Good soggy morning from sawrey, hope the above picture makes you giggle like it did me when a friend sent it

We are back to the wet normality that is the lake district today, its a good job the fresh tray bakes of white and chocolate brownie have been delivered to keep me company ;-)

I have just spoken to the farmer from hill top and ordered several lambs in the field next to the house where I am house-sitting, thought they would make the view just perfect, but he informs me that the lambing sheep are moved nearer to the farm! ;-) Shame! he did tell me something interesting tho, the rain brings with it lots of lambs?! Strange hey! I guess it must be to do with the pressure change or something, but he is expecting plenty to be born today...

The cheese from kendal has just arrived, when in kendal yesterday I heard someone order a sandwich which sounded lovely and it was Kendal creamy cheese and apricot roll, as we sell kendal creamy and crumbly cheese I think I might try one for lunch. the farm who deliver the cumberland sausage from keswick are delivering us some black pudding to try out today! I think it will sell as lots of people come in here for breakfast items...

With the rain pouring down I have not put the fresh produce out as yet so the shop is a bit full, better go do some sorting out

Greetings bloggers, I am fresh back from the fruit market and I am pleased to report that I did not get lost! I have not been blogging because I have been house and dog sitting at a house on the way down to the lake, I have been in the shop but when I have been here its been busy and I have not put the computer on....
The waether this week has been absolutely glorious! The new delivery of ice cream has arrived ready for easter and we have sold lots this week, hard to believe as its only March! Wehave started selling english lakes ice cream, which is absolutely lovely
I have been to pandora signs in hawkshead this week to discuss designs for the van, I have the proof and it looks really really funky, its been put on the van next week so I will take lots of pictures for the blog...
Interesting fruit and veg we have on sale this week include purple sprouting broccolli and papaya...
Joe our man that can has been in this morning and thank goodness he has as the van was really full, he has lifted all of the boxes and sorted it all out, he is an absolute god send and a really nice man to work with....
We are off to kendal this afternoon, I better go and walk the dogs before we set off, tatty bye for now

greetings bloggers, its a lush spring day here in the village today. The farmers are reporting that the lambs are arriving by the hour and the weatherman says its due to get warmer rather than colder! good news!

After closing up yesterday I went home and put my clothes in the washing machine with the days takings in the pocket, dont know what I was thinking, or not thinking! I am pleased to report that ten and twenty pound notes wash extremely well but cheques dont like a 40oc wash! What an idiot I am!

Its been quite a steady away morning here, I notice that the house to rent in the next village is in the paper again, bit too expensive for me at £1,350 per month! But it looks like a grand house and if you have a large family it would be perfect place to live...

I have just noticed we are out of bottled water, better get on and get some ordered as a fine weekend is forecast and there will be plenty of thirsty walkers out and about

Love from Sawrey

Greetings bloggers, its a nice spring day here today......what a day we had yesterday, I got lost en route to the fruity market on tuesday night, the mancunian way is very hard to navigate off in the middle of the night! I ended up in salford! not a place to be in the middle of the night I can tell you! Anyway, three and a half hours after setting off I made it to the market and filled up the van with all things fresh and fruity, but then I hit rush hour traffic and spent half an hour on that blooming mancunian way again! Anyway its safe to say we are now friends as its accually extremely easy to get to the market from it if your looking where your going and not singing to rock anthems in the middle of the night! see you next week mancunian way...

I got back to the shop and our new team member was here working away, in the space of a couple of hours he transformed the veg display and the shed has had new life breathed into it and it looks fab, even the wheelie bins got the joe treatment and they are looking and smelling decidedly fresh! WELCOME on board joe! Sawrey Stores needs you!

Today we have had a visit from the representitive from the fruit and veg company where we used to buy produce from, I must add we have been here a year and we did not even know he existed, he came to see us concerned that we have stopped ordering produce from his company, I threw into the conversation the 100% markup they were making from us and the quality which on occassions leaves a lot to be desired and he said he would go away and put together some new figures. In his companies defence they do deliver daily come rain or shine. I may sound a little like the businessman Alan Sugar here but he once said on a programme that in retail its not the price you sell goods for but its the price you buy them for, so we will see what price he comes back with, I will still be going to the market weekly tho! Nothing to do with the good looking veg men who are all extremely perky in the middle of the night ;-)

A customer has just been in for some t-bags and a packet of dunking bscuits, I feel a dunking moment coming on, tatty bye for now, (only 2 biscuits was pass my lips, I promise)

Greetings from sawrey this wintery sunday morning, its hail stoning as I type, its bitterly cold but despite the weather I have just had 2dozen walkers in the shop, they all looked soaked! I have just been told that the ferry is not running as yet.....I was speaking to the ferryman earlier and he told me the reason is was off for 2days earlier in the week is that the new cables that were sent were too long, so they had to put the old ones back on and it will be closed again in the near future when the right size ones arrive!

News on the man in a van in esthwaite water story, according to my sources, behind the van was a yacht, which I failed to see as the van in the water slightly distracted me, anyway the driver thought Esthwaite water was lake windermere and proceeded to drop the boat in the wrong lake.....Ooooooooooooooopzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!! Someone will be in trouble, then again he probably had satalite navigation, from all accounts sawrey is not on sat nav map!......

With the weather and it also being mothers day its pretty quiet today, benny is not a happy pooch today, think he is missing mum, he will not settle in the van, would not stay at home, cannot come in the shop so is as I type he is laid under the brolly looking very sorry for himself..

Sending birthday wishes to Mr Davies who lives in the village and happy mothers day to all you mothers out there including my mum who is an absolute star and whom without her support I could not have gotten through the past couple of years without

Happy Sunday from Sawrey :-)

Greetings blogger, sawrey calling....its a bit of a damp day here in the village, not as damp as the van I saw on my way home last night... Driving alongside Esthwaite Lake at 6pm I saw a brand spanking new van that said man with a van on the side, it had somehow managed to slide down the embankment and had the lake lapping at its wheels, fortunately someone was there pulling it out as I passed, not quite sure why anyone would want to reverse into a lake, but wonders never cease!

Mum is in Yorkshire this weekend teaching textiles to a group, hope she gets back before the snow which is forcast hits us!

My little helper has been in this morning, he is a whizz with the pricing gun, apparently I am only worth 1p! thankyou Alan (I am still peeling off the price tage from my clothes) :-)

The fresh fruit and veg has sold exceptionally well and I am looking forward to my next trip to the wholesale market, we got some pomelos this week, I had had never heard of them, but they taste so lush and despite their huge size they are so light...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomelo

We have had some bloggers in the shop today whom I have not met before, it was so lovely to meet them and to know they enjoy the blog,

Bit of a rush in the shop happening

Love from sawrey

Greetings from fruity sawrey! We finally made it to the fresh fruit market in manchester last night....We have wanted to go for ages but what with illnesses we have not.....we set off at 2am, it only took an hour and a half to drive to smithfield market. We arrived at what looked like an old airport hanger and it was filled with fresh produce, flowers at one end and fruit in the rest! all in abundance looking and smelling so lush! Both price and quality soooooooo much better, speaking to one of the men there he has worked there for over 40years! thats some going!

We spend quite a long time looking at all of the produce and talking to the sellers, we left about 5am and got slightly lost trying to get back to the motorway. We called at a petrol station near the centre of manchester and we had to pay for the petrol before we could fill up!!! I assume they dont trust drivers not to leave without paying! All a far cry from sawrey!

The outside of the shop is bursting with colur and its sooo nice to see it looking like a greengrocers, we even managed to buy some of the plastic green grass we have been looking for since we moved here

Suma the wholefood suppliers came yesterday so we have lots of putting away to do today..... The ferry is still off today, hope yesterdays maintenence job didnt make matters worse!

We have taken on our very first employee for the shop today, he is a young man who lives in the next village and he is going to come and help us at weekends, we look forward to working with you Joe!

Thats about all for now, better go sell some more fruit and veg

Happy Thursday

Greetings bloggers, apologies of our alarm woke you up this morning, wherever you are in the world I would be suprised if you did not hear it this morning. We have had a new key cut for the alarm and it did not work! I had to dash in from ambleside with the other key, it was going off for 15minutes! Apologies to everone it woke up!

Its a beautiful blue sky morning here, I am coughing like I smoke 40 a day having never smoked in my life, but I am not feeling as bad as I did thank goodness.what i did not blog yesterday was my snuff theory!!! I tried it last week remember and then I was in hopsital the next evening! That'll teach me!

The ferry is off all day for maintainence so its quiet in the village, mum and I are off to look at the shed and see what needs doing to sort it out for the season, I am sensing a few hours work

Toodaloo from Sawrey

Greetings bloggers, only me, not dead yet! what a week it has been....my two nights in hospital and several days rest have ensured I am getting better from this awful virus and infection....THANKYOU all for your get well cards and kind words, so much to catch up on, its been really strange not being at the shop for a week, missed it so very much!

Having yet another health scare has certainly ensured that I am going to make some very serious atonements to my well being, one can only take so much stress and I need to get fitter, the consultant in the hospital and I had an interesting chat about how your mental health can affect your physical health and he said it was not suprising I had gotten so ill after the emotional journey I have been on. After the initial anxiety about not being able to breathe etc my fighting spirit kicked in and I feel determined to make my mind and body much much better...The county council have a lot to answer for...

A customer who has just been in who has lived in the village all 88years of his life is fighting fit and is an inspiration! he walks to the shop everyday from near sawrey and in the year I have known him he has not ailed anything! I asked him how he does it, he just smiled and said "living here" I AGREE!

Its been a steady away week at the shop in my absence and if my memory serves me rightly this day last year,(the day my case started ) sawrey was covered in thick snow, I am touching wood that we have escaped any snow this year, all of the daffodils are out and are looking really spectacular...

Village news...there is another lent lunch tomorrow from 12-2pm, its at the sands house and I have been told that all are welcome to call in for a hearty bowl of soup (I will be there like a bear!)

Jobsworth award of the week goes to the high school bus driver who would not let one of the school children from the village get on the school bus without paying full adult price as she had misplaced her bus card, I would have assumed the fact that it was the school bus and she was in school uniform was enough to convinve the driver she was a student, but no no that would have been too simple...as if rural transport is not a bit enough issue on its own (Nil points to the bus company)

Well thats about all for now folks

Love from Sawrey

from storms to snuff

Good windy morning from hurricane sawrey! Well it is not windy at the moment but by the look of the brolly outside the shop sawrey endured a freak hurricane last night! I am to blame tho for not putting the brolly down before going home..........oooooooooooopzzz... I knew it had been a bad weather night when I woke up and looked outside and ther stream was doing its finest lake impression

Anyway I am pleased to report that a customer who lives just down the road saw the brolly in bits and came back up with a brolly exactly the same from his garage that he no longer uses, that is now up, the old one has had its fabric removed from mothers textile work and the frame is chopped up and drying out ready to go on a neighbours fire...recycling or what!!!

Sawrey Stores now has snuff for sale! the shop with everything from saffron to snuff!......I have for the first time in my life tried some of the snuff and it certainly clears your tubes out!!! I have also learned that Kendal was once the epi-centre of the snuff world! Shoes and snuff hey!

Mother is safely back from teaching in yorkshire and is today giving a talk to the WI ladies of Hawkshead, there is a parish council meeting in the village and also a soup lent lunch is been served at a customers house called Ash Landing between 12 and 2 (all welcome I am told)

Our congratulations go out to our neighbours here at the shop, they are today celebrating 25years of marriage! Congratulations from Sawrey Stores

Thats about all for now folks :-)

Greetings from blue sky sawrey! its bitterly cold but clear....Benny wanted to say hello today so I have taken a picture, he is here with me today as mum is in yorkshire teaching textiles at a school...

Its fairly quiet today... well it was until the trading standards man made an un announced visit....Nothing seriously wrong I am pleased to report, the scales are weighing correctly, he did find that the tins of treacle are out of date! Yes the treacle! Slapped hands for me....we cannot sell t-lights individually as they do not have a health warning attaached, anyway, I asked him plenty of questions and he is going to send me some bumf to read, he was a nice guy really, only doing his job...

Its paper bill work out day today so I have my adding up head on, the village is quite quiet today, hill top is closed until the weekend so there are no Miss Potter fans around...

Happy Monday from Sawrey :-)

Good sunday morning from sawrey, its a chilly one, cold today but boy was it clear for the total eclipse last night! I stood on my balcony for ages and saw several shooting stars and a moon that was the most brilliant colour as the eclipse was happening, hope it was the same where you all are...
All of the fresh bread has gone fast this morning, still a few bath buns patiently waiting to be sold...
The wedding blessing party trotted past the shop yesterday, the bride was in a horse drawn carriage and I could hear bagpipes, although I didnt see them, guests parking for the wedding had to park road side from the church all the way up to the farm, bit like a practice practice for pottermania!
Its only 11am and already I have been asked 4 times how to get to hill top!!! How can they have missed the signs! They are big and very blue!
At the party last week I was given a gift of a gift voucher for tigers eyes, a gem/ jewellery shop in hawkshead, so yesterday I popped in to have a look at their display, it was quite funny really... the woman behind the counter said, soooooooooo your annie, I have heard all about you!!! thankfully it was all good (got away with that one;-) only kidding.....its strange when someone you have never met tells you lots of things about yourself that you didnt know they knew, and it got me thinking about blogging, I guess there maybe people out there reading the blog and my ramblings about all things sawrey and me whom I have never met....Hello to you all........

Thats about all for now, love from sawrey

Greetings from Sawrey...........its a lovely blue sky day today and the woodpecker is out tapping away, one customer who was in early this morning told me he saw a woodpecker last year and the noise they make was not generated by their beaks going up and down but instead from side to side! You learn something new everyday! (thanks Jimmy!)

The effect of the Miss Potter film is continuing to ripple through the village, all of the customers in today have had something to say about the huge blue signs that have been put up to guide people to her house at hill top, I must say they are very obtrusive, which I know signs by their very nature are but having read lots about beatrix potter but I feel sure she would have a fit if she saw them! I remember the actress who played her in the film commenting upon how unspoilt this area is and how rare that is, hmmmmmmm I sense rumblings ahead.....

There is a blessing in the church in the village tomorrow which will be nice, I love hearing the church bells ringing, its the sister of a man who lives in the village, I guess she used to live here,

Regarding my case its all gone very quiet from the council, not sure if thats a good or bad thing, one hopes its good and that despite trying their damdest to break me with their words and actions they have failed and the truth did out, perhaps they have retreated to think about how very wrong they have acted, although in the very bad experience I have had with them I imagine they have retreated to try and break someone else...very sad

The train crash at grayrigg last week dominates the local paper today, whats shines through is the human spirit which the local people showed in trying to help immediatley after it happened, I went to see my GP yesterday and he said he was on standby in case he was needed, despite him having the week off.

Sawrey is a village filled with kind caring people who despite things going on in their own lives all do whatever they can to help anyone who needs help. It was lovely here in the shop this morning when there were several people who live here all nattering away with eachother catching up on news and laughing away, it was lovely to see and hear...

I have had a good old tidy up here this morning, the dirt from the road generates a lot of dust here in the shop so I have been doing my finest domeastic goddess impression! NOT!

Happy friday from sawrey :-)