Thursday 2 May 2013

Catch Up with Afonwen Craft & Antique Centre

Apologise for the time laps since our last blog. Christmas came along and with all good intentions time simply ran away - and now its spring!!



A quick catch up:

After nearly 9 months of consultation and planning we changed our heating system in January from oil a Biomass boiler. We are very proud  to have made such a change to an Eco friendly Boiler. This burns wood pellets, which in fact we source at least 95% of these from Blazers in Ruthin - cutting our carbon footprint down even further.

We had a few hick ups along the way but all is good now and it is definitely a very positive move for us, and one we are very pleased about. 
                                       Great excitement new boiler just arrived.......................



                                                    Plus two 500litre buffers.....


And the snow came.......in the middle of the heating being installed, but at least we had a back up plan.


And the snow came again....... this time in March and much thicker.


Back in the late end of last year we said goodbye to a couple of members of staff and hello to two more. Sharon in the Antiques department decided it was time to have a complete change and moved away. Paula came to join our team and has fitted in so well. Gail, Paula and Sharon (another one) all keep our vintage and  antique stock so beautifully clean and sparkling.

Edenshine also said goodbye to a member of the team, one of our Chefs Dave. Our new chef Ani joins head chef James and Bethan in the kitchen, we are thrilled to say she has fitted in beautifully and is working really well.

We are in fact very lucky to have a very low staff turnover and are very proud to work with our amazing teams in both the centre and Edenshine.

Edenshine has been lovely and busy and I can't believe its now May!!. Easters been, the weather is a little warmer and its time to start thinking of our spring/summer to do list. It doesn't seem that long ago since we were ordering our summer plants last year let alone this year......

In March we were very pleased to fund raise for Ovarian Cancer and raised £340.00 with a coffee morning and raffle. Such a fantastic cause and we had a lovely time raising funds.




The Eve appeal just gave people an excuse to come out and get together.



I was very lucky to be invited to Mostyn Walled Garden, it truly is magnificent set in the grounds of Mostyn Estate.   We are delighted to now be using their produce. Freshly picked and tasting delicious. Our salads have never tasted so good !!


           We now bake our own rolls  for soups and homemade burgers and bread for Welsh rarebit

                     And of course the cake baking never stops....... one of my favourite things to do

                                  Carrot and walnut cake with fresh orange (gluten free)


Raspberry cupcake with cream cheese frosting

I guess I better leave it for now on cakes as we could go on and on......


        One of our recent finds, with a little love and care it has come back to life and makes a beautiful piece of furniture - I'd love this in a hall with the telephone sat on top - just a little place to sit and chat !!


Vintage football boots - so cute

                             Time for picnics, vintage lemonade glasses and a gramophone just                                                 need a  bottle of  wine and some beautiful food!!



                                                 Looking forward to summer again.....

                                      Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed our catch up.

 Love and Hugs Janet, Adrian and all the Team xx

2 comments:

  1. You have done a lot there with the new boiler coming in the middle of this last winter! Great idea to make the change. Isn't it good to see the sun again?! I might have to treat myself to one of your cakes as soon as I have finished my week of living on £1 a day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very interesting to read about all your changes, and what cakes!

    ReplyDelete

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