Showcasing some of our lovely Mrs Madden aprons!

From bespoke aprons and pinnies to bags and cushions, each Mrs Madden Makes item is individually styled and handmade using upcycled linens combined with contemporary fabrics.

Each apron is uniquely designed - taking inspiration from Mrs Madden's cottage garden.

With quirky slogans like ‘Do my buns look big in this’ Mrs Madden Makes aprons have been a huge hit with ‘original’ Calendar Girl, Angela Knowles-Baker.

Prices start at £ 24.95

Why not pop into the shop and see them for yourself!

Beginners Guide to AGA Cooking

We're hosting one of our popular 'Beginners Guide to AGA Cooking' courses on Wednesday evening (25th July).

It starts at 7.15pm and is complimentary but you must call to book your place !

We look forward to hearing from you.

The Rain in Yorkshire Stays Mainly on the Show Ground!

Ten days ago we were feverishly setting our stall out at the Harrogate home of the Great Yorkshire Show.

We always take a 'live' AGA with us. This takes our engineers two days to build and commission. Normally that work could be done in a day in a customers house, however leveling up a base take a little more time when you are effectively working in the middle of a field. Then there is man handling nearly half a tonne of cast iron on to our stand. Not an easy task at the best of times. In pouring rain it and sodden ground it becomes even more challenging. We have been doing the Great Yorkshire Show for over 20 years now and have rarely had such tricky conditions in which to set up.

Last Monday saw all the cookware being unpacked and put on display. We had cleverly devised a washing line arrangement to display all the Tottering by Gently Hob Hats.

Bev Maddens fingers were worked ragged in producing some fantastic hand embroidered aprons which you could see hanging around the sides of our tented stand. We had a beautiful ex demo Falcon 1000 deluxe on the stand at a super sale price too. (That sold pretty quickly on Tuesday morning).  All in all we were feeling pretty pleased with our little 'shop on the Show Ground'.

We stayed the night in Harrogate on the Monday to get a quick start on Tuesday morning, to beat the crowds we thought. It was more a case of beating the rain as it turned out. With a misty start and a rather slippy arrival to the parking across Crimple Golf Course we opened our stand for business. All was going reasonably well for most of the day until about 4pm when the heavens opened. And it rained and rained and rained! The really heavy wet sort of rain (is there any other sort?!?) The horse classes were immediately cancelled from then onwards but we hope the rest of the show would go on. At 6.30pm a trade stand official came around with a very official looking letter, announcing that the Show had to be cancelled. We were all disappointed on many fronts, the effort and expense of attending, the loss of trade and the general poor economic climate made for rather a fed up team.

However, a nice warm shower, supper out and a bottle of wine and we were all back in action on Wednesday morning taking everything down and packing into the vans.

The only thing we had to wait for was the AGA to cool down. To be honest it was so useful having it working as it was drying all our wet weather gear after every downpour!

Thanks must go to our great team, Claire and Guy for helping with the set up and pack up plus our two temporary student helpers Alex and Georgina, who all coped ably in difficult circumstances.

Thanks must also go to all at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, they had no choice in the end but to cancel- but not before they had put up a very gallant effort. Those involved were creative and bold in their attempts to beat the dreadful conditions. I wouldn't have wanted to be the person to make the difficult decision to cancel the event. Furthermore contractually they are under no obligation to refund monies but I understand they are aiming to pay back approximately the stand hire for the two non-running days. This is very much appreciated by us exhibitors.

Lets hope next year we will all be back with a bigger and better show!

Ovens: Finding a cook's cooker

We recently spent some time showing food writer Elaine Lemm around the Country Warmth showroom as she is looking to buy a new cooker.

Elaine is quite the foodie having trained as a chef at the Ritz-Escoffier Ecole de Gastronomie in Paris, set up an international cookery school, and ran her own restaurant in Yorkshire.

She also writes for magazines such as Yorkshire Life, Waitrose Food Illustrated and Olive to name a few and has written two books The Great Book of Yorkshire Pudding and The Great Book of Rhubarb!

So choosing the right cooker is a BIG decision.

Take a look at her article on high 50  to see her top 5 cooker choices...

A Visit from a Champion

We welcomed the AGA Ladies Open Point to Point Champion Jacqueline Coward to our AGA shop last week.



Fresh from her success at Cheltenham Jacqueline was happy to spend some time telling us about the exciting race and her plans for next year’s season.

Jacqueline started riding at a very early age and at sixteen, as soon as legally allowable she rode in her first race. She still remembers that day at Charm Park on Double Rich. Despite falling off her spirits weren't dampened. “I loved it” she grinned.



However the 'sensible parent talk' followed and Jacqueline was not allowed to go straight into horses from school. So after A Levels she went on to do an art foundation course. If she wasn't riding now she would have followed a career in fashion or textile design.



Now mornings start at 7am with early feeds and the first ride out at 8am.  With exercising until lunchtime and then general yard duties and errands filling the afternoon.


And it’s clearly a family operation. Cherry (mum) and Jacqueline produce the horses, Sam (sister) does the entries and the admin, whilst Dad is left in charge of the cooking. They have a big range cooker and the whole family enjoy traditional dishes such as roasts and casseroles to keep them marching on.




All this and the family have a successful business 'Beryl’s crockery hire’ too.

Jacqueline’s partner at Cheltenham was the plucky Amecelli. He was no stranger to Cheltenham having won the foxhunter chase under the Greenall's patronage, however it wasn't until they decided to move him on that Jacqueline got her opportunity.

However it hasn’t all been plain sailing for Jacqueline. Only a few years ago she had to be airlifted to St James Cook Hospital with serious injuries. There were worries that she wouldn't even walk and talk again never mind ride again. Perhaps they underestimated her determination and her desire to get back in the saddle.




As the saying goes something good comes from something bad and with the insurance money from Jacqueline’s accident plus a coppering up from the whole family Amecelli was purchased and so started a new phase in his career.

He is clearly 'loved to bits' up at the stables, being a real character, Jacqueline calls him a 'proper girly horse’, whether that means he likes a cup of tea, a gossip with pals and pink nail varnish or maybe that he is a sensitive soul we’re not quite sure!





Amecelli led from start to finish at Cheltenham and saw off a strong challenge at the end from Billywadden. Perhaps some credit here should go to the training skills of Jacqueline’s' mum, in helping to produce him to the peak of fitness for the big day.

The Cowards have a good racing pedigree being descendants of the Easterby dynasty but on the day all credit must go to the determination and skill of the jockey and her steed. In Jacqueline’s words “Amecelli is one in a million”.

As for plans for next year’s Point-to-Point Championship, Jacqueline's pragmatic approach is she will leave it to her horse. “He will tell me if he is ready to defend the title”. What a partnership.

The Aga cooker enters the 21st century with a model you turn on by text message (if you're out on the grouse moor)

Check out the article on today's Mail Online about the AGA Total Control!

www.dailymail.co.uk

Malton Food Festival

 

What a busy week we have had!

After months of planning, The Malton Community Interest group saw the most successful Food Lovers Festival yet. With an attendance of 20,000, the Malton Food Lovers Festival has been crowned The Culinary Capital for the weekend. Despite unseasonably cold temperatures the welcome offered to the host of celebrity chefs was a warm one.

  

Country Warmth was proud to be the main sponsor of the cookery theatres for the weekend.  Saturday morning started under very chilly conditions, however a warm welcome was given to the opening patron Antonio Carluccio. He wooed the packed marquee with a heady mix of cookery and humour. With typical southern Mediterranean warmth the crowd were delighted by his demonstration. Next up was Rob Green chef owner of award winning Green’s of Whitby. Rob has donated his recipe of Lobster Fish and Chips with mushy peas to the Food Festival booklet. The day continued with guest demonstrations from Matthew Fort, Tom Parker Bowles, Stephanie Moon and our local Deli Queen Sophie Legard. 

We had fun with our stand; located at the bottom of the market square we decked it out in jubilee colours. Michael found an old pillar box red AGA to put on display (red is no longer made at the AGA foundry, Coalbrookedale any more). We then added touches of patriotic bunting and some lovely aprons from the magical sewing machine of Mrs Madden.  With sayings including ‘Keep Calm your dinner is in the AGA’ and ‘Bake for Britain’ these pinneys were a resounding success. We have had to commission more to keep up with the demand!

Sunday was just as busy as the Saturday. With Festival Patron Rosemary Shrager taking to the stage to show off her fabulous cooking skills. Not only is Rosemary one of Yorkshires favourite chefs she also brings a smile and limitless enthusiasm to proceedings. She was most happy to call in to our stand and share some of her cooking tips with us. Throughout the day Selina Scott hosted the Masterclass tent. Some fascinating facts emerged from interviews with local food producers and suppliers. It made us realise how lucky we are to have such quality of ingredients right on our doorstep here in Ryedale.

At the end of the weekend we packed the Show trailer away and drove home a little weary but very happy. Next stop for Shows is the Great Yorkshire Show July 10^th 11^th and 12^th. We hope to see you there!