Our day out yesterday was lovely. After days and days of cold, wet and windy weather, the sun took pity on us and we had sunshine and blue skies all day. There was a bit of a chill in the wind, but everything looked so fresh and green in the sun we didn't mind wrapping up a bit.
We dropped Eva off at Cooper's first and then headed out across country to Cranborne Chase, most of which is in Dorset. I hadn't heard of the Larmer Tree Gardens before, but it seems it was the first garden to be open for the public to enjoy. It's relatively small - 11 acres - but beautifully laid out with woodland walks. There's always a bend in the path you want to see round, or a vista ahead of you to lure you on.
There was a group of 28 of us, and as we wandered round we would sometimes meet up with fellow visitors and exchange information about what to see! The gardens specialise in outdoor weddings (there's a large marquee in case the weather's bad) and you could imagine how romantic it would be on a summer's afternoon. As we were walking round I found myself with my wedding photographer's hat on looking at locations for photos.
They had peafowl there, and our wanderings were accompanied by the raucous call of the peacocks. This sound reminds OH and me of having a caravan on a small farm in Anglesey. The farm wasn't very productive, but they kept peacocks, who would frequently land on the roof of the van and then run along, making a lot of noise.
It was nice enough to have lunch outside - we had delicious soup, with a huge tasty roll, followed by fruit scones. All home made and delicious.
After lunch we drove in convoy down narrow lanes to the jigsaw factory. I had no idea what to expect from this visit, but it was very interesting. It's run by a couple who had no previous experience in the industry - she was a bank manager, he was a builder. She gave us a fascinating tour of the factory, as well as telling us the story of how they fell into the business almost by accident! They are one of a very small handful of businesses who actually produce their jigsaws and specialise in short run puzzles in cardboard or wood. They make for every where from the National Trust to Balmoral Castle, plus one-off orders for short runs.
I'm always fascinating to hear stories of businesses with interesting backgrounds so I was enthralled. (I'm perhaps a bit of a saddo!) She told us how they were struggling to find a place in the market until Covid struck. The big manufacturers get their puzzles made in China, and of course that source dried up very quickly. So they were selling well online - they were able to keep producing because of the huge amount of space and a workforce of just 4.
One day the Press Association (who she had never heard of) rang up and said would you do an interview for us. So she did. Very quickly all the daily newspapers were running her story, then the broadcast media picked it up, then Jeremy Vine rang her and invited her on to his show! Immediately afterward their website crashed from the volume of hits. At one stage they were working 7 days a week!
I was surprised how much of the production process is done by hand, although they also have a state of the art cutting machine and laser printer - on a grand scale. The printer was about the size of a king-size bed! They even make their own boxes.
At the end of the tour we were offered tea and more homemade cakes. Always a treat! Further entertainment was provided by their chocolate lab who wanders round the factory and for some reason kept coming back to OH and me for yet another sniff, and of course to be stroked!
We took the rural route back to DS2's to collect Eva and to leave the GDs with a couple of 500 piece jigsaws to tempt them away from their screens!
Eva had had a wonderful time with Cooper, and certainly didn't need a walk to round off her busy day!
I'll put a couple of photos up later.
We dropped Eva off at Cooper's first and then headed out across country to Cranborne Chase, most of which is in Dorset. I hadn't heard of the Larmer Tree Gardens before, but it seems it was the first garden to be open for the public to enjoy. It's relatively small - 11 acres - but beautifully laid out with woodland walks. There's always a bend in the path you want to see round, or a vista ahead of you to lure you on.
There was a group of 28 of us, and as we wandered round we would sometimes meet up with fellow visitors and exchange information about what to see! The gardens specialise in outdoor weddings (there's a large marquee in case the weather's bad) and you could imagine how romantic it would be on a summer's afternoon. As we were walking round I found myself with my wedding photographer's hat on looking at locations for photos.
They had peafowl there, and our wanderings were accompanied by the raucous call of the peacocks. This sound reminds OH and me of having a caravan on a small farm in Anglesey. The farm wasn't very productive, but they kept peacocks, who would frequently land on the roof of the van and then run along, making a lot of noise.
It was nice enough to have lunch outside - we had delicious soup, with a huge tasty roll, followed by fruit scones. All home made and delicious.
After lunch we drove in convoy down narrow lanes to the jigsaw factory. I had no idea what to expect from this visit, but it was very interesting. It's run by a couple who had no previous experience in the industry - she was a bank manager, he was a builder. She gave us a fascinating tour of the factory, as well as telling us the story of how they fell into the business almost by accident! They are one of a very small handful of businesses who actually produce their jigsaws and specialise in short run puzzles in cardboard or wood. They make for every where from the National Trust to Balmoral Castle, plus one-off orders for short runs.
I'm always fascinating to hear stories of businesses with interesting backgrounds so I was enthralled. (I'm perhaps a bit of a saddo!) She told us how they were struggling to find a place in the market until Covid struck. The big manufacturers get their puzzles made in China, and of course that source dried up very quickly. So they were selling well online - they were able to keep producing because of the huge amount of space and a workforce of just 4.
One day the Press Association (who she had never heard of) rang up and said would you do an interview for us. So she did. Very quickly all the daily newspapers were running her story, then the broadcast media picked it up, then Jeremy Vine rang her and invited her on to his show! Immediately afterward their website crashed from the volume of hits. At one stage they were working 7 days a week!
I was surprised how much of the production process is done by hand, although they also have a state of the art cutting machine and laser printer - on a grand scale. The printer was about the size of a king-size bed! They even make their own boxes.
At the end of the tour we were offered tea and more homemade cakes. Always a treat! Further entertainment was provided by their chocolate lab who wanders round the factory and for some reason kept coming back to OH and me for yet another sniff, and of course to be stroked!
We took the rural route back to DS2's to collect Eva and to leave the GDs with a couple of 500 piece jigsaws to tempt them away from their screens!
Eva had had a wonderful time with Cooper, and certainly didn't need a walk to round off her busy day!
I'll put a couple of photos up later.
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