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Showing posts from September, 2012

You can’t get much more British than Beatrix Potter

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Beatrix Potter was a renowned Children’s author, she died in 1943 aged 77 but her stories are still very popular to this day, the most well known of them being Peter Rabbit, the cute little bunny rabbit with a blue cardigan. Beatrix found her love for nature and the countryside from going on yearly trips to the Lake District and to Scotland with her family. Beatrix had her own friends, usually ones that she painted and wrote about, she got her love from nature from her parents. As Beatrix got older she wanted to publish her books, she did one book privately but a year later she went to Warne publishing and got her book published “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” it became such a success that soon after she was publishing loads more books like Jemima Puddle duck and Tom Kitten. In the end she ended up publishing 23 books over the years! Her and her publisher Norman Warne became very close whilst they were publishing her books, they were due to be married  much to her par

Totnes is Leading The Way with a Car Free Day

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On September the 20th Totnes will be having a car free day and everyone is encoraged to travel in a different way. The road will be closed from Station Road to Castle Street from 11.30am until 6pm and before 11.30 only essential traffic will be allowed. The high street is a very narrow road with only small pavements. The road being closed to cars will make is easier to get around and browse the lovely shops that Totnes has to offer. The market will be running. There will also be loads of events through out the day including music, entertainment and a bike ride up the hill if you think you can hack it. For more information please visit www.totnesonthemove.org.uk

Memories of Wham Bars, Choc Ices and knickerbocker glorys

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Some foods it seems are timeless and never leave our shelves but menus have definitely changed since I was a little girl. I am a child of the 80's and I have fond memories of dinners at a Little Chef restaurant as a treat. We would try to be really good and clear our plates thinking on to what could be our reward. The Knickerbocker Glory would have caught our eye on the dessert menu. The main ingredients as I recall were basically ice cream, cherries and lashings of squirty cream and ice cream sauce. I think Little Chef could relive their former success if they embraced their retro routes. At home desserts were usually homemade. The choices in the supermarkets were much more limited than they are today and much more expensive. We usually brought ice cream in a cardboard box or choc ices. The picture on the right is of a big favorite, raspberry ripple mouses. Although, we didn't have a Tesco near us at the time so it would have been a different brand but it looked just the s

Mini crayons are a big hit with European band Crayon

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It's always interesting to know why our customers want to order the same item in bulk - popular products are ducks for duck races and pirate eye patches for Pirate dress up kits, but an order for over 200 sets of crayons was something a little more unusual. We took the order from Dutch singer Naomi Zeilemaker who is a band memeber of Crayon.  She wanted our Mini Crayon Sets so they could be included with the bands new CD.  We packed up the crayons and sent them over to Naomi all the way in Switzerland just in time for their European Tour.  So many people download their music now illegally and I think this is a great idea for musicians to encourage people to buy their CDs.  Crayon have kindly sent us some pictures of the crayons with their new CD.  You can find out more about the band and listen to some of their music at www.crayonmusic.com and www.facebook.com/crayonband

Best Toys for a 5 Year Old Boy.....

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This year Blake is turning 5 and the only thing has asked for for his Birthday is a photo album to put all his pictures of flowers and bugs into. He is a big computer game addict so no doubt he will be getting some new games but here is my list of other things he'll love. Some things to get him away from the computer: 1. Bigtrak - A programmable vehicle that will bring his computer skills it the real world normally £29.99 but currently reduced. 2. Slime Kit - There is something about boys and disgusting things and this is pretty disgusting with various body parts and slime. £4.99 3. Ugly Doll Rocket Carousel - This tin toy is a pretty special gift. Pull the lever back and watch as the carousel spins around. £19.99 4. Make Your Own Racing Car - Make and paint a wooden racing car craft kit. There are also other make and paint kits that would be good for a boy of this age including a rocket and a treasure box. It really depends on what the boy is into. £7.99 5