New Year and January brings a clear mind.......

December came and went in a bit of a whirl, with Christmas being such a busy time for all. We had a wonderful one, its the one time in the year that we make a real effort to send time together as a family and all the staff have a few days off to catch up with their loved ones.  As far as New year is concerned I have never been a big one for resolutions and empty promises. I really prefer to focus on whats important in the future and be positive.

Life goes by so quickly that sometimes its nice to just take a minute and look at what matters, we always come back to the same thing which is family, friends and work. Its the balance that is the tricky bit.  With New year gone and the decorations away I love to have a clear mind, start to think about the year ahead and get inspired for some changes. This doesn't have to be big, maybe a good sort out at home,  declutter a draw or two or perhaps think of all the things we want to do in the coming months.

For work we start to think again of new stock, visits to the NEC, building  relationships with new suppliers and meeting our existing ones again.  Finding something exciting for the antiques and vintage side of our work is continuously on going but the thrill  of a New year always gives you an extra push.

This beautiful George 111 1820 oak corner cabinet has just been restored and is waiting to be put up on a wall. This will look stunning in someones home ready to be loved again.

Before Christmas we were given a fabulous book, cooking with vegetables, less sugar and no fat  - so this week I had a little play and made some fat free almond and strawberry muffins. Oh they are delicious, from then I made apple and cinnamon and raspberry with chocolate chips (which was cheating with the chocolate but its OK now and again). All of these have courgettes in and really are so light and tasty you would never know. In fact tried them out on a some friends and our children - they went down really well and no one guessed !!. That to me is a good result. We already have the lemon & Almond cake as a regular and Carrot cake which has also changed to the healthier recipe, which you may remember form earlier blogs.

More baking to come I think - we will be trying out more recipes and seeing what other healthier cakes we can come up with - but of course we will keep the ever so popular ones we already bake.

Great to read in the "You" magazine Emma Bridgewater cake tins still as popular as ever. We have a great range here.

Well I think its time to say good bye again. Hope you enjoyed our blog and will visit us again soon.

                                           Love Janet, Adrian and all the Team xxx