British Summertime has finally arrived, we have already had some amazingly hot summer days. Thankfully in the shop we have air conditioning which is now being generated by our newly installed solar panels, making the shop even more green.

Don’t forget our fruit and vegetables are delivered to us daily from Drinkwaters. It is not packaged in lots of plastic, you can buy what you need, plus it reduces food waste which is very important to us all.

If this amazing weather continues I am sure you might be considering going on a picnic. We have a great selection of yummy treats to take with you from pork pies, scotch eggs and tasty quiches all supplied to us from a local company the “Outdoor Pig Company”. Don’t forget a chilled bottle of Rose. If you need anything else to enhance your picnic just come in and ask, we are always happy to help.

Summertime brings to us lots of yummy fresh fruits, English cherries, apricots and not forgetting strawberries served with lashings of cream all available in the shop.

You may not know we have a fish van that visits the shop every week. Paul has changed his weekly visit to Wednesday from 2.00 – 3.00pm. He has the finest quality fish direct from the Grimsby docks. Why not come and have a look and see what he has available.

I am sure you will all agree the exterior of the shop is looking stunning with the flower planters, one containing summer bedding plants and the other with fresh summer herbs. It has also been enhanced by five hanging baskets. A huge thank you to Alan Jarvis who very generously planted and donated these.

Don’t forget we are holding our

Annual General Meeting on
Wednesday 12 July 6.30pm at the
Village Hall. This will be an opportunity for you all to hear what has been happening this past year and to ask any questions.

Many thanks to those of you who volunteer in the shop and welcome to Jenny and Rosalba who have recently started volunteering. I know that helping in the shop is a great way of giving something back to the village and the local community. If you are interested in volunteering please do pop into the shop and have a chat. Its lots of fun.

I am sure you will agree watching the Coronation of our new King, King Charles III was a magnificent sight and something I will not forget in a very long time. Those of you that visited the shop the week before the Coronation will have been asked to donate a product to our foodbank collection on behalf of the North Cotswolds Foodbank. On behalf of the Trustees of the foodbank we would like to say thank-you for your very generous donations, weighing in at an amazing 54kg. A record amount from Bledington Shop.

Your generous donations also entered you into our “Right Royal Raffle”. Many congratulations to those of you that were successful in winning a Royal Prize.

There are so many beautiful and delicious new fruits and vegetables at their best right now from early salad leaves, such as rocket and lambs lettuce to juicy English strawberries. All available fresh into the shop every day.

As you all know back in March we won the Countryside Alliance Rural Oscars Award 2023 for Best Village Shop in the South West of England. This week I went with Louise Jackson to the House of Lords to attend the Grand Final. Unfortunately we did not win, but we were in the top 3 businesses
out of 15,000 nominated across England, Wales and Scotland which is an amazing achievement. Without our great team of staff and volunteers, incredible customers this would not have been possible. So thank you.

Coming up in June we have many events happening in the village which we are very proud to be supporting. At the beginning of June is the Bledington Music Festival 6 to 8 June. Tickets are still available at the shop. (Cash or cheque only). Plus we have the Bledington Summer Fête on Saturday 10 June.

In the shop we will have lots of cards and presents for Fathers Day Sunday 18 June so please pop into the shop and pick up something special for your father.

Don’t forget, if you are new to the village, or surrounding area volunteering in the shop is the perfect way to meet new friends, introduce yourself to your neighbours plus you are giving something back to our community. For more information about volunteering please do pop in and
ask. I look forward to seeing you all very soon.

April has brought us many showers, but as the proverb says, let’s hope it brings lots of May flowers. We have enjoyed a very busy month in both the shop and café with lots of visitors to the village during the Easter period. Our award winning bread supplier, Marks Cotswold Bakery, supplied us with lots of delicious hot cross buns and the Cotswold Chocolate Company supplied the most delicious easter eggs in various shapes and sizes, from chicks to bunnies.

We have lots of fun events coming up in the weeks ahead, with the first ever Bledington Community Shop and Café dog competition! As you know we are dog friendly and love to see our canine friends coming in with their well-behaved owners! If you own a dog, please bring a photograph to the shop and we will display your furry friend for all our customers to enjoy. We are asking pupils of Bledington Primary School, who live in Bledington and surrounding villages, to come and visit the shop and vote for their favourite dog. The winning dog will enjoy something tasty!

To celebrate his Majesty the King’s Coronation we are holding a fun “Right Royal Raffle”, with all prizes being royalty related. To enter simply donate a product to the North Cotswold foodbank box at the shop or pop a few pennies in the collection tin. Good luck.

We have lots of new goodies coming in for the Coronation from Coronation Chicken crisps to King Charles sweets, so please pop in and have a look.

Finally, Louise Jackson, one of our super volunteers, and I, will be off to the House of Lords on the 17May 2023 to attend the finals of the Countryside Alliance Rural Oscars awards. Please keep everything crossed and hope that we win the Best Village Shop in the whole of the United Kingdom. We look forward to seeing you soon.