Award Winning Barony

Hi All

As always, I've been busy. Here's a quick update of all the things I been doing under the 'Work' banner over the last month... Perthshire Showcase at Perth Racecourse (NEVER AGAIN - last year was well organised and and everything ran very smoothly... This year was a very different story (don't get me started on this one, I'm still fizzing). Talking of fizzing...Bath Bomb making with Buclyvie Primary School as part of their Eco Fair. I absolutely loved, loved, loved getting covered in bath bomb dust with the kids, so much so, I'm doing all again with the Auchterarder Library later this month.

Ok, Ok, I've held out for a whole paragraph before I had to blurt out...

'We've Won GOLD at the Royal Highland Show'.

Wow, talk about gobsmacked. The Judges were mystery shoppers on the morning of the first day (and the stall was looking full and fresh). The award was not only for my stall set up but also for my products, vision for my company's future (more info on that later this month...!?!?) and my customer service.

And we've just got back from the Scone Game Fair. A huge apology to everyone who came along to the stall to get their little stash of Barony Goodies only to find I'd sold out of a few of the favourites. I promise to have lots of my Lemongrass & Lime Hand & Body Lotion at Crieff Market on Saturday 11th July. I've been so busy attending shows that I haven't had anytime in the workshop to replenish stocks. I also have to return lots of emails, answerphone messages and send out orders (both individuals and stockists) that have come in during this week. Arrrgh, Monday morning is going to be hectic.

wee note: All of a sudden everyone is wanting Barony lip balms and my supplier of the cute wee aluminium tins is out of stock. As soon as I get the tins I'll have them back on the stall.

Mud Pack for Cars?

Well, last weekend was a bit of a washout... Did you see the weather, huh? Our new tent was brilliant, though. It kept us dry through the downpours while others got drenched. At least 3 other traders asked us for the tent manufacturer's details. 

So as you can imagine the ground was sodden and quickly churned up into a quagmire. Lots of cars, vans and even 4X4s at the mercy of the towing carts, everyone waiting patiently to be saved.

I looked after the stall on Saturday and when I returned home, in my wee car caked in mud, Dave made a few mocking comments about women drivers and being pulled out of the field by a tractor. I was none too pleased as I thought I'd done particularly well compared to others who were stuck fast as soon as they tried to pull off.

Sunday's weather was a bit sunnier (still with the all too frequent passing downpours!) and a bit busier. Dave helped to man the stall so to cheer myself up I went to get some sinful dark chocolate fudge from Laura's Chocolates  and did a bit of Welly Watching!

And lastly, my pair! I love my lime green wellies

At around 5pm I packed away the stall and Dave dismantled the tent. The car was loaded up and we tried to set off. Dave pulled away with a smug grin and all was going well until we got to the bit I needed to get towed out of.... yep, Dave got stuck too. I didn't say anything, just enjoyed the moment! 

Loitering within tent

It's nearly summer, which means lots of outdoor shows on the way. Normally we make use of the tents/stalls supplied by the organisers or use our little green garden gazebo.

Renting stalls can be expensive but not everywhere let's you use a bog-standard garden gazebo (and they tend not to be great in poor weather!).

So... we have bought ourselves a brand spanking new tent which...

• complies with the British Standard for fire resistance (as required by some show organisers)
• is built with really sturdy poles and less likely to blow over in high winds (been there - not funny!)
• keeps out the rain when it's chucking it down throughout our Scottish Summers.

We're using it for the first time next week when we are at the BASC Fair so gave it a trial run in the garden today. Dave swore lots about the lack of instructions, not sure why as he never reads them anyway. We just need to get a sign with our name on the front of it now.

If you're at BASC drop by and I'll give you the guided tour.

(I've just noticed Dave does a mean impression of

'Wilson the neighbour' from Home Improvements!)

2009 The year ahead

It's been a long time since my last post, I just haven't gotten round to writing anything. Anyway I will update some of the things I have been up to.

I expected January to be a very quite month, especially compared to December. It was thankfully a lot quieter than December but not as quite as I expected. I have made favours for several weddings, I had no idea January was so popular for getting married. I've also been making bars for VisitScotland to take to several events in Europe promoting Homecoming. This is a series of events throughout the year to encourage people to visit Scotland. My soap complete with Homecoming logo have been included in goodie-bags for the journalists and travel writers at the events (photos to be posted at a later date)

This week I have been planning my calender of events for the year ahead. It's already looking like a busy year, with events pencilled in all the way to December already. I will be starting to return booking forms this week so look out for updates on the website soon.

Also attended our first event this week, a Ladies Pamper Evening in Stirling. It did take a bit of time to remember exactly how to do everything but once into the swing of it everything fell into place.

Anyway, here's to the year ahead, and more regular posts, I promise.

The Christmas Rush

It's been a hectic few weeks for us in the run up to Christmas. We have done 17 days of craft fairs, markets and events since the end of November. This works out at 4.25 days every week, but most done on Saturdays and Sundays with Dave and I doing separate events on the same day. This of course means lots of time spent in the workshop making things for the next show and not much time for anything else. This is why there have not been many posts but I will try to catch up with all that has been happening in the next few days.

Our last show was on Sunday at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh and we were both looking forward to having a bit of time to relax. Sleep has been an item on my whiteboard 'To-Do-List' all week, and the only Christmas present Dave has asked for is a day off! However, since Sunday I have made 52 wedding favours, a rush order of 50 bars for Jamesfield Farm Shop, done all of my Christmas shopping and written all of my Christmas cards. We will deliver these tomorrow, using our 'Just In Time' management principles again! Maybe next year I will be organised! So it is safe to say we are still looking forward to some time to relax.

Soundtrack to work this last month has been: The Wombats - Is this Christmas?, Vampire Weekend - A-Punk (great tune at 2am to keep your spirits high). Anything Christmassy, from good ol' Bing to The Waitresses, including Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You (I mean, for goodness sake!). And for the record... always Jeff Buckley, never Alexandra! You all know what I'm talking about.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Bbrrrrrr! Minus 4.5 on the way home

from Gloagburn Farm Shop

The temperature reached -7.5 on the way out to our craft fairs today. There's a spot on our road on the way to Perth that's always the coldest. Dave clocked it at -7.5 (on the way to Edinburgh at 09:30) this morning and my in-car temp gauge read -6 at 10:15. Although the roads were scary slippy and covered in frost & ice the landscape was a wonderful sight. I didn't have time to stop on the way to take pics and it was getting dark on the way home so I stopped and took the picture above. It's all so Christmassy. The tune on the CD player is a mash-up of several recordings of White Christmas including Louie Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross and The Supremes. Very Cool Yule.

My brother-in-law is the Stig!

It's been another busy weekend at Barony with the Lanark Christmas Market and The Angus Craft Association Craft Fair in the Perth Concert Hall both on.

This gave us a bit of a logistics problem. Lanark is nearly 2hrs away meaning a 6am start for Dave (who gets all the good jobs). There was no option to set up in Perth on Friday leaving me with two problems. Although I can manage smaller shows in my wee 2-seater car taking all of the kit needed for bigger shows is impossible, and given that our backing is 7 feet tall and I'm not setting it all up is also impossible on my own (why else do you think I married 6' 2" Dave!). Luckily Dave has a brother, Sandy, with a big 4x4 to fit all the stuff into and tall enough to build the stand.

Due to the lack of parking at the concert hall everyone was given an offloading time, ours was 7:40. When we arrived it was the usual pandamonium with cars and vans parked everywhere. Not that this bothered Sandy, who without a second thought reversed his 4x4 (which has no rear window) through the abandoned vehicles, using his mirrors and only one hand, right up to the loading bay. I was very impressed, especially as I had a lot less carrying to do than expected.

If you are still wondering about the title of this post... I was watching TopGear (Ok, I'm a BIT of a Richard Hammond fan) tonight where the Stig used the exact same reversing technique as Sandy had used. I'm sure Sandy is the Stig!

Don't Blame Us...

We were at a 3D2D craft fair in Glasgow this weekend with some of our new Christmas range.
We had quite a bit of interest in our new candles in pots and mugs made by the award winning potter John Maguire, but by far the biggest hit was our Typsie Auntie soap. This has a lovely mulled wine fragrance, but judging by the giggles and titters heard around the stall I think the name had a lot to do with it's popularity. Most bars were intended as presents for friends or relatives who could associate with the name, so if you receive one in your stocking this Christmas please don't be offended and remember we only thought of the name, not of you!!!!