Groundhog Day

ANOTHER UNEXPECTED COACH.
What is going on?
This group of 35 were from Leicester.
One man said he liked my wicker sofa and was looking for one just like it.
He said he was sure he could smuggle it onto the coach.
Another group of ladies came for coffee, saw the church then came back for lunch and returned for tea just before the coach left.
Three visits in four hours. Not bad.

Shhh

We began what we thought would be a normal Tuesday.
How wrong could we be?
By 11.15 we had a queue of people wanting coffees and cakes.
Then lunches.
Mainly panini and jacket potatoes - the items which take the longest to prepare. Natch.
It was that bane of our lives - the unexpected coach party. I could have cried.
I asked one couple where they'd traveled from?
"We're all from Cheltenham," she answered, "all former employees of GCHQ".
Perhaps that's why they couldn't let us know they were coming....?

Secret messages

We picked this up from a table in the conservatory.
It tells a great story.
People watching, uncertainty, surreptitious communication. Is she concerned she's doing it the wrong way? (I'm assuming it's written by a woman?) Or pointing out that someone else is?
More to the point I have handwriting envy.

Puzzled

Two pieces of lost property so far this season. 

I fear someone will be missing these little monkeys but we've had them for a few days now.

Small world

One more story before I move on from the celebrity excitement.
I dropped in on Chris and Ashley to pay them for their honey. They invited me in to see their new extended living room, as yet unfurnished. I told them about Robert Plant's visit, how he had taken away a jar of their honey and what he had written in the visitors' book.
I thought they would be chuffed.
They were.
But they also rolled their eyes and laughed.
They had wanted a carpet fitted in the new living room last Friday. The carpet fitters couldn't do it. Why? Because they were fitting Mr Plant's new carpets that day...

Tea rooms log (big).

An extract from the visitors' book on Saturday. Robert Plant's "Excellent Honey! thanks" followed by the bride and groom signing as Mr and Mrs for the first time. 

Cracked it

Eleven members of staff is the key to the Easter Bank Holiday.
It's only taken me seven years to figure that out.
Tomorrow will be the test...

Whipped

Talk about dedication to duty.
Yesterday Charlotte (18) arrived for work saying she had had very vivid dreams about running out of cream (which must be whipped) and napkins (which must be folded).
She made sure we didn't run out of either.
Sometimes we run out at the worst times, whilst still in the throes of multiple cream teas. Stopping to whip and fold holds everything up.
So Charlotte folded napkins and hid them away on shelves so whenever we were low a new supply would appear. Litres and litres of double cream was whipped for scones.
Today we'll see whether she had a better night's sleep.

Whole lotta tea

I am about to crawl to bed.
What a great day.
Wyndham's 90th culminated in him playing a borrowed keyboard with his 45 assembled friends and family singing along to "My Old Man (said follow the van)" and "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" having downed their tea, sandwiches and scones in the conservatory.

While they were eating and singing the main tearoom and the garden filled up with people.
George was taking orders at the till when he came face to face with Robert Plant.
The Robert Plant.
Who ordered a tea with honey and some cold drinks.
It took a while for George to stop shaking.
Two hours later the ninety-plus wedding guests arrived for their cream teas. By this time the afternoon was warm and bright which was SO lucky. Had the weather been otherwise who knows where they'd all have gone.
And so to tomorrow. Or rather, later today.
Easter Day.

Easter Saturday

A big day for us.
And for Wyn who'll be celebrating his 90th birthday (46 sandwiches & scones).
And for Rachel and Matt who are marrying in the church then bringing 90 people down to us for a cream tea.
We're going in early to bake scones. Where shall we put them all?

A very long good Friday

Easter can be very hard work.
I learn every year (and then forget) just how many people go out for the first Bank Holiday of the season. I try every year to fill up the staff rota.
Today was a busy day but it threw a curveball by being very quiet until midday. We thought everyone was traveling? Perhaps shopping? Gardening?
No.
They were waiting around the corner until midday to descend on us.
This is typical as Mary was leaving at midday to go to watch her choirboy grandson in the cathedral and two other staff members weren't arriving until 1230.
It proved to be the longest half hour of my day.
Please let my future self remember this and that a tearoom CANNOT have enough chocolate cake when children are on school holidays.

Safely delivered.

Meet our new baby, delivered and fitted just in time for the Easter Bank Holiday. We think it looks quite happy with its new home...

Early risers

This morning I was guest speaker at Cleobury Mortimer breakfast club.
I had to be in a pub at 0730, a major feat for me.
The thirty or so members had to listen to me talk about myself, radio and the tearooms for half an hour or so. An even more major feat.
We all survived.

Mint

Ta-dah. I finally have a new £1 coin and have to admit to being a little disappointed. Yes it's super shiny, the design is fine, the two-colour thing is great, the size and weight are as expected but I really thought its edges would be more pronounced.
A couple paid for their tea with it. It had been their first and now it's mine.
I showed it to anyone who displayed any kind of interest including a woman from London who told me there are NONE in the capital.
I had assumed they were ALL down there and we were just waiting in the countryside for them to filter out.
Yes, today I am a little obsessed.
By tomorrow I'll be fine.

in for a penny

It's official.
The dishwasher is kaput which inevitably will prove an expensive problem.
We can possibly cope with just one for a few days but will certainly need a second in place for the looming Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
Just typing those last four words makes my palms sweat.
Still no sign of a new pound coin.
Where are they all?

Addendum

After two full days there's no sign of a new £1 coin.

Will today be the day?

Season Eight

Opening weekend = very, very hard.
All fine on Saturday until the second dishwasher was turned on and tripped the electricity. Pretty busy but it quietened after lunch which allowed me to say hello to a few people and to go and see the firing of the newly-cleaned fountain. It looks pristine. The scaffolding went up in late August so they've been working on it for months.  The first day back was sunny and lovely, rainbows could be seen through the jets of water. I felt privileged to see it.
Then to today.
We were swamped. Not enough staff it turns out. The announcement of the fountain restarting had been in the national media but no one told us.
Sunshine and warmth meant people sat outside and we were running to catch up from late morning.
We ran out of change, scones, white bread (white bread? Usually everyone wants granary. What has happened?).
Amazingly we didn't run out of milk.
And then the loos became blocked. All five of them.
The icing on the cake.