolved over years working in retail: Take a pinch of historical sales, add a touch of current trends, and then the abracadabra bit - gut instinct!

Ok - its not fool proof - but when launching a range which has a fresh new look, already fetching more interest and excitement than current ranges, there isn't a lot else to go on. So it was with some trepidation that I placed the first order for Ochre And Ocre's new British collection this morning. There are some new lines that we have no history on at all - so it is really finger in the air time. How many tea cosy's will we sell - and will people like our handy new carrier bag holders? Which design is going to be stronger? We have had so many requests for blue to go with people's kitchens, will customers like the lovely Isabella print, or will the fun Madelaine be more popular.

When developing the range a select panel of friends and acquaintances voted on the initial designs, and it was a real Millionaire moment: 50 /50, phone a friend? With votes spread fairly equally across the two, it is going to be interesting watching the sales in the first initial weeks.

So keep an eye out on our website, the new British collection will be going live by the end of February. And if any of you want to place a bet on the winning design and item, the odds are looking pretty good at the moment!

Knobs and Whistles

2010-01-22T10:04:00.000Z

Image by waferboard via Flickr

Our first big wholesale show is fast approaching - and despite having attended it for over 15 years as a Buyer, being on the other side fills me with nervous anticipation!
We were very excited when our giant backdrops arrived this week, which will form part of our stand. Using images of the Fired Earth kitchens taken by Rachel Spivey, the full size kitchens look really impressive.
One of my important jobs this week was knob buying, (no jokes please!), as we want to make the 2D image 3D. Now I can't take any of the credit for this cunning plan, but our thanks do go to Jo Verity, who before she became jewelery and homewares designer she was a visual merchandiser, and so has a brilliant eye for all things display. (Her stands at shows are always works of art).
With the knobs duly purchased and matchpot paint to paint the knobs we tried to mock up the layout for the show.
Our hall temporarily became exhibition space, with tape and rulers marking out the space. I filled up the hall with mannequins, small tables, and all our other props, and I am relieved to say it seems to be coming together. Unfortunately / and fortunately a phonecall from the estate agents requesting a viewing of our house cut short the pre run, and I had to lug all the props back into the store. There followed a period of Monica like madness where I hoovered, dusted and polished and titivated the house in readiness for the viewing.
But I think we are nearly there; the invitations have gone out, the samples are nearly ready, so I just need to get busy with the velcro and knobs!

Highly Commended

2010-01-12T15:38:00.000Z

Ok - I've stopped bouncing now. I started last Thursday, I was just sitting there catching up on blogs as I was eating my lunch, and I did a double take as I read the My Deco blog - did it really say Ochre & Ocre had been Highly Commended in an award???

I reread it 3 times, ok they had miss spelt Ochre And Ocre, but it was definitely us.
Clicking through to the Awards site for The Online Retail Awards, I was even more flabbergasted to read who we were up against. The White Company were a runner up, after us! OMG - I have been following The White Company as they have grown over the years, and they were always my inspiration, mainly due to the simple concept and in that they started from their bedroom at home. (Ok - marrying Charles Tyrwhitt may have helped a little bit, possibly...).
I heard Charles speak at the Sheerluxe conference last year, and he was really interesting. He was one of those people who just takes risks, and 9 out of 10 times gets away with it.
Anyway, I'm straying from my topic - of self congratulation here. Go on, you've got to let us bask just a little bit in this one. Also in the category was Target(US company), and Amazon. So it wasn't as if we were up against small firms.
The feedback from the judges was, "that it was a user friendly and innovative site".
Needless to say I was straight on the phone to Phillippe, from Blue Earth Solutions, who we worked with to develop the site, my other half, and my mum in that order.
The first two were equally thrilled, although I think the enormity of the situation was somewhat lost on my Mum.
The winner in the Home and DIY category was My Deco - a new interiors site from Brent Hoberman who co founded lastminute.com.
Anyone who is into interior design should have this site bookmarked, as it is really user friendly, you can build story boards, shop, get the latest trend news - a really useful site.
So we may have gone out that evening to celebrate, and ok, we may have had a glass of fizz, as the occasion deserved, and I may have failed to make it to the gym Friday morning - but it was worth it!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T13:10:00.002Z

Sorry - I know my blog is belated, and neglected after the chaos of Christmas and all the build up to it!
The good news is our photoshoot for our new Ochre And Ocre British Collection went really well. Timing wise it was quite hairy, with the samples arriving on the Friday, and the shoot on Monday, Christmas week. Leaving me a weekend to iron everything, make Lavender bags, cushions, and sort out suitable props.
The shoot day arrived and it was very icy and snowy - but with a car laden with boxes of samples, food for propping and eating, plus a wide selection of plates, bowls, glasses, and cutlery. (I knew there was a reason I keep buying gorgeous ceramics!).
I was really thrilled to have found a gem of a photographer in Rachel Spivey - a talented soul, she has a real passion for her role, and was really easy to work with.Do take the time to check out her website, as she covers a really wide range of topics, from corporate to weddings and even burlesque!
We took over the top floor of the Fired Earth studios in Adderbury, with our boxes, lights, and equipment. Luckily as it was Christmas week, and their sale had not yet started it was really quiet. A few customers who did wander up the stairs, were not at all worried that the lights were off, and we had some really positive feedback on the new ranges.
The Fired Earth colours complimented the new range perfectly, (or is it vice versa?), either way it was a match made in heaven.
We were done and dusted in a day, and we are thrilled with the results. Rachel was a real star and worked on the images over Christmas, enabling us to get them our first week back.
(We might of snuck away for a small break over Christmas, but I don't think anyone noticed!)
It's now full steam ahead with preparations for the Spring Fair at the NEC in February. Stand planning, price lists, invites, the list seems fairly endless, and as its the first time there is bound to be something we have forgotten. Plus I'm hoping to shoe horn in a days trip to Portugal to go through the sampling, and cover all the points required for the new production. So a busy start to 2010, but an exciting one too!

Delaying tactics

2009-12-17T12:30:00.000Z

Image via Wikipedia

I don't know if anyone else has this problem or maybe its just me - but when it comes to doing something I don't really enjoy, I manage to find 101 things to do instead.
I dread getting the Bank statement through the post, as it means I need to update the accounts, and tackle SAGE. I don't mind analysing sales, best sellers etc, but somehow just entering numbers doesn't do it for me, so I seem to find lots of other things to do - hence writing the blog now. Well I did need to update it!
We are not so much winding down for Christmas at the moment, as gearing ourselves up for a 2 day photoshoot next week. I went and met our new photographer on site yesterday just to check the layout and lighting levels, and to go through the shot options and styling. Then a quick trip round Sainsbury's to get some food props - if anyone had looked in my trolley they would think I had a strange diet of red onions, cherry tomatoes and garlic.
Luckily when it comes to the ceramics I have lots of prop options - from my time as Kitchenware buyer at Allders to Gift Buyer at Wedgwood - I've always had a penchant for nice ceramics. Add in a few cookbooks, pestle & mortar, and pepper grinder and we are good to go. Apart from the one vital ingredient; the new samples themselves.
It has been a frustrating week, rearranging dates, chasing Portugal for information, and now waiting on TNT to deliver the goods. A true Virgo, I like to be organised, and had started work on the new range months ago, but my attempts have been thwarted at every turn. The danger with no time between the samples arriving and the shoot itself means if they are not quite right there is nothing we can do.
Fortunately Rachel Spivey our photographer seems very organised, and judging by the shots on her online portfolio a great eye as well.
So another delaying tactic from the accounts at the moment is to keep checking the TNT site for delivery updates...........
Ok - I'll get on with the accounts, but I might just check the weather forecast first!

The Last Show of 2010

2009-12-10T09:31:00.000Z

Image by michaelallroy via Flickr

We have our last Christmas show this Friday - which is a big relief as they are such hard work. You have the day before sorting out the stock, signs etc, and then the show itself, followed by another day putting the stock away, adjusting the stock, and doing the banking. Also the day job still needs tackling - so after a month with no time off, the thought of a show free weekend seems very luxurious.
I do feel that we have had a more successful show season this year than last year. Obviously we were only just setting up last year, but monetary wise we have done better this year, although emerging from the recession may be a large part in this. I am pleased to say that we did learn from the mistakes we made a year ago. Finding the right environment to sell your product in is critical - a big clue last year was the number of times customers said, "we are surprised to see you here?". Often it was a very local craft fair and our not so crafty luxury items stood out a mile.
Snobby as it sounds, when selling table linen for fine dining,if the visitors to the fair are donning tracksuits, and want free samples, you know you are onto a loser before you start.
The other big difference is our mix has evolved - whereas a year ago we sold just the textiles, this time our wider range of pick up gifts have been the solution to a lot of customers present buying dilemma's.
Hearing customers say - this is the nicest stand here - (that was at the NEC!), was also a huge boost, as you feel you must be getting something right.
So we now are looking forward to 2010 - and revisiting our marketing plan. What worked, didn't work, which shows shall we do again, and which were frankly a waste of time. It is at times like this, I wish I had a crystal ball - knowing which ads will work, and which are a con, which shows will have a good footfall of the RIGHT type of customers. But as I said at the beginning, I am pleased that we have learnt from our mistakes, we are evolving, and feel that we are in an even stronger position to tackle 2010. Bring it on!

The Christmas Build Up

2009-12-02T15:46:00.000Z

You know Christmas is near when you start to hear those festive songs on the radio - I have to admit I am a sucker for the old Phil Spector tunes - I have a special Christmas mix on my ipod, that gets played over and over in the weeks pre Crimbo.
In my old days in retail, we used to get a new "tape" once a month, (I did say old days - for those younger readers it was like a CD, but sometimes it snapped and we were back to the previous months offering!). We used to look forward to our new tunes every month - but by the end of the month hearing the same 12 tunes every hour would cause the sanest person to grit their teeth.
Having just spent a week at The Good Food show I thought I would feel more Christmassy - but I think because it is such a large space you lose the intimacy and Christmas Spirit that you get at smaller markets - hence I'm actually looking forward to the Moreton On the Marsh Christmas Fair this Saturday. They are switching on their lights, and there will be mulled wine and Christmas gifts aplenty!
It has been great to get an instant reaction from all our leafleting at the Good Food Show last week - and we have already had a few follow up orders.
Alongside the Christmas build up we are also busy working on our new print range - which we are very excited about. Personally I love prints - they are a great way to inject life into any space. One of the designs has a real 50's / Lucienne Day feel, which I think makes a refreshing change from a market currently swamped with Cath Kidston florals.
As always though, getting the samples in time is causing a few sleepless nights - as it appears all retailers are placing repeat orders, and a smaller company like Ochre And Ocre can get bumped to the back of the queue. Not knowing if / when the samples are arriving also makes booking locations / photographers difficult... but as my friends keep telling me, "if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!".
I'll leave you with a few pics of our stand at the NEC - we had so many favourable comments about our display from customers, it was lovely to hear.

The big one!

2009-11-24T17:35:00.000Z

After weeks of build up - D Day finally arrived. Paul and I travelled up in two cars - pulled into the lorry park in amongst the white vans and lorries, and the feeling of being an imposter started to niggle...
We unloaded our collection of boxes(smart see through plastic), shelving, (Ikea ok not so posh), and carrier and bin bags, (ok maybe this is where I was really letting the side down).
All around us professional display companies were erecting purpose built stands for their customers. Meanwhile I was balancing on the stool to hang some pictures and branding, whilst Paul nipped to B & Q to get some chipboard, as we had miscalculated the dimensions!
Chipboard in place - table cloths draped, and table laid, we certainly had colour. We could have done with more space - but with the stand cost already giving me nightmares, we had to make do with what we had.
Opposite us the Jamie at Home team were sitting around chatting, as someone else had built their stand, but more promising was the forklift truck making its way to the Moet stand opposite.
From a distance we look like a real company - the proof as always will be in the sales!

Insider Secrets

2009-11-19T11:17:00.000Z

Image via Wikipedia

One of the best things about doing so many Christmas shows is that you get to do your Christmas shopping in work time - and you can get something unique, often handmade, and not available on the high street.
So I thought I ought to share a few more of the lovely stalls I have come across recently.
A surprise one I came across whilst at Upper Rissington last week was Herb Farmacy. I say surprise, as they are actually from my home area, and I never knew they were there when I was growing up in Herefordshire.
They had a really lovely range of Organic skin care, made using herbs they've grown on their farm in Eardisley. They all smell lovely - I may have purchased a few stocking fillers!
Again on an Organic theme, I met Plush chocolates at Ettington last week - they make delicious Fairtrade chocolates in Warwickshire.
Their website is not yet up and running - but one to keep an eye out for is Pandora Rose - beautiful flowing dresses - as my friends know I love a pretty dress!
Another site for pretty, and unique clothing is Linen Lawn. They had a stand at the Country Living show last week - Liberty esque prints in a soft cotton - and cute little blouses.
I met quite a few local businesses at Northleach over the weekend - I know I've mentioned Naked Soap before, but its well worth trying to catch up with them at a show, as they have some great Crimbo pressie ideas - the Epsom Bath salts smell divine.
The Cotswold Ice Cream Company may not be top of your shopping list - but ice cream does go beautifully with Christmas pud!
If you are looking for inspiration for the smaller people in your family - check out Keke Interiors.
With more shows still to do, I'm sure I'll come across a few more gems over the next few weeks - I'll keep you posted.

A Select Gathering

2009-11-10T12:59:00.009Z

It was a select gathering of stalls at last nights Christmas Shopping Evening, at The Red Lion, Stiffords Bridge, near Malvern.
It was the first time I had been in The Red Lion, and I was struck by what a welcoming feel the pub had; recently refurbished following the awful floods, it still had the character of a country pub.
Judging by the spread put on by Sally, the landlady, it is definately a pub worth trying out for their food. Sally has a loyal following amongst her regulars, many of whom turned up last night.
Ochre And Ocre were there with Elaine from Glass On Glass, and Jo Verity, of Jo Verity Designs. We were there for a fundraising shopping evening in aid of Breast Cancer Haven. There were some fabulous prizes in the prize draw, as well as a gift wrapping service, with all proceeds going to the charity.
Our Honey Hand Lotion and Beeswax Terracotta pots were the most popular buys - both really good value, and unique gift ideas.

Shows are hard work - aside from lugging boxes of textiles and shelving around, its hard on your feet standing for several hours, and trying to get that balance with customer service.
Despite having training years at Fosters Menswear years ago, for my very first job, straight out of uni and wet behind the ears; when it comes to selling your own product it is quite hard. Selling a man and outfit is relatively simple - you can be fairly certain if he's in the shop he is intending to buy, unlike women who will surf the high street for that elusive item, and are still likely to go home empty handed.
The other advantage selling to men is that they are usually grateful for any help or advice, so you just need to establish the budget, the event, and putting together an outfit was relatively simple.
I find fairs and shows with Ochre And Ocre a completely different matter - spare a thought for the stall holder next time they ask if you want any help...I've had some sneering, curt rebukes, and more often or not been completely ignored. Often you feel invisible stood behind your stall. Yes, the customer is always right, but we can make the shopping experience more interesting if we can explain the provenance of the item. I hate hard sell myself, so would never do it to anybody else, but I do like to hear about the maker of the product, or what it is made from.
So I am currently steeling myself for our next Christmas Fair - and how to sell our products in the best way possible. After every fair thinking how can I improve my display? Get the message across about the provenance of the product without bombarding with signage. And gritting my teeth for the sneerers!
Personally I love shopping at small gift fairs, because you can pick up really unique gifts, often direct from the designer / maker, and support other small businesses.
So next time you are wandering around a show, why not smile at the stall holders? You might even get a discount!

Day to Day

2009-10-30T09:18:00.003Z

In the world of Ochre And Ocre this week its been the normal day to day stuff - eg. you never know what each day will bring!
I spent a pleasant day stuffing the new stock of Lavender Bags, that arrived this week. My desk slowly disappeared under a mound of the sweet smelling bags. Tying neat bows is quite a time consuming process - but at least you can sit there with a glass of wine in the evening, and some music.
Having builders around again feels more normal - with my day punctuated with tea making - how they aren't all toothless I'll never know, they all have at least 2 or 3 sugars in their tea! It's been nice to see the garage go up at long last, it finally feels like the house is almost finished. They are doing a really tidy job as well - as its timber its going up a lot quicker than masonry.
I went to my local WIRE meeting yesterday, it's good to get out and network, and correspond on a one to one basis as opposed to email and Skype. It was a nice chance to catch up with Kim from Lavender Ladies, (who supplies the Lavender I used to stuff the bags), and Emma from The Naked Soap Co.
I was trying to talk to our agent over in Portugal the other evening over Skype, when the bulldog decided she would start barking, and rolling around on her back growling, then my husband came home and I had locked him out, so I had to pause the conversation to let him in the door! Other times I am trying to have conversations on the phone, and the bulldog starts snoring, loudly. To give you an idea of the volume she can reach, you can hear her several rooms away, on a different floor. I'm sure the person on the other end of the phone must wonder what on earth is happening in the office.
Prep is well underway for the Spring Fair at the NEC, pulling together customer enquiry forms, price lists, backdrop quotes etc. I know February will be here really quickly, and there is so much work to do before then.
I'm back training again this week, after injuring my hamstring at Free Fighting the previous week. My running is a bit lopsided, but its good to get those natural endorphins going again.
So as you can see a week of normality at Ochre And Ocre HQ!

Christmas Prep

2009-10-22T16:02:00.003+01:00

This week has been mostly in preparation for the forthcoming Christmas shows. It feels like the lull before the storm, starting with an intimate shopping evening that Jo Verity and Elaine, from Glass On Glass are organising. Ochre And Ocre were thrilled to be asked to join them, and it's for a really good cause, the Breast Cancer Haven. The WIRE team have been supportive as always, and have managed to squeeze an ad in for us in the next issue of the WIRE magazine.
There are another two fairs that week, over 5 days, so getting organised now is crucial.
Knowing how much stock is needed is a tricky one, and we've already had some sales on the new Venetien Red, its proving to be a really popular colour. I was overly cautious with the organic cotton table cloth stocks so I think I might get caught out on that one.
It was also accounts this week, which is always painful, the only nice thing is I get to catch up with my friend Amy, and her cute pup Darcey, (as seen with the new red pictures), as Amy is book keeper extraordinaire!
Believe it or not, preparation is already underway for the NEC Spring Fair, with several new ranges being planned. I will keep you posted on their progress.

POETS DAY

2009-10-16T14:44:00.003+01:00

Even though I now work from home, I still get that same old Friday feeling. Which is quite bizarre, as more often than not I work over the weekend as well. I suppose the difference is that on a Saturday or Sunday it is highly unlikely that you will get pestered by the phone, and I don't feel I have to be at the gym by 7am.
Since going self employed I've been very conscious about sticking to a set routine, if nothing else to stop myself from that slippery slope of watching daytime tv. So ok, I might go and put a load of washing in during the day, and take a break to hang it up, but what I don't get now is that hour lunch break, or a 10 min gossip about what everyone watched on tv last night. So even though I worked long hours at my old job, I probably have a more concentrated working time now, as I have fewer distractions.
Worryingly I now seem to know the delivery guys quite well - and the staff in the local post office, but it is nice to see more local people, than when you disappear at 6.30 in the morning, and get back at 7pm you don't really feel part of a community.
This week we have been finalising the last few Christmas shows - I will add prompts as we get closer. It becomes a real juggling act to work out logistically where you need to be and what to take, as every venue is different. Now we are a year older though, the Christmas Fairs certainly seem less daunting this time around, and we will hopefully be more organised when we turn up!
I spent a day, labelling and gift boxing our latest candle delivery yesterday. The new soy wax in the oval glass holder looks lovely - at £8 it makes a great gift that won't break the bank.
Our link up with APC has also been finalised this week, so the impending Royal Mail deliveries seem less daunting. Plus the postage rates are a lot better. So even though they were paid by the customer, it feel better that they are more cost effective.
So back to that Friday feeling - I still need to take pictures of our new candles, set up the new items on the system, and update the shipping information, so I won't be shutting down early. But I will probably be pouring myself a glass of vino at 5pm, and catching up with my friend Mary, as she does her Friday night commute, just like I used to in the old days when I had a proper job! That certainly feels better than my old hour and a half drive home!

Customer Service - the goodies and baddies!

2009-10-14T17:26:00.003+01:00

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Why is it some people do exactly what they say they are going to do, whilst other companies are absolutely useless. I've experienced at first hand this week both good and bad customer service.
Lets start with the baddies - as the owner of an online shop I like to support other online businesses, so with my other half's birthday approaching, a quick google and I came across Fur, Feather And Fin - www.furfeatherandfin.com - an outlet for sporting goods. I placed my order, easy to use site and waited, and waited, after a week I thought I had better chase it, as there was only 5 days to go before the birthday. I was told what I'd ordered was out of stock, (why they never thought to tell me??), offered me a replacement, and told it would be with me in 3 days time.
So again I waited - no news and unfortunately the birthday has come and gone - and still no present. I have had to resort to contacting them again, to be told it's being despatched tomorrow(heard that one before!), so we shall see.
(Note I am not actually saying what the item is, as it was / is supposed to be a surprise!)
On the goodies side, with the addition of our new hamper range, plus impending postal strike, I thought it prudent to get an alternative delivery service organised. The guy from APC came out to see me, went through the range, and with one simple form the account was set up - simples!!
I still intend to use Royal Mail for the smaller packages, but at least with a fall back of a courier, I can avoid disappointing customers if a strike happens.
The star baddy award though has to go to a building company - no surprise there I hear many of you cry! Roundwood Construction have got appalling customer service.
We booked a garage back in July, and were advised that it was 6 - 8 weeks delivery, so end of September for delivery. Yes, you've guessed it, the end of September has come and gone, the delivery date was revised to this week, and yesterday we were told that suddenly the wood is only just being cut, and it will be another two weeks before they come to erect the frame.
Once again, poor communication has really let a company down, and instead of telling us last week that there was not a cats chance that the garage would be here this week, they decided the head in the sand route was the better option! Will they redeem themselves?? I will keep you posted, but at the moment it looks like end of September delivery is really end of October....

Another photoshoot

2009-10-09T16:04:00.004+01:00

It was nice to catch up with David & Pat again yesterday - as they came back to shoot my bathrooms. It's always interesting to see your home through someone else's eyes, and in the top floor bathroom they had decided to introduce a shot of peacock blue - the starting point was a very pretty pair of wooden sandles I had bought on a trip to the market in Vietnam, hand painted with sparkly bits. Rarely worn, but they look gorgeous - having wooden soles they make a bit of a din when you walk around!!
I had added a few of my blue glass pieces I used to collect - along with some perfume bottles, and flowers in the lovely Linda Bloomfield jug. Plus of course our zesty honey hand wash and hand lotion, and soy wax candles. Emma from The Naked Soap company had sent along some of her gorgeous soaps - (they smell divine), and suddenly the bathroom looked very different.
The worst bit is always having to pose for the pictures - there are only so many ways you can pretend to be folding a towel, as if it was normal behaviour!
David now has to edit / photoshop and generally work his magic, whilst Pat puts together a synopsis to entice the mags onboard. I will keep you posted as to when and where the article will appear.

Autumn Leaves

2009-10-05T17:19:00.005+01:00

I love this time of year - its that half light and beautiful Autumnal trees that makes you want to get outside for a long walk, wrapped up in a warm coat.
Ok, it was partly an excuse to get outside for half an hour - I popped over to Compton Verney this afternoon, to pick up some of the lovely Autumn leaves. They compliment our Ochre textiles so well - I just had to get my camera out, and do a few pics. Our beeswax candles have been doing so well recently, I thought it would help give people ideas how they could "decorate" them for their dining tables.
It does also feel like you are on a bit of a countdown to Christmas from here on in -especially as I need to start fine tuning the Christmas gift guide and newsletter.
I hope the Riverford Organic offer on the October newsletter has spurred a few of you on to try one of their veg boxes - it will certainly make for more adventurous menus!
I'm meeting up with the lovely Kim from Lavender Ladies later in the week - our new Lavender bags have arrived in the lush Rouge Venetien, so I'm going to pick up the stuffing!! It will be a nice fragrant job filling the Lavender Bags.

Shows and stuff

2009-09-30T10:08:00.005+01:00

Ochre & Ocre were at the Stratford Food Festival for 3 days over the weekend. It is always interesting to get first hand reactions to new additions to our ranges. The Honey Handwash and hand lotion were really well received, and several people who wandered off rubbing some of the tester into their hands, came back to purchase.
Our new hampers also got a great reaction, and a few local businesses who normally send M&S hampers to their clients were pleased to find a local alternative.
Unfortunately the new Venetien Red did not make it in time, but a lot of people were thinking about Christmas already. Our Christmas gift ideas leaflet proved very popular.
Our Organic Linen Table linen drew a great response - as when you get to see and feel the quality peope really appreciate just how beautiful it is.
As always at shows you get to meet lots of interesting characters, as well as networking with other small businesses. We were opposite French Flavour - who had a lovely range of smoked garlic, sparkling cider and wines amongst other items. Look out for future collaborations on our newsletters.
We have a bit of a break from shows for a few weeks now before we get into the silly Christmas show season, with lots of charity fairs, as well as the big Good Food Show in November at the NEC.

Stratford Food Festival

2009-09-21T16:08:00.003+01:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

It's prep time again this week for our next show - The Stratford Food Festival which is taking place in the heart of Stratford Upon Avon. On for 3 days - Fri / Sat / Sun, from 9 - 5.30, it promises to be a great show.
I spent a few hours this morning making up new hampers ready, as well as some of our new mini hampers. Our beeswax pots look like lovely egg yolks when they are nestling in the wood straw. The wood straw is a bit lethal though, as you do tend to get a few bits digging into your fingers when you try to rip it from the bale. Gert has got very intolerant of me doing anything other than sitting at my desk, and leaves the office in a huff as soon as I start rustling. Needless to say she was not a fan of the hairdryer when I was shrink wrapping the cellophane.
After our mini eco break at The Scarlet last week, my session with Sharon at BFFA I know is not going to be easy this week - it's not that I've been taking it easy - shovelling gravel does wonders for your abs and biceps, but I know I am woefully unprepared for my forms.
As you know I like to share any online gems I come across, and I was very impressed by the service I got recently from The Big Plant Nursery, in West Sussex. I was after 3 architecturally shaped plants, (I don't do names!), so I picked out a few I liked the look of on their website. The exact ones I chose were not in stock at the time, but they quickly sent me pics of the exact plants they could send me, complete with model(ok the bloke who had dug them up!). They arrived within a few days, and they've even managed to survive my adhoc plant care!
So check out their website if you ever need instant gardening: www.bigplantnursery.co.uk

Scarlet Hotel

2009-09-16T16:57:00.008+01:00

I was very fortunate this weekend to be whisked away to Cornwall for a very special Birthday treat - a 3 night stay in the super eco luxe Scarlet Hotel.
The Scarlet is brand new - it opened its doors this September, and I would urge you all to try and book in a visit while they have their amazing 50% opening offer on.
The architecture was gorgeous - mellowing copper, natural wood, and slate, and glittering mosaics in the bathrooms, bold wallpaper prints on feature walls - and views to die for.
The hotel is perched on the edge of the bay at Mawgan Porth - and from almost every aspect you get amazing sea views. We were lucky we also managed to get one of the rare weekends in the UK that was sunny, and on my birthday we even managed to lounge by the side of the open air pool, and grab some rays. I did not brave the water, which judging by most peoples reactions seemed to be sub zero - but I did have a quiet pootle in the indoor pool, which is heated by solar panels.
The Scarlets eco credentials are excellent - but you don't feel like you are in a hair shirt kind of place, because so much attention has gone into the design.
The electricity supply is from Ecotricity, and is 100% wind generated. Grey water is harvested to flush the loos, and there is a heat exchange ventilation system, whilst the heating itself comes from a biomass boiler fed by wood chips.
It is well worth the climb up the opposite cliff just to gaze back at the hotel which has been built quite low into the hillside.
The food was also excellent - with loads of fish choices which you would expect by the sea, but also so very yummy vegetarian options. The staff were very laid back, but in a nice way, so you felt like you could curl your feet up under you on one of the cosy sofas in the library.
The only disappointment was the table linen they had chosen was of the laundry style, bog standard white damask, with so much attention to detail elsewhere with the Organic Luma bedding, and local Cornwall Soap Box soap, it was a shame they had not gone all the way with the eco sourcing.
We also popped over to Jamie Olivers Fifteen restaurant, which was only 10 minutes away at Watergate Bay. Again we were very fortunate to have one of the best sunsets that the locals had seen for a while - (you could tell because even the waiters and waitresses were stopping to look at the sunset).
It was one of the nicest meals I've had in ages, and we also had one of my favourite Sicilian Organic wines, which you rarely see in the UK. The quality of the ingredients was excellent - where they could get a good local supply the food was local, but the olive oil and buffalo mozzarella were from Italy and tasted so fresh.
It was certainly a birthday to remember, and although it was only 3 days we felt like we had been away longer.

New Season

2009-09-11T16:10:00.003+01:00

I love this time of year - it has that feeling of back to school without all the angst of starting a new term! The best bit about turning towards Autumn is that you get to cover up, with opaque tights and snug knitwear - and obviously update your wardrobe with a few key new pieces.
I've just received an email with Ascension's new Autumn look book - and I'm loving their new range. They have some really great strong colours and stylish prints, and are proving that being green does not mean sack cloth and beige! Formerly Adili, the online eco chic store works with small ethical producers, and has produced some really strong pieces. Their homewares range needs some love and attention, and lacks the attention to detail the fashion ranges have received.
We have been slowly adding our new Autumn ranges - the new Venetien Red Table linen is being made as I write, and will be online by the end of September!
The new Ochre And Ocre British leather range is now in, the perfect way to update your dinner table this Autumn.

Indian Summer

2009-09-08T08:02:00.005+01:00

Image by Joriel "Joz" Jimenez via Flickr

Will we, won't we?? Everywhere I go, people gather to talk excitedly about....wait for it...the weather??? Ok, I know summer wasn't quite what was promised, but the excitement that a few days sun shine provokes is quite amazing.
I'm very pleased about the weather for a different reason, as it means that the brickies can crack on with the walls at the front of the house. I'm looking forward to the day, when instead of the battle of the Somme, I have a nice landscaped view!
I had a quick trip to the Autumn Gift Fair in Birmingham yesterday, mainly to see Nicola Wilkes, from Wales At Home give a presentation on trends for the next season. She did a really good presentation, and managed to keep going despite tannoy interruptions, and even a nearby stand collapsing. (Apparently some poor soul was trapped under the stand and knocked unconscious - mental note to self to check Ochre And Ocre's stand for the Good Food Show at the NEC is well secured!).
I had a quick whizz around, and caught up with some of our suppliers, and it was a chance to see what was new.
I had to rush back to take the estate agents, "show over" lady around the house, so she can take prospective buyers around. It is quite a strange situation, as you are selling your house, but when you walk around with someone pointing out all the nice bits, you do start to wonder, why I am moving again!
It is my 4th session at BFFA this morning - I find it is a really good way to switch off from everything and just focus for an hour on remembering the forms and just trying to breathe!

1 Year Old today!

2009-09-01T08:59:00.005+01:00

Yey - we've made it!! Ochre & Ocre are officially 1 year old today! I have to admit there were several times when I didn't think we would make it this far - and its been a difficult time to start a business. But I've learnt so much more in the last year, far more than I would have learnt if I had stayed at Next.
So its only right I say a little thank you to a few people who have been really supportive and helped Ochre & Ocre get this far; Phillippe Oligario and team from Blue Earth Solutions, for putting up with my constant questions, additions to the site. (Thanks for adding the GWG guide banner this weekend!). Having a "shop" that not only looks good but that works is vital for an online business.
A big thank you has to go to Lindsey Joyce - graphic designer extraordinaire - she put together the look for the logo, and all our packaging, and has been a huge support. She also is quite good at telling me off if I don't follow her strict design rules!!
Obviously our suppliers have been a huge support, Adriano and Pedro in Portugal, for delivering a fantastic quality product. Doug for his lovely beeswax candles, and Kim for the amazing lavender. Plus many others....thank you to you all!
Finally a massive thank you has to go to my hubbie - Paul, as he has supported me both emotionally and financially on this venture - and we used to wonder what we did in our spare time. Now those long evenings fly by when we are making swatch cards!
But enough of the Oscar speech - we've still got a long way to go, and a lot more hard work ahead of us - onwards and upwards!!

New Goodies

2009-08-28T16:08:00.004+01:00

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

2009-08-24T12:55:00.003+01:00

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

2009-08-18T15:41:00.004+01:00

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!

2009-08-17T17:18:00.003+01:00

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

2009-08-12T19:04:00.005+01:00

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!

2009-08-07T12:12:00.005+01:00

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....

2009-08-04T08:16:00.003+01:00

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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!

No Pain, No Gain

2009-07-28T12:24:00.004+01:00

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This is going to hurt...I know if my legs are starting to ache now, only an hour after my first session, tomorrow is going to be really bad!
It was of course my first personal training session, with the very bouncy Sharon, from the BFFA team, in Bromsgrove. I had been feeling like my daily routine of gym sessions were getting mundane, and whilst they provide good thinking time, I still wasn't really switching off from Ochre & Ocre. So I bit the bullet and booked in with Sharon. Although they are essentially Martial Arts instructors, a lot of the techniques and moves can be used to improve your general fitness, posture etc, without the need for bruise inducing combat. Sharon is the better half of Andy Hopwood, a name you might well be hearing more of on your tv screens soon, I will keep you posted. Sharon as well as teaching at BFFA in Bromsgrove, has written childrens books, and is looking for a literary agent for her adult book, so another name to watch out for!
However, that doesn't mean I won't be tempted to practice a few moves on my other half - after all it was whilst I was practicing my Jiu Jitsu on my housemates at Uni, that we got together.
You certainly have to concentrate - and at least for one hour the world of Ochre & Ocre seemed far away! And its great fun learning to throw proper punches and kick.
It's now back to reality, and the day job. The beekeeper dropped off the new terracotta pots filled with beeswax yesterday, so I just need the right light to try to get some pics done. The hand wash and hand lotion are ready and waiting for their labels - I finally found a great supplier called Borble, who can do a really nice laminated label that will be waterproof.
I just now need to see if I can move from this chair - but it is very comfy....maybe I'll just stay here a bit!

Mini hand lotion production line

2009-07-21T13:36:00.003+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

The last 2 days have been spent filling bottles with the honey hand wash and hand lotion. We quickly learnt that a funnel was needed, when on the first pour the hand lotion overflowed, and that it can get quite slippy if you spill any hand wash. But I did find that they both smell really fresh and zingy, and the smell lingers afterwards.
There will be a delay before they can go on sale, as we are having label issues - namely the super polyester waterproof labels that are supposedly suitable for Ink jet printers, actually melt in the machine, and jam up the printer. Therefore we are having to go further afield than our local printer, and are struggling to find someone who can print onto them.
The company we bought the labels from were very unhelpful, and basically didn't want to know about it - so we may have ended up with two boxes of polyester labels that we can't use.
Some good news is that the whole PCI DSS mystery seems to be getting resolved. It is a new compliance scheme that all retail websites must pass by September, but the information is written by computer geeks. Fortunately, once again Philippe and his team at Blue Earth Solutions were able to help, so fingers crossed we pass the IP scan tomorrow.

Lunch At Baileys

2009-07-15T15:17:00.003+01:00

Today was one of those days where it felt great to be self employed, as I got to meet Nicky, from Wales at Home for lunch at Baileys. For those of you who don't know Baileys, I would thoroughly recommend a visit. They are based just outside Ross On Wye, and have the most wonderful eclectic collection of home and garden "things!". From beautiful kitchen pots and dishes, vintage lights, and some very lovely galvanised kitchen stools, that I love, but don't have anywhere to put, it is a real home emporium. I managed to get away with buying two candles and some pencils - but I could easily have spent more.
It was also lovely to catch up with Nicky, as we "chat" by email a lot, but seldom meet up. Nicky wears many hats, from interior stylist, to journalist, as well as being the owner of the very stylish Wales At Home website. She also guest blogs on a number of other sites including My Deco. The ironic thing is that although we are both self employed, we rarely get the chance to go out for lunch, so it felt like a real treat.

Lavender

2009-07-13T17:25:00.006+01:00

Today we have been photographing our latest addition to the Ochre & Ocre range; Wedding Favours. Cute little terracotta pots filled with baby lavender plants. They make a great eco friendly wedding favour, as well as all the symbolism that goes with lavender. (In the language of flowers, lavender stands for love, devotion and loyalty).
We set up in Lavender Lady Kim's lovely garden, whilst ominous black clouds gathered. Luckily we managed to avoid the worst of the weather, and got some nice pics, in a pretty setting. Kim's chocolate labrador was unsuccessful in eating the props - but did do several fly pasts to see what he could snuffle!
We even managed to enjoy a quick lunch outside, and tucked into Kim's lovely Lavender sponge.
Keep an eye out on our website for our latest addition.

More Press Coverage

2009-07-10T14:16:00.007+01:00

Our cut flowers are certainly getting lots of attention, as they have now appeared on the Wales At Home website, under the coolly titled article, "Eco Flower Power". Those of you who haven't yet signed up for the sites weekly newsletter are missing out, as not only are there lots of great articles on interior design, you can also get special offers and discounts on lots of high street and more exclusive interior Homeware stores.
The Sheerluxe conference was really interesting, and I met some other lovely online retailers, so it was great to swap stories and pick up tips. The only problem is I came away with so many ideas, its hard to know what to do first.
Those of you wondering how Paul got on with his BFFA Dan grading, will be pleased to hear he passed, but I am even more pleased as it means we can now get on with finishing the house! We are going to look round two properties tomorrow, which look interesting, so I will keep you posted.

Sheer Luxe Conference

2009-07-07T16:52:00.008+01:00

I am very excited to be attending the SheerLuxe conference this week, in Fulham. Titled "Gearing up for Christmas", it is aimed at online businesses, and covers a wide range of topics from some top industry pundits. I'm hoping to pick up some tips, as well as do some essential networking. There is a really interesting mix of people attending, from fashion companies, to homewares and food.

We have had more press coverage this month for our Cut Flower Bouquets. In the Western Mail Home section, our bouquets were recommended by Design Guru, Nicola Wilkes, as the answer to eco friendly and stylish flowers. Nicola runs a great interiors website, with large and small companies, as well as design advice, and news on the latest trends. go to www.WalesAtHome.co.uk to see more.
We have also been selected as Editors choice in the Gloucestershire Preview, summer edition, for our handcrafted wooden napkin rings.

I've had a preview of our house pictures, that David Giles took a few weeks ago, and they look fantastic. Our house looks so big and light, fingers crossed a magazine is interested. I also managed to get a few tips off David regarding photography, which I will put to the test next week, when, hopefully weather permitting I will be doing some wedding pictures in Kim's garden. Kim has a gorgeous garden, as you would expect from someone who sells lavender plants for a living. Check out her website, she has over 60 different varieties of lavender!

Press Coverage for Ochre & Ocre

2009-07-03T14:56:00.006+01:00

Image by pixelized via Flickr

It is great that our new additions to the Ochre & Ocre range are getting some press coverage:
our lovely British cut flowers have made the press again this week - this time in the fun online magazine Daisy Green. Our Handcrafted Gifts range is also featured in this months Gloucestershire Preview.

No shows this weekend - but Paul has his Dan grading on Sunday, with the BFFA, (British Free Fighting Association), so we will be holding our breath until that is over!
I have threatened to turn up with Gert dressed as a cheerleader, but he was not very impressed - I don't know why, I thought she would look very cute in a ra ra skirt!

Sunshine!

2009-06-30T15:58:00.005+01:00

After a lovely relaxing weekend, its life back to normal at Ochre And Ocre. The empty hamper boxes arrived last week, so I am spending this week planning the perfect Christmas Hampers, calculating the costings, and writing the text. After years of working as a buyer, you would think I would be used to working a season or two in advance, but it does seem particularly surreal at the moment, given the gorgeous weather.
I've finally relented, and dragged my laptop with extension cable outside, along with the bulldog and her box. It is baking hot, the screen isn't that clear, but at least I can enjoy the weather, without feeling guilty!
The labels for our new hand wash and hand lotion are also nearly ready, so I will need to start bottling soon!
As you know I like to share my secrets with you when it comes to great online companies, and I have just come across a lovely website called; Sage, inspired by life. The site has a great mix of unique gifts and things you would want to buy for yourself, mainly sourced within the UK. I love their quirky "knitted" porcelain pots, as pictured above, as my friends know too well, I love nice ceramics, but that's because you can take a girl out of Wedgwood, but you can't take Wedgwood out of the girl!

Chilling Out

2009-06-26T15:20:00.004+01:00

Image by ianmalcm via Flickr

I am really looking forward to this weekend! The last three have been tied up with Ochre & Ocre, from photoshoots to shows, life certainly hasn't been boring. But this weekend is my annual get together with three of my closest girlfriends. Glenys I've known from my pre school years, as we grew up on the same lane! Amy and Mary were best friends from school, and we've kept in touch ever since.
It is an annual event, and over the past few years we've got together once a year at a nice hotel in different places from the Cotswolds, to Dublin. But like everyone else we are tightening our belts and having our weekend at home, budget style!
We are having a few luxuries though - I am soooo looking forward to the Aveda treatment at Halcyon Beauty in Leamington Spa. It is a lovely little salon, run by two friends - it is intimate, relaxing and always welcoming. We are then going to be ladies who lunch somewhere in Leamington Spa, then returning here for a few glasses of vino, some simple Italian food, (with the finest table linens of course!), and some very cool chick flicks. The only issue is which one will we watch first: Dirty Dancing / My Best Friends Wedding / Bridget Jones.....

The Future of Retail

2009-06-24T15:03:00.004+01:00

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Not sure if any of you watched the Money Programme last night with Mary Portas - you still have chance to catch it on iplayer.

For the past ten years, the British have shopped till they dropped. Now recession is threatening the nation's favourite pastime, and one of its biggest industries. It is the latest blow for many of Britain's beleaguered high streets.

Retail guru Mary Portas tried to discover why boom towns are becoming bust towns, and what can be done to stop the extraordinary number of shop closures around Britain. Can anything be done to keep tills ringing and high streets alive?

It was interesting if slightly depressing programme for someone involved in retail,as even the die hard shopaholic was cutting back on her spending.
You wonder what will happen to our High Streets - and closer to home for me - will sales start to pick up on online with our Organic and Natural Homewares?
For shops on a high street you can put on special events - pamper your customers and give them good sales advice. For a website based company, although you have the advantage of being open 24/7 - and no rent, you are relying on people finding your site online.

It has got me thinking about what is unique about our product range - and certainly from listening to 100's of potential customers at the shows over the last few weeks one of our key strengths is that we do good quality table cloths in XL sizes. (Our 230 x 350 cloth is huge!).
The other thing everyone said alot was how good the make up and fabric quality was -but that is a hard claim to make online when nobody can see your products. How I get this message across will be one of our biggest challenges.

I'm interested to know what you think?

Cheltenham Food festival

2009-06-23T09:13:00.006+01:00

Life is slowly getting back to normal, after we spent 3 days over the weekend at the Cheltenham Food Festival, with Ochre & Ocre.
We had a really great reaction to our new Organic Italian Linen range, with people really understanding the beautiful finish.
It was a really nice show, and the other exhibitors were very friendly. Our friends from Riverford Organics were there with their great value, organic veg boxes. Whilst chatting with Marc, I sampled their Italian Organic white wine, and fresh strawberries, which were yummy.
It always suprises me how much work there is after a show - it took me several hours yesterday to pack away the stock and all our shelving etc. I also had to wash and iron all the display stock, as we were quite close to crepes stand, so everything had a foody smell about it!
Our new honey handwash and hand lotion is ready to go - I just need to pull together the labelling information. The organic essential oils smell divine, with fresh lemon, basil and bergamot.

Local Acclaim!

2009-06-19T09:48:00.004+01:00

A quick post today, as we are off to the Cheltenham Food Festival.
Our plans for a mellow day setting up te stand, and then exploring Cheltenham went awry yesterday, when my beloved Mac decided to crash and I lost all my emails. A panicked call to the Apple helpline made the situation worse, when I was told to delete all the history, on the premise it would come back - it didn't.
I had to leave it whilst we went to set up - and then turned to my favourite computers expert Phillippe, from Blue Earth Solutions. I realised after chatting to him, I had neglected my housework, and managed to sink my mailbox by keeping all the large graphic files. A hard and stressful lesson to learn!
One good point yesterday was that we made the local rag - a very cheesy picture of Paul & I on the stand at The Good Food show appeared in yesterdays edition. Check out the pdf on our news section on the Ochre & Ocre website to see more.

Sitting Down!

2009-06-17T13:52:00.003+01:00

After five days at the NEC - catching up in the office today is a welcome respite for my legs!
We had a great show - after the initial hiccup of a poorly located stand.
We moved the stand from The Countryfile area to a great spot next to Debbie and Andrews sausages! Unfortunately Paul was at a meeting Thursday night, so I had to set up the stand again by myself, although Darren, and a few of his friends from the show organisers office did help me to carry the stock over.
The new location was not great for our waistlines, (yummy sausage sandwiches for breakfast), but it did mean we had a constant flow of customers, and we handed out over 500 leaflets. My lovely friend Kim, from Lavender Ladies helped me on the Thursday and Friday, so it gave us time to talk about our new project as well. (Watch this space, more info coming soon!).
We did a bit of star spotting as well - James Martin wandered by several times, as well as Adam from Countryfile, and John Craven!
We had been warned that breaking down and getting out on the Sunday night was manic, so we had a great plan to drag all of our stand and stock to the car park, rather than queuing to get into the back door. We looked more like travelling gypsies, as we left the show - with everything piled high on our trolley - but it did mean we were home by 8.30pm Sunday night, which was a big bonus.
Adriano, our lovely Portugese supplier came to stay on Monday, and we had an interesting visit to John Lewis, where he could see a lot of his ranges being sold. We took him to a local pub on the Monday night, which was quite amusing, as it has been run by a Portugese family since 1972! Adriano had been in the UK for over a week, so it was a nice break for him to be able to chat to the staff in his own language.
One day to catch up in the office, and then we are off to Cheltenham tomorrow to set up for The Food Festival. I am looking forward to it, as it is only 3 days, and after the NEC, it will seem like a breeze!

Set up & raring to go!

2009-06-09T17:22:00.014+01:00

Phew! We certainly were not going to fit anything else in the car this morning - it was full to the brim!
As you can see from the pics above, we are now set up ready for the Good food show which starts tomorrow. At the end of last week they had sold 78k tickets, so the expected amount is 115k people.
We have a great location on a corner between the Food Theatre stage and The Country File stage, just opposite one of the cafes.
Wish us luck!

Sunday Afternnon Photoshoot

2009-06-08T15:14:00.005+01:00

Paul & I had an unusual afternoon on Sunday doing a spot of modelling for the photoshoot of our house. Although as usual Gert was the star turn, when she could be bothered to drag herself from her box.
I had laid the table with or Organic Ochre & Ocre table linen, as well as some jugs of our Herefordshire Homegrown flowers in the different rooms.
We were lucky with the weather and the rain held off so we were able to grab some pictures outside.
The photographer was David Giles, who has done loads of interesting interior pieces, check out his website. Pat Garratt was the stylist / free lance journalist, who had first made contact with me at The Country Living Fair last March.
Paul & I have built the house in the back garden of an old cottage, that we had bought at auction a few years ago. When we bought the plot it already had planning permission - so we were able to get going quite quickly with some small amends. I was actually in Hong Kong at the time of the auction. I remember sitting in my room, watching HK harbour at about 3 in the morning, nervously waiting for the phonecall from Paul to find out where we were going to live next! He was bidding on 2 plots that evening, so it was a really nail biting time waiting to see which one, (if any!), we got.
We moved in last August, after just over a year building it - still work to be done at the front, but it is a lovely home.
Fingers crossed they are able to sell our house and story to a magazine in the near future - we will keep you posted.
Don't forget to come and see us at The Good food show if you are at the NEC this week!

Dressing Up

2009-06-06T14:02:00.005+01:00

I suddenly realised yesterday I'd better find something appropriate to wear for the photoshoot tomorrow - so did a quick scout around my favourite websites at lunchtime, and came across a really nice range by Caro.
Described as dressing up for winding down, the edited range has some nicely cut pieces, with simple wood block prints. The ethics behind the company aren't bad either.
Working with a small factory in India, Caro has been able to build a good relationship with her team of tailors and has been keen to make sure that good working conditions are maintained. On the ground floor, a breakfast and after school club exists for local children and is funded through charitable donations. The workforce in this unit has grown as Caro has become more established and the small business has provided more employment opportunities in the area.
It is small businesses like this, that have more chance of changing peoples lives, than larger firms, who work with the bigger factories.
Anyway don't just take my word for it, check out their website, www.carolondon.co.uk

Travel Blog - Mr & Mrs Smith Boutique & Luxury Hotels

2009-06-05T08:43:00.001+01:00

Travel Blog - Mr & Mrs Smith Boutique & Luxury Hotels

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Yet another photoshoot!

2009-06-04T11:19:00.004+01:00

It's strange how things always seem to happen at once. I've spent the last few days trying to finish off the tickets and point of sale for the Good Food show next week.
Marc from Riverford Organics dropped me a note Tuesday night to say that they want to go ahead with the link up with their veg boxes, both in Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, which is fantastic news. I had a late night designing the leaflet we are going to use, so that Riverford can approve it.
Another call yesterday from a freelance journalist, who had come to see our house a few months ago -to possibly feature in a home mag, and she wanted to bring a photographer here on Tuesday.
Unfortunately that is our day to set up at the NEC, so we've agreed that they will come here Sunday instead.
I know my friends will say I have Monica like tendencies most of the time anyway - (I am a Virgo after all!), but even I know it is slightly crazy to iron pillowcases. I've been up since 6 this morning, cleaning windows, the oven,washing the floors...... and I've still got the garden to tackle! Plus organise the stock ready for the show - I just hope the new Organic Linen range gets here in time, now I that I have sent the press releases out!
We've had a lot of interest already for our Homegrown flowers, and were featured on Sheerluxe, Buy it today, as well as the Little Green Blog.
Fingers crossed the weather stays sunny for Sunday....

The Perfect Photoshoot

2009-06-01T16:28:00.008+01:00

We had a brilliant time doing the pics last week, and the weather was glorious. Being Wales it was still windy, so we had to use strategically placed objects to weight the cloths down, to stop them blowing away.
I picked the flowers up from Charlie on Thursday morning, and headed straight to Peter's studio so we could do some inside pics. Peter (Joyce), is a professional photographer, I was lucky to have him photograph my wedding. I have know his daughter Glenys since primary school, so it is lovely to still be in touch.
After doing our inside pics, Paul & I headed up to Hay Bluff to do some scenic pics. Hay Festival was on, so Hay itself was quite busy. We certainly got some strange looks from the passing walkers up on the hill! We also did quite a few pics around my parents farm, it's funny how you view your home differently when you are trying to shoot product.
The new Organic Linen range does look fab - it has a really nice handle and drape, and the small stitching detail makes it quite special. It is always a relief when you see the finished samples and they are what you were hoping for! They worked really well combined with the Organic Cotton colours. I'm just waiting for the main delivery, then it will be available to order on the site.
We took the "props" with us to Aberaeron, and managed to get some nice shots overlooking Mwnt Beach.
After all the hardwork of the photoshoot we made the most of our weekend at The Harbourmaster. As always the staff there were really friendly, and the food excellent. We had the old Harbourmaster's room on the very top floor, with a dual aspect over the coast and the harbour. With the sound of the waves and the cooling sea breeze it was the perfect end to a busy week.
The flowers are now available to order online!!

It's Raining

2009-05-27T10:37:00.004+01:00

The weather for a Bank Holiday weekend was lovely - it was the first time we have actually sat and enjoyed the garden, since we moved in last August. If the BBC weather people have got it right, the rain today should be a blip, and we will have sunshine tomorrow.
I am picking the flowers up from Charlie, first thing in the morning, and then heading over to see Peter to get some pics done. They are going live on the site at the end of next week.
The new Italian organic linen range also turned up yesterday, so we are all ready to go!
We have already had a great reaction to our recycled placemat and coaster range, and I only loaded them onto the system on Friday!
Our new organic honey handwash and handcream have passed all the tests so far, so we should have those live on the site in 6-8 weeks time, just the packaging and label design to sort out. Luckily with talented friends like Lindsey Joyce on the case, I know they will look the bees knees!!(No pun intended!).
I will be posting updates on the photoshoot next week - pop back to get a sneal preview!

Will It Rain Won't it...

2009-05-20T16:05:00.004+01:00

This week has been all about sorting out what I need to take with me to Wales next week, to carry out the photo shoot for the new British cut flowers and Italian Organic Linen range.
The Italian Linen samples are turning up worryingly late, they are currently still unmade, in Portugal somewhere. Therefore my shoot planning has involved an awful lot of imagination!
The plan is to do some inside in the studio - that will at least mean that we get the flower pics done ready for the new promotional leaflet to hand out at the Good Food show. I want to combine the flowers with the new linen, so that I can get the maximum benefit out of the pics.
I'm also partly hijacking our summer break next weekend, as I have several locations on our drive over to Aberaeron, where in my minds eye I see the perfect image.
I am probably hoping too much to go to Wales, and have a few rain free days to do pics, but I have started to pack up every possible combination of plate, bowl, glass, and candlestick in the hope that the sun will shine!
Because we had a weekend in Sweden dog sledding earlier in the year - our normal summer trip abroad has been downsized to 3 days in Wales. But we are staying at the lovely Harbourmaster hotel, right on the harbour front in Aberaeron. You may have seen it feature in the recent visit Wales adverts.
We have stayed there before, and Paul can't get enough of the sea views from the room. The food is also pretty good, with lots of local fresh produce.
I'd better get on with my packing - now should I take the kitchen sink....?

Ladies Who Lunch!

2009-05-15T13:49:00.010+01:00

I knew there had to be a perk to owning your own company- and there is! I can waltz out of the office to go and meet a friend for lunch, and not have to explain it to anybody!
I popped over to Broadway yesterday, to meet Jo Verity. She had just finished another batch of those gorgeous beaded napkin rings for Ochre & Ocre.
Jo started her business the same year as Ochre & Ocre, and we met through a networking group called WIRE. (Women In Rural Enterprise)
Her jewellery has had a great response, (piccies attached), I think mainly because it is so different. So many "hand made" jewellery companies buy in all their beads and just thread them onto a ready made chain, what makes Jo's so different is that she rolls her own paper beads, and then combines these with glass, stones and bone, to give a really unique look.
What is even more exciting is that Jo is expanding into new areas - excited up by the response to her napkin rings, she is developing some other "interior" products, made with her paper beads.
From curtain tie backs, to light pulls, to lamp shades, she has so many great new ideas.
Jo and I had a great lunch, discussing our new plans, and bouncing ideas off one another. It is really great to share ideas and work with other small businesses to try to help each other.
Just to prove it wasn't all play and no work, pic also attached of Jo with her trusty notebook which she takes everywhere with her!
Why not check out her site if you like jewellery that is a bit more unique, and each piece a one off. go to: www.Joveritydesigns.com

Natural Collection Handpicked Flowers

2009-05-13T16:31:00.003+01:00

I've just received the new label designs for our new hand picked flowers and they look amazing - the hardest thing is trying to choose which colour.....
British naturally grown cut flowers seems to be a really hot topic at the moment, and when you stop to think about it, it does make sense. As with food we've got used to having lilies and delphiniums in March, or dahlias in May, when really, as with seasonal eating, if we go back to how nature intended it, you start to have something to look forward to each month - a bit like Asparagus season!
The other benefit is that homegrown flowers, tend to be the more traditional varieties, and have a stronger scent. If more people grow their own flowers it will also benefit the poor bee population.
I also have a personal reason for being quite proud of this new range, and that's because of where they are grown, on the hillside slopes overlooking the River Wye, just a few miles from where I was born.
I will be going back home to do the pictures in a few weeks time - keep an eye out as I will post a few pics of our photoshoot on this blog!

Online Shopping

2009-05-10T17:18:00.002+01:00

The trouble with this self employed lark is that it is very hard to not think about Ochre And Ocre / Switch off and generally have some down time - hence its Sunday afternoon, and I'm updating this blog!
It may also due to the fact that my husband, is away this weekend, following yet another of his "mid life crises"! This weekend it is navigating at a speedboat race somewhere in North Wales. Ok - I could have gone to watch, but I'm still scarred by memories of freezing to death at Liverpool docks - husband nowhere in site, as he's hanging around with his other mistress somewhere, (caressing her prop that kind of thing!!). I know its good to have hobbies, the fact that his other hobby is beating people up, (well ok self defence, aka free fighting), he always seems to be coming home with some injury or other! Apparently it is a cut hand this weekend....
So what's a girl to do? I need to get my own hobby - apart from trawling the net for inspiration for hours / aka shopping online...
Now the need for me to learn french has passed - I'm keen to pick up my Italian again - although I seemed to pick it up best whilst bombing up and down the M1 to work, at 90mph.
Or I could do dressmaking again - I did a quick costing exercise yesterday, (occupational habit), and worked out I would be better buying the dress I love at Boden rather than making it! Fabric is so expensive - I do have some Ochre fabric left from making curtains, but I don't really want to look like a well upholstered sofa...
So why am I surfing on a Sunday night - its my new way of comp shopping - I'm forever tearing a page out of a magazine to check out a new website. My latest find is some really gorgeous interior fabric and wallpaper from Sarah Hardaker. Ex Osbourne and Little / Habitat, she has added a contemporary twist to some classic ideas. Even better is the fact that her fabric is printed here in the UK. Check out her website at www.sarahhardaker.co.uk. The only problem looking at lovely interior ideas like Sarah's you end up wanting to redo / build a new house....perhaps that is the hobby I am missing!!

Seal Wrestling

2009-05-08T09:38:00.003+01:00

Ok, I lie, it wasn't a seal, it was my bulldog Gertrude. But trying to hold her down whilst waving a small bottle of eyedrops in the general vicinity of her eye is no mean feat. Gert, being a wise old lady now, has got wise to the stealth approach, and only seems to sleep on her side with her good eye showing. She is also a lot more vocal now, I dread to think what the translation would be of her growling.
Yet another trip to the vet this morning, to get her eye checked, and her trauma starts before she even gets onto the vets examination table. I think it all stems back to the time a thermometer was inserted into her nether area, (a traumatic event by anyones standard). She now has to sit on my lap whilst we wait, nothing strange there I hear you say. Now imagine 4 stone of quivering bulldog on your lap, complete with whining noises, and you can see why the whole episode is such an upheavel to her normal routine.
I think she was actually pleased last weekend when Paul & I were at Tewkesbury show, as it gave her chance to catch up on her sleep!
We had a really good show, and it was nice to talk to so many people, who were interested in Ochre & Ocre, We also met some other interesting exhibitors. Marc from Riverford organic food boxes was one of those genuinely nice, down to earth people. The fruit and veg he had on display looked fantastic, and with prices cheaper than supermarkets you can see why they are so popular.
There were some lovely local cheeses, our favourite was the lovely blue veined brie from Simon Weaver organic.
With over 7000 tickets presold for the James Martin cookery demonstration, there was no chance of seeing the man himself, although I did sneak off the stand for a while to hear Ben Axford talking about cheese and wine tasting. He certainly knows his cheese, and I picked up some interesting tips. Did you know that mature cheddar actually goes really well cider!
We were in the craft section, and we also met some really nice people there too. If you are ever near Tewkesbury why not make a detour to Conderton Pottery, Toff Milway was a great character, and he certainly knows his pots.
Our next show is going to be a long one, 5 days at the NEC, at the Good Food Show. I'm glad to have a few weekends off before then!

Times are a changing

2009-04-29T13:17:00.002+01:00

As with all businesses things change and evolve, and Fiona & I have decided to change the way we operate, and will now run as to separate companies. We have found that the UK & French markets are very different, and whereas online shopping is quite evolved in the UK, in France it is still emerging, and the style of websites in France are quite different to the UK.
It's one of those things you live and learn, and in hindsight setting up to tackle two countries maybe wasn't such a great idea, but it was a catalyst that got Ochre & Ocre to the stage its at now.
Also tastes are quite different - so we can hopefully tailor our ranges more to our unique local cultures!
On the surface things won't be that different, On the admin side I will be relieved not to deal with 3 bank accounts! (One of which I can't even understand the statement!)
I no longer have to pretend I'm going to learn french - and I can go back to my pigeon Italian - which I find so much easier!
Sales are still really tough - but reading an article in the Sunday Times, about The English Grocer, a very smart deli set up by an ex Tesco senior exec - I can't help but feel relieved that at least I only own stock and have no staff or rent to contend with at the moment. Ok so the last 6 months I have basically been running to stand still - but I have learnt so much, much more than if I had stated at Next, I hope it will help me get through the next 6 months. He was open for 1 year before having to close, and the stock / rent investment incurred would have been much more substantial.
On the day to day running of Ochre & Ocre front we are off to Tewkesbury show this weekend - I hope the weather stays fine. As my first food show with Ochres it will be interesting to see if we get a better reaction? The May newsletter has gone out, with some great offers from the likes of EcoCentric, and savings on Good Food show tickets- I hope people actually find it an interesting read.
With all these changes the Business plan needs to be redone - but I hope it will help focus me on getting as much as I can out of the next year. I'd better get on with it!

A quiet week

2009-04-22T16:58:00.007+01:00

Things seem very quiet this week, I'm not sure if it's because everyone has been waiting to see what the budget brings. The one bonus has been that I've caught up on all those odd jobs that I've been putting off for ages, and getting things ready for the forthcoming shows.
Ochre & Ocre are going to be at Tewkesbury Food & Drink festival next weekend, I'm hoping it is going to be busy. Having taken part in so many shows in the run up to Christmas, the thought of standing there bored all day is not worth bearing. The good thing about food shows is that there is usually something to watch, (Tewkesbury has a cookery theatre) and food and drink to sample! It should at least keep my long suffering husband entertained, as the problem with shows is its hard to do it all yourself, with carrying the stock, to grabbing a break.If nothing else we're guaranteed to come home with a local cheese!
Paul & I will be wearing our finest Ochre & Ocre organic aprons, and if we get bored may even end up putting on a puppet show with the finest Ochre & Ocre organic gauntlets!!
It will be the first time that our new range of napkin rings will be on sale, I hope they will get a good reaction. Jo sent me the first finished pics yesterday and they look stunning. Are new wooden napkin rings went on the site last week, but no sales yet.
Still looking for exciting new additions to the range, as ever waiting for responses from suppliers!
Just sussed out how to add pics to blog as well -so hope they will be more interesting!

Self Employed for One Year!

2009-04-17T16:22:00.004+01:00

It's a year to the day that I chucked in my well paid job, with company car, health care, substantial shopping discount and world travel opportunities to work from home, trying to start up a new business in probably the toughest trading conditions for a long while.
In my defence when I had handed my notice in 6 months prior to that the recession was hinted at, but it seemed a bit of press hype.
So was it worth it? Like most anniversaries you do tend to mull over your past year, what you've achieved, and what you've missed, and I have to say yes. I have met so many lovely people who I would never have met if I had stayed in my comfort zone. Firstly Fiona for setting up a business with me, she must be mad! The lovely Kim from Lavender Ladies, who I meet up with every now and again for a chat and sanity. Phillippe from Blue Earth Solutions, who is my Sage - always willing to help and listen. Jo Verity the very cool jeweller, who like me is just setting up. It's also brought me closer to my friends who have supported me by helping at shows, (thank you mary!), putting up with my appalling book keeping, (Amy you are a very patient person!), and Lindsey who has helped to create the look of Ochre & Ocre, and who is a real rock.
I go to the gym most mornings, so despite the stress of self employment I am fitter and healthier!
I get to spend more time with Gert, the coolest bulldog in the world.
And I believe I have a product range that has good credentials, looks nice and is well made - there is just some work still to do in making other people aware of it!
So in the true tradition of anniversaries I will be opening a bottle of wine with Paul to toast to the future - and new opportunities. Yes it's scary, but like my favourite proverb: We must risk going too far, to discover just how far we can go".