During the Food Festival in October there is a very creative idea called Screen Bites - a mini Film Festival shown throughout the county at village halls. All the films shown are food related and before the film starts there are around a dozen local producers of food and drink who set up their stalls and offer samples of their goods. We went to the showing of 'Chocolat' starring Juliette Binoche, tried some truly great food and I actually enjoyed the film, although I seem to remember that it wasn't very well received when it first came out. I hate to admit that the evening the event was in our village, we missed it!
Apart from our on-line grocery biz we also have another one (www.verybestplaces.com) which is a directory of good places and people in Brussels and which we are also starting to develop here in Dorset. GW went to film an excellent fish shop in Bridport the other day and on the site he always puts up a little video which makes the page more interesting. He sent me the link which I will try and paste - how to fillet a plaice in less than 20 seconds! http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Although we don't sell fresh fish on-line (unfortunately) we also have a smokery in Bridport who sell wonderful smoked haddock, kippers and salmon amongst other things and we have a lot of expats in Brussels clamouring for kippers!
Now plugging my sites is done and dusted, a little news from the village. GW came back from Brussels yesterday with a zillion removal boxes (still some more over there!) so our little cottage looks amazingly messy at the moment and we have friends coming to stay this weekend! I have a dismantled Ikea bed to install in the guest room but it would appear that the screws and Allen key are somewhere else so there are lots of nasty bits of fake wood propped against the wall. Ikea furniture is not meant to be dismantled - hateful stuff! While in Brussels he clipped the side of the van on one of those stupid metal bollards that towns love to install - I am sure there is a plot somewhere between the local councils, the bollard manufacturers, garages and insurance companies. A chum came to the house to help him unload the heaviest oak chest known to man and of course when we popped into the pub that evening GW was the butt of all the jokes!
I am starting to get a dowager's hump from sitting at the computer all day, so after a few admin things that need to be done, I will start on the unpacking of the cases that I packed all those months ago and with a bit of luck I should find some winter clothes as I have been living in jeans and sweaters and wearing walking boots for the last two months ... thus saying, what else does one wear out in the sticks?
I'm intrigued to know how you ship cheese! I hope the online store is a big hit, it certainly has some yummy stuff.
ReplyDeleteFlatpack stuff is terrible for fixing up again. The inside being bits and dust just disintegrates. I've just thrown a bed away and next time I move I'll have to chuck mine, I don't think it'll last another move!
We don't post the stuff, Sarah - we do a run to Brussels every ten days. The cheese (the Dorset Coastal is made in the village!) is wrapped in situ and so it just needs to be kept chilled. The Coastal, and their other cheeses, are shipped round the world - and they supply Waitrose but not under their label - and of course it is more expensive!
ReplyDeleteAh, nifty! I'll put a link up on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteYour site looks lovely. What a shame you don't do a run to Spain as well!
ReplyDeleteIt took the elves (me) nearly a year to unpack most things after the last move (there's still a lot of stuff boxed up in the garage that we simply don't have space for). And now my bloke is talking about moving again! Arghhh!
@Pueblo girl - thank you for the compliment. Order a few thousand euros of stuff and I will drive it down to you!! This elf is rather fed up of opening and closing cardboard boxes; funnily enough they seem to be invisible to my husband! You cannot move until you have burnt all that wood!
ReplyDeleteWe left the stuff behind....except for some of the books.
ReplyDeleteIt'll all have to be moved eventually...but this house is a quarter of the size of the other!
As to the business...what a good idea!
Plug away!
I remember the English Shop just outside Brussels...but it sounds as if your supplies are rather more interesting!
@Fly - we have dramatically downsized but fortunately we have a large garage! My thirty odd cases of books are in there unfortunately as I have no shelves in the house. I have bookcases but they are for high-ceiling town houses not little gnomey-like cottages in Dorset!
ReplyDeleteThe English Shop is still going from strength to strength and is always busy. I hear that perhaps they will go on-line soon. But we have a very different clientèle and much cheaper prices!