Easter Flower School Saturday April 20th

Flower School returns for Easter

Join in the fun!

Saturday April 20th

11am - 2pm 

here at 

The Orchard Tea Room, Redmoor Lane, Wisbech, Cambs, PE140RN

Watch a demonstration by city and guilds qualified florist then have a go yourself, all flowers and sundries provided in the price which also includes scrumptious cake plus tea or coffee. 

(Please bring scissors if possible)

The course is just before Easter Sunday so you'll be leaving with a fabulous floral arrangement for your Easter table. 

Price per person is £18. Either pop into the tea room to book or text Mel on 07717553778 to book, she can accept payment via Paypal.

All profits to The Sunshine Centre for Therapeutic Riding.

Mothers Day Floral Workshop with Tea and Cake Saturday 30th March

 We're delighted to be hosting a Sunshine Centre For Therapeutic Riding flora work shop this Saturday 30th March 2019. It's being run by qualified florist Mel Tomlinson who will demonstrate how to make lovely floral arrangements like this:

Then, with Mel's guidance, you get to have a go yourself so at the end of the workshop you have a floral arrangement to take home with you.

Keep it for yourself or give it to Mum for Mothering Sunday or better still how about bringing Mum along to the workshop and you both make an arrangement, a lovely way to spend some quality time with your Mother.  

Price of £18 per person includes tea and cake. You can either pop into the tea room before Saturday and book in person or text Mel on 07717553778 to book, she can accept payment via PayPal.

Everything you need to make an arrangement is included in the price but please bring scissors with you if possible. 

Art at The Orchard ~ Richard Carrier ~ RichBot Art

Our March 2019 Art at The Orchard artist is Richard Carrier, he last exhibited here back in 2016 so it's great to welcome him back to the tea room with some new pieces. 

Richard's art can be viewed throughout the month of March here at

The Orchard Tea Room

Redmoor Lane

Wisbech

Cambs

PE14 0RN

Entry is free of charge and we're open every day 10-4

You can read Richard's artist interview here 

And before we go we want to show you a piece of Richard's work that isn't being exhibited at the tea room, but we think it's fab. It's a chest of drawers that went from this

to this

So that was February ~ Welcome Spring

February a month of contrasts we've had snow and our younger tea room customers had fun building snowmen

and we had a February heatwave which saw customers sitting outside in their shirt sleeves and the scrub plum break into blossom. Bees and butterflies have made a brief reappearance.

In other news we've been writing the Orchard News section of The Jam Guild and Preserve Makers new quarterly digital magazine, "Simply Preserved"

Here are a couple of extracts first up from the winter edition:

"Odd to think that Britain’s most famous cooking apple,

Bramley’s Seedling, should by rights be known as
Brailsford’s Seedling as the first Bramley tree was grown
from seed, sometime between 1809 and 1813, by Mary
Brailsford of Southwell, Nottinghamshire.

It was after Mary’s death that the then owner of her cottage,
Matthew Bramley, allowed nursery man Henry Merryweather
to take grafts from the tree. Merryweather subsequently went
on to win a Royal Horticultural Society First Class Certificate
for Bramley’s Seedling in 1883 and the rest as they say is
history with Bramley apples being grown commercially from
the 1890’s onwards. Many a fruit growers fortune was made
from the Bramley, travel around Fenland villages and you’ll
come across quite a few large old houses bearing the name
“Bramley House”, named for the apple that enabled the
grower to build the house."


and from the February edition: 

"It’s a lovely time of year for a brisk walk around the orchard followed by tea and cake in front of the wood burner. Or, if it’s too cold to venture out a lovely time of year to enjoy cooking, and eating, a traditional Sunday roast dinner, not something we all have time for with our busy lives these days.

Here’s a family wartime recipe for apple mint jam which goes wonderfully with roast lamb though I admin to be rather partial to it on my roast potatoes never mind the meat :

1. Wash your apples and halve them before placing them in a pan of cold water.
2. Simmer until soft, remove from the heat.
3. Rub the pulp through a sieve into a measuring jug.
4. Return to pan with 3/4 lb of sugar for each pint of apple pulp along with a bunch of chopped mint.
5. Cook, stirring until the jam begins to set then jar in the normal manner."

Published on the digital platform issuu.com "Simply Preserved" is free to members of The Guild of Jam and Preserve Makers and is available to non-members for £2.50 per issue.

And now it's March and Spring with the 1st of March marking the first day of meteorological spring and the 20th of March the first day of astronomical spring.

But remember whether it's Springtime or not

"Ne're shed a clout till May be out"  

Opening Hours 10am-4pm daily

The Orchard Tea Room & Farm Shop

Redmoor Lane

Begdale 

Elm

Wisbech

Cambs

PE14 0RN

Telephone: 07527 046184

Website: theorchardtearoom.co.uk Twitter: @OrchardTeaRoom Facebook: The Orchard Tea Room

Christmas Wreathes to order for pick up from The Orchard Tea Room & Farm Shop Wisbech

We're now taking orders for traditional foliage Christmas wreathes for you to collect on a specific collection date of your choice. Examples can be seen here and hanging outside the farm shop. Pop in to order or telephone 07527 046184 

Opening Hours 10am-4pm daily

The Orchard Tea Room & Farm Shop

Redmoor Lane

Begdale 

Elm

Wisbech

Cambs

PE14 0RN

Telephone: 07527 046184

Website: theorchardtearoom.co.uk Twitter: @OrchardTeaRoom Facebook: The Orchard Tea Room

After the Armistice Ball A Dandy Gilver Murder Mystery by Catriona McPherson

Another of our occasional book reviews

After the Armistice Ball A Dandy Gilver Murder Mystery by Catriona McPherson in which Dandy Dahlia Gilver decides on a spot of amateur sleuthing to discover who stole the Duffy diamonds after the Armistice Ball. 

But things get a lot more serious when a member of the Duffy family, the lovely Cara Duffy, is found dead in a seaside cottage. Although recorded as an accident neither Dandy Gilver or Cara's fiancee, Alec,  can believe that to be the case so they set out to find out the truth.

Both Dandy and Alec are charming characters and I thoroughly enjoyed this murder mystery, I have to say that I agree with this Scotland on Sunday review:

"Society sleuth Dandy Gilver, is the most engaging and ingenious crime-cracker I've met in ages."

After the Armistice Ball is now for sale in the second hand section of our 50p book sale in the tea room and farm shop. 

The Orchard Tea Room and Farm Shop

Redmoor Lane

Wisbech

Cambs

PE140RN

Open daily 10-4

November at The Orchard Wisbech

November, still relatively mild for the time of year but Autumn has well and truly arrived with apples falling and leaves dropping. We've had a few ground frosts and the occasional misty morning, the log burner is back in use making for a lovely warm and cosy atmosphere in the tea room.

Our final dog show of year took place at the end of last month and we're pleased to be able to tell you that it was a great success for The Sunshine Centre for Therapeutic Riding who raised £275 for their centre and an additional £30 for Buckhouse RDA.

Back to November, our Art in The Orchard artist is Gill Repper. We're always pleased to welcome this popular Wisbech artist back to exhibit her art in The Orchard Tea Room. Paintings are for sale and what fantastic Christmas gifts they'd make.

Gill is also selling a range of greetings cards in the tea room, very reasonably priced at 5 for £5.

Talking of Christmas and gift ideas, new items have been added to our gift selection including these colourful birds

and what about a hand crocheted woolly hat to keep out the winter chills

if vintage is more your thing we always have a small selection of vintage collectibles waiting for new homes

and take a look at these vintage galvanized flower buckets wouldn't they look fantastic all cleaned up and planted up with Spring flowering bulbs or even a small Christmas tree

£6 each or 3 for £15

Also on November 10th we're hosting a Christmas Wreath Making Workshop, proceeds to The Sunshine Centre for Therapeutic Riding Centre, details here.