News

Over 1,000 Yellow Maps available in shops across the UK 

Yellow Maps, the handy, water resistant, local map range is now on sale in stores across the country. Perfectly sized to fold in your pocket, laminated against wind and rain, and larger scale for all to read, Yellow Maps are ideal for walk, drive, hike or bike.

Using large scale Ordnance Survey mapping data in a convenient, sturdy format, Yellow Maps takes the hard work out of map reading – a relief to anyone who has wrestled with a large paper sheet map on a wet and windy day!

Easy-to-use Yellow Maps

The award-winning range first launched in the West Country four years ago with a handful of titles, quickly becoming a firm favourite with walkers and cyclists, and expanded by producing maps for independent retailers wanting titles covering their local patch. It now boasts over 1,000 titles on sale in some 2,000 outdoor, gift, and book shops, tourist offices, museums, hotels, holiday parks and campsites across the UK, and on the Yellow Maps website – www.yellowpublications.co.uk. As well as local area maps, titles include long-distance footpaths, national parks and cycle routes.

Yellow Maps range

Sean Quigly, of Yellow Publications which produces Yellow Maps, said: “We like to describe our water resistant maps as easy to read, easy to hold, easy to fold and they fit in your pocket. Whether you are taking your dog for a walk, freewheeling down country lanes or hiking up a Munro, we almost certainly have a map to fit the bill….and if we don’t, it won’t be long before we do!”

The Yellow Map ‘family’ includes:

• the best-selling Around & About walking map range (Scale 1:16 000 approx 4 inches to 1 mile) makes navigation trouble-free and, with the greater clarity, helps the user to spot interesting features so easily missed on a normal map. Laminated for weatherproofing. Useful scale ruler for distance and walk time. Slips easily into your pocket. Areas: alphabetically range from ‘Abbotsford, Melrose & Galashiels’ to ‘Yeovilton, Mudford & Queen Camel’. Format: Double-sidedMap. Size: 47 x 32 cms RRP: £3.99 each.
• Here and There laminated cycle maps make cycling easy. Ideally suited to visitors looking to cycle around the area they are staying.  Based on Ordnance Survey’s Landranger mapping blown up from the standard 1:50 000 scale, these maps really make navigation trouble-free when a-wheel (Scale 1:40 000). Useful scale ruler for distance and cycle time with cycle route index. Areas: alphabetically range from ‘Alton to Hartington, Ashbourne, Tissington & Waterhouses’ to ‘Worcester to Ledbury, Great Malvern & Bromyard’. Format: Double-sided Map. Map size: 47 x 32 cms RRP: £3.99
• Zigzag maps come in a concertina strip format, hence their name, and with 200 cm of mapping can follow a long distance footpath at a scale of 1:16 000 for up to 30 miles (depending on the wiggles).  Like all Yellow Maps they are made for convenience, you only need to unfold 2 panels at a time and you can keep on flipping over to follow the path. Areas: alphabetically range from ‘Abbot’s Way’ to ‘Worcestershire Way’. Format:  Double-sided, laminatedconcertina strip map. Cover size: 10 x 27 cms. Map size: 100 x 26 cms (per side) RRP:  £7.99
• Yellow Map Atlas Based on Ordnance Survey’s Landrangermapping blown up to 1:40 000 from the standard 1:50 000 scale, the Yellow Map Atlas takes the booklet format and turns it into a map. Each page has a fold so when alternate pages are unfolded you end up with a map 43 x 26 cm. This map atlas really makes navigation trouble-free with its greater clarity and it will still fit in a pocket. Areas: Brecon Beacons, Forest of Dean, Isle of Skye, New Forest etc. Format: Folding booklet (16 maps) with laminated cover only. Cover size: 11 x 26 cms. Map size: 43 x 26 cms. RRP:  £11.99
• Also available Parish Maps and Boxed Sets.

More information on areas covered by Yellow Maps, and local retailers, can be found at www.yellowpublications.co.uk

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For further media information please contact: Emma Mason on 07762 117433, emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk, @emmamasonpr or on Facebook at Emma Mason PR.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Yellow Publications has expanded from producing the traditional, much loved West Country tide tables to become a national brand with maps and distributors nationwide. Based in Cornwall, the family-owned business was borne from the owners’ wish to make maps more user friendly.

-Her Royal Highness meets charity volunteers & garden openers at tea party-

The Duchess of Rothesay helped Scotland’s Gardens mark its 85^th anniversary today at a special birthday tea party held in the grounds of the charity’s longest standing open garden, Winton House in East Lothian.

Her Royal Highness met volunteers and staff who help the organisation ‘open the gates’ of hundreds of gardens across Scotland every year to raise funds for other deserving charities.

Scotland’s Gardens was created in 1931 and Winton House holds a special place in the charity’s history as it has opened every year bar one since the charity began, making it the longest standing garden to open for the charity. At its first opening the owners raised £20 8s & 6d.

Volunteers whose gardens have opened for over 50 years for the charity were amongst those to chat to the Duchess. Her Royal Highness helped plant a commemorative mulberry tree in Winton’s terraced gardens. She also heard about the launch of a new research project into the charity’s extensive archives with the aim of making them available to the public, historians and horticulturists.

David Mitchell, deputy chairman of Scotland’s Gardens, said: “We are thrilled that our President, the Countess of Rothesay, joined us to celebrate this special event and met many of our stalwart volunteers. Since Scotland’s Gardens began 85 years ago it has raised almost £8.7 million for over 200 charities and given countless hours of horticultural pleasure to garden visitors, which we’re really proud of.

“Behind the scenes of course, the staff and volunteers have put in even more hours, mowing, weeding, baking cakes, distributing leaflets and greeting members of the public.

The family and team at Winton House typify that commitment and it is fitting that we’ve been able to mark this milestone with them.”

In this anniversary year, 440 gardens are opening their gates as part of the Scotland’s Gardens scheme, stretching from Wigtownshire in the south west to Shetland in the north east. Most are private and not otherwise available to visit. Visitors will be able to wander around coastal gardens, village trails, grand estates and hidden urban retreats, gaze in awe at 35 National Plant Collections and have their wallets tempted at a dozen plant sales and over 200 plant stalls.

Highlights still to come during the year include openings at Boarhills Village Gardens in Fife; over 80 gardens in the autumn including Little Broich in Stirlingshire, Attadale in Ross and Cromarty, with the Hill of Tarvit Plant Sale and Autumn Fair in Fife, and Craigentinny and Telferton Allotments in Edinburgh.

Winton House is a 15th Century castle, with picturesque terraced gardens overlooking a loch, and the home of Sir Francis and Lady Ogilvy.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

Visitors can plan their days out to participating gardens by clicking onto www.scotlandsgardens.org. Garden highlights can also be found on Facebook ScotlandsGardens and on Twitter @ScotGardens.  As well as on the website, garden listings can be found in the Scotland’s Gardens 2016 Guidebook, on sale in major bookshops, at tourist attractions, garden centres etc and online via www.scotlandsgardens.org.

All of the gardens have to be of horticultural interest and meet a certain standard to participate in Scotland’s Gardens programme and this is carefully monitored by the charity’s team of 200 volunteers.

Forty per cent of funds go to charities nominated by each garden owner with the net remainder being donated to SG beneficiaries who are currently Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland, The Gardens Fund of the National Trust for Scotland and Perennial. Over 200 charities have benefitted.

Norwegian Log Buildings will be helping a charity promote its vital health awareness work at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show next month.

Landscape architect Emma Bannister is working with the charity National Association of Premenstrual Syndrome (NAPS) to build a show garden to raise awareness of the very common women’s health condition, Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS or PMT) – and Reading-based Norwegian Log will be lending them one of its contemporary garden buildings so they can engage with, and educate, show visitors about the condition.

It is estimated as many as 30% of women can experience moderate to severe PMS, with 5-8% suffering severe symptoms (around 800,000 in the UK). Common symptoms include mood swings, depression, tiredness, fatigue or lethargy, anxiety, feeling out of control, irritability, aggression, anger, sleep disorder and food cravings. The condition can have a devastating impact on countless women and their families.

The show garden, called ‘PMS: Outside Inside for NAPS’, has been designed cleverly to show the mood contrasts experienced by a PMS sufferer. At first view, visitors will see an area of hazel woodland. A closer look reveals the hidden centre of the garden behind, and through, a curving willow screen. At the garden’s heart is a corkscrew hazel in a bed of Bowles’s golden grass. The healthy, ‘normal’ and energetic feel of the outside of the garden contrasts sharply with the solitary, maniacal and distorted mood of the inside. All planting will be native – hazels, ferns and a variety of wildflowers and grasses such as honesty, wild carrot and tufted hair grass.

To the side of the show garden will sit the garden building, built from solid log, where charity trustees and volunteers will be on hand to explain the impact of the condition on many women’s lives. They will be encouraging sufferers, their partners and families, to share and write down their personal stories. A special post box for these stories will be positioned in the Inovar building.

Emma and Nick at the show

Nick Forrester, MD of Norwegian Log, said: “When we were approached by Emma and she explained the concept behind the garden and the worthwhile work carried out by the NAPS charity, we jumped at the opportunity to help out. Our building is built from solid log so will fit in perfectly alongside the woodland, natural mood of the garden. We hope it will help the charity reach out to as many people as they can.”

Emma Bannister said: “The show garden is a fantastic chance to encourage people to talk and learn more about PMS and the Inovar building offers a sheltered, light and comforting setting to do this. The NAPS charity is delighted to receive Norwegian Log’s support and is very grateful to have the use of the building, even more so if the British summer weather is unkind!”

The garden has been co-designed by Ben Donadel of EMJ Architects and is being supported by Holistic Insurance Services and Monro Consulting. Volunteers from the charity Plantlife will be on hand to talk about the native planting. The different willow features have been crafted by Jay Davey Bespoke Willow.

Norwegian Log will also be exhibiting with another of its contemporary garden buildings at the show, which runs from 5-10 July, on stand HC510, between the Festival of Roses and the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust show garden.

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Notes for editors: Since the 1980s, Norwegian Log Buildings has been erecting buildings, classrooms and pool enclosures for schools across the UK. It has also supplied over 1,000 buildings to private clients, companies, holiday parks, local authorities, charities and public bodies. With a 30-strong team, the firm is based in Reading, Berkshire.

Home-grown healthy eating made easy with NEW peat free ‘Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salads’ 

A NEW peat free compost with power-packed nutrients, to help the UK’s growing flock of kitchen gardeners get the best results from cultivating their vegetables and salads, is being launched by Dalefoot Composts at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Whether you garden in a backyard, balcony, windowsill or allotment, Dalefoot Composts’ new Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salads has been perfectly blended using nature’s finest ingredients to help you grow nutritious and delicious crops. Made from sheep’s wool and bracken from the Cumbrian Fells, the peat free compost contains an ideal balance of nutrients to grow not only veg and salads but also fruit. Benefits include:

• Natural water retention of wool fibres means up to 50% less watering.
• Wool provides a steady, slow sustained supply of nitrogen.
• High levels of natural potash from the bracken promotes flowering and fruiting, healthy growth and hearty crops – NO need for any additional plant food.
• Made from totally renewable resources with great environmental benefits.

Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salads is the latest peat free product in the Dalefoot Composts range. The range already boasts Wool Compost (potting & containers), Wool Compost for Seeds, Double Strength Wool Compost, Wool Compost Ericaceous (for acid-loving plants) and Lakeland Gold (claybuster and mulch). All of the composts are made at Dalefoot Farm in the Lake District.

Simon Bland from Dalefoot Composts said: “If you’re growing herbs on your windowsill, spuds in a potato sack, beans in your back garden or award-winning produce on an allotment, our new compost will give you the best results. We’ve worked hard to create the ideal mix of all-natural, peat free ingredients to grow the finest. Just like our other composts, Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salads has a similarly soft texture to peat but is completely carbon neutral, so can help you garden more sustainably. It also has the added bonus of up to 50% less watering and no need for added plant food.”

A blooming number of professional growers are using the Wool Compost range, as well a number of giant veg growers including Ian Neale who last autumn tipped the scales with the UK’s heaviest tomato. Many of the growers helped trial the new Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salad.

The range is available online at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk from £10.99 per bag down to £7.50 each for orders of 50 bags plus delivery, and also a growing list of stockists.

Wool Compost is made on a 120-acre family farm in the Lake District fells by farmer Simon Bland and environmental scientist Jane Barker, using wool from their own flock and the Herdwick ‘wool-clip’ of neighbouring hill farmers, including National Trust tenants. As well as helping the growing number of gardeners who want to switch to peat free, the compost finds a novel use for British wool – good news for struggling sheep farmers.  The use of bracken in Wool Compost is also beneficial. The spread of this aggressive, waist-high plant in the Lake District makes grazing difficult and impacts upon native species.

Tel: 01931 713281              Email: info@dalefootcomposts.co.uk      @DalefootCompost

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HOW TO USE: Vegetable Patch & Raised Beds – use Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salads to top-dress your veg patch, fill your raised beds or line your potato and bean trenches.

Planting out – plants, seedlings and plugs. To provide the best growing conditions at the roots, simply dig a hole twice the size of the root ball, line the hole with Wool Compost for Vegetables & Salads, dibble and fill in around the roots. Gently tamp then water thoroughly and mulch.

Containers – use directly in your pots, hanging baskets and tubs for established plants and well grown seedlings. Make sure you soak thoroughly with water. The slow release nutrients will mean that you do not have to feed your plants throughout the first season.

PUPILS at Kington St Michael CE Primary School near Chippenham have become the first in the country to take their seats in a new style of modern classroom made by UK firm Norwegian Log Buildings.

The brand new contemporary log building was made and built off site at Norwegian Log’s Berkshire manufacturing base in four modular sections. Erected in just two days on the school grounds and so causing minimal disruption to staff and pupils, it boasts a fully-fitted 54m² classroom, lobby and two toilets and is now home to the school’s Year 2 and 3 class.

The striking building is the first classroom to be made by Norwegian Log as part of its contemporary range. Using traditional log construction methods, gleaned over 30 years, the firm is branching out into providing much larger transportable buildings – all with a modern design twist but with the same durability, acoustics and natural thermal insulation.

Finished in a natural silver hue with large roof lights and windows, the Wiltshire classroom is flooded with natural light and sits on the edge of the school’s grounds. Head teacher Tracy Cornelius said: “We wanted a building that would fit in to the school at the end of our field and look in keeping with the rural surroundings. We also wanted it to be smart, not like an old-fashioned mobile classroom, and to be a permanent fixture that would last.”

The new building has proved a hit with pupils. “The children love it. It has a fantastic atmosphere, a really nice learning environment and the pupils appreciate how lucky they are to have it,” she added. It has also solved a space issue at the over-subscribed school, rated Outstanding by Ofsted, which has grown rapidly from 76 pupils just eight years ago to 120 currently. “We’ll now be able to redevelop other areas of our school into a music room and library so the building is helping not just one class but the whole school,” Tracy said.

Over the last three decades Norwegian Log has become a leading supplier of traditional-style, high quality solid log buildings to major leisure developments, sourced from one of Norway’s leading log building manufacturers. It has also built solid log classrooms and swimming pools for schools across the UK. The firm is now launching its UK-made contemporary range to commercial customers.

Managing Director Nick Forrester said: “We introduced our contemporary range to homeowners three years ago and have made contemporary garden buildings for private plots large and small. We’re now looking forward to working with larger commercial customers who want the speed, flexibility and quality that a building like this can bring, with the added bonus of on-trend looks and style.

“We’re delighted Kington St Michael’s pupils have given their new classroom the thumbs up. Tracy and her team wanted a classroom building that looks good and would last and we’ve delivered exactly that,” he said.

Contemporary transportable buildings are also available bespoke for holiday homes, leisure developments and agricultural dwellings.

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Notes for editors: Since the 1980s, Norwegian Log Buildings has been erecting buildings, classrooms and pool enclosures for schools across the UK. It has also supplied over 1,000 buildings to private clients, companies, holiday parks, local authorities, charities and public bodies. With a 30-strong team, the firm is based in Reading, Berkshire.

-Perfect for those wanting to maximise their outdoor flower power –

A classic range of window boxes, made from high quality galvanised steel, is being launched by traditional Hertfordshire garden planter firm Arthur Jack & Co.

Ideal for homeowners wanting to make the most of their outdoor garden space, no matter how limited, the window boxes have been cleverly designed for various uses. Available in two sizes so they fit the majority of windowsills, they can be used as a standard window box, as edging for terraces and decking, and for hanging over railings.

Smart design touches include adjustable legs to allow for slanting sills, pre-drilled bases for drainage, fitted bottom tray and bolt fixings for hanging. The boxes echo the same style as Arthur Jack’s planter range and are made with the same care and finish, complete with Tudor rose on each long side. Prices start at £170.

Tim Dawson from Arthur Jack & Co said: “Our new window boxes are ideal for households who want to maximise their outdoor flower power. Traditionally made in the UK, they can really enhance the look of a small or large garden, house frontage or railings.”

The concept was prompted by interest at last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, from owners of Georgian and Victorian houses, in Arthur Jack’s traditional garden planter range. The firm’s garden water butt was shortlisted for RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year 2015.

Water butt by Arthur Jack & Co

Specific design features setting the window boxes apart from others are:

• Available in two lengths – 85 cm (£170) and 110 cm (£185)
• Adjustable legs to make them level on a slanted window sill and aid drainage.
• Optional tray to stop dirty water discolouring painted sills (87cm £40 & 112cm £45).
• Drilled bases to avoid waterlogging.
• Optional U bolts for attaching to railings.

More information on the range, including how to order, can be found at www.arthurjack.co.uk.

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Notes for editors:

Arthur Jack’s steel planters, water butts and window boxes are the result of a great deal of research by a couple of keen gardeners, who were unable to find exactly what they wanted for their own garden.

Made of heavy gauge galvanised steel, they are decorated in a traditional Georgian style complete with Tudor roses and decorative balls. The bottom panels on the planters are drilled to allow free drainage and there are feet in each corner to keep the base clear.

They are made in England by artisan metal craftsmen, and then finished with a special treatment to give them an aged patina. Their many uses in the garden are as containers for topiary box ball, roses, small shrubs, trees and flowers.

Because they are hot dip galvanised they will have a long life.

– 440 gardens in total opening during 2016 across Scotland –

Snowdrops and star gazing, stunning views of the Highlands, inner city allotment veg patches, scenic Scottish burns and sensory flower borders are some of the horticultural highlights in 66 new gardens opening to the public for Scotland’s Gardens in 2016.

 In the charity’s 85^th anniversary year, 440 gardens in total will be throwing open their gates as part of the scheme, stretching from Wigtownshire in the south west to Shetland in the north east. Winton House in East Lothian gets a special mention as it will open like every year bar one since Scotland’s Gardens began in 1931 – at its first opening the owners raised £20 8s & 6d.

During 2016, visitors will be able to wander around coastal gardens, village trails, grand estates and hidden urban retreats, gaze in awe at 35 National Plant Collections and have their wallets tempted at a dozen plant sales and over 200 plant stalls. 272 charities will benefit from funds raised by the openings.

Highlights of the 2016 Scotland’s Gardens opening programme also include:

• Craigengillan Estate and Dark Sky Observatory in Ayrshire opening into the evening for snowdrops and star gazing!
• Two new allotment openings – Craigentinny and Telferton Allotments in Edinburgh & West Lothian and Tillicoultry Allotments in Stirling.
• Three new villages – Boarhills Village Gardens in Fife, Muckart Village in Perth and Kinross and Kilbarchan Village Gardens in Renfrewshire – join14 other village openings. There are also three rural group openings and one new coastal opening at Golf Course Road Gardens in Ayrshire.
• Dundee & Angus College will share the work and teachings of their horticulture students and the beautiful Crichton Rock Garden and Arboretum is opening in Crichton University Campus in Dumfriesshire.
• Auchinstarry Sensory Garden in Glasgow & North Lanarkshire, Forfar Open Garden in Angus & Dundee and The Castlebank Gardens in South Lanarkshire which are all supported by volunteers.
• Stunning Scottish Highland views from Craig Dhu in Inverness-shire, Pentland Hills views from Huntly Cot in Midlothian and a traditional glen garden with burns at Braevallich Farm, Argyll.
• The Walled Garden, Sheildhill in South Lanarkshire, a contemporary update of a 200-year-old walled garden; Easter Weens (Roxburghshire) has a beautiful pear shaped walled garden and Bridgend of Teith (Stirlingshire) is protected by a 100-year-old yew hedge.

Terrill Dobson, National Organiser for Scotland’s Gardens said: “Scotland has such a varied, beautiful landscape and so there is a garden opening for every taste. Our dedicated volunteers scour the country for undiscovered gardening gems and each year we’re always able to bring visitors something new to explore and admire.”

Other highlights:

• Scotland’s Gardens Snowdrop Festival 30 January – 13 March.
• Over 80 gardens still available to visit in autumn including Little Broich in Stirlingshire, Attadale in Ross and Cromarty, with the Hill of Tarvit Plant Sale and Autumn Fair in Fife.
• Nearly 50 gardens have opened for at least 50 years for the charity
  • o Yetholm Village Gardens, Roxburghshire is opening for the 26^th Opening includes stalls, live music and cream teas.
  • o Langwell, Caithness and Logan House Gardens, Wigtownshire will be celebrating their 75^th year with SG
• Portrack’s Garden of Cosmic Speculation will open again this year. In 2015 they raised  £17,000 with Maggie’s as their chosen 40% charity.
• Urban Garden Groups, seven in total including two new ones Brighton Gardens in Edinburgh and Strathbungo Gardens in Glasgow.
• Glenkyllacky Lodge, Inverness – a stunning garden beautifully planted round a pond with backdrop of birch and juniper covered hillside. Various original sculptures, wondrous wall/ folly and second pond with oriental bridges and ornamental ducks.
• Bruckhills Croft, Aberdeenshire – informal country cottage garden with colour themed borders leading to a wildflower meadow with pond. Fun labyrinth and chance to spot wildlife by the river.
• Village gardens, including Athelstaneford Village, East Lothian which includes a working model train, the coastal gardens at Crail with three new gardens and Dirleton and Edzell Villages with their Castle Gardens opening too.
• Over 200 gardens welcome dogs.
• 40 offer accommodation, such as B&B.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

Scotland’s Gardens raises money for other charities by facilitating the opening of large and small gardens of horticultural interest throughout Scotland to the public. Most are privately owned and are normally inaccessible to the public at other times.

Visitors can plan their days out to participating gardens by clicking onto www.scotlandsgardens.org.  Click on which area you’d like to visit and details of all gardens opening locally will be displayed, with opening hours, online map and key details. Garden highlights can also be found on Twitter @ScotGardens and on Facebook ScotlandsGardens.  As well as on the website, garden listings can be found in the Scotland’s Gardens 2016 Guidebook, on sale in major bookshops, at tourist attractions, garden centres etc and online via www.scotlandsgardens.org.

All of the gardens have to be of horticultural interest and meet a certain standard to participate in Scotland’s Gardens programme and this is carefully monitored by the charity’s team of 200 volunteers.

In the last 3 years, over £1 million has been raised for charity by Scotland’s Gardens. Forty per cent of funds go to charities nominated by each garden owner with the net remainder being donated to SG beneficiaries who are currently Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland, The Gardens Fund of the National Trust for Scotland and Perennial.

An artisan bakery, set up by mum Melissa O’Dwyer just three years ago, is now supplying John Lewis stores across the UK with a range of handmade Halloween biscuits.

Little Bee Bakery won the contract earlier this year to supply the retailer with a selection of iced spooky biscuits for all its 46 UK stores and Johnlewis.com.

Melissa and her team of four have spent the last few months hand rolling, cutting and icing 22,000 biscuits to fulfil the order, their biggest to date. And as Halloween approaches, the tasty biscuits with witch, skeleton, pumpkin and cat icing designs can now be bought in store and online.

Melissa said: “I am immensely proud to have Little Bee Bakery products stocked at John Lewis, it’s like a dream come true. As a small local business, getting a contract with a big national company is huge, particularly such a prestigious one.”

Ruari Kehoe, head of branch, John Lewis Southampton, said: “At John Lewis we are committed to supporting local British manufacturers, through our ‘Made in the UK’ initiative. This partnership with Romsey bakery, Little Bee is a great example of how John Lewis is committed to supporting local suppliers and helping them flourish. It’s a real privilege for us to stock Little Bee’s delicious biscuits, not only here in John Lewis Southampton, but in John Lewis department stores throughout the UK.”

Based at the Abbey Park Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Romsey, Little Bee Bakery makes bespoke handmade products including cakes, biscuits and whoopie pies using natural ingredients from local producers, with a large and growing range of gluten, dairy free and vegan products. Local ‘mumpreneur’ and avid cook Melissa started baking as a hobby in her kitchen six years ago. She made the job switch from sales to baking full time in 2013 and moved the business into its commercial premises in early 2014.

From the beginning, Melissa’s ethos has been to bake using high quality ingredients sourced locally where possible, from suppliers such as Strawberry Fields Foods (Sopley, New Forest), Leckford Estate Flour (nr Stockbridge), Mozzo Coffee (Southampton), Clayton Eggs (Romsey) and Long Barn Nurseries (Alresford).

Little Bee Bakery’s product range includes celebration and family cakes, 11 varieties of whoopee pies, iced biscuits, cheesecakes and afternoon tea cakes and scones. Products can be delivered by Little Bee Bakery in Hampshire and some items can be posted to the rest of the UK (charges apply). Little Bee Bakery supplies many corporate clients in London and Hampshire, cafes and tea rooms in Southampton, Winchester and the New Forest, local farm shops and delis as well as a growing army of local private customers.

Further information on Little Bee Bakery can be found on Facebook at Littlebbakery or on the soon to be launched website www.littlebeebakery.co.uk. Telephone orders can be taken on 01794 329263. Little Bee Bakery also regularly attends local farmers’ markets and producers’ fairs.  In Greek, Melissa is the word for bee.

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– Sheep’s wool has natural water retention –

Worried about parched patio pots, limp hanging baskets and sun-baked veggie beds? Dalefoot Composts’ Wool Compost is made from sheep’s wool and bracken and so an ideal summer solution for eco-conscious gardeners who want to water less.

The peat free Wool Compost range ingeniously harnesses the natural ‘hydroscopic’ properties of wool to trap water and keep compost moist for longer, whilst releasing a steady steam of nitrogen and other must-have nutrients to feed the plants over the growing season. Perfect for those who want to garden more sustainably, save on water bills and grow fabulously healthy plants.

With composts for container growing, flowers, vegetables, shrubs, seeds and ericaceous plants, the Wool Compost range is made on a Lake District farm from totally renewable British resources. The compost has a similar soft texture to peat and has a wide range of naturally occurring trace elements for good plant health.

“Use our Wool Compost and you’ll definitely see fewer trips to the water butt or hose-pipe. Cleverly the wool traps moisture but the compost is free draining. Wool is also packed with the most fantastic nutrients, so our compost has a double growing whammy!” said Simon Bland from Dalefoot Composts.

The range is available online at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk and also a growing list of stockists including 40 Wyevale Garden Centres, The National Trust’s Morden Hall Park garden centre, Petersham Nurseries, Charlies Stores in Welshpool, the Burford Garden Company, Alleyn Park Garden Centre in West Dulwich, Potash Garden Centre in Essex, The Herb Farm near Reading and Hayes Garden Land in Ayrshire.

Wool Compost is made on a 120-acre family farm at Dalefoot in the Lake District fells by farmer Simon Bland and environmental scientist Jane Barker, using wool from their own flock and the Herdwick ‘wool-clip’ of neighbouring hill farmers, including National Trust tenants. As well as helping the growing number of gardeners who want to switch to peat free, the compost finds a novel use for British wool – good news for struggling sheep farmers.

The use of bracken in Wool Compost is also beneficial. The spread of this aggressive, waist-high plant in the Lake District makes grazing difficult and impacts upon native species. Composted it boasts high levels of natural potash, essential for fruiting and flowering. A win for nature lovers and gardeners alike.

Dalefoot Composts also makes a clay-buster compost Lakeland Gold made from bracken and a good sprinkling of farm manure, packed with rich organic matter, great levels of potash and trace elements – perfect for mulching in high summer and even better worked into the soil.

As well as making peat free compost, Jane and Simon also help save Britain’s ancient peat bogs. They run a leading peat bog restoration contracting firm responsible for re-introducing peat forming sphagnum across hundreds of hectares of degraded upland and lowland bogs of Northern England and Scotland for clients such as Yorkshire Peat Partnership, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage and Natural England. So they are real peat free champions!

Tel: 01931 713281   Email: info@dalefootcomposts.co.uk @DalefootCompost

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One of the UK’s leading lily growers has scooped a gold medal at this week’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show with blooms grown solely in Dalefoot Compost’s Wool Compost range.

This is the second year running that renowned grower HW Hyde & Son’s has won the top award for lilies grown in the eco-friendly peat free compost at the most competitive flower show in the world. The super sustainable Wool Compost range is made from British sheep’s wool and bracken and is the perfect peat free choice for all your gardening needs – award-winning or for your own back garden!

HW Hyde’s nursery, based near Reading, has scooped numerous gold medals over the years for its Chelsea exhibit. This year, like last, its oriental lilies for the Chelsea show bench have been grown in Wool Compost Ericaceous, oriental trumpet lilies in a mix of Wool Compost and Wool Compost Ericaceous, whilst all its Asiatic lilies have been raised in Wool Compost.  

Simon Bland from Dalefoot Composts said: “We’re over the moon that the lilies have been recognised as being the best of the best with a gold medal. We’re also delighted that such a prestigious grower as HW Hyde has opted for our Wool Compost for Chelsea. More and more gardeners are choosing peat free and it’s great to see a leading grower giving it a vote of confidence.”

Elizabeth Hyde from HW Hyde said: “This is our 11th gold so actually it was a bit of a relief as you never know what the judges are going to think. When we saw our gold we were ecstatic!”

Ideal for those who want to garden more sustainably and save on water bills, Dalefoot Compost’s Wool Compost range cleverly harnesses the natural properties of wool to trap water, whilst releasing a steady steam of nutrients to feed the plants over the growing season. Made from totally renewable British resources, the range has composts for container growing, flowers, vegetables, shrubs, seeds and ericaceous plants. The range is available online at www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk and also a growing list of stockists including 40 Wyevale Garden Centres, The National Trust’s Morden Hall Park garden centre, Petersham Nurseries, Charlies Stores in Welshpool, the Burford Garden Company, Alleyn Park Garden Centre in West Dulwich, Potash Garden Centre in Essex, The Herb Farm near Reading and Hayes Garden Land in Ayrshire.

The compost has a similar soft texture to peat and has a wide range of naturally occurring trace elements for good plant health. It uses the natural hydroscopic properties of sheep’s wool to keep compost moist for longer which is particularly important when buds set during the summer and essential for those summer hanging baskets. Wool also provides a steady release of nitrogen, perfect as a slow release fertiliser.

Wool Compost is made on a 120-acre family farm at Dalefoot in the Lake District fells by farmer Simon Bland and environmental scientist Jane Barker, using wool from their own flock and the Herdwick ‘wool-clip’ of neighbouring hill farmers, including National Trust tenants. As well as helping the growing number of gardeners who want to switch to peat free, the compost finds a novel use for British wool – good news for struggling sheep farmers.

The use of bracken in Wool Compost is also beneficial. The spread of this aggressive, waist-high plant in the Lake District makes grazing difficult and impacts upon native species. Composted it boasts high levels of natural potash, essential for fruiting and flowering. A win for nature lovers and gardeners alike.

As well as making peat free compost, Jane and Simon also help save Britain’s ancient peat bogs. They run a leading peat bog restoration contracting firm responsible for re-introducing peat forming sphagnum across hundreds of hectares of degraded upland and lowland bogs of Northern England and Scotland for clients such as Yorkshire Peat Partnership, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Scottish Natural Heritage and Natural England. So they are real peat free champions!

Tel: 01931 713281   Email: info@dalefootcomposts.co.uk @DalefootCompost

ENDS

A northerly coastal plantsman’s retreat, impressive gardens at one of Scotland’s most famous castles, a bee-friendly horticultural haven and an enchanting glenside water garden are all opening for the first time to visitors in 2015 for the Scotland’s Gardens programme.

They are joined by 58 other new gardens*, of all different shapes, sizes and horticultural interest, opening to the public for the charity across Scotland, along with over 530 gardens that have opened their garden gates in previous years. Walled kitchen gardens, community growing projects, seaside plots, grand Scottish estates as well as urban and countryside gardens will be preparing to ‘wow’ visitors, from the Border country right up to the Highlands and Islands.

The 2015 Scotland’s Gardens programme includes:

• Over 30 gardens opening for the Scottish Snowdrop Festival during February and March.
• The season then moves up a gear in April with a host of properties boasting spectacular spring flower displays. Spring comes slightly later in Scotland so gives southern visitors a second chance to see early season blooms.
• Two new garden trails in May/June across Angus and Fife, and around the village of Humbie, which nestles into the Lammermuir Hills in East Lothian.
• Green-fingered visitors to Orkney during June/July are in for a treat with three new garden trails showcasing 17 amazing gardens on this northerly isle, where gardening against the odds is the norm.
• Autumn Gathering event in Stirling on 1 October with three first class speakers

“The gardens of Scotland are incredibly diverse as the landscape and climate differs dramatically from other parts of the UK and so our programme offers a real treat for garden lovers, no matter where you live,” said Paddy Scott, Chief Executive Officer of Scotland’s Gardens.

City homes, large country houses, towering castles, several villages and even remote rural crofts all open their garden gates to visitors to raise money for the Scotland’s Gardens charity. A team of dedicated volunteers helps man the tea urns, delivers leaflets, scouts new sites and helps garden owners make the most of their opening days.

Scotland’s Gardens, formerly known as Scotland’s Gardens Scheme, raises money for other worthy charities by facilitating the opening of large and small gardens of horticultural interest throughout Scotland to the public. Most are privately owned and are normally inaccessible to the public at other times.

Visitors can plan their days out to participating gardens by clicking ontowww.scotlandsgardens.org.  Click on which area you’d like to visit and details of all gardens opening locally will be displayed, with opening hours, online map and key details. Garden highlights can also be found on Twitter @ScotGardens and on Facebook ScotlandsGardens.  As well as on the website, garden listings can be found in the Scotland’s Gardens 2015 Guidebook, on sale in major bookshops, at tourist attractions, garden centres etc and online via www.scotlandsgardens.org.
All of the gardens have to be of horticultural interest and meet a certain standard to participate in Scotland’s Gardens programme and this is carefully monitored by the charity’s team of 200 volunteers.

In the last 3 years, over £1 million has been raised for charity by Scotland’s Gardens. Forty per cent of funds go to charities nominated by each garden owner with the net remainder being donated to Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres, the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland, The Gardens Fund of the National Trust for Scotland and Perennial.

ENDS

For further media information please contact:

• Emma Mason on emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk or 07762 117433, @emmamasonpr on Twitter or on Facebook at Emma Mason PR.  High res images and logos are available.
• Paddy Scott on ps@scotlandsgardens.org or 0131 226 3714

*Top 10 new openings for 2015

1. Glamis Castle, Angus– Walled Garden, formerly the kitchen garden, has recently undergone major development with new flower beds and a spectacular fountain. Also Italian Garden, Pinetum and parkland.
2. Fasnacloich, Argyll– South-facing 15 acre woodland garden sloping down to a loch with extensive structural water features.
3. Mucklejocks, Orkney – One of five seaside gardens opening in the village of Herston, on the beach with good coastal planting in cottage garden style.
4. Schoolquoy, Orkney – Opening alongside five other fine Orcadian gardens during July, wide selection of shrubs in garden rooms. Good summer bedding.
5. St Mary’s Farm, Fife – Small courtyard garden with formal pool, wild pond area and 2 acres of woodland
6. Kamares, Glasgow– Owned by an artist who uses the garden as an alternative canvas. Pond, acer collection, well-established mixed shrub and herbaceous borders and a living sculptural arbour.
7. Glenlivet, Kirkcudbright – New town garden developed from scratch over past 7 years. Remarkably mature appearance packed with colour. Two ponds connected by rill. Overlooks the River Dee.
8. The Steading, Perth & Kinross– Garden and wild ponds, wooded walk along the Lunan Burn and wildflower meadow with cowslips and wild orchids.
9. 2 Durnamuch, Wester Ross – Coastal plantsman’s garden with plants collected from across the world inc South Africa & the Mediterranean.
10. Old Allangrange, nr Inverness– Formal(ish) garden planted for wildlife with sculpted hedges that play with perspective and to block or expose views.

Event celebrating 10 sticky years & ‘renaissance in marmalade making’ with new trends & ingredients

 A QUIRKY British festival celebrating the glories of good marmalade will be marking its 10th anniversary year in 2015 – and the country’s preserves makers are being urged to jar up their marmalade to take part.

Over the last decade, organisers at The World’s Original Marmalade Awards and Festival have seen a renaissance in marmalade making with more people making, eating and cooking with it than seen in recent times. Since the event was first held in 2005, entries have risen sharply, with over 2,000 jars received from over 30 countries across the globe at this year’s Festival.  The 2015 Awards & Festival, which takes place on the weekend of 28th February and 1st March, is expected to be even bigger and better, reflecting the nation’s renewed passion for the sweet stuff.

Good quality Seville oranges are now easier to source as supermarkets react to customer demand and preserves makers – homemade, artisan and commercial – continue to push the culinary boundaries by exploring unusual marmalade trends and tastes.

Jane Hasell-McCosh, founder of the Awards, said: “We’re seeing fruity, spicy, alcoholic and downright original ingredients, such as seaweed and beer, being combined with citrus to make modern marmalades. Of course people still adore spreading the traditional thick-cut Seville on their toast but our awards celebrate marmalade in all its sticky and diverse, delicious glory.

“Ten years ago I started this event as I was worried that our wonderful tradition of marmalade making and eating was becoming less popular. I’m delighted over the last decade there’s been a renaissance in marmalade making and am looking forward to tasting entries to our 2015 awards.”

To celebrate the Awards’ 10th anniversary year, there will be an extended number of competition categories to enter and a network of collection points across the UK for people to drop their entries off, including the Paddington shop at Paddington Station, marmalade maestros Mackays near Dundee and Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.

Fortnum & Mason will be selling a special selection box of previous Marmalade Awards winners, as well as stocking the top 2015 competition marmalades.  Marmalade will even be appearing on the big screen in the forthcoming movie ‘Paddington’, due for release later this year (2014).

The 10th anniversary year celebrations will also extend to the Marmalade Awards & Festival event itself, held at Dalemain Mansion, near Penrith in the Lake District (28th Feb/1st March). Visitors will get the chance to view the entries, taste over 500 marmalades, attend workshops, lectures and tutored marmalade and wine tastings.  Plans are afoot for a marmalade run, a marmalade church service and of course the most famous marmalade lover of them all, Paddington Bear presiding over the 10th anniversary year Magnificent Marmalade Tea Party.

Entries to the awards will be accepted from the 1st October 2014 (see website www.marmaladeawards.com for details) and the closing date for entries is 15th February 2015. Everyone who enters a jar gets their preserve tasted and judged and sent a personalised mark card with feedback on how the marmalade can be improved – or if they are lucky a gold, silver or bronze award. The double gold star winner gets their marmalade made by a commercial kitchen and it is then stocked at Fortnum & Mason – and 50p per jar goes to charity.

The Awards & Festival are sponsored by Mackays, Mrs Bridges, Fortnum & Mason, Paddington and the wine merchants Laithwaite’s, all UK family-owned businesses. The awards have raised more than £150,000 over the last ten years for Hospice at Home, hospices around the world, Action Medical Research for children and Marie Curie Scotland.  All the proceeds from the amateur entry fees go direct to these charities.

The event will be kicking off National Marmalade Week (28th February -7th March 2015), with a ‘Marmalade Peel of Bells’ that will resound around the country starting with hand bells at Dalemain and ending with the Great Bell of Bow, of Oranges & Lemons nursery rhyme fame. National Marmalade Week, overseen by the awards’ organisers, encourages people to try, buy or make marmalade.

ENDS

www.marmaladeawards.com

Twitter – @MarmaladeAwards

Facebook – WorldMarmaladeAwards

Crûg Farm Plants – Grand Pavilion

An intriguing glimpse into the mysterious world of modern-day plant hunting will be offered by Crûg Farm Plants at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, with an exhibit of rare and exotic specimens being shown in public for the first time.

Unusually most of the plants, collected by Welsh nursery owners Sue and Bleddyn Wynn-Jones on expeditions to Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, have been trialled for hardiness and can be grown outdoors in the UK, so are ideal for ordinary gardeners wanting something unique in their borders.

Propagated from seed collected in remote parts of the world, the specimens being showcased will include the perfumed, evergreen larger flowered climber Holboellia brachyandra, grand architectural Scheffleras, forest floor-covering Saxifraga stolonifera ‘Kinki Purple’ (collected from the Kinki District of Japan) and the unusually bold Ophiopogon caulescens from northern Vietnam.

The exhibit will feature a fisherman dressed in a traditional outfit made from the palmTrachycarpus, looking as though he has just met Sue and Bleddyn in the field, sitting next to a still pool of water and sifting through their horticultural finds of the day. His verdant forest backdrop will be filled with Disporums (fairy bells), Mainanthemums (false Solomon’s seals) and Polygonatums(Solomon’s seals).

Sue, who with her husband Bleddyn, has climbed mountains and volcanoes, explored hidden canyons and dodged armed bandits to seek out the elusive specimens, said: ”We want to broaden people’s minds as to what they can grow in their gardens as you can use so many exciting plants. Our collections might look tropical but most of them are able to withstand our British winters and can be easily grown.”

This is only the second time Crûg Farm Plants has exhibited at RHS Chelsea. In 2011, the nursery won a gold and the prestigious President’s Award. “We were so overwhelmed and humbled by people’s reactions to our plants the last time we were at Chelsea, we can’t wait to exhibit again, and in the show’s centenary year,” added Sue.

Unusual plants on display will include –

Rhodoleia – it is sad to think that not long after we collected the seed of this gorgeous small evergreen tree the bulldozers buried it, making way for a new road. Here it had formed a classic shaped tree only 5-6m tall, well branched above the vertical trunk, with ovate to broadly ovate thick parchment textured leaves to 16 × 10cm, dark green glossy above whitish silver below.

Piper – our first offering of this primitive genus which we collected in the steamy forests of Guatemala in 2001, on our second expedition there. It was so dramatic that we just had to try it, for its sensational large orbicular rugose peltate foliage, on metre tall bristly knobbly stems of what appears to be an evergreen sub-shrub. Bearing long palest green to white flexuous pendant catkin-like branched inflorescences, from May ripening by autumn early winter. Hardiness not tested, yet, but has grown well in a frost-free polytunnel, that is kept shaded all year.

Aesculus wangii – this has conkers the size of cricket balls. We brought the collection home from Vietnam and ended up paying $800 US excess baggage for these conkers!

Daphniphyllum aff himalense  – a puzzling species collected in the forests on Fansipan, the highest mountain in northern Vietnam in 2007, where it formed a small tree 7-8m tall, well branched with a broad outline, young branches red. Clothed in large oblong-elliptic acuminate thick textured leaves 20-25 x 6.5-9cm, dark green above with prominent veins impressed, glaucous white below.

Gunnera killipiana – originating from one of our collections on our first expedition to Guatemala in 2001, where this architectural species is fairly common between 2000-2500m particularly in moist shaded area. Where the plants form colonies, of this small trunked individuals with large palmate leaves with red spiny venation to 2m across held on deep red spiny stems to 2m long.

Crûg Farm Plants is based on the edge of Snowdonia near Caernarfon in North Wales. Covering almost 20 acres, the nursery specialises in unusual herbaceous perennials, climbers, trees and shrubs, and hundreds of the plants on offer are propagated from over 15,000 seed collections gathered on well over 50 expeditions by Sue and Bleddyn. These range from Anemone to Zelkova and everything in between.

As only a small number of people in the UK do this, their collections are much sought after around the world and the nursery has become a Mecca for keen gardeners. The primary goal of their collecting work is conservation and so they provide plants to a range of institutes involved in ex-situ conservation as well as award-winning show gardens, Royal and Botanic Gardens and National Trust collections.

ENDS

For further information contact Emma Mason at Emma Mason PR on 07762 117433 or atemma@emmamasonpr.co.uk

A retired micro-biologist from Brighton and an artisan preserves maker from a rural corner of the Czech Republic have been crowned the world’s best marmalade makers at this weekend’s World’s Original Marmalade Awards & Festival.

Dr Yen-Chung Chong won Best in Show with his ‘Bloody Merry Marmalade’, a heady mixture of blood orange and vodka, to be named ‘The World’s Best Amateur Marmalade Maker’. Incredibly Dr Chong won the title four years ago, making him the only person to have won the gong twice.  His homemade recipe will now be made commercially and sold by Fortnum & Mason, with 50p from each jar sold going to charity.

Blanka Milfaitova won the sweet honour of ‘The World’s Best Artisan Marmalade Maker’ with her mouth-watering lemon marmalade, concocted in her kitchen in the southern border mountains of the Czech Republic, a country usually more famous for its dumplings and beer. Blanka’s jars will also now be sold at Fortnum & Mason – a world away from the handful of shops and farmers’ markets that currently sell them in her native country.

Over 1,900 jars, from all over the world, were sent into the Awards, held at Dalemain Mansion near Penrith in Cumbria. The marmalades are tasted ‘blind’ by a distinguished panel of preserves experts.

Malaysian-born homemade winner Dr Chong and artisan maker Blanka have both mastered the art of expert marmalade making – an art that goes back more than 400 hundred years – which is evidence of marmalade’s growing popularity outside the UK.

Awards organiser Jane Hasell-McCosh said: “When I started this event eight years ago, I wanted to prove that marmalade was still as popular as ever. Since then the resounding message from our entrants is that it’s not only a vital preserve of the British breakfast table but also one that reaches far beyond our shores, which is fantastic news. We’ve had entries from as far afield as Japan, Australia and the Philippines, as well as from all over the UK.”

Other marmalade makers to receive a prestigious sticky gong at the Festival were:

• A Colonel from Andover who scooped the Tri-Services Marmalade prize
• A man from Kyoto in Japan who won the International Marmalade award, beating preserves makers from 16 other countries
• First time marmalade cook Jane Boylan from Penrith who scooped the Novice category
• Youngsters Matthew Foster from Northamptonshire and William Preston from West Yorkshire who jointly won the Children’s Marmalade prize.
• For the first time the Awards also boasted a Best Marmalade Cake competition which was won by Love Jam Kitchen.

Amateur marmalade winner Dr Chong, who got his first taste of marmalade as a child in Malaysia, said the secret of his success was “cooking the juice for the shortest time possible. I also use as little sugar as I can”. Despite being a scientist by profession, he added: “I do think marmalade making has more to do with alchemy than chemistry.”

Artisan winner Blanka, who runs her small preserves company Nase Dobroty, said: “I believe that this award is an answer to my business philosophy and desire to produce, 100% by hand, the best quality product and put into a glass, not only the fruit but also the passion and joy of life.”

Jonathan Miller, Food Buyer at Fortnum & Mason, who has been a judge at the awards for the last four years, said the standard of marmalade entries continued to be extremely high. “The winning marmalades stood out as they had good acidity, were fully fruited, low sugar and great zest. Like a good wine, marmalade needs to have good fruit and full body.”

Judging for the amateur categories was undertaken by members of the local WI. The artisan judging was carried out by a panel including food historian Ivan Day, preserve expert Pam Corbin, Jonathan Miller, baker and food writer Dan Lepard and Tim Came from Thursday Cottage.

The Festival itself boasted appearances from Paddington Bear, marmalade-making demonstrations and workshops, as well as a Marmalade Church service and even a Marmalade concert.  And it all took place in the prestigious surrounds of Dalemain, a beautiful Cumbrian mansion.

Further details of the festival and its winners can be found by visiting:www.marmaladeawards.co.uk.  Proceeds from amateur entry fees will be donated to charity.  The 2013 beneficiaries are Hospice at Home and Action Medical Research.

ENDS

Emma Mason:    07762 117433 / emma@emmamasonpr.co.uk

Louise Barnett:   07713 742685 / louise@emmamasonpr.co.uk

Notes to editors:

The Marmalade Awards – What they all about? – These quirky awards were founded in 2006 by Jane Hasell-McCosh with the initial idea of preserving, growing and widening one of the most English of customs – making marmalade. They have gone on to generate a following far beyond Jane’s wildest expectations and allow many different varieties of marmalade to come together and allow the judges the great opportunity to taste them all!

The Awards are centred on Dalemain Mansion, a Georgian stately home lived in by the same family for over 300 years, which also happens to hold a very rich archive of Marmalade recipes. The Awards have humour and a life of their own and have inspired people from all over the world to get involved.

And the winners are…

Amateurs

Best in Show – Yen-Chung Chong

Manmade dark and chunky – Adrian Young, Canberra, Australia

Man Made Seville – Tom Maier, Compton, West Sussex

Children’s (sponsored by Paddington Bear) – Matthew Foster, Stanwick, Northamptonshire and William Preston, Silsden, West Yorkshire

Seville – Margaret Burke, Knutsford, Cheshire

Heritage (sponsored by Mackays) – Mary & Nicholas Hart, Morben, Surrey

International (sponsored by Mackays) – Tom Benford, Kyoto, Japan

Dark and Chunky – Elizabeth Maclay, Andover, Hampshire

Merry – Yen-Chung Chong, Brighton

Novice – Jane Boylan, Penrith, Cumbria

Any Citrus – Jonathan Hamel Cooke, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

Clergy – Rev James Milnes, Macclesfield

Tri-Services – Colonel Kieran O’Kelly, Andover, Hampshire

Artisan & Commercial Producers

Double Gold – Nase Dobroty

Gold – Nase Dobroty (Marmalade with Interesting Additions Bourbon and Vanilla), Hubble Preserves (Fine Seville Orange Marmalade), Bracken Hill Fine Foods (Savoury Marmalade Orange and Cider), Mary’s Marmalade (Medium Seville and Any Citrus Grapefruit), Radnor Preserves (Medium Seville, Any Citrus Blood Orange and Any Citrus Lime), Mrs Jampot’s Parlour (Savoury Marmalade Clove and Cinnamon), JR Jams (Any Citrus Marmalade Three Fruit), Jammy Bodger (Medium Seville), Jill’s Natural Preserves (Marmalade with Interesting Additions with Somerset Brandy), Love Jam Kitchen (Any Citrus Marmalade Pink Grapefruit), Wild & Fruitful (Savoury Marmalade Thai Lime), Beta 5 Chocolates (Any Citrus Marmalade Yuzu).