Oh my goodness what a week! I am very glad to say, that up until a few hours ago when I got on the train the nerves of competition outcome were to battered by work and brain fatigue to surface... competitions, I have learnt, are like exams... I am terrible at the end result!!! Having read Emily's blog, I realise I should now have been a little more pro-active in my vote for me tactics.... sadly, I have never been brilliant at promotion and what with the majority of my brain being full of sausage recipes and the remainder full of irrelevance.... I may have let the team down somewhat... however, I could not think of a better person to lose to, its been an absolutely fantastic journey and I have learnt such a huge amount along the way!
If there is one message I hope I can keep out there its that British Farming matters!! This competition has given us the chance to get a small farm and local butcher shop noticed and for that I will be forever grateful. Our mission is to keep getting noticed and re-kindle a local shop that our community can be proud of, as well as gaining some invaluable sausage making skills along the way!!!
Speaking of which..... for the first time ever people have been looking upset if the wacky flavours are not available in the shop!!! Who would have thought that people would ever walk in to Wark Village Butchers and ask for chocolate and chilli sausages!!! Brilliant! We are still battling the burger saga however.... does the runner up get a burger recipe wonder??? Our next mission, melting middle burgers and improving the burger itself... apparently.... its all in the fat proportions so one very clever American has let on.... I have him firmly in my sights as burger designer.....
More exciting news.... our new sausages and home cure bacon will soon be seen in several shops around Hexham....!!!!!! I must admit it was hard to remain professional when I heard the "ok send us some samples and we will consider stocking it".... I had to refrain myself from jumping up and kissing them... probably not the way to clinch a deal.... unless you resemble jennifer Aniston....
We also clinched 2 more catering deals at the weekend, mainly due to my wonderful PA (my mother!) being so pro-active, so we are well on the way to clicking up those profits.
More importantly, we have now gone public with Roses Bower herbs.... home grown mint, rosemary, chives, basil etc... quite an undertaking for a woman that could kill a plastic plant let me tell you! Apparently, singing to the plants keeps them happy... so if you hear a rendition of "the hills are alive" floating over the national park you'll know it's me, trying to keep my investment alive.... I wonder if I could sing to the sheep for more meat...???
I'm off back down to London at the moment, its a killer of a week this week, my bosses inaugral (don't ask me...) lecture and then a sleeper train on Thursday back overnight ready for deliveries on Friday morning.... why do they call those trains sleepers?? How about "so hot you boil alive and stay wide awakers"??? I would rather be earning lots of money in the shop so I can spend it all on the contents of a catalogue that was sent to me last week.... oh if I only had a million! That's a sound business idea... send people a catalogue that makes you want to own everything inside and re-mortgage the house to get it.... it was even better than a handbag catalogue!!! So I am contemplating getting re-married..... my wedding list will be the contents of the butchers supplies spring edition..... genious!
And I must also say a big well done to our butcher Alan on winning £100 in the lottery.... we do however thank the lord you didn't win a million as we would now be looking for another butcher and we need you!! Keep up the SMALL wins Alan!!!
Well, That's all that should be said today to prevent boredom setting in, just thank you again for this amazing experience, win or lose its been brilliant! I will never forget the inspirational conference, I even raved about Lord Kirkham in DFS when buying a sofa recently!!! And the wonderful HSBC boss, who really ought to be present at every conference carried out, and all the wonderful we can you can staff who looked after us so wonderfully, including Hazel, Steven and the dashing Will.... Who by the way told me that night that his braces were the only things keeping his trousers up.... so in the words of Bridgit Jones.... this is Claire Watson-Laney for Roses Bower farm with... lets face it.... a bit of a crush now actually....
Thanks guys,
Cx
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