Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Bledington Community Shop & Café. We celebrated our 3rd birthday on Saturday 12 November. It was a fun day with lots of you commenting how lucky we are to have such an amazing community shop and café. All the children received a birthday balloon, and we had Graham White, a local gardener, signing his new book “Notes from a Kingham
Gardener”

Many of you came in and helped celebrate with us by entering the free raffle. Congratulations to David Bowditch, Lizzie Aldridge, Rusty Gooding and many other villagers who won one of our many excellent prizes which were kindly donated by our local suppliers. Thank you.

We are delighted to announce a new supplier. “The Cotswold Chocolate Company” based in Stow-on-the-Wold who are artisan chocolatiers, handmaking delicious mouth- watering delights, perfect as a treat or a gift. We have many flavours fit for all palates!

With Christmas only four weeks away the shop will be transformed into Santa’s grotto from Wednesday 30 November. We will have everything you need from Christmas cards, wrapping paper and bottle bags to handmade aprons, ladies wash bags and of course all the wines, beers, and delicacies you can eat. Our Christmas food order form is available in the shop.

Another date for your diary is Saturday 10 December. We will be highlighting and promoting our amazing local suppliers with a free tasting event. So please come along and try a nibble from Marks Bakery, The Cotswold Chocolate Company and many more. Plus of course our amazing Old Orchard Sloe Gin!

Finally, a big thank you on behalf of the North Cotswold Foodbank. Every week they come along and empty the box that we have located by our entrance. Every week it is overflowing and they have been blown away by the generosity of all our customers. Thank you for all your donations and helping those who are struggling during this very difficult time. Every little bit helps.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Autumn has arrived and our countryside is ablaze with colour, the trees are slowing shedding their leaves and the nights are slowly drawing in. October in the shop has seen the arrival of lots of new and very tempting products. In our frozen section we have some delicious new fishcakes from salmon, lemon and dill to smoked haddock. We have some very early brussels sprouts and kale in, easy to cook and very tasty with a warming and hearty stew.

I am delighted to announce we have a new local homemade cake supplier, Holli Thomas, who owns Little Sprinkles Cakes. We are delighted to serve her mouth-watering cakes in our caf̩ with lots of amazing choices to enjoy, from Red Velvet to a Vegan Chocolate Cake Рwhich one will you try! Any slice would be a perfect accompaniment with a freshly ground Stow Coffee or hot chocolate served with cream and marshmallows.

Following the generosity of our customers over the last few months our Chairman Graeme handed over a cheque to Wendy Scott, joint editor of Bledington News to help towards the costs.

All of us at Bledington Shop appreciate what a vital role Bledington News magazine plays in the community, keeping us all up to date with the goings on within our community.

Thank you, Sinclair and Wendy, for all your hard work.

As autumn draws in, we are starting to see an amazing new selection of fruit and vegetables, with purple sprouting broccoli and winter squash’s being the first to arrive. With the demand for tasty homemade soups and stews ever increasing we have all the local ingredients you will need.

With the changing economic climate, we are all watching our pennies, so as a local service we are conscious that we need to be competitive and so have been comparing our prices with a well-known large supermarket. I am happy to say that many of our prices are cheaper, plus if you only want to buy one carrot or one potato then you can. We also pride ourselves on using as little and reduced packaging as possible on our vegetables, therefore less food waste, less miles, and shop local.

I am amazed by how many blackberries there are on our hedgerows. Perfect for those yummy apple and blackberry crumbles with a good dollop of double cream and custard! Bramley apples are available to buy too!

We continue to stock the Cacklebean eggs from our local Stow-on-the-Wold farmer Paddy and Steph Bourn. Their rare breed, free range, Arlington White chickens live in traditional chicken houses giving them home comforts and freedom to roam. Cacklebean not only supply us with their traditional eggs, but also delicious quail eggs. Our treasurer Ben made this delicious avocado, sourdough and quail eggs on toast; give them a try…with a crack of black pepper to finish.

Our famous warming Old Orchard Bledington
Sloe Gin is back in stock, however we have a
special favour to ask! If anyone is able to pick any sloes over the next few weeks our supplier would be most grateful. Please drop these off at the shop to be used in the next batch of our Bledington Sloe Gin.

As a nation we have all witnessed a sad yet momentous time in history with the passing of our unforgettable monarch. We can all remember the smiles and laughter Her Majesty gave us when we had the life size cardboard cut out at the shop and then at the Platinum Jubilee Street Party. She was a remarkable lady and a truly amazing Queen. Rest in peace Your Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

As we move forward to darker evenings and cosy nights by the fire, please remember we are open until 5.00pm, so if you need any firelighters or even some hot drinking chocolate you know where we are. Thank you for your continued custom and we look forward to seeing you soon.

What a wonderful August we have had in the shop serving you all, plus many customers who have travelled from further afield. I have had the opportunity to meet lots of amazing people with the furthest coming from Christchurch, New Zealand who told me the temperature there was a chilly 7 degrees, very different to what we have been experiencing!

It was National Cream tea week during the second week of the month and what better reason to promote our first cream tea to be served in the café. We invited four of our very special customers, Alan, Una, Gillian and Sheila (right) to be our taste testers. The scone is served warm with Cornish clotted cream and raspberry jam and thankfully all expressed how delicious it was, even asking for seconds.

We have also been serving iced coffee with either a caramel or vanilla shot, perfect for these warm days.

We would like to congratulate some of our younger volunteers, Georgia, Barney and Daniel on their fantastic achievements with their A-level and AS exam results. Everyone at Bledington Shop would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your hard work volunteering and wish you all the success on your new adventures. If you know a young person who would like to volunteer for their Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, please do get in touch.

Fresh figs, nectarines and peaches are selling fast and with September soon arriving why not buy some delicious cooking apples to go with the arrival of blackberries, arriving on a hedgerow near you soon.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Wow what a scorcher!!! These last few days have been incredibly hot but luckily the shop has air-conditioning so many of you have had the opportunity to shop in the lovely cool conditions.

Back in stock is the local Cotswold Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oils plus sunflower and vegetable oils. Have you seen our amazing selection of Rose wines and prosecco, why not enjoy them with our new Kettle Chip focaccia and naan bites. Perfect for these balmy evenings.

Bledington resident and customer Laura recently made this impressive birthday cake. All of the ingredients and the various chocolates covering the cake were purchased in the shop. Thank you for sharing this amazing cake with us Laura we all agreed it looks delicious.

For the past month we have had the benefit and pleasure of three work experience students from the local schools and further afield from London. Thank you, Angus, Isobel and Felix for all your hard work in serving our customers. If you know of any students who would like to complete their work experience at Bledington Shop or any young adults who are completing their Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme please do get in touch.

Thank you to our lovely regular volunteers who continue to support the shop.
However, as we go into the holiday period, we would really appreciate some extra hands. Any young adults from sixteen years and older would be warmly welcomed to come and help. It’s great experience for learning about people and how a small business works. Come and enjoy a few hours at the shop because we know you will want to come back for more!