| NEWS ITEMS 2007|

Contents

Silver Award for Somerset Honey and Orange Chocolate!

This year, for the first time we decided to enter one of our favourite chocolates for the Taste of the West Awards and are proud to announce that we won a Silver award!.

Somerset Honey and Orange is made with delicious local honey from David Pearces' bees in Bathealton, near Wivieliscombe, blended with milk chocolate, hazelnut cream and a touch of orange.

It has always been one of our most popular products and we have intended to enter it for the awards in the past but the summer is a very busy time for us and several competitions passed us by. This year Lorna was determined and the award serves to confirm our customers views that it is something special, with a local touch!

[back to top]

Exford Show

Wednesday 8th August, another lovely day, saw us making our first appearance at the very popular and long-running Exford Show with the chocolate fountain and chocolates.

We have visited the show in previous years and always enjoyed it, despite the weather being somewhat temperamental on occasions! We decided it was time to introduce chocolate to the proceedings. We were in the show's Craft Marquee along with a few other food producers, some new to the show like us.

Food aside, the marquee had a lovely selection of crafts with some producers demonstrating as well. It was a popular destination with visitors to the show. Apart from the craft and food interests, it was a good place to get out of the breeze for a while!

Some more photos - click to enlarge:

[back to top]

Taunton Flower Show - Vivary Park

We took our place in the Farmers' Market Marquee, a new feature of the Taunton Flower Show in 2007.

We have not been to the Flower Show before and were really impressed. It was also the first time that the show had been on Friday and Saturday - previously it has been Thursday/Friday.

Aside from the horticultural aspects of the show, obviously the main interest for the majority of the visitors, there were a number of trade stands and excellent entertainment in the arena. In addition, much to everyone's surprise, we had fantastic weather!

We had a lot of interest in both the chocolate fountain and the limited range of chocolates we took with us.

A few photos - please click on an image to see a larger version:

[back to top]

Tavistock Food Festival 2007

Our second visit to Tavistock with our fountain and a selection of chocolates and florentines was met with better weather than in 2006. Last year we spent quite a lot of our time with water washing over our feet, this year we even had some sunshine which was long overdue and meant that the occasional drizzle didn't seem too much of a problem!

We dispensed our chocolate kebabs to numerous festival visitors, including many who had enjoyed one last year and returned for a second dose. What better way to enjoy Somerset and Cornish strawberries?

All in all we had a great (if tiring!) festival. [Click here to view some images]

We stayed on Friday and Saturday night at Overcombe House, an extremely comfortable guest house in Horrabridge, a short distance to the south of Tavistock. Hosts David and John were wonderfully welcoming and we particularly liked their policy of sourcing as many of their supplies as possible locally. We really enjoyed our breakfasts which gave us the ideal start to a busy day.

Well worth a stay!

[back to top]

South Dartmoor Community College Year 11 Prom

On Thursday 28th June we made a return visit to South Dartmoor Community College with our fountain.

Once again the staff and helpers had put on a great spread and the hall was beautifully decorated. It was a lovely evening and a lot of fun was had by all, pupils and staff alike!

A selection of photograph can be seen at our Photobox gallery(click here), from which prints can also be purchased.

[back to top]

2007 Bath and West Show

Wednesday 30th May to Saturday 2nd June

We took our place for the second time in the Spirit of the West food marquee which we shared with other local food producers selling cider/brandy, cheeses, wine, smoked foods and strawberries.

The weather was not too hot which meant we were able to bring a range of chocolates to sell alongside our chocolate fountain which was really the star of the show!

Unfortunately the first day, Wednesday, was affected by torrential rain but after that things improved (only regular heavy showers!) and all in all we had a very good show.

We always enjoy sampling quality local food and we were spoiled for choice in the marquee - needless to say we didn't go home hungry or thirsty at the end of each day!

We didn't have much time to take many photographs but there is a selection from those we did get in our Photobox gallery (click here)

[back to top]

The Exmoor Society, Bristol Group visit us at the factory

The Bristol Group of the Exmoor Society arranged to visit us on Tuesday 17th April and we were pleased to have had the oppotunity to meet fellow enthusiasts of both Exmoor and food!

We had a lively and enjoyable demonstration and discussion and when the group left us they were planning a much-needed walk on North Hill to burn off some of the samples!

Click on pictures for bigger images

For more information about the important work done by the Exmoor Society as well as the social opportunites available by becoming a member please visit their web site: www.exmoorsociety.org.uk

Exeter Festival of South West England Food and Drink (to give it it's full title!)

Larger versions of the pictures will be added shortly

This year's festival ran from Friday 30th March to Sunday 1st April. We were lucky to have quite good weather over the three days and although Friday was relatively quiet, we had good numbers through the show on Saturday and Sunday. We have since heard that 16,00 people visited the festival, 1,000 more than 2006!

This year we decided to concentrate on our chocolate fountain as we had been very busy making stock for orders and for our Easter markets. So we spent more time dispensing chocolate, strawberries, marshmallows and mini doughnuts to the good people of the South West.

We also had some time to wander around and marvel at (and sample!) the huge variety of excellent food available from our region. Our immediate neighbours were Wild Bay, purveyors of crab meat products. I've never been a fan of shell fish but I must admit that after several samples of their delicious crab pate we went home on Sunday with several pots of pate and a coupel fo packs of their crab cakes!

There were several producers there we see reuglarly at markets and shows, a few of which are pictured here.

[back to top]

Halswell House

On Sunday 11th March we took our chocolate fountain and samples of our chocolates and wedding favours to a wedding fair as a stunning venue in Goathurst, in the Quantocks. Halswell House is a beautiful country house which has been extensively restored since 2004 and it really is one of the most spectacular venues for a wedding that we have seen.

The wedding show was a very successful event and we met a number of excellent service providers, including florists, photographers and video & dvd makers. Well done to all involved with organising the event and if you are planning a special wedding please have a look at their web site and make sure you visit - you really need to see the place to appreciate it!

Click on any picture to see a larger image

[back to top]

Hestercombe Gardens - Chocolate Extravaganza

Hestercombe Gardens hosted the second (annual, hopefully!) Chocolate Extravaganza on Saturday 10th March and it proved to be another roaring success.

Beautiful weather made a welcome contribution to the day and visitors had the added attraction of the fantastic gardens, around which they could walk to work off some chocolate calories!

Our chocolate fountain was very busy and we ran unfortunately out of strawberries later in the afternoon! Visitors also took the opportunity to make some early Easter purchases and they had a wonderful choice from among the many chocolate producers who attended.

The chocolate fountain (and Lorna of course!) caught the attention of the Western Morning News and this article featured in Monday's edition of the paper.

	Click on any picture to see a larger image
Keen interest!		Granny Gothards D elicious ice creams
Juliet of Wise Cakes	Look at that!	Pay attention!

There were lots of other chocolate and confectionery producers and vendors and a great time was had by all!

[back to top]

>>>WEDDINGS & CELEBRATIONS >>>