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August 2010
Now that we are in the school holidays we look forward to seeing some of you here in Pembrokeshire. It is nice and green here, compared to the scorched earth appearance of some of the UK. We have been experimenting with some new preserves, and hope that some of our visitors will taste them and give us feedback on them. I am always interested, as well, to hear how other families use our preserves.
As well as the various new sauces and relishes, we have a rather nice Blueberry & Blackberry jam and as usual in the school holidays we have Vanilla fudge. This is the hard Scottish-type fudge - known there as "tablet". The Tayberry Jam is all gone, sadly.
The Green Label jams and marmalades are made in very small quantities, but they still take a lot of cooking to get them anywhere near a jam consistency. Please remember, if you order them, that they do not have as firm a set as jams made with sugar, and they are also much darker than usual, due to the long cooking.
Your packages come to you filled with the surplus cardboard and paper that we shred up - we have a most useful and efficient machine. For the gardeners among you, the compost heap is a good place to dispose of it.
For gifts we have sturdy cardboard boxes in 2 sizes - one hold 4 jars and the other holds 6. They are packed with shredded coloured paper and then wrapped in a range of unusual wrapping paper and tied with grosgrain ribbon. The wrapping paper is printed in bright colours with larger- than- life real photos of fruits, vegetables and flowers - all described in the price list.
The large 850g jars are still available. Jams and marmalades are £9.20 (for 340g jars priced at £4.15), £9.60 (£4.30), £9.90(£4.40) and £10.10(£4.50) and £10.40 (£4.60). For 800g chutneys, the prices are £10.45 (£4.45), £10.75 (£4.60), £11.15 (£4.75), £11.40 (£4.85) and£11.75 (£4.95). Some of these jars are listed in the Blue label section - if not, please phone or email us so that we can make them for you - not all of our preserves are kept in stock in this size
If you are thinking of coming to Pembrokeshire, and are new to the area, we can send you some tourist literature with your order - let us know what your interests are. There are several golf courses, coastal and hill walks, horse riding, beaches, castles, a Roman gold mine, and gardens (the National Botanical Garden of Wales is about an hour's drive from us - with a huge glass domed area of Mediterranean plants, and much more).
If you are as tired as I am of problems with plane travel and rail strikes (in France), now may be the time to think of UK holidays again. The farmhouse here is available for holiday rentals and sleeps up to 8 people - 2 double and 2 twin rooms (linen and towels provided) and 2 bathrooms. There is a comfortable conservatory, a cosy living room with an open fire (firewood supplied) and a big kitchen/dining room. We have 5 acres of grounds - mainly woodland - so plenty of room for children to run wild and streams to play in - bring wellies! Same price all year - £700 per week.
The Indian Runner duck update is that our ducks managed to hatch out a good supply of ducklings early in the summer, so we now have a duck team of 25 - mixed colours. There will be no eggs from them till the spring, but meantime they are busy on the slug attack.....! Gertrude and Daisy, the Iron Age pigs are clearing the last section of the old woodland here - and are still permanently hungry!
Kind regards
Wendy
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