That's it folks!!!

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

Sex and the City!

This is me on biscuit aged 7yrs (no reason just amusing really!)

Well, in a truly un-work like moment, the girls went to see sex and the city 2 last night and you know, it was really very good! Real escapism! I thought the "mid wife crisis" was very me, next time I argue with my husband I'm wheeling that one out! And as for the Laurence of Arabia comment.... classic!!! We should have had champagne but settled for ice cream, and then a lovely meal so a very nice night indeed!

I've re-decorated our websites this week www.warkvillagebutchers.co.uk has a quirky edge and some pink at last (needed in all websites obviously) and www. selfcatering-northumberland.co.uk is coming on a treat, I just wish I was good enough to shoot both to the top of google!!! That's why I need votes to beg the panel for more help!!! Ive also started our wark village butchers facebook site which has been fun.... oh and acquired a blackberry....raspberry.... some form of superior communication mechanism too.... still getting to grips with that one! Currently, its not even sending pictures.... steep learning curve this professional stuff!

The shop is doing well, new delicious Brandy Bank cakes and scones are adding to our stock and the ginger beer is flying out of the door! Look out for pork and chestnut sausages soon!!

Next step is the goat and dairy cattle programme, I've been searching for contacts, I have a feeling this will be a busy month!

And when I grow up..... I want to be Samantha..... she has all the fun :-)

Cx

Shoddy Blogmanship!!

Apologies for the delay, the week of sun in Northumberland had me so shocked I felt a need to remain outside for the vast proportion of the day and haven't even touched the computer shock horror!! The down side is, I resemble an over cooked lobster... red heads were born to be Eskimos!

Last weeks sausages were chocolate and chili! You may recoil in horror but they tasted amazing! Rather hot though, my last minute decision to up the chili by 10 grams was perhaps not one of my best, however its tested some of those who fancied a challenge! This flavour will be coming with us to our farmers markets next month, along with last weeks pork and bramley apple and Beef and wholegrain mustard. The burgers are not behaving as well, the beef and wasabi just didn't hit the spot - you know, the brain freeze "oh my god I'm going to lose my nose" HIT of wasabi... just didn't happen! So these are still work in progress, sadly, this means that at some point I will overdo the wasabi and cause some burst blood vessels amongst my fellow testers!!! The packaging is also giving me a headache, who knew it could be so tricky!!!

We have also started the next leg of our project - supporting British cattle and goat dairy herds by using the male offspring for meat instead of allowing them to be slaughtered at birth - this means they get a good quality of life and we get some wonderful meat! We are all a bit worried about having cattle and goats at Roses Bower but very excited about a new venture! They say, goat burgers have a beautiful taste, keep looking out for it in the butchers!!!

I had last week off but I'm back to the smoke this week, a shame as I'm not feeling very science-like this week, I'd much rather be buying stock and looking at sausage recipes!!

I am booked into a women only hotel tonight (oo-er!) so fingers crossed its nice and has no bed bugs!!

Cx

Sheep and gloves!

Well I'm very glad I chose green gloves!!! Not really sure about the relevance and they didn't photoshop in the lamb which is a shame, but well done for making me look half human Mr photographer.... perhaps I shouldn't have been quite as quick with my whit before he took the photos.... I could have ended up with some seriously bad ones!!!

Today is not as hot thank goodness, but still hot enough to justify lunch in the garden. I am still having palpitations about bread, frozen meat and cakes at the moment, the sooner I get back, the sooner I calm down!!! I am beginning to see that leaving a business is not as easy as I first thought!!!

We are having a nightmare about small bread rolls at the moment, I keep trying my best and failing, now people are complaining about the "doorstop" sized rolls, oooops....

The topic of conversation in the office today? Clouds!!! Did you know, clouds have species??! And the average small cloud can weigh as much as several hundred elephants....!!!!! Well you learn something new every day!

I have found a new hotel, for £25 per night! I will try it the week after next and hope it is ok, it looks good and has good reviews, I am a big believer in tripadvisor! If it works, I will have more shopping money!

Hoping for good weather this Bank holiday, we have sausages, burgers and kebabs planned in the shop, and a BBQ meal deal! Come on sun shine please!!!!

Cx

Melted entrepreneur anyone??!

Oh my goodness who left the central heating on in London??? I thought it was hot up North but I obviously forgot what it's like here in the summer - a spatula to scrape me up off the pavement wouldn't go amiss!! 700 votes they tell me have rolled in for us all so far - well that means either we have a lot of mum's. Gran's and long suffering partners or other people are voting!!

I had a brilliant time at the conference on Thursday, I am a conference local but this showed up the science conference big style!! Lots of music and amazing talks! Some truly inspirational speakers! The food was amazing too! I was unsure about the spinach shot but it was yummy! Drinking Amy's wine was an unfortunate, however she took it very well and I did replace it.... I feel very lucky to have been able to attend, and really enjoyed the photo shoot... however the lamb was missing, I had to make do with a toy... but they tell me they will photo shop one in which is very exciting!

Last week passed in a blur, new fridges, new sofas and new butcher's hats to name but a few tasks! This week is likely to be much the same, with bills to pay (yawn) and lab work to get on with (eek!), I wish I could lie in the sun and pretend it will do itself.... any offers of a secluded garden where no-one will find me are greatly received.....

Lambs at conferences?

Morning peeps,

Yesterday was fun, I seemed to spend my day hugging people, not usually my style but required due to my recent vanishing act, people's suprise baby announcements, career changes etc... I'm all hugged out today so no asking! I also managed to forget several important phone calls, I wish there was a way to remind me who and when to ring, I never get it right! So today sparks a mad panic for last minute ordering and begging, I must admit I'm getting better at this last minute begging thing!

I'm back in the lab this week - not being very productive I may add, my head is full of sausages, lambs and guest soap! I also dodged the hotel I was supposed to stay at because when I got to work I read 4 reviews on bed bugs!!! I ended up in the expensive one across the road but it was lovely!

I got my hair done yesterday too, that's the longest time I've gone without hair dye in my life!

We have been asked to bring props to the conference that describe our background, job or who we are... at the moment I only have one thing that describes me to bring - a lamb! We have a pet lamb called Murtle at the moment, she screams like a banshee and cannot be described as toilet trained - I briefly considered the Hilton's reaction.... then decided it probably wouldn't be a great idea - I could also bring the sheep dog puppy and complete the picture....

I've also just completed the new bread order for the shop - and I've decided that I'm really no good at this ordering lark! I really hated informing the old bakery that we were changing too, its like dumping a boyfriend yuk!! I must toughen up, I must toughen up, I must toughen up!!!!

Right, well, I have shopping to do and some lab work to finish and I'm on a train back up North this afternoon so I'd best get going!!

Have a lovely day and get round to the butchers to buy some sausages for a BBQ!!!

Cx

My first blog!

My goodness what a month this has been! As if lambing wasn't enough, and believe me 400 lambs are ALWAYS enough for anyone, I have also added a hundred more jobs to the list, someday, somebody will tell me to stop! I am so excited to be one of the final 2 for my region in the challenge, it was such a great experience to talk to the judges and pull all my random and crazy thoughts into line. I thought they were amazing and loved every second of listening to their ideas. So now I am to use twitter and write a blog, as if anyone would want to hear about me!!! Well, I hope I can keep this as interesting as possible, if its only for the benefit of my mum and husband, probably the only 2 who could bare to read it! Sadly, I will probably not be celebrity style twittering to tell you about an A list party or a scandal.... its more likely to be my thoughts on sausages, burgers and how to clean lamb poo off my trousers... oooh and iodine, dam stuff has ruined my top!!! I digress....

This week has been a corker - back to London for the first time in a month (dad has been poorly) which was quite a shock! My train journeys have become famous on facebook between my friends, perhaps rather than bother you with my boring business ideas I could tell everyone about the train journeys.... however its quite possible that I would become the first challenge finalist to be banned from using a blog if I did so perhaps not!

I also started sausage and burger of the week at the butchers and had some extremely lovely eco friendly boxes delivered to the shop to package them in, see how fun life is!! I am very excited about the farmers markets now, just squeezing out the Jamie Oliver side of our butcher Alan and we will soon be on the way to burger heaven! My most monumental butchers moment last week was removing the hour closure for lunch we have had there for the last 20 years... my goodness I didn't think I'd be able to do that! Now we can concentrate on getting good lunch to the people in Wark!

I am also excited about the challenge conference on Thursday, usually, I have to stand up and talk about leprosy and bones at these things... I have a feeling if I did that at this particular event it would go down like a led balloon.... I must say though I am not sure about the venue, I mean would it have been too much to ask for the conference to be held in Bermuda????? Newcastle can't offer much for the regular talk bunkers who sneak out of talks to sunbathe! However, should you catch sight of a buxom redhead sunning herself on top of the Hilton hotel on Thursday you know who I am.... don't ask me for sausages though I'm still working on the recipe.....

This is me signing off for now..... cx

Ps.... thank goodness this tool has a spell check