February News at Afonwen Craft & Antique centre

When we woke this morning there was a light dusting of snow everywhere, and it was my day in work. So armed with wellies, gloves hat and my winter coat I left home ready to clear the snow from the doors and spread the grit on the car park... What a relief when I got here the snow was just slush and the car park clear.

Spring cant come fast enough now, I long for some warmer weathers, some flowers in the tubs and buds on the trees. I couldn't help but smile at these brave little daffodils peeping through to show me spring is on its way.

This picture taken by our son Josh ( about 12 at the time ) is one of my favourites so beautiful and elegant is the butterfly. This makes me feel warmer and reminds me of the summer months ahead.

In the centre we have had a lovely few weeks. Off to trade shows in Birmingham to find new stock and some new suppliers and now we are starting to see things arriving. Some cute handbags, some gorgeous reproduction pine furniture a few home accesories and so much more.

                        A really stunning wall hanging. This looks lovey with the light reflecting on it.

                   This corner chair is just so sweet and really unusual. I love the eggshell blue colour

This really is a stunning piece of furniture. A Victorian Mahogany desk  with some gorgeous colours in the wood.

We have had some of our wonderful craft people in again this month, from Murry who carves love spoons to Melissa with her jewellery and crafts, Julia with her amazing semi precious gem stone jewellery and Susie with her hand knitted goods. Just look at these gloves and hat - how beautiful are these. So very special.

As ever we have been baking lots and the restaurant has been busy. Right now we are preparing for St Davids Day, planning our menu, making sure every dish has a link to Wales and of course using lots of wonderful local produce. As always our specials menu runs for at least a week before we alter it again. The St Davids Day menu will start on Tuesday 28th February and continue throughout the whole week. We are proud to be in Wales and always love to support the area. Our eggs are from a local farmer where the chickens run free in a field, the cream comes from Buckley and bread from Denbigh (Henllan Bread) . The meat comes from Llachwedd meats in Anglesy and Caerwys from Morgans Powri Gwych. Of course the Trout is just down the road in Bodfari, which is wonderful. Having all of these local connections and excellent suppliers makes a positive difference to us. 

             A Birthday cake for a special 50th - we openend for the evening to help celebrate this birthday of                                           a customer who has been visiting us for 20 years now..  

Another birthday cake for a man who likes rabbits.

I love this picture, it makes me feel homely and cosy. The simple life.

Well I think thats all for now - as always I hope you enjoyed seeing all of our pictures and finding out what we have been up to. Until next time have fun and take care.

Janet Adrian and All the team xxx

January is nearly gone.

January is nearly gone and actually in a bit of a blur. This month has been a lovely month for us. It is when we reflect and plan ahead - it allows us time to freshen up and rethink.....  

The girls have been really busy in the Antiques cleaning some beautiful pieces of silver and treasures.

Gail and Sharon here are busy with detailed silver cleaning. Its good to have a giggle while working ! especially when  you need to concentrate so much. We have such lovely customers who are always complimenting us on how clean and shiny everything is.  

Just as work has begun on these pieces, each one takes a lot of time and patience to get them looking their best, below shows one of them all sparkly.

We have worked hard  to buy some very quirky pieces for you, this is one of the best things about vintage and antique, you never really know what you will find .... each piece is then so special and has a little story to go with it.

Look at this wonderful 19th century sewing stand with original silks, its a real collectors piece and very lucky to find.

Art Deco Bureau, I just love the wonderful shape and colours of the wood.

Another treasure.... a very sweet Heart mirror.  I love it.

All of these are so individual  and now one off finds. This chandelier is such a wonderful shape and twinkles beautifully.

Things have been pretty hectic round here over the few weeks with the interiors show and spring fair just round the corner. These are such busy shows and our poor feet are worn out by the end, but they are very exciting. Its wonderful to see so much variety of stock and  we get to choose new things for us in the centre. Its like Christmas shopping all over again......

               Kate Hamilton Hunter locally handmade jewellery, Kate has a real delicate and beautiful style, we have sold her jewellery for a few years now, she is wonderful at creating new styles and her use of colour.

And don't forget Valentines day, if your looking for ideas  come and have a look at our gifts  from the traditional hearts to the unusual. The chefs are also busy planning a special menu for the week of Valentines. This worked really well last year  with lots of people  coming out to celebrate and enjoy themselves with us throughout the week. Any way more to follow on this once we have choosen our menu... 

As always thank you for reading and we hope you you a little of what we have been up to here.  Until next time - take care.

Janet, Adrian and all the team xxx

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

Its been a busy week.....

This week and in fact last seem to have flown, we are well and truly into the Christmas feeling here with the decorations up, lights twinkling and Christmas music playing.

A warm welcome awaits inside with a cosy feeling of Christmas.

The team in our Restaurant - Edenshine have been working very hard getting into the swing of Christmas lunches, homemade mulled wine and of course our truly delicious deep filled mince pies. These are a speciality of Adrian's. He makes a fantastic mince pie.

Simply wonderful with fresh cream ...

We had a delivery from Anita Harris Potteries this week with our order. Anita and her team have created some really stunning pieces full of colour and radiance. Its wonderful to deal with such a lovely team when we order and discuss things with Anita to get the perfect stock.

Such Stunning colours, well worth collecting.

Today we had  some gorgeous hanging hearts delivered - they are so sweet.

We are very busy in the demonstration and exhibition room from now until 23rd December with felt & patchwork, handmade jewellery, hand carved love spoons, painting on canvas and silk. Here are two of our very talented crafts ladies from Patchwork Nook. Joanne and Vicki have some wonderful things, all handmade and individual.

 

This weekend we Julia Hobbs in with us, Julia is a very popular lady with our customers. She makes the most exquite jewellery using semi precious gemstones. 

Well I think that is time for me to say thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed all our pictures.

Love Janet, Adrian and All the team xxx

 

Wow Christmas is coming.....

I can't believe Christmas is nearly here. Where has the year gone again..... We spend so much time being busy and concentrating on the children, our home, work and life around us that time just goes by so quickly.  Its crazy we plan some times so far ahead that as it starts to arrive sometimes it comes as a shock.

We start Christmas Lunches on Tuesday, so lots of preparations to do and time to get into the festive season with a smile. Christmas trees, lights, baubles, candles, and of course Christmas music. I love this time of year, and quietly start to get a bit excited, I get that feeling in my tummy and just love to see people out enjoying themselves. For me its always about being with family and friends.  I just love to buy gifts, but not just any thing will do. It has to be the right gift for the right person, not always costing a lot, but with love and thought behind each present - then all wrapped beautifully making it really special. 

For nearly twenty years we have been making Christmas cakes and party foods ready to be collected for Christmas (in fact all year round but Christmas is the busiest time).

The fruit now is soaking with brandy and sherry, fresh orange zest and a dash of cold tea... this makes the fruit all juicy and plump for the cakes. Once the cakes are baked they will sit and mature for a time before being marzipaned and iced.  Christmas cake is a tradition that always puzzles me, at home we never cut the cake until Christmas day late in the afternoon - but really we never had any room for anything else to eat, so gradually it gets eaten over the next few days and weeks. However the thought of cutting it before Christmas simply seems very wrong, but I think we would all have more room in our tummies at this point - before all the extra goodies come out.

Always popular are the cheesecakes, gateaux, chocolate fudge cakes and mince pies deep filled, not to mention the quiche and sausage rolls that are a huge hit. As Christmas draws closer we start to work late and bake all these goodies that are ordered ready to collect - usually just a few days before the big day.

We have rum sauce to make, and Turkey to roast, chipolatas to wrap in bacon, stuffing to prepare and all the great bits that go together to make a Christmas meal special. Tuesday really will be a busy day, but a good day. Our cranberry sauce was made this week, full of fresh orange, onions and a little red wine, its a recipe we have used for many years and it really is delicious.

Sunday evening we will be decorating the restaurant. For me its the tree that has to be perfect. Lots of twinkling lights, baubles, stars and glittery decorations. Its the centre piece to the decorations and makes everything else look special. The  rest of the centre will be worked on Tuesday morning , with fantastic garlands to fill the corridor and a tree to place in the entrance with lights. Christmas here is special, magical and inviting.

If you notice so far my image of Christmas does not include the words, stressful, hustle and bustle or exhausting.... that is really not the Christmas we try to create.  Hustle and bustle? maybe but not in a pushing, rushing way, just bustle with with noise of happy people shopping. Stress - No, you can get that somewhere else, and exhausting - well take your time, think about your gifts and maybe have a break half way through the shopping with lunch or coffee and a gorgeous cake to revive you. Life is stressful at times and we are all too busy, but at least I can live in hope that we here can make it a little easier and maybe a lot for fun.


one of my favourite cakes - carrot and orange cake (no fat and less sugar in the sponge) yummy...



I will post pictures of our festive decorations as soon as we are ready.... Thank you again for reading.

Hugs from Janet, Adrian and all the team xxx 

Styling your Home

Today I think anything goes, in both fashion and dressing your home. The best style is one that shows off your personality, your love for life and makes you feel happy.

We have seen so many influences through the years, many of which return and become trendy again. We are very lucky at the centre to be able to hand pick a wide selection of furniture from many eras.  I have to say I am definitely drawn to the Art deco period and funnily the 60's and 70's have some really interesting pieces. Retro is another one that is quite quirky and has found its way back today.  For me its usually the shape of something that appeals and the feel of it.



Retro style dressing table with a clever draw to hide away your make up

Not many of us can completely restyle our homes as our tastes change, but maybe by adding  pieces as they take our fancy is the answer. I love to mix and match, vintage, antique and modern all together, lots of woods, add in some glass and something shiny, blending colours - just make it yours. Mix and match doesn't just stop at furniture but crockery is a classic example. Mixing vintage/ antique cups and saucers is very much "in" today in fact at times seems even perfect. The trend in lots of magazines is homely, pretty and when using vintage not to match the crockery. Add in beautiful plates that co-ordinate and you have a perfect style.  Of course there are always people who like to match and everything must follow a theme - this is just fine, it comes right back to if it suits you, your personality and your life then its got to be right.   


Some gorgeous crockery not just for special occasions

                                              A fabulous pine settle with sleeping wooden cat...



Wall art is a real hit this year.





Mirrors just brighten up any room and can add a little glamour or even dress it down.



And something for the boys, Wall art for the little boys and the big boys

Just be brave, have fun and enjoy all the things you have in your home.

We have a really busy week this week with our wonderful visiting crafts people, Tuesday and Wednesday we have Julia Hobbs a fantastic jeweller with us using semi precious stones to create wonderful pieces. Patchwork nook is with us Thursday with their gorgeous crafts
Friday Murray Taylor will be hand carving love spoons. Please keep looking at our facebook for up dates as we have lots going on until Christmas for you to enjoy.

                                            Well that's all for now, thank you for reading.

                                                       Janet, Adrian and all the team xxx