As the days start to brighten and become longer Spring is finally on its way. What a joy it is to see all the gorgeous bulbs and tree blossoms come to life. It means lots of new fruits and vegetables coming into season. We have had, unusually, our first delivery of asparagus which is grown in the Wye Valley and, of course, rhubarb from the famous Yorkshire region. How will you enjoy yours, with custard, ice-cream or both?!

Easter will be here in the coming days. The Easter bunny has visited the shop and has delivered an excellent selection of egg-citing chocolates, cards and treats. We have a daily delivery of the award
winning and delicious “Mark’s Bread” Hot Cross buns. These will be available until Good Friday. Customers have suggested to me they enjoy them toasted with lashings of butter, strawberry jam and even Marmite!!!

If you are hosting a delicious Easter lunch with your friends and family, we have a vast
selection of tasty treats and seasonal trimmings. We can also order in advance, for you, different cuts/joints of lamb for roasting, so please order early.

There is still time to vote for us in the Countryside Alliance Rural Oscar awards. We have been nominated for Best Village Shop/Post Office in the South West Region. Voting closes at midnight 1 April 2024. Thank you to those of you who have already voted.

The shop will be closing early at 4.00pm on Good Friday and Easter Monday and we will be closed all day on Easter Sunday. With the clocks changing too, so will our shop opening times. From Sunday 14 April 2024 the shop and café Sunday opening times will be changing; each Sunday our café will close at 3.00pm and the shop will close at 4.00pm.

If you have visited the shop recently you may have seen some new young faces volunteering. I am thrilled that Henry, Jemima and Katy have all signed up to volunteer as part of their Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. If you know of any young person who would like to complete their work
experience, it’s a fantastic opportunity to gain invaluable experience, develop new skills and make a positive difference to people’s lives. Please do pop into the shop and find out more.

We look forward to seeing you soon

Sarah

I don’t know about you but where did February go? Even with an extra. day February has past by like a flash! We have had a very busy month in the shop and café despite the many soggy days we have had. Love was in the air for Valentine’s Day, selling lots of yummy chocolates, beautiful bouquets and many last-minute cards!

Spring is in the air with lighter mornings and evenings and bulbs slowly showing their heads. Daffodils and vibrant rhubarb are available in the shop bringing some cheerful spring colour. Have you tried “Kalettes”? These are greens with a twist, they taste like a cross between kale and brussels sprouts but milder in flavour and less bitter. They are super healthy and easy to cook either stir-fried, roasted or steamed. Pop in and buy some.

Thank you to those of you who entered our annual Seville Marmalade competition. The winner after much deliberation was David Pearson. The judges described David’s marmalade as having a lovely flavour, great texture and the right amount of peel. Well done David.

I am very proud to announce that we have once again been nominated for a Rural Oscar by the Countryside Alliance. We have been chosen as the Best Village Shop in the South West Region. Voting has opened so please start voting now. It is really easy to do just scan the QR code on the picture below or go onto the Countryside Alliance website and find the link.

Coming up in March we will be celebrating Mothers Day, 10 March 2024, with a great selection of cards and flowers. If you would like to order a personal flower bouquet in advance please just pop in and ask.

Last week we thanked Andrew Packe for all his hard-work, support and time that he very generously gave firstly to help start the planning for a new village shop, then volunteering on a weekly basis. He also gave his time being a member of the shop committee. Thank you, Andrew we appreciate all your hard work, and we are thrilled that you will continue to volunteer in the shop.

If you are new to Bledington and Foscot and would like to give back to your community then maybe you might consider volunteering in the shop. If you are interested then please do contact me for a chat.

Finally, all of us at Bledington Shop would like to send our deepest condolences to Sheila Truslove on the sad news of her dear sister Gillian.

Happy New Year to you all. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and an excellent start to 2024. January has arrived with a soggy start and then a few days of cold crisp mornings, with beautiful blue skies. I know which I prefer.

January is filled with lots of root vegetables and citrus fruits for all to enjoy. Eating seasonally is best for us, the environment and supports local suppliers. We have leeks, parsnips and various types of kale. Plus, not forgetting our sunny “Seville” oranges now ready for marmalade making.

Once again, we are in search of Bledington’s Marmalade Champion! So, wash down your pans, dig out your recipe books and get bubbling!

Please do bring us your jar of homemade unlabelled marmalade, to be crowned Bledington Marmalade King or Queen. All entries will be judged blind. The deadline is noon Friday 16 February 2024. The winner will be announced on Monday 19 February 2024.

Have you seen our fantastic range of soups from the Real Soup Company? When it comes to a tasty soup, we know that everyone’s choice is different. From lentil to butternut squash, tomato and basil to leek and potato. They are available in ready to heat containers. All their soups are allergen free, vegetarian and vegan varieties available. They all go extremely well with a warmed up slice of Mark’s Sourdough.

In the coming weeks Spring will be here so lots of new fresh fruit and vegetables will be arriving, plus local seasonal flowers. Love will be in the air for Valentines Day, on Wednesday 14 February. Don’t forget to spoil your special valentine with a gift. We will have Dee’s cards, Stow flowers, Cotswold Carress lotions and potions and Cotswold Chocolate Co. chocolates.

Our community shop is the hub of the village. We are here for everyone who lives in Bledington, Foscot and surrounding villages. The fantastic volunteers and I are not only here to sell you groceries and serve you yummy food and drinks, we are here to help you. Our café is a warm and welcoming place, so if you fancy a chat and a cuppa, please do pop in. If you are new to the village and could spare some time, we are always needing additional volunteers. It’s the perfect place to meet new people and feel part of a community. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Happy 4th Birthday to us. Can you believe it has been four glorious years since we opened the doors to our amazing community shop and café. We celebrated in style and held a raffle thanks to the donations of our brilliant suppliers. The raffle was in aid of the North Cotswold Foodbank and thanks to the generous support of you our customers we raised over £450.

Congratulations to the Alison Blears, Alan Jarvis, Arthur Morley and many other villagers who won one of our many prizes.

Move over plums and blackberries the new fruits on show are our easy peeler, sweet Satsumas plus we have delicious and yummy Medjool dates which can be eaten on their own or used in a traybake or maybe a sticky toffee pudding. Kale, kalettes (sprout flowers) and cavolo nero. All are incredibly versatile and can be boiled, stir-fried and steamed.

With Christmas only four weeks away the shop will be transforming into Santa’s grotto. We will have everything you need from turkeys to twiglets, brussel sprouts to bubbles. If you haven’t started already why not stock up on your favourite festive treats. Our Christmas food order form is available in the shop. You will be able to order everything you need, turkeys, vegetables, smoked salmon and pork pies to name but a few items. The shop has something for everyone, so let the festive preparations begin.

A Diary date for your diary: we will holding a tasting event in the shop on Saturday 16th December 2023. This will be an opportunity for you to try some of our amazing tasty delights that we sell in the shop. So please come along and try a nibble from local cheeses, pork pies and chocolates. Plus we will be promoting our new Old Orchard Whisky. So why not pop in and try a small dram!!

The warm sunny days are now behind us and all we can think of is the
cooler weather. The trees are slowing losing their autumnal leaves and
we’ve got an array of Autumn fruits and vegetables in the shop.

Our shop shelves are flooded with beautiful colours, orange, purple and
dark reds – squashes, sweet potatoes, and purple sprouting broccoli to
name but a few. With the demand for tasty homemade soups and stews
ever increasing we have all the local ingredients you will need. Not wanting
to slave over a hot stove then come and see our amazing selection of fresh
soups found in the deli fridge from Lentil, Thai chicken and butternut
squash.

We have added to our Bledington Shop gifts line with these beautiful fine bone china
mugs. Designed by the super talented Louise and Amy Jackson and produced by The Crock Shop based in Stow. Why not treat yourself to your very own Bledington Mug or start shopping early for Christmas!

Can you believe it has been nearly four years since Bledington
Community Shop and Café opened its doors with Dame Prue Leith cutting
the ribbon and being our first ever customer. As you know we love a
birthday party at Bledington Shop so once again we will be celebrating with
lots of fun and games. Look forward to celebrating with you all on Saturday
11 November 2023. We will be holding a raffle in aid of the North Cotswold Foodbank based in
Moreton.

As we move forward to darker evenings from Sunday 29 October 2023
not only will we have changed the clocks we will also be closing earlier.
Every Sunday during winter the shop will be closing at 2.00pm. So
please shop early to avoid disappointment.

Finally a big thank you to all the amazing volunteers who live in
Bledington and surrounding villages. Without your support and time that
you very generously give this shop would not be such a success that it is; so
thank you.

Blackberries, figs, apples and pears …. these delicious fruits feel like
Autumn is slowly upon us. Don’t waste a moment to make jams, jellies,
cakes and crumbles all ingredients available from the shop. Not forgetting
lots of creams and ice creams to accompany your favourite pudding or tart.
We are still getting courgettes and British tomatoes and new in are figs,
squashes and purple sprouting broccoli. With the demand now for tasty
homemade soups and stews ever increasing we have all the local
ingredients you will need.

We have some new beers, lagers and ciders in, all from local brewery Hawkstone, based just outside Moreton. Made famous by Jeremy Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper. The Hawkstone Sundowner is a fruity and refreshing lager in a can available for a limited period only.

As we move forward to darker evenings and cosy nights by the fire we will be changing our opening hours from Sunday 29th October 2023. Our opening hours will be Monday-Saturday 9.00am-5.00pm and Sunday 9.00am-2.00pm.

Sadly, I must report that Maura my assistant manger has resigned from
the shop. She has been an asset to our team and will be sadly missed by us
all. I am sure you will want to join me in wishing her all the best. This
means I am looking for a new assistant manager. If you know anyone who
may fit the position please let them know about this vacancy or contact me
on 01608 659977, manager@bledingtonshop.com

Finally I would like to thank all my amazing volunteers who very
generously give up their time to help and support me in the shop. If you
have just recently moved into the local area and would like to help serve our
local community please do pop in for a chat to find out more.

There’s no other month that cries holidays and warm sunny days like
August but unfortunately this August has been very disappointing weather
wise, lets hope we have an “Indian Summer”.
Once again we have had a very busy time in the shop and café
welcoming and serving lots of customers who have travelled from further
afield. I had the pleasure to chat to one lady from America who told me her
grandmother grew up in Bledington.
New fruits and vegetables are arriving in the next few days and weeks.
Delicious juicy figs are perfect on their own or served with blue cheese,
walnuts in a green salad. Luscious British plums which go well with duck or
goat’s cheese, and not forgetting corn on the cob, griddled on the BBQ with
lots and lots of melted butter and black pepper. September is just days
away so why not buy cooking apples to go with the arrival of blackberries,
arriving on a hedgerow very soon.
I am sure you will have noticed on your visit to the shop one of our garden planters
is bursting with a variety of English herbs. Rosemary, parsley, mint, thyme and chives. Please
do help yourself these are for everyone to
enjoy whether in a salad, a casserole or even in a drink!!
We would like to send our congratulations to two of our young
volunteers. Angus Sherringham who achieved a double merit in business
studies and a distinction in computing. Plus Daniel Logue, who received his
A-level results, achieving four A* grades.
Everyone at Bledington Shop would like to take this opportunity to thank
them for all their hard work volunteering. We wish them all the success in
their next steps. If you know a young person who would like to volunteer in
the shop please do get in touch.

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.

March certainly arrived like a lion, we have had some very cold and snowy days. Lets hope it goes out like a lamb and that the longer days and the gorgeous Spring bulbs means that Spring is finally here. Have you seen the Spring bulbs and flowers that we have planted up just outside the entrance to the shop?

We have been celebrating a few national food weeks, with “Real Bread Week” championing our amazing local supplier Marks Cotswold Bakery a 5 star award winning bread maker. We then had national “Pie Week” again promoting another local supplier the Outdoor Pig Company who make all our delicious pork pies, quiches and traditional pasties.

Last Sunday was Mothers Day so a big thank you to all our amazing mums, mothers, grannies and grandmothers who live in our village. I hope you were able to spend some time and say thank you for everything that they do for you. I know if it wasn’t for my amazing Mother I would not be the person I am today, so thank you Mum.

We will soon be celebrating Easter. We have an amazing choice of cards, gifts and of course chocolate so please pop in and pick up some chocolatey treats.

Finally I am proud and delighted that the very talented Amy Jackson has personally designed for us our very own Bledington Tea Towel. As you may know Amy designed the labels for our Old Orchard Bledington Gin and Sloe Gin. She also designs the Bledington Christmas card for us. The tea towel which features the ducks which live on the village green comes in 3 colours, cream, mustard or sage green. So why not pop into the shop and purchase your very own Bledington Tea Towel. Many thanks Amy for all your hard work and attention to detail; they look incredible.