1934

My dad turned 80 this weekend.
He doesn't do cake, never eats puddings, thinks fudge is just awful (I must get the sweet tooth from the other side of the family).
He does, however, like red wine.
Since I don't believe one should have a birthday without cake I made a red wine cake.
I used cream cheese instead of mascarpone and a mix of ground almonds and 
gluten free flour so that my son could eat it. 
It worked.
Even my dad had a slice.

It's a wrap.

So that's it for season five.
It's been a lovely, mainly dry seven months - so different from 2012. The garden really came into its own after so much work was done (not by me) throughout last winter. There are still flowers in bloom as visitors enter the gate and more work is planned for the garden.

We'll reopen on 27th March 2015 which is less than five months away and I have a long list of things to do before then.
Better get started.

Not a piece of cake.

November. Bright, sunny November.
Who'd have thought?
We've defrosted the ice cream freezer and one other ahead of tomorrow's final day of the season and we're well on the way to selling out of all sorts of menu items. Great news for us, not so great for tomorrow's late arrivals.
I spent most of the afternoon at Clifton Village Hall judging the local baking competition - Swiss rolls, Victoria Sponges, Halloween themed showstoppers and fairy cakes, bread and canapés.
I thought it would be easy.
I was so wrong.
I hope I am not volunteered again.

Update

Ice cream all gone.
Result.
Now for the euro millions lottery....

Hot-tober?

It's Halloween.
The tearooms are decorated. There's a pumpkin on a cake stand on the counter and a cauldron full of sweets. There's a witch on the dresser and small bats on the windows. And "Happy Halloween" bunting in case anyone needs it spelled out. Literally.
All but one of the spider cakes have gone so I'm going in to make more this morning. The Witches' Brew soup is made.

Apparently it's going to be 19 degrees today which will make the kitchen like a cauldron.
That's a July temperature and may also make the conservatory tricky to bear. The conservatory was where I was going to set up for the group of 21 dressed-up children and adults who are arriving for lunch at 12 but I fear the heat may make their make-up run. Not a pretty sight. Although that's the point, isn't it?

I only have 16 ice creams left which is great news as we close for the season on Sunday.
But if it were July, 19 degrees and I only had 16 ice creams left I'd be panicking.

Brush with the past.

Just over a week until the end of the 2014 season.
Sweepings from the conservatory floor can tell the story of the year.
Obviously we sweep up a good deal (promise) but the floor is paved and there are plenty of grooves for things to get stuck. So most sweepings gather a piece or two of confetti from the wedding in August, a shiny cut out "50" from a party in early October, a similar cut out "Congratulations" from a wedding anniversary. We've held children's parties, U3A lunches, gardening group teas, 21st, 50th, 80th & 90th birthday gatherings.
Next year we have a wedding and a Golden Wedding anniversary party already booked in.
More confetti? More little shiny 50s to sweep up?

Taking the biscuit.

Twelve members of Oxford Probus group came for lunch and tea today with a visit to the church and crypt squeezed in between.
I went in early to make oatmeal and raisin cookies to go with their tea and to serve tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning we'll be opening early to make SIXTY hot chocolates for a visiting school group.
SIXTY hot chocolates with marshmallows.
Deep breath...

Eggs is eggs

A young couple came in to order lunch. They had left a third member of their party at a table outside.
"She's vegan," they said, scanning the menu, "so she's going to have a jacket potato with homemade coleslaw."
The coleslaw, I had to point out, is in mayonnaise. Which isn't vegan. What about baked beans instead?
"That's ok," they said, "she's desperate.
And she doesn't like beans."

Not a sundae

82 to go.
At this rate I'll be eating it myself...

Plea

Ice cream eaters of the world, we need you.
Tubs of chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and mint choc chip await visitors this weekend and I have 92 to get through in the next two weeks.
The temperature is meant to be high (18 degrees tomorrow) which must bode well.
But at this moment it's pouring with rain.
So good luck to us with that one.

A spoke in the wheel

We've formed a sort of pattern on these quiet, rainy days.
We open up, turn everything on, set everything out, bake and cook as necessary and then we wait.
And we try to decide whether this will be the day when no one comes.
It was like this yesterday.
But I had a plan.
I'd make a batch of witches' brew soup (pumpkin, cumin, cinnamon) and some chocolate fairy cakes which will become spider cakes (red laces for legs, mini marshmallows for eyes) and by the end of the day I'd feel we'd achieved something.
And then the ladies came.
All in pink and black lycra.
From a cycling club.
"There are fourteen of us," said the first cyclist.
"There are only two of us," I answered, hoping they weren't in a hurry.
They all ordered individually and in their wake came more people.

So much for my plan.

Free and Easy

One of the jobs on my winter list is always to try new cake recipes.
This year will be slightly different because one of my sons was diagnosed this year with coeliac disease so I am becoming obsessed with gluten-free baking.
And despite not yet being closed for winter I have begun in earnest.
We've always offered gluten-free cake at the tea rooms and we have a great choice on most days - carrot (with orange and sultana), lemon & poppyseed, banana (which we drizzle with a toffee sauce) and ginger & lemon. Then there's the chocolate & praline cluster which makes an appearance on occasions. Good occasions.
Last week a regular visitor suggested a lemon drizzle cake she'd found which is made with mashed potato. I got over the initial (ridiculous) revulsion and made it at home. Utterly delicious. It's a Good Food recipe easily found online.
Then yesterday I made a gf pumpkin cake with a cream cheese topping. Way too good to be seen as a second-class citizen of the cake world.
And grating pumpkin flesh is rather satisfying.

Season's Greetings

It is wet and dreary.
I almost wish we weren't open at all.
Although we did have a handful of people in for lunch and another handful for tea and cake.
Those who came used the tables closest to the radiators.
We closed up at 3.30 when it was so dull it felt like night was falling.
I had spent much of the day with my hands round a hot mug of tea.

Kate and Gareth, who are getting married next summer, came to talk details and alterations. We're catering their afternoon tea reception in a marquee in the garden and it was really hard to imagine a lovely warm sunny day in July. Their smiles and palpable excitement helped.
As they left they wished me a happy Christmas.

Eat, drink, be merry. And eat again.

A Saturday which felt like a Sunday.
In a good way.
Lots of children around therefore plenty of ice cream sold.
Result.
Lots of lovely groups and couples eating cake and drinking tea and quite a lot of hot chocolate.

Customer of the day came early and ordered lunch for him and three others. He asked the size of the panini. He was hungry, he assured me. I assured him they were a good size, and he could always order more later.
He ate his panini (bacon, brie and cranberry) and was back to order quiche of the day (tomato and pecorino). When I took it to him he was devouring the leftovers of his friend's jacket potato (cheese and beans).
I looked at him quizzically. "I've been up a long time," he answered, "and I'm starving."
No kidding.
 

Bear with.

A lovely, slightly odd day despite the rain. Fairly quiet but steady, allowing plenty of time for some left-field conversations with visitors.
A lady from New Zealand was very excited by Tyrells crisp flavours and bought a pack of every one we had (except mature cheddar & chives) to take away with her.
She told me her favourite flavour in her home country is barbecue.

Two ladies who meet up twice a year with their teddy bears told me the bears were called Princess Mistletoe and Lady All-Heal. One of the ladies had made the clothing for both bears. They also told me that their husbands don't join them on their trips.

Yard Arm

"Have you seen our church?" I asked of two well-dressed (tweed skirt suits, neck scarves) older ladies. They'd been in for coffee earlier today, had come back for lunch and were now leaving the tea rooms for the second time.
"Yes, yes," one of them replied,
"We've done the culture and we've had lunch.
Now it's time for the booze."

Dampener

Ah. Autumn.
When we woke this morning it was raining.
Properly pouring.
We knew it would be quiet.
When two people don't need all their fingers to count the customers, that really is quiet.

Sit and weight.

Among the first customers today were a couple and their Bernese Mountain dog.
"Bentley" was simply enormous and as I stroked his terrifically large head he leaned his full weight against my leg.
The couple told me this lean is known as "the Berner Bump" and they don't know a single dog of his breed who doesn't do it.
I asked if he would fall over if I moved my leg away.
"It has been known," they answered.

Typical

The ice cream arrived today.
And with it came news of cooler temperatures and impending rain.
Hmmm.

Cold Comfort

A few weeks ago I gazed into the ice cream freezer and made a decision.
I wouldn't order any more this season.
Instead I would let it slowly run down as we head into Autumn which would mean I wouldn't have to a) run a freezer over the winter months or b) eat my bodyweight in leftover ice cream.
I was running the risk of disappointing a few children who, as I've learned, eat ice cream whatever the outside temperature, but that was a risk I was willing to take.
Until today.
Today I gazed into the same freezer at the six tubs of vanilla and a solitary tub of lemon sorbet and I gave in.
The sunny weekend, and the good people from the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian group (Friday) had meant the stock had not run down it had galloped, sped, raced.
I called Bennetts Dairy.
They're delivering on Thursday.

If you build it..

It doesn't appear to be slowing down.
It's the end of September.
We have five weeks left of the season and today has been a VERY busy day.
We have two new 16 year olds washing up for us, filling in till the end of the season now that we've been abandoned by the university students (one of whom sent a text today saying he's embarking on a detox now that freshers' week is over).

Next Saturday will be a tearooms first.
An evening of entertainment, with a 3 course meal, in aid of St Richard's Hospice.
The tickets for Death on Toast have sold out.
Which means I really must formulate a food plan...quickly.

You are not alone

Yesterday belonged to the Carmarthenshire Antiquarians.
Forty three of them came for coffee and homemade biscuits at 1030, left for a guided tour of the Church and Crypt then came back to for lunch.
They had been in the area for four days and we were their last stop before home.
The ladies bought jewellery.
The men bought fudge.
Some bought plants and left them with us while they walked in the grounds.
I asked a gentleman his name so that we might identify which plants were his?
"Jackson," he replied.
He paused then added, "Actually it's Michael Jackson. But I was here first."

Big Bang Theory

Yesterday the coffee machine went bang.
And there was a flash of light where a flash of light should not have been.
The coffee machine pressure dial headed rapidly to zero.
The pressure dial in my head went in the opposite direction.

I called the lovely coffee people who said it didn't sound very good and they'd call the manufacturers to get an engineer out.
We washed up all the coffee paraphernalia and put on an extra filter jug so that we wouldn't disappoint too many coffee drinkers.
And then.
I had a thought.
When the machine made its noise it would have tripped the electricity.
Aha.
I reset the trip and was (and still am) astonished to hear the machine starting up again. The pressure gauge needle rose. The tank filled.
I made myself a latte.

Today I have held my breath, but all has been back to normal.
I have NO IDEA what the bang could have been.
But my plan is to ignore it.

London Calling

Saturday.
We'd been asked to open up early to host the handover of the WI centenary baton which is making its way from WI group to WI group until it reaches the Albert Hall next June. The baton arrived on a big red motorbike.
The lady carrying it climbed off.
The man who'd ridden it took off his helmet and told the waiting crowd (some of whom were in Edwardian dress): "She only let me overtake once - she kept telling me to slow down."
They drank a good deal of coffee.
The baton moved on up to the Church to be handed on again (we have a lot of WIs) then on to Abberley Clock Tower for another handover.
I have no idea where it is this evening.

Later on Saturday morning another group of people dressed up in Victorianish garb with hats and goggles arrived.
I had met my first steam punks.

Court jester

He came in on his own for coffee and cake, with the audio guide from the Court round his neck. He was an older, tall man.
Then he left, presumably to continue his tour of the Court.
He returned at lunchtime and ordered a homecooked ham salad. But no onions on the salad please as he has an allergy to them. They make him pass out.
We take these things very seriously, obviously so I went out to tell him that the ham is cooked with onion, would that make a difference? He was willing to chance it, he said, and he sat near the counter so we could keep an eye on him...
He cleared his plate.
I asked him if he'd enjoyed his lunch.
"The salad and new potatoes were very nice," he said. "But the ham..." (I held my breath as he paused. Deliberately) "was to die for."
He beamed.
He didn't pass out.
I skipped back to the kitchen.

A quieter day, with a busy blip at lunchtime.

Help

It had to happen today.
Of all days.
We had a party of 26 booked in.
They'd all preordered their lunch which makes life a lot easier with large groups.
My regular army reserved their tables and set about making their lunches.
The 'phone rang.
Calvin from the Court told us that a coach laden with 43 people had just arrived at the visitors' centre and were headed our way.
That was the first we knew of their visit.
I called in the cavalry.

Portrait of a Prize Idiot

"I love iPads" I said, confidently, "they're so....erm...what's the opposite of counter-intuitive?"
"Intuitive" answered Bob, who is the son-in-law of 90 year-old Jim, the new owner of an iPad.
Jim had brought his tablet to the tearooms.
He wanted to take a photo with it.
Of me. (Very counter intuitive)
But try as we might we couldn't get it off video and onto camera. I kept stabbing the thing with my finger. Bob kept stabbing it with a silver stick with a sort of rubber end. We kept taking videos of our knees.
Jim looked amused.
I regretted my confident opening statement.
And took the iPad inside where there were two members of staff under the age of 21 who, with barely a glance, showed me what to do (don't stab, slide).
Jim, Bob and I then took a selfie.

It's a good job...

A proper summer's day. In September.
Lovely and busy for the newest recruit, Tom (16).
It is late in the season to be taking on staff but the drain to the universities of Great Britain has already begun. Two have said their goodbyes (Cardiff and Bristol), two more leave this week (Exeter and Manchester) and two more the following week (Liverpool and Leicester).
Generally by this time the pace is slowing and we can cope without them.
But not this year.
We have eight weeks of the season left.
Potentially a lot of cups and plates and knives and forks to be washed up.
A lot of tables to be cleared and wiped.
Tom seems to have enjoyed everything we asked him to do.
Thank goodness.

Wrong footed

I drove my younger son to school, having missed the bus on the second day of term.
He's just started Year 10.
I reminded him to be nice to the Year 7s who'd be feeling a bit nervous this week.
He told me he had already tried to help one boy who was looking lost.
"He asked me if I could show him how to get outside. I told him I was going that way, and to follow me."
All good so far.
But when they got through the doors the little boy looked around, looked at my son and said, "Not THIS outside."

Kaffee und Kuchen

Today we had some unusual visitors.
Twenty five Germans.
Who didn't speak English.
They knew about as much English as I know German.
(I can say Happy Christmas, they can say "tea" and "coffee". Theirs, in this instance, was far more useful.)
We did a good deal of smiling, nodding and pointing to cakes.
They all sat outside.
I discovered later that they were garden enthusiasts on a 6-day tour of England. And they know a good garden when they see one.

Bubble trouble

The first customers of the day ordered four cappuccinos (i) one of which, they requested, should only have a little foam.
Not a problem.
The problem was with the other three.

Which came first?

What constitutes a menagerie?
A cat and a few wasps?
A cat, a few wasps and a chicken?
Over the last few days we've been joined in the garden by a beautiful white hen.
The cat sits and watches her.
The customers watch the cat and the chicken.
And try to avoid the wasps.
We think the chicken arrives and departs throught the gate in the walled garden.
It doesn't cross any roads.

A*

Two days of rain + one day of no-rain = two quiet days + one VERY run-out-of-bread busy day.
Multiplied by jacket potatoes.
Because it wasn't quite warm enough.
Add scones. Because it is technically still summer.
Equals the need for a glass of red.

Correct.

Wet

I have to go back to 2012 to find a rainy Bank Holiday Monday.
So I can't really resent the weather and its effect on trade today.
Especially as yesterday was BUSY. Properly busy. Ten-members-of-staff-plus-all-my-family-roped-in-to-help busy.
But then yesterday it didn't rain....

Deposit and the Bank

August, what a month you are. Since I have been blog-lazy I shall try to sum you up:

- Tea rooms are adopted by a local cat who relishes the attention from customers and rewards us by throwing up entrails in the conservatory. The people who've booked "a table in a nice position" just laugh.
- The health inspector pays a surprise visit. Thankfully not on cat-sick day. All fine. Brings leaflets about new regulations coming in later this year. My winter challenge.
- Someone yells in the Visitors' Book "MEND THE ROAD".
- the lawnmower chucks a stone at the conservatory and breaks one of the large panes. We stand and watch and listen as it crackles into a thousand pieces (I didn't count them).
- We host a Christening. A neighbour chooses this day to light a bonfire. The wind brings ash and bits of paper into the garden. No planes have to be grounded but it's close.

And now we've reached the final Bank Holiday of the season.
And the Art Fair is on in the Church.
Which means it'll be extra busy today.
Better get on...

Red Blues

Red onion marmalade is magic.
In several ways.
It's "magic" in a seventies-sitcom-catchphrase-way in the cheddar sandwiches.
It's magic in the Harry Potter way. It just disappears.
But the frustrating thing about it is that however many red onions I slice & caramelise I only ever seem to be able to make one jar. A sort of reverse Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Business as Usual.

Now that was a weekend.
Yesterday morning I leapt out of bed (highly unusual) to make fifty meringues (they take an AGE to cook) and seventy smoked salmon blinis and several lemon drizzle cakes (lost count).
I prayed for the rain to stop.
We polished all the cutlery, folded all the napkins, and prayed that the rain would stop.
We cut up strawberries and cucumber for the Pimms glasses and glanced outside to see whether the rain had stopped. It hadn't.
We set the tables in the conservatory and set up the wedding cake.

The groom popped in to ask if anyone had an appropriate 'phone charger.
One of my young staff rang home and asked her dad to bring hers. He did.
The groom showed us a sheaf of papers and asked if we thought his speech might be too long. It wasn't.
At two o'clock Louisa, the bride, arrived at the church. In glorious sunshine and a stunning long lace dress. The rain had stopped.
Granted it rained later but someone had thought to give the newlyweds a couple of gorgeous umbrellas.
And it didn't rain for long.
Actually we were grateful for the rain because it cooled the temperature in the conservatory and meant we weren't terribly busy in the rest of the tea rooms.


This morning the bride's mother vacuumed all the confetti from the floor of the conservatory.
The bunting and flowers were gone.
We had a very busy day inside and out and the sun shone all day.

On top of it all?

Tomorrow Louisa and Alex will be married.
This evening the conservatory has been decorated with pretty white bunting and old white tablecloths.
We need the sun to shine, but not so much that we fry in the heat. Although Louisa has bought some beautiful fans to grace the tables should the ladies start to "glow".
I am going to bed early to prepare myself for making meringues.
And blinis.
And putting their wedding cake together....

A haze of days

Three big days are ahead.
Today we are the venue for a post-funeral gathering - tea, coffee, scones, cake, strawberries.
Tomorrow afternoon a Three Choirs Festival concert is being held in the Church. It's a sell out. We have  pre- and post-concert bookings.
Then on Saturday it's our second wedding of the the season.
I have to make 50 meringues.
(Whisked egg whites. Not dresses.)

Institute Invasion

How wrong can one person be?
I thought this morning would follow the same pattern as the previous few - a slow start and a busy lunchtime and afternoon.
But at 11am three ladies came in and ordered cream teas. The scones were still cooling from the oven.
Two more ladies, two more cream teas.
The WI members were coming in force, they told me, and the scones didn't stand a chance.
And they kept coming.
In the midst of their staggered arrival came a large extended family for coffees, milk shakes and cakes.
By 1130 the conservatory was full.
And most of the day's scones were eaten.

The rest of the day reverted to type.

Inconceivable

Today I found a used condom in the disabled loo.
This posed many more questions than it answered.

For the Present

We have entered a new era.
Until today when on the odd occasion I was asked for a Gift Voucher for use at the tea rooms I'd go home, mock one up on the computer and print it off. It worked well for the few times they were needed.
Since the beginning of this season, though, I have noticed a definite increase in demand. Sometimes we're asked for them by visitors, sometimes people call and order them by 'phone.
I began to feel a bit silly nipping home to the printer.
So I have taken a big step.
I've had some made.
We now have Garden Tea Rooms £5 and £10 Vouchers.
They've arrived today from the printers.
Now all I need is some envelopes.

Ice cream barometer

On Tuesday morning I went to the local dairy to collect extra ice cream and fruit ice lollies.
Yesterday my usual weekly delivery came, enhanced by a few boxes because we're selling so much.
This morning I am having to visit the dairy again.
This is a proper heat wave.

Going red.

A two-course lunch for 41 U3A members booked for today meant we had to take all the tables out of the conservatory into the garden to accommodate them.
There wasn't any chance of anyone eating inside the conservatory in which we could currently bake jacket potatoes and fry eggs if we so wished.
Inside the kitchen it's even worse. We are all a little over warm.

The two courses were a choice of our homecooked ham or our fresh tomato & pecorino quiche, then a choice of Witley strawberries & raspberries or apple shortcake.
The Witley strawberries made their appearance just in time.
I need many more for the wedding next Saturday.
Better get ripening fellas...

Sweet

It's harvest time in the village. Sort of.
We are brought boxes and punnets and jars of things by friends, neighbours and customers with a surplus.
Peter brings gooseberries and raspberries and we share them among us and carry them home. Jocelyn takes the empty jam jars from us (such a lot of jam used for the cream teas) and returns with grape jelly, red currant jelly, chutney....
Then on Sunday Ann arrived with an armful of courgettes, perfect to add to our soup and roasted vegetable panini.
She also offered us loganberries. The last of their crop, she said.
A basket of them duly arrived.
Last night I made loganberry jam, the first jam I have ever made.
It was remarkably satisfying.
I am now truly middle aged and happy to eat loganberry jam all summer.

Cool Customers. Hot dogs.

We dream of air conditioning.
It is baking hot, especially next to the oven where the baked potatoes are...baked.
Strange, I know, people are actually ordering jacket spuds.
And soup.
In a heatwave. Although mostly they're eating salads and sandwiches.

Lots of cold drinks accompany visitors to their seats in the garden. The dogs they bring with them stop to drink warm water from the bowl outside and then collapse in the shade under a table.

We have ice cream, but not enough to get us through to our next delivery on Thursday so I'm going to ask if I may pick up a few boxes from the dairy this morning.

This will allow me to spend an hour in the car.
With the air conditioning.

Nor any drop to drink

Sarah and David's wedding day dawned and it was oh-so-wet after a week of intense heat.
And we ferried the stuff to set tables in the marquee in the pouring rain.
Some of us in wellies.
Some of us in raincoats.
With the hoods up.
We set up the cheese tower with rain beating down. We laid out china tea cups, saucers, tea plates, pastry forks, in the pouring rain. We prepared the Pimms in the pouring rain.

The guests were served ice cream cornets after the ceremony. They were meant to eat them standing outside the church, chatting in the sunshine while photos were taken but the thunder and lighting rather scuppered that.
Instead they were served inside the Church porch and ate them in glorious baroque surroundings.
The seventy guests arrived in the marquee under umbrellas.
The bride and groom made the short journey in a vintage car and then trekked across the grass into the marquee, under umbrellas.
Then at about 4 o'clock the sun came out.
The sides came off the marquee.
The photographer lured the guests outside for some shots in the sunshine.
It was as it was meant to be.

Berry inconvenient.

It's a big weekend.
The marquee is up.
The bride and groom (and friends) are coming to decorate it today in readiness for their Afternoon Tea reception tomorrow afternoon.
Fingers crossed for good weather although the marquee is huge so the guests may not notice any rain.

We had a storm overnight and more are threatened during the heatwave.

Our other customers will probably be inside, struggling with the temperature in the conservatory.

One issue.
Strawberries.
The farm in Witley where we get all our strawberries and raspberries are "between varieties". The first ripened quickly and all came at once. The second variety is taking its time.
I am serving strawberries at the wedding and at a party on Sunday.
Hmmm.

Elementary Entry

Today we finished the last page of the Visitors' Book.
Someone wrote in the final box: "Excellent" then a / then what looks like "Canada".

Excellent/Canada?

Great/Britain?

Under the weather

I find the heat exhausting. And it's hotter inside the tea room than it is outside. It's ridiculously hot in the conservatory which means no one can sit in there.
So we do a lot more walking.
Which makes us even more tired.

Earlier on this week we had a seriously showery day.
The sort of day for which we keep an umbrella stand with a few umbrellas standing in it - so that people can borrow a brolly if they're caught without one.
An Australian couple, who'd just had lunch, started to panic when they saw that their prized umbrella  had vanished from the stand. It was an expensive one, they told me, a large one, an Aston Martin one no less. They were concerned it had been stolen.
In fact it had been taken by a couple for their walk to the visitors' centre in the rain. They had asked if they could borrow one. They promised they would leave it at the centre and one of the lovely English Heritage staff would return it to us the next day. As usual.
But instead of taking one of ours they happened to choose the jolly expensive, large, Aston Martin one. Well, wouldn't you?
I called the centre.
It had just been handed in, wet but undamaged.
The Aussies set off quickly for their reunion.

Good Gourd

Thursday was a lovely but strange day typified by a high tea order.
With our high tea comes a choice of sandwich. One lady scanned the menu and asked for hers to be made with cucumber and cream cheese.
When we were clearing her table we found most of the cucumber on the side of her tea plate so were concerned she hadn't liked the sandwich.
"Oh, it's ok," she said, "I just don't eat cucumber."

And by the way, Maureen is as lovely as I'd hoped.  

She lived up to her voice.

Mo - tivated

I am looking forward to meeting Maureen.
Maureen has the most amazing voice - it's lovely, deep, rich and Welsh-accented. She sounds as if she always has a smile on her face. She has a gorgeous laugh. I have an image in my mind of what she might look like.
We've been speaking and emailing for weeks about her group's visit today. There are 25 of them coming from the Cynon Valley, arriving for coffee, then a tour of the Court and Church and Crypt and back to us for lunch.
The day has dawned. It's beautifully sunny.
I hope she smiles throughout.

I'm in early to make biscuits to go with their coffee.

Compare and Contrast

Back to what passes for normal at the tea rooms today after my weekend foray into the world of compering. Upton Food and Beer Festival was the venue for a  WotsCooking demonstration kitchen, and I watched and commented on ten very different chefs creating more than twenty very different dishes VERY quickly.
I learned the following:
1. That compering can be fun.
2. That compering can be hard, or indeed easy, depending upon the chef and the audience.
3. That we should all be using rape seed oil because it's really versatile, cooks stuff well and is produced in this country.
4. That towers of food look really great.

I have decided to put the "towers of food" idea to the test in my own home.
Not because I want my creations to look like they've been produced in a restaurant by a chef with two rosettes or a star.
It's because I think this will force my children to eat with a knife and a fork.
Or rather with the fork used as a fork instead of as a spoon.
My constant refrain at mealtimes is "THIS IS A KNIFE AND FORK MEAL" which means they turn their fork over for a few seconds.
I take full responsibility for their table manners.
Largely because I haven't yet found anyone else to blame.

Tea rooms visitors usually do use their cutlery correctly so the "tower" policy will not yet be introduced.

Generation Gap

At this time of year the average age of the staff at the tea rooms drops significantly. The GCSEs and A levels are finished and the University crew drift back after their exams.
So this week the conversations turned to all the festivals they'd be attending - one of which is, rather inconveniently, across the August Bank Holiday weekend.
"I'm not looking forward to camping this year," said one of the teenage boys. The one who's just finished his first year at Bristol. He was asked why not?
"Because last year we pitched quite a long way from the loos," he said, "and my tent became the urinating tent."
The other young ones nodded, as if that were the most natural thing in the world.
The rest of us looked horrified.

Black & White

My dad came today to cut back some of the jungle in the conservatory.
He's eighty this year, which is hard for me to fathom since he still looks the same as he did when he was my age. Except he has a shock of pure white hair.
He came with news.
"I've bought a new television," he said. He'd never call it a "telly" or a "tv".
"It's flat screen, 32 inches," he smiled, "and colour."
You can take the man out of the 20th Century....

Sun spots

So whoever it was who said June would be a wet month was wrong.
Much of it has been glorious.
The garden is being well used, as is the ice we're having to buy in for milk shakes.
The downside to so much busy-ness outside is the movement of furniture. A table with four chairs around it will suddenly have eight, leaving a poor table with none, looking decidedly uninviting. Benches are moved onto the old tennis court, tables are dragged into the shade/into the sun depending upon the temperature.
On Sunday we had so many large party bookings that we had to bring several chairs and tables out from the conservatory.
Then, at the end of the long, hot days we go around the garden reuniting tables with chairs and moving everything back to its home, tip the chairs against the tables and wind down the umbrellas.
To rest.
Until tomorrow.

Java Jive

She was the first customer of the day:
"I'd like a long black coffee with some hot milk on the side," she said, "but I don't want a big one, just a little one."
It took us a while to work out how we should give her exactly what she wanted. What she decided on was a single espresso, in an espresso cup, half filled with hot water and then the hot milk on the side.
"And a slice of that coffee and walnut cake please," she added.
I wrote it all down.
Then: "Unless you have scones?"
We did have scones, fresh from the oven.
"In which case I'll have a scone with jam and cream."
I crossed out the coffee and walnut cake.
"And, actually," she went on, "you can't have a scone without tea - so scratch the coffee please."

I told her she would certainly feature on my blog.
She nodded, "the weird Australian, huh?"

Set Fayre

We are venturing into the unknown again. Later today we are setting up a satellite tea room at the Great Witley Country Fayre.  It's a huge event with more than 100 stalls, demonstrations, sport, music, Morgan cars, tractors, local companies and volunteer groups.

We'll be serving tea and coffee, cakes from our selection, Ruby's fudge (Ruby herself is at the Three Counties Show) Tyrells crisps and Bennetts ice cream plus local apple juice.
It doesn't sound very hard but my car is jam packed with stuff, right down to aprons, tea towels and cake stands.
When the organisers first contacted me months ago they called the fair a "one-off". I now note that it's being described as the "inaugural" fair.
Let's see what they call it when Sunday comes.

Lucky for some

Friday 13th.
My older son's last GCSE exam took place this morning.
Maths.
He says it went "well". Which is the best reaction we've had from him since they started a month ago.

I, on the other hand, am not having such a good day. It is not going "well".
I have a completely flat tyre.
Again.
Grrrr.

Iron Lady

A few weeks ago we took two bookings from one 'phone call: a table for eight for lunch today and a table of 12 for Afternoon Tea in July.
And so today the first group came.
We gave them the best table outside. They had soft drinks, then lunch (most of them chose the Tomato and Pecorino Quiche) then cake and tea.
They were with us for almost four hours.
The lovely smiling lady who'd made the booking paid for everyone, so I asked her whether she was celebrating something.
"It's my birthday," she said then leaned in and whispered, "I'm 90."
I asked her her secret?
"Just keep going," she answered, adding "and from time to time eat spinach."

She then drove herself home.

1924

Today Jim came for lunch with 5 other people.
Jim is a regular customer and a former RAF man. He usually arrives with someone from his family, sometimes two or three others, often his son-in-law, Bob and always with a smile.
Today though was special.
Today it's Jim's birthday.
To look at him you might think him a 70 year old. If he told you he was 80 you'd blink and question whether he has a portrait in the attic. Today, though, Jim is 90.
After his jacket potato with chilli, an americano with hot milk and piece of fruit cake (the birthday lunch of champions) Jim asked if he could book in for his centenary....

Climbed up the spout again.

I shall find it difficult to describe the rain this morning.
It rained buckets, cats and dogs, stair rods and lots and lots of water.
The good news is that the new patio meant the rain water was channeled away from the tea room door and we weren't wading.
The bad news is that the conservatory roof leaks. Floor and tables needed attention.

Before we opened I made a dash to the local petrol station since the orange light, which tells me when I'm running on fumes, had been on for a couple of days.
The garage was not selling fuel though. A member of staff came out to the pumps and said above the rain: "I've switched off the pumps until the storm passes. We had too much damage done during the storm on Saturday." I nodded and drove away but I didn't really understand. I shall have to find out next time I go.
I wasn't around on Saturday to experience the storm.
I was in Bremen in Germany in the sunshine.
But who wants to hear that when you're facing a deluge?

This afternoon was glorious. The sun dried my weekend-away washing and the bag load of stuff my son came home from China with yesterday.

Taking Steps

This morning I went back in time.
To a place I worked in the mid 1990s (how old does that make me sound?)
I went to the BBC Hereford and Worcester studios to collect a pedometer.
We're always saying how far we must walk in our job - taking out trays to the far reaches of the garden, bringing in empties, showing people the way to the church, bringing in the signs, moving the tables and chairs back where they started the day...
The local station is running something called Walk the Week from Monday. The breakfast presenter is going to walk 20 miles a day and present the show from a different part of the county each morning. As part of that they're asking people with different jobs to wear a pedometer to see what mileage they clock up.
I'm not competitive but....

15

We have two large bookings for next year already.
Just saying...

Novel

We host a lot of U3A groups.
They come in all shapes and sizes. Small history groups; large gardening groups; groups of mainly men; groups of mainly women; groups of mainly couples; groups from all over the UK.
At lunchtime we served a group of 16 who hadn't come far. They were from Bromsgrove and they preordered their lunches, arrived on time, were very complimentary and went off to enjoy their tour of the church and crypt.
Then half of them came back for tea and cake. It started to rain and they pretty much had the place to themselves. And they were wonderfully loud. They laughed. A lot. Either one of them was doing stand-up or they'd all been drinking.
As they were having their cake (and eating it) an older gentleman came in. I thought he might be either blind or partially sighted as he fumbled with his change and pushed it across the counter to pay for his tea.
I was wrong.
As I left for the day I noticed him sitting outside, holding his umbrella above his head reading a book.

Pick 'n' mix

Shhh.
2nd June and it didn't rain today either.
A few families whose children aren't yet back at school ventured to us but we weren't exactly over run. Then this afternoon twenty two ladies and gents from Highley in Shropshire came for a talk on the Church history, a visit to the crypt (some didn't want to go in) and cream teas all round.
Four of the group, which is known as Allsorts, came to the counter for big slices of cake after their cream tea.
They know how to enjoy a day out.

Glorious First

June. Sunshine. Today at least.
We opened early for a car rally group and ended the day with a twenty-strong choir from Staffordshire who were performing in the church after their cream teas/high teas/ tea-break from rehearsing.
We've had a marvellously busy day but someone has told us they'd heard June is going to be a wet month.
Guess not much hay will be made.

Slick

My younger son is in China on a school trip.
Which is just as well.
Yesterday we discovered that when he dropped a jar of oily artichokes on the kitchen floor last week he cleared them up using the vacuum cleaner.
We found this out when we used the vac and it left a dirty great oil stain on the carpet.
Now we need a new carpet AND a new vacuum cleaner.
Grrrr.

Maple Maypole

My ruse didn't work. I didn't win the lottery.
Which is fine because I wouldn't have been able to concentrate and there was so much to concentrate on this week.
Yesterday was grumpy husband day.
One man sat in the garden. His wife came in to order.
When I took out their cream teas he looked at her and said, "What's this?"
She answered that it was a scone and immediately took the cream away, "you're not allowed that" she said, "and there's no such thing as cake that's good for you, that's the best I could do."
I told them that in future they could ask for our "virtuous cake". It's a cider bread with lower sugar content (apart from the fruit) and no fat (unless you cover it with the butter we serve alongside it).
He said he'd try that next time...

Then there were the Australian couples. Coffee and tea for three of them, the fourth going for a full lunch. One of the ladies noticed one of my glass cake stands:
"Look, I'm going to tell you something interesting," she began, which may have been her undoing, "my mother had one of those plates. It was just like that, and now I have it. And it's all the way across the world."
"Yes that is interesting" said her husband with what I detected was a large slice of sarcasm.

Today we had a group of three from Canada. They were Morris Dancers. The stick and rags kind. Not the bells brigade.
They showed me photographs of some of the groups they've seen and the places they've been. They're doing a tour and dancing their way around various towns in England, admitting that the troupes are often just performing for each other.
Today was a day off from the stick-hitting and they were dressed in their normal day wear. A shame.

Canny. Uncanny.

Something is afoot.
It could be momentous.
It's certainly strange.

Today it rained and rained.
I decided from the start that I had too many staff on duty, many of whom rang in to ask if I really needed them? So we were just four. A few wet walkers came for coffee. A handful of Court visitors warmed up with tea. We were so quiet that I made two lemon drizzle cakes. One of our number went home and then we were three.
I commented that we wouldn't need to make soup tomorrow morning as we had hardly made a dent in today's pea and mint.
I made this comment and less than five minutes later a group of 16 people walked in, shook the rain from their hair and umbrellas and ordered 16 soup. In fact, all of the soup we had left.
Someone was mocking me.
The group organiser came to pay the bill and told me how he'd once left his wallet on a counter and walked away. I told him that last season a lady left her bag and all its contents - 'phone, wallet, driver's licence etc and didn't realise until she got home to Bradford and found a message from us on her answer phone.
The group left to see the fountain. A minute later we found a lady's handbag in the conservatory where the party had eaten.
Someone was having a laugh.
I ran after them to return the bag and on the way back cooked up a plan.
"I've never won the lottery" I said aloud, hoping that the mocking, laughing someone would take the bait....

Pie in the sky

Today I had a shock.
A lady came to the counter, looked at our menu board and then asked if we had any Steak Bakes.

No.

She ordered a strawberry milk shake and a slice of carrot cake instead.

Revisiting

It's been very busy. But that's sunshine for you.
Yesterday was one of those multiple wave days. We had brief interludes of calm followed by great deluges of people. Lots of panini and sandwiches and the bundles of local asparagus flew off the counter.
Today, lovely and busy too, and about forty former BBC friends and colleagues from the local radio station gathered to mark its 25th anniversary with tea, cake and an array of photographs that showed how none of us has aged (?) and how we all had different hair and clothing styles back then. In my case a complete lack of style - hair or clothing.

We have a new quiche on the menu - tomato and pecorino cheese. In the kitchen it was renamed Macarena cheese with an accompanying swoosh of the hips.

Five into one (day) does go.

Possibly one of my best working days ever.
What a great lot of people.
And there were a LOT of people.
Two coach drivers, both Scottish, both bringing tour groups, talked about the referendum. One on one side of the debate, one on the other: "It doesn't mean we don't like you if we vote yes," said Mr No Voter. Mr Yes Voter said nothing.
Two ladies arrived to ask if we could fit them in? They'd read yesterday's post and knew we were going to be busy so they ordered their lunch before going off to discover the delights of the church and the crypt.
And who knew the Dutch could drink so much coffee?
As I cleared their table I told them I'd never made so many double espressos. 
"Your americanos aren't strong enough for us'" answered one. Was she the one who had four shots of coffee with her lunch?
Or was she the one who bought two slices of coffee and walnut cake for the journey home to The Netherlands?
The walking group preordered lunch and arrived to eat panini and jacket potatoes and salads outside in lovely sunshine (at a table the Dutch were just vacating). 
And the Bridgend 36 took their Afternoon Tea in the conservatory. 

What could have been mayhem on a rainy day was actually wonderfully civilised. 
Thank goodness for the fair weather.

Gulp

I have to take a very deep breath before opening tomorrow.
We have five potential groups of visitors dropping in throughout the day.
At least, five that I know about:

A WI group of 14 at 1015.
Twenty three Dutch visitors at 12.
29 history enthusiasts from Keynsham & Salford from 1230.
20-25 local walkers at 1.30.
34 retired teachers from Bridgend at 3.30.

And the forecast is good.

I have just been to the local farm to stock up with local asparagus for tomorrow's visitors.
And tonight I shall be going to bed early.
Not overstating this am I?

Creating an impression

Lady overheard last week as I cleared a table in the conservatory:
"I know I sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger in that film when I say this but...I shall return."

Brilliant.

One of the young people who works at the tea rooms has a Saturday morning job in a DIY store. Yesterday he arrived fresh from having a "heated discussion" with a customer and told us the tale from his viewpoint.
She was upset that they only sold undercoat in white.
It should come in other colours, she told him; there was a customer demand.
He tried to explain that she was the only person he knew of who had asked for it in anything other than white, that everyone wants white because it is, after all, an undercoat.
She said it was too glaring.
He said it would be painted over so would it matter?
She said that while she was painting it on the wall it would be too glaring.

Off the NZ coast.

Thursday was antipodean day.
It rained on and off all day so we were much quieter but clearly the rain doesn't put off those from down under.
We had a couple from Australia with their two show dogs. They came for a panini lunch. Here for 3 months this time though they've only just returned after a previous stay.
The dogs were gorgeous -- champion Airedale Terriers. Torch and Millie, father and daughter. They all flew here. To fly a dog to the UK is what they called "business class prices".
But they are champions...

Then late afternoon four Kiwis. Two who've made their home locally and two visiting them to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary.
I told them we'd had a couple in from Australia that very day.
"Australia?" they grimaced,  "where's that?"

Fatigued and Frozen

The second Bank Holiday of the 2014 season was even busier than the first.
I think.
It was warm too.
To be honest I am feeling the result of the past few days in my feet, arms, legs and eyes. This could be down to large numbers of people requesting tea, cake, panini, jacket spuds, sandwiches, high teas, afternoon teas and cream teas (oh my goodness, so many scones) but it might also have something to do with having another birthday on Sunday. So not only was I "celebrating" but I had to get over the "celebration" as an older human being. It gets harder as one gets older to get over a late night. Or so I've found.
Before anyone jumps to any conclusions I should point out that my "celebration" was a bottle of prosecco, a roast chicken and asparagus supper (cooked by my husband and shared with visiting friends) and the DVD of Frozen.
My kind of evening.

Pots

Today was difficult to sum up.
There were a few different sets of people wandering around the Court and Church in warm sunshine.
There were two "friendship" groups, a coach party from South Wales and a day centre outing.

I did my bullying bit and forced two ladies up to the church - they were worried about the incline - "I've got two new hips and a stick" said one. So I drove them in my grubby car.
"I like a car with leg room," she said, "I don't care how dirty it is if it's got leg room."
Her face was a picture when she saw the Church interior.

I suppose the main element of today, as one might expect, was tea.
But today was different.
Generally we make plenty of lattes and hot chocolates and milkshakes, serve lots of local apple juice and elderflower presses.
But today was definitely a tea day.
And most people who ordered tea had a scone to go with it.

Licence to confuse

Lady ordering lunch: And two glasses of red wine please.
G: Sorry but we're not licensed.
Lady: Oh.....do you have any beer instead then?

Winners meddle.

The rain came this afternoon but not before we'd had a flurry of visitors for coffee. It's just a week since Good Friday when we were rushed off our feet all day in gorgeous sunshine and it couldn't have been more different.
Lunchtime was short but busy and the quiet afternoon allowed me to bake a couple of lemon drizzle cakes.
Baking is usually the preserve of the morning before the daily scones go into the oven but I might have to take these pm opportunities more often. They'll give me an extra hour in bed.

This evening was the annual village quiz which my family contrived to win. The prize?
Afternoon Tea for Four at The Garden Tea Rooms in Great Witley.
Hmmm.
We gave our prize to the second placed team.

Pushing the boundaries

Lady: "It says outside that you serve morning coffee and Afternoon Teas.
I know it's the afternoon but am I allowed a coffee?"


This reminded me of an NCT friend (quite a lot posher than I'll ever be) who asked, "It is a little before 4, but shall we have a cup of tea anyway?"

Bring your good times (and your laughter too).

I am taking a deep breath.
Tomorrow is a Bank Holiday.
We have a group of ten six-year olds coming to celebrate a birthday. Sandwiches and cakes and squash in teapots.
Half an hour later we have an 87 year old celebrating his birthday over lunch.
Which will be more raucous?
My money's on Wyndham, a Welsh man with an enormous smile.
He knows how to enjoy himself.
He's had a lot of practice.
So far over the past four years we've hosted his granddaughter's wedding, his golden wedding anniversary, his wife's birthday, his birthday, his grandaughter's first and second wedding anniversaries and a friend's 25th wedding anniversary.
That's a lot of cake.

The ice (cream) man cometh

Another lovely busy day full of panini and scone orders.
A few more members of the team learned how to make the popular milkshakes and I've decide that really they only take as long as a cappuccino and we make plenty of those.
A lady who told me her name is Mel arrived with four week old Tom. She'd walked. He'd slept.
She ordered asparagus soup so I took Tom on a visit round the tearooms while she ate.
A waitress did that for me once when I had a young baby.
I'll always remember how lovely it was to have two hands free to eat lunch. It's only right to pass the favour forward now.
Despite there being ice on the windscreen this morning the day warmed up and in the afternoon almost everyone sat in the garden. We had a moment of panic when a 7 year old boy went missing but he turned up. His friend said he'd been "sulking in the bushes". Who hasn't done that?

We ran dangerously low on ice cream. There wasn't much choice in the tubs department by mid afternoon. I kept telling people a delivery was due and to keep their fingers crossed.
They did. It arrived.
Just in time for tomorrow.

Busy as bees

Just a short note to say how very lovely and sunny and busy it is. Today I had deliveries from 3 places and immediately had to order more from all of them.
Usually at this time we are calmer before the Bank Holiday.
We are all a leeetle bit nervous of what the weekend may bring if this is the state of affairs now.
Deep breath.

The masonry bees are here. The sign has gone up (as it does every year) to reassure visitors that the flying things around the door are not wasps and shouldn't sting them.
The bees stay just a few weeks when the warmer weather starts, and are always in the same place. Then they're gone.

Brave New World

I had all the kit. I had the ingredients.
What I was lacking was the courage.
For me it takes a bit of bravery to introduce something onto the menu that we've never tried before. I can find so many excuses - it's never the right day.
Today my husband forced me to start serving milkshakes.
He even wrote out a how-to list for the staff.
We tentatively made the first. Then the second.
By the end of the day we'd served 23 of them in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavours.
A lady returned to the counter to ask how we made them as her children said they were the best they'd ever had.
A triumph then.
Except we got through even more milk than usual which meant a rushed drive to the local garage to stock up.
Will it make me more brave about new items?
I doubt it.

Memo to the forecasters

Today's first customers, a gentleman and lady, were meeting two other couples for a coffee. They hadn't seen the other couples for more than thirty years and were worried they wouldn't recognise each other.
Of course they did.
Most of us, I've realised, don't change that much.
We just dye our hair, or lose our hair, or cut our hair or grow our hair. Get past the hair and there we are. Same as it ever was.
I expected it to be busy but in fact it was REALLY busy. The conservatory filled up, emptied and filled up again. Alex and Louisa came with Louisa's parents to talk about their wedding in August.
Or more specifically about their reception (we're not serving canapés during the vows).
We need good weather. I am putting in an early request for warm and sunny but not too hot.

I really enjoyed today.
Lovely people, no stress, and some nice comments about my lemon drizzle cake.

Terra Firma

What is it? Day 5 of the season? And several curved balls have been thrown already.
We've had the abnormally busy opening day, followed by the normally busy first weekend, then a bizarrely quiet Monday.
Today turned out to be what I would term a typical 2013 weekday. A fairly quiet start then a two hour period where almost every table was occupied and any socks we were wearing were worked off.
We ran out of soup and panini.
Towards the end of the busy time a young couple ordered High Tea and took the only available table in the conservatory.
They'd come to talk to me about their wedding in July 2015.
Yes 2015.
Just saying 2015 makes me think of us all living on Mars wearing spray-on boiler suits and eating pill-meals.
Instead we'll more than likely still be spreading scones with cream and jam and pouring tea into china cups here on Earth.
Thank goodness.

Today my younger son is fourteen. A landmark in his life. And in mine.

Have I Got Moos for You

Saturday morning and I awoke to being called "A Worcestershire woman" on the local radio news.
I do not consider myself to be "a woman". I don't feel old enough. Still, they were right and I am wrong. But it felt grim.
They were talking about the news that my friend Helen Fawkes has set up an exhibition of her cow photographs in the tearooms. It ticks off number 21 on her bucket list.
Helen is a BBC correspondent, the daughter of a farmer and has ovarian cancer.
She writes an amazing blog: http://helenfawkes.wordpress.com/ which has her list of the fifty things she wants to do during her life. 
Helen was interviewed during the Breakfast Show at length. Then she came to put up her photos on the walls of the tea rooms. They're with us for a month and look fantastic.

I left the tea rooms half way through the afternoon and drove to London to be part of a birthday surprise for a friend. Turns out she wasn't the only one to be surprised. I stayed out until 3.  That's 3 AM. Not bad for a Worcestershire woman.

Highlights

Day one 2014.
So much to say but no time so I'll write a reminder to myself and fill in the details later.
- sitting outside, warmth, sunshine even.
- comments: "love the patio", "you've gone blonde".
- baby announcement
- another baby announcement
- busy, coffee, busy, more coffee, lunches, sweet potato & ginger soup, busy
- George Clooney lookalike. No, really. Could have been his older brother. If he had an English older brother.
- Simnel cake and hot cross buns.
- Seven from Indonesia who came in just before closing. Sat in the garden.

Ajar

Today we were still in the closed season.
We reopen tomorrow.
However.
A lovely man stuck his head through the door as I was putting the cloths on tables and asked whether he and his wife could possibly have a cup of tea? I told him if he didn't mind that we weren't quite ready to receive visitors, and that the carpets were still damp from the morning's deep clean, that I would make them some tea.
"Any chance of any cake?" he said.
I said I was due a delivery from Claire within the half hour. He beamed.
Claire duly arrived bearing Victoria Sponges, carrot cakes, quiches galore and the Simnel cake I'd asked her to make for the opening day.
Both husband and wife chose the Simnel cake.
Then asked if they could each take a piece home with them.

I've ordered more Simnel cake.

Two more men came in this afternoon desperate for a cup of tea.
It feels quite like old times already.

Tea minus 2 days.

The man with the bin forms arrived during the organised chaos which is the tea rooms on the day-before-the-day-before reopening. Almost everything has been wiped, washed, bleached or vacuumed and put in its place. If the council man had stayed much longer he'd either have been scrubbed or handed a broom.
My lovely coffee machine (still in love with it after four years) was serviced by Huw who then made us all lattes.
Tomorrow all the outside tables will take their place among the blooms in the garden and I'll have to do some food prep.
Lemon drizzle?

Pat on the back

It's different this year.
I'm three days from opening and, although I have moments when my stomach turns over, I'm feeling remarkably calm.
Of course this means I've probably forgotten something.
Today I cleaned and bleached behind the fridges and freezers (my least favourite job).
Lee came to do my annual Pat Test*.
There's still a lot of cleaning and clearing to do but I have the best possible help descending tomorrow morning.
I also have a man from the council bringing new forms so that my bin can be emptied every week.
Life doesn't get much more glamorous than that.



*HSE answers to popular questions: "Portable appliance testing (PAT) is the term used to describe the examination of electrical appliances and equipment to ensure they are safe to use".

Going gaga.

I can't keep saying "4th April" when people ask when we're reopening.
Today I realised that I have to say "next week".
Cue panic.
To do list includes:
Cleaning, moving furniture, arranging for bin collections to restart, putting up new notice board (still waiting for it to arrive). I could go on.
But for this evening I'm off to a party to celebrate 20 years of Radio 5live with lots of former BBC colleagues.
I've packed the business cards...

Cupid?

Less than 3 weeks to go and I have finally made a start on signage.

I've made some small arrows to reassure those making their way up a long farm track. I've ordered a new sign for the end of it and asked for a quote for three more for the main road. And I've cleaned and repainted the fingerpost.  

None of these things is particularly arduous. So why does it take me so long to get around to them?

Bath buns

Once a year, before the tea rooms reopen for the season, all the people who work there go out together for Afternoon Tea. We taste other people's scones and cakes, scan their menu and look ahead to what we'll be doing for the following seven months.
This year we're going to Bath.
Our trip is on Saturday.
Two of our number are students in Bristol so the venue makes it easier for them. Plus they'd go anywhere for free food to see us again.

25 Days

It's just under four weeks until we reopen and today Spring arrived.
We are basking in sunshine.
Time was I would have worried that we should be open today but I have far too much to do before reopening and we're having a patio put down at the entrance so that's that.
The new cake display fridge was delivered on Monday which was one of the many things on my "to do list".  Other times include: signage (yep. Again.), new menus, a notice board, preparation for a photographic exhibition, cleaning, more cleaning and carpet cleaning.

Tomorrow we're having the tea rooms pegboarded so that we can more easily display pictures and photographs. I'll then have to paint it.

On Saturday it's our staff Afternoon Tea outing. Sixteen of us are going on a jolly to Bath.
I think I might have to have a rota sorted by then....

Programme of Events

On Sunday evening Witley Court & Church featured on the BBC's Countryfile programme.
A lot.
Matt Baker had been filming there 9 days earlier.
(I know this because I had provided his, and the rest of the team's, lunch)
The Court & grounds & church all looked stunning despite the bloomin' awful weather we've been having.
There was even sunshine.
It wasn't photoshopped.

Well.
On Monday I took a call from a man in Cardiff who wants to bring a group of gardeners to see us. Then today an email from a lady who was already considering a coach trip but was spurred on by the programme to sort it out.
Plus a call from a gentleman who, despite not living too far away, had never heard of the place. He wants to give his wife a visit to see us as a Valentine. He must love her very much.

Thank you Countryfile.
You may prove even better than Popmaster.

Shaking things up

A new season has to bring something different.
Last winter we extended the kitchen, bought a second panini machine, expanded our range of fillings for panini and sandwiches. We (re)vamped the conservatory with painted chairs and new table coverings. We put teepees in the garden for the children,  introduced a few new cakes and tried out picnic boxes.
This season will see us turn our hand to milk shakes. We're periodically asked if we do them (mostly during the school holidays) so it's surely time to give it a try.
I haven't decided how to do it yet but I reckon we'll start small & obvious (vanilla, choc, strawb)  and see how they go.

There'll have to be a few home trials of course.

Sign of the Times

It's 2014. My fifth season approaches.
On my list (yet again) is signage. There's not enough of it anywhere. I need to reassure people who are trundling up a farm track they've never used before that they are going the right way, and that delights await at the end of their journey.
I need to do this without upsetting people who live along said farm track.
So, no neon.

What I'm thinking of is some small but noticeable arrows bearing the words: TEA ROOMS which I can hang from branches and fencing along the route.

I have a history of thinking about it and not doing anything about it.
This post is a statement of intent.

However.
I am currently reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and am finding it difficult to put down...