Farewell Traditional Shop Displays, Opposition to Local Supermarket, Sheep Shearing Competitions in Ireland and A Shepherd's Hut in Sussex

It was something of a surprise to find our local butcher's shop window was suddenly full of pre-packed meat in plastic cartons.  No longer was there a traditional mouth-watering display.  Depressingly, he said he felt he had to go down that route in order to compete with supermarkets and that youngsters no longer know how to buy meat, or even what to do with it.   Do we really want our wonderful independent shops to start becoming clones of supermarkets?  Surely supermarkets should be taking their lead from shops like Andy's? I am sure I am not alone in deliberately avoiding buying meat in supermarkets, but to find a top class butcher is now the purveyor of plastic is insanity.  The relentless march of the supermarket is something of an issue round here at the moment with an obscure planning application for a "food store" on the edge of town.  Inevitably precise details are somewhat hard to come by, how strange...

We are on the verge of having our new Pillow boxes; these bespoke boxes are being designed to complement the new duvet boxes.  Originally designed for the Junior Range, they will have a multitude of uses and we feel confident they will look really striking on shop shelves.  Quite where we are going to house 500 boxes is another matter entirely!

We have been asked whether we would like to be at the Irish Wool/Shearing Show at Kilkenny in June- sadly I think it is unlikely, but here is a link for further information, or for those planning on visiting the Emerald Isle....
http://www.sheepshearing2011.ie/welcome.html

For The Spirit of Summer show at Olympia in May, Lizzie and I have had a truly inspirational idea regarding her Shepherd's Hut in Sussex ... the link up with The Campaign for Wool + Shepherds + White Cloud is too good to resist,  more details to be revealed nearer the time!

Spirit of Summer Fair, Olympia, Junior Range featured in Saturday Telegraph and a Little Bit of Local Good News!

With all the effort of printing and sending out our new brochures for both White Cloud and Magniwool now behind us, we are putting together our plans for the year. We will be taking part at The Spirit of Summer Fair in Olympia on 11th May - a link is attached. This is a high-class act and we are pleased to have survived the vetting proceedure and been given some space. I'm planning on taking lots of lambskins, we have more arriving from New Zealand this week and they always prove popular. We are also about to take on some little lamb soaps, mostly with Easter in mind as gifts for customers, but to have along with the lambskins is even better .... http://www.spiritofsummerfair.co.uk/ It was really good to have a mention of our new Junior Range in Saturday's Telegraph. Daisy Bridgewater always writes a really good column with children in mind and this week's article had good sleep as its theme. It was fortunate timing- more Junior Duvets have just arrived and the Junior Underblankets are in a container that gets delivered on Thursday, so a big sigh of relief all round! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/8406632/Getting-children-off-to-sleep.html Last but not least, when we lost one of our Jack Russells we joined DogLost which is a wonderful website that not only posts up details of missing dogs, but also those that get reunited with owners. We were lucky and Bertie was found safe and well, but last night my cousin's Patterdale Terrier got stolen from the Birds of Prey Centre outside Newent. He was last seen in the carpark late in the afternoon .... anyway, frantic phone calls and frantic activity on local blogs etc had the desired result; he was handed in to the Dog Pound Cardiff at 2.30 this morning by a family claiming not to have realised he was in their car (!). We all suspect he just became too hot to handle and it was easier to hand him in... hurray, we all like some good news.

Wool in Compost, Shady Poor Soil = Wonderful Hellebores in the Garden

"Sustainable wool compost is a great alternative to peat" - this comment was made in an article in Gardening World and it goes on to say:
"The moisture retaining qualities of wool make this compost ideal for those spots where water retention is important. It is also kinder to the environment than peat as it is made using sustainable resources".

Which leads me on to a blog with a bit of a gardening theme now that the weather is so glorious and the days are so much longer. Like every gardener, we have one flower bed which is a bit uninspiring, slightly shady, poor soil and full of stones and it is always the last bed that I feel I want to weed. However, the hellebores seem to thrive, so at this particular moment in time it is looking gorgeous. I spotted in a local plant nursery last weekend a really divine speckled yellow hellebore, but I dithered too long and didn't buy it. Serves me right, because I came home and there in the Saturday Telegraph was an article specifically about Hugh Nunn and his hellebores, featuring, guess what? a speckled yellow- the very same one and of course when I went back, it had been sold. The moral of the story is, of course, that we hardly ever regret what we do buy, it's what we don't buy that niggles away at us...

Going back to the compost theme, it is always something of a miracle that household scraps, chicken pooh, old newspaper, loo rolls and even scraps of wool can go in the top of a compost bin and, about a year later, out of the bottom comes all this lovely rich dark crumbly compost. The most perfect form of recycling. It's not only me that enjoys a trip to the compost bins, the dogs are just as keen, but their motivation is a mouse that has taken up residence and tantalises them, probably knowing full well it is next to impossible for them to catch it!

Little Black Sheep, The Saturday Telegraph and a definite "NO" to local Supermarket development

We love the sheep soaps so much that we have decided to add to the collection- some gorgeous little black sheep soaps are now available. They are so appealing that we have put together a little pack of 2 white and 1 black sheep, all for the same price as normal (£12) and added them to the White Cloud range. I have my eye on some little lamb soaps next, just in time for Easter....

It has been pleasing to find that our forthcoming Junior Range for younger customers is attracting interest in the press and next weekend (26th March) we hope to have some or all of it mentioned on Daisy Bridgewater's page in the Saturday Telegraph. We have been working on this Junior Range for quite some time as we have found that parents are increasingly aware themselves of the benefits of wool and want the same for their children. We have included details in our new Price List and will be publishing a special introductory price within the next few days.

It's not often that smaller companies can say "thanks" to bigger companies, but Boots and other high street stockists have decided, for some bizarre reason, to no longer stock lanolin based creams. Hurray we say, because we have noticed sales of our wonderful Lanolin Intensive Cream rise dramatically!

Mind you, one always has to keep a wary eye open; in our local town of Newent last week there was the start of a petition against the development of a supermarket on the outskirts of town. Up until now we have been fortunate to escape the relentless march of the supermarket, but as we all know, they never ever give up. Newent still has a remarkably intact town centre with lots of independent shops, and long may it continue to flourish; we have 2 butchers, a baker, an ironmongers, a greengrocers, a pet shop, a wonderful 2nd hand exchange clothes shop, a sports shop, a quilting shop, a couple of cafes, 2 banks, a chemist, an antique clock shop, 2 florists, a health food shop, a sweet shop and more hairdressers per capita than anywhere else I know! Combined with a Library, a Post Office, a Doctors Surgery and easy parking we are incredibly fortunate. Some might suggest we live in a time warp, but I for one really love it and the most important thing of all is feeling that we, as individuals, really do matter to these businesses. Oh, I nearly forgot the fish and chip shop and the best Indian takeaway in Gloucestershire ....

Rise in birch pollen anticipated in April and a natural solution for children suffering from allergies

Demand for allergy bedding could rise earlier than normal this year, and hayfever predicted to be particularly bad from mid-April.
Jean Emberlin, Professor at the National Pollen & Aerobiology Research Unit at Worcester University was interviewed by the Daily Express earlier this year and said "we are expecting a high production of birch pollen this year due to natural biological rhythms. Birch pollen levels are not always high, so many people may not realise they are suffering from hayfever, and think they have a cold".
Recent research by Mintel has shown that one in 20 people in the UK use special allergy bedding, with an astonishing 44% suffering from one or more allergy.

Here at White Cloud we have been busy working on and developing a Junior range because not only have we found that parents want to buy quality bedding for their youngsters, but also because there is a discernible rise in incidences of children with allergies. Many allergies are attributable to the presence of the Dust Mite, more specifically the presence of its excretions.
Wool does not provide the damp humid conditions that allow the Dust Mite to flourish, which means that sleeping with wool filled bedding provides not only a natural solution, but an eco-friendly solution.

A Spring Green Blog - Magniwool brochure, soft warm Green Wool Blankets and an irresistible Lime Mousse recipe

Work is continuing apace with a new mini brochure for Magniwool- this unique underblanket is going to have a lot more focus this year, starting with some adverts in magazines such as Saga. It seems a good idea to separate Magniwool from the rest of the White Cloud products, because it needs a little more explanation and it is a brand name of its own. Thank goodness for email- there has been much sent backwards and forwards between us and the designer and to be able to adjust details on screen is even better. We are hoping to have the finished brochure towards the end of this week and then there will be an almighty effort to send both new brochures out to our existing customers.

Today's blog has something of a colour green theme, not only does Magniwool have a particular Pantone Green, but we have decided to focus on a small number of lovely Spring Green blankets as the current Special Offer for Spring. Sadly these are now no longer being made so will not be available in the future. Soft, warm, lovely and colourful these are available in Throw size and Single - gorgeous for sofas and bedrooms, all at a huge 30% discount.

Finally, I am including an irresistible recipe which always works and tastes completely delicious:
Lime Mousse

Put 1/2 cup cold water in a small saucepan and sprinkle over 4tsp gelatine.
Leave for a few minutes to swell. Heat the gelatine and the water, stirring until dissolved, then add 1/2 cup fresh lime juice, 1/4 cup white rum (I use Malibu) and 1 cup plain yoghurt.
Whip 3 egg whites with 1/2 cup sugar until it forms a thick meringue.
Whip 1 cup cream to form soft peaks and then fold the cool gelatine mix into the cream, then add the egg white mixture to carefully combine.
Pour into a large serving dish and sprinkle with lime zest.
Serves 6-8

The method needs reading through to understand it, it is a bit peculiar, but it really does work and is one of our family's firm favourites.

The Big Curry/Army Benevolent Fund Not on The High Street and Spring Sales of Lambskins

Every year the Army Benevolent Fund runs a national fund raising campaign called "The Big Curry" - you can host whatever event you like, but it must be held in April and it must have a curry theme. When all the fund raising literature arrived on the doorstep last week, I instantly forgot all the downsides of trying to extract money from kind friends and started to think much bigger and much bolder. Spurred on by a friend, we have decided we will hire our local village hall and host a Curry Supper on 8th April. Last year we had a "Chilli Challenge" - and this year we are going to include a Quiz as well. If you fancy hosting something yourself: http://www.soldierscharity.org/events-and-campaigns/events/lord-mayors-big-curry-2011

gives an idea of what the event is all about. Our own modest efforts can't really be compared with the Lord Mayor's, but a little corner of West Gloucestershire is aiming high and we are hoping to raise over £1000.

This week we were delighted to have our very first order via Not on the High Street: http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/
This is a really good online store with a huge variety of retailers and products, all of which have passed a careful selection process. Beautifully presented, this is a site we are really pleased to be involved with. They are currently inviting partner retailers to make gift suggestions for the Royal Wedding and our "Romance Pillow" would be our immediate choice- a lovely soft natural wool pillow infused with a fragrance of damask rose.

Spring must indeed be in the air- we are noticing an increase in sales of lambskins for new babies! It is always a great pleasure to wrap these and send them off to customers, because we know that they will be loved and snuggled up to for years to come.

Superb Garden Nursery, Winner of £100 Voucher, Junior White Cloud Range

Every few weeks I receive a delightful email from Michael Loftus who not only runs a wonderful nursery in Suffolk, but also happens to be a customer of ours. His gorgeous nursery is a specialist, old fashioned, plantsman's nursery and the catalogue is out of this world. Michael's latest email contains details of a Delphinium Offer and now that we have Spring (if only we had blue skies as well!) it makes me aspire to spend more time in the garden. Take a look at his lovely website and I recommend signing up for the email newsletter:

http://www.woottensplants.co.uk/contact.html

Congratulations to Freda in Kent who has won £100 White Cloud Voucher with Daisy Green Magazine, an online green magazine, full of offers, competitions and eco advice.

All of the work that has gone on in the past few months has, at last come to fruition- the White Cloud website now shows the new box packaging, of which we are hugely proud. Existing customers have been encouraging us for some time to consider developing a Junior Range so that little ones can have their very own "White Cloud".... this, combined with the new "mini brochure" coming off the press this week, makes us feel very positive about the future and we will continue to do our best to defy the gloom and doom frenzy that the British media is so fond of. We are, after all, a nation of small shopkeepers and I think it can often be forgotten that privately owned businesses form the backbone of the British economy.