Archive for March, 2012

April Gardening 2012

Friday, March 30th, 2012

Spring – Full On!

Blue skies, sharply focused blossom, sudden heavy showers and the warmth of an April morning. That is spring – absolutely full on, with strong growth from dormant plants now daily changing the colour of our landscape. Nothing can compare with this. It is like the first day of a long awaited holiday, full of anticipation of the season to come. The clocks have now changed with the extra hour in the evening, which means that when I get back from work I can get a few things done so leaving less of a burden for the days off. The weather forecast for the month is reasonable although typical April showers and a few ups and downs in temperature. (more…)

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Recipe – Cheese Scones

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Cheese Scones

What could be better than a fresh cheese scone, warm with lashings of butter?  This is a foolproof recipe and remember savoury scones are great with soup or ploughmans  as an alternative to bread. You can vary the recipe in lots of ways by using wholemeal flour or adding onions, olives or chives.  Most cheeses can be used….mozzarella is delicious!
Basic scone recipe;

Ingredients

225g self raising flour
55g butter
1oz grated mature cheddar cheese
Pinch of salt
150ml ml

Method

  • Turn oven on at gas mark 7 / 220c
  • Mix flour, salt  together in mixing bowl
  • Add butter and rub in well
  • Stir in cheese – mix well
  • Add milk and work into soft dough
  • On a floured surface roll out the scone dough to an approx 2cm thick round and using a metal scone cutter cut out  scones and put onto a well greased baking sheet
  • Brush top of each scone with a little milk and put into the oven for 12 – 15 minutes

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Mother’s Day – Our busiest day of the year for the florists

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

Mother’s Day is one of our busiest days of the year here at Orchard Park but for our Floristry team it’s HUGE!!

Our regular florists are joined by Claire and Anita and this year the girl’s will be working through the night to meet the demand for their stunning bouquets.    In 2011 our florists made up over 170 bouquets, baskets and hand tied wraps of every description and already the signs are that this year we will beat that total!

Nikki and Charlotte have worked really hard to source the most beautiful, scented flowers from local producer’s and from Europe.

The flowers begin to arrive mid-week and they are carefully chilled to ensure that they are absolutely in peak condition for the big day! Both Friday and Saturday the girls will work through the night (yes literally through the night!! – so its double espresso’s all round!) and for Nikki in particular the most challenging aspect of the entire period is that she and her team meet the exact requirements of every individual customer (yes – just do the sums!).

Nikki says “ For everyone, their Mum is the best Mum in the world and they want their bouquet to express that, often the sender has sent a lot of time and effort choosing  specific flowers that will have a special meaning within their family.   It is vital to make sure that we get it right every single time.   I make it my personal responsibility to check every order, after all I am a Mum myself so I know how important it is to be shown how much your family care about you!

There is a team of 4 van drivers who will be delivering flowers all over the county (and dip into Somerset and Wiltshire!) for more information visit the floristry page but feel free to drop in and have a chat with Nikki about Mother’s Day or any other celebration you may be planning!

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