Market trader for the day...

Not that I shouted "Roll up ,Roll up".... there was no need  as I stood there with my stall at the first Ampleforth Village Market.

I now have such a lot of respect for these market traders who do it day in and day out. This was a one and only for me . I came up with the idea of having a village market at the White Swan in Ampleforth. After they had won Yorkshire's Favourite Pub out of 700 entries as a friendly family pub I needed to come up with an idea to help other small businesses in Ryedale. I am on the board for the North York Moors Leader project and so very in tune to how a little bit of help is worth a lot of sympathy syndrome . The White Swan was the ideal venue....with a large car park and enthusiastic owners.

The markets are to be held monthly on the last Saturday in the month. The Christmas one being scheduled for the 23rd December.

Annabelle Robinson is taking over the day to day running of the market. Annabelle has had a lot previous first hand experience, coming well recommended. To be honest I just dont have the time .
Annabelle's parents were involved with setting up local farmers markets within the county.  Annabelle became involved and worked alongside her from parents. She therefore had first hand knowledge of the pitfalls and obstacles that can come with running a market. There is a Facebook page, twitter account ,lots of posters to put up, accounts to keep. Also behind the scene things to organise. Insurance policies to check along traders licences too.
I had 4 hours sleep the night before and I am now getting too old to survive on this .

The weather was perfect and I was on site by 7am to set up. I then dashed back to cook breakfasts for my guests .By the time I got back at 9.30am it was a hive of activity ready for the 10am start.

It was supported well and nice to see a lot of locals,

around who stopped for a chat. Many thanked me for coming up with the idea. A great way to spend a Saturday morning. Thanks  to Josh Finn who came along with his guitar and "busked" for us.

There were so many lovely stalls ,stallholders and tempting things to buy. We have a waiting list of stallholders wanting to come next month -30th September.

Thank you to everyone who made this event go so well. I hope it will continue to grow and flourish.

Finalists for the White Rose Awards 2017

We feel very proud and honoured that our little bed and breakfast here at Carr House Farm has been named as one of the 6 finalists for the Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Awards 2017 in the bed and Breakfast section for the whole of Yorkshire.

Ampleforth has done very well as not only ourselves have been short listed but the White Swan in Ampleforth has also got through to the finals, not only for Yorkshire's Best Pub 2017 but also for the WRA 2017 in the Pub category. Both awards are run by Welcome to Yorkshire and are known to be the country's biggest award ceremony in the country .This will also allow both of us to go through to the national award which are urn by Visit England.

I hope the judge will come soon as the roses are at their best at the moment and everything around here is green and lush and the countryside is looking its nicest.

Jack tirelessly keeps the grass cut and the roadside and drive sides strimmed. As we have had a new hedge planted this year he has had to keep off the wire a distance as the strimmer has no mercy and chops everything down in its way .

Playing Host

This week I hosted Keith Gilks who is a journalist for Cycling World Magazine. I was lucky to be able to call on a few businesses I know to help make Keith's stay even more tasty.
Primarily he was in Yorkshire to cycle ,but I wanted to make sure he had the very best of food and drink too.
The White Swan in Ampleforth feed the very tired Keith and after a few pints of baa baa Black Sheep his aching legs were a thing of the past.  He started with Pork and Apple Terrine and had Plaice rolled in Smoked Salmon to follow in the most sublime of lemon cream . I mirrored him on this, while Sarah Barrowby who had come along to talk "cycling" we must not forget why he was in the area. Sarah opted for the Plaice as well but started with homemade soup. There was no room for puddings.  Emily Slingsby very kindly organised that Keith receive a selection of Ampleforth beers which her husband Andy brought to the White Swan for him. A real ale man, Keith was delighted. It was a vey pleasant evening spent in the White Swan which has been newly refurbished and was lovely and warm too which is something the some eating places just don't seem to get their heads around . Quite "Hygge" infact.
After a nights sleep that Keith said he had slept like  King ! It was time for me to serve breakfast. A full Yorkshire of course complete with my son Nicholas's venison sausages.
Soon it was time to say goodbye to Keith and off he went on his next cycling adventure heading in the direction of Sutton Bank.
Hunters of Helmsley had kindly made him a packed lunch with goodies from their deli counter and some Hustwaite apple juice.  Hunters won the Best Local Shop in Great Britain and rightly so ...we love their rare beef sandwiches. As we were not sure if Keith was a rare beef man they opted to make him a cheese and ham one,which I guess was very tasty as they cook their meat on site. I often  get a whiff of their meats cooking when I go by their doors.
Keith's next port of call was Whitby and home for the night .I  just knew he shouldn't miss a trip to the Magpie and a quick call to Ian's team and a place was booked for him for 7pm. The last thing I heard of Keith was a photo he posted on social media of a very large portion of fish and chips curtesy of the Magpie.
Thank you to all you wonderful businesses that made it possible to turn Keith's trip into an even better one than he had expected. Jack often says to me if you are going to do something, do it right and I think we all did .