Thank you to all who joined us on Thursday  for the Sedbergh Soap evening over at The Lion in Settle.  It was a very  sucessful event, with around 50 people attending, and Ian and his team did us proud with some excellent wine and nibbles.   You can of course call into the shop to try and test some of Dorthe’s products – the Day and Night Cream and All Over Body Lotion probably our most popular lines as they are so gentle, definitely NO nasties!

We haven’t planned our next event yet, though there is something to look forward to on 29th June when we join with The Lion to celebrate National Vegetarian Week – watch this space!

Two weeks today, Thursday 2nd February we have Dorthe, founder of the Sedbergh Soap Company coming to Settle to give an informal presentation about her company.  A fascinating and inspiring story with a full range of natural products (guaranteed no nasties!) to try and buy on the night with 10% discount.  Join us for a glass and wine + nibbles at THE LION HOTEL (opposite the shop) at 7 p.m.

We’d love to see as many as possible at the event, but places are limited, so please call into the shop for your invitation, or call us to reserve a place.  Bring a friend and have a grand night out!

Hope to see you there

Kath, Sue and all at Wholesome Bee

This is simply to wish you all a very Happy New Year and say  thank you  all for your valued support throughout 2011.

Last year saw a few changes, but the big one of course was the move from The Shambles to here on Duke Street.  Work is ongoing on the flats above, but we are just about settled into the new shop which has proved  much busier so far. 

So, from all of us at Wholesome Bee, we wish you a healthy and happy 2012.

I’ve just updated the ‘This Month’s Feature’ page on the website to tell you all about the shop and how we are gearing up towards Christmas.  Take a look – we have some really novel, quality gift ideas to suit even the most discerning person out there!

Other news.  Well, we have been very busy since we moved into our new premises back in October.  Work continues on the flats above the shop, slow but sure.  If something is worth doing, then its worth doing right, and if it seems to be taking ages, then that is how it is.  We do have the back ‘shop’ almost ready, but use it so much that we really are unsure whether or not we can release our hold on it!  Having said that …  it would be lovely to have a vegetarian take-away linked to to the shop …  Once we get into the new year I think things will become calmer and clearer.

All that remains now I  think is for me to with you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Bright and Peaceful New Year on behalf of us all here at Wholesome Bee.

Christmas opening hours:

Saturday 24^th December        9 – 3 early closing
Sunday 25^th December           closed
Monday 26^th December         closed
Tuesday 27^th December         9 – 3 early closing
Wednesday 28^th December   9 – 5  
Thursday 29^th December       9 – 5    
Friday 30^th December             9 – 5          
Saturday 31^st December         9 – 3 early closing
Sunday 1^st January                   closed
Monday 2^nd January               closed
Tuesday 3^rd January                9 – 5

The website has, I know, been abandoned for some time. Whether this is good, or bad, I’m not sure. Everyone seems to have one (a website) to flaunt and flash around with importance. Once you have a website, you’ve arrived. But us? Hmmmm. I’m not to sure .

I’ll carry on just in case there is anyone out there who reads this.

It is a week to go until we move premises, leaving the lovely Shambles building (featured left) and going to what we hope will be a more noticeable site with more potential. 6 Duke Street is a historic listed building, older perhaps than the 1774 date-stone over the archway leading into Commercial Yard. Once part of The Commercial Hotel, once a private residence, it has also been a Co-op butchers (my own early memory), bank, café and later an antique shop and hairdressers (to name a few).

Works to date have been extensive (rhymes nicely with expensive …). We have a new roof, re-using as many existing timbers and slates as possible. The two upper floors are being converted into two quality flats with great care being taken regarding issues such as heat and noise insulation. We have new windows, much more befitting of a historic market town and the new shop entrance is now to the original floor-plan. We are now at the painting and snagging stage and if you want to see the colour scheme just watch out for Peet as he heads out for a sandwich sporting more than a splash of the current colour. Work is also almost complete on the adjoining back shop and kitchen area which we would like to rent out as a take-away food/cafe with a vegetarian theme perhaps to compliment the shop. Interested!? Do contact us!

So, on Monday 3rd October our doors will be open and the shop ready for business. We’ve no grand opening planned as works are still continuing in the back shop and flats above, so maybe we save this for later in the year. Watch this space for more news and I promise I WILL make more effort to update the site regularly!

You’re all welcome – we hope you know that.

Kath

Like it or not, the holiday season is upon us.  I thought Settle was particularly busy last week, with more people moving about on Friday and Saturday than I’ve seen since we started trading.  Maybe it was the seven coaches in the Whitefriars car park.  Or perhaps the unusually hot weather earlier in the week had drawn the temporary residents to the local caravan parks ….  Whatever it was, it was great to see so many people enjoying Settle and there was a real buzz to the town centre. 

Trade, for us, was good.  Customers are often drawn in by the ‘Healthy Bowels’ posters in the window offering free samples to those who suffer …  And giggle not, as the whole issue of digestion, from acid right through to the behaviour of our bowels causes many of us grief.  Busy lifestyles, rushed meals, skipped meals, fast-food, poor diet,  lack of exercise, stress and eating late – none of this is good for our digestive system.  And age isn’t a deciding factor either.  Our sufferers are all ages, both sexes and from all walks of life.  Fortunately we really are able to help in a lot of cases and have at least one good, natural solution that can help with all things upset or irritable!  Concerned?  Always check you worries out with a doctor first but do consider a free sample from our Healthy Bowels/Lepicol range or talk to us about restoring your body’s healthy balance so it can work how nature intended it to.

I leave now with an image in my mind of people rushing off the coaches and pounding along Settle’s sun-drenched pavements for their free samples at the shop … a stampede perhaps up the steps, elbows flailing and shopping bags gaping as Sue and I, or perhaps Beverley and Mary, struggle to hand out samples to all!

Well, it had better be, after a rather miserable May!

Our Shambles shop has grown nicely since we opened on 11th October – yes, almost 8 months old!  We now regularly hit our weekly target which is good news, and sales organic food and good quality,  nutritional supplements go well.  The organic fresh fruit and veg has a loyal following (English cucumbers and tomatoes!!) and we now have a Friday delivery of real bread made locally with organic, Yorkshire flour.  The spelt loaf is particularly popular.  We have a good local trade – and thank you for the support that you, our customers, give us.  Parking around the square is not easy and puts many people off shopping in the town centre …. but this issue has been ongoing for years!

Planning permission now granted so work on the new shop is again underway.  We will move, lock, stock and barrel as they say, at the end of September (fingers crossed) into the main shop at 6 Duke Street.  That leaves us with a little dilemma as to what to do with the smaller side shop, which has a door onto Commercial Yard, on the way down to Ashfield car park.  A deli was originally being considered, though Serendipity opposite seem to have that covered and we wish them well with that as it should attract more customers down to this end of Settle.  We have various ideas, and will consider renting out that part of the shop if anyone wants to run it in a similar vein to Wholesome Bee as it is now.   Honest, vegetarian take-away/eat in food is one idea, or clothing … gifts …. there are so many possibilities.  Any ideas?  Get in touch!

Thank you to all who came to our Women’s Health Day and helped make it a success.  Sometimes we wonder if there is anything Theresa can’t advise on …. but then, she has been in the health food sector since she left school.  There is no substitute for experience - Theresa has the dedication and enthusiasm as well and we  learn from her seemingly boundless knowledge.

In the shop there are a couple of new lines.  The most exciting is our  ‘real bread campaign’ that we have embarked upon.  Last week saw the first deliveries of bread made by Angela and Tom in the bakehouse of Pearsons of Ingleton.  We set off small and simple,  just a few loaves, both 1 lb cobs and 2 lb tin loaves.  Tomorrow (Friday) for our second delivery we will be able to offer bread made from the fantastic flour from Yorkshire Organic Millers in the tiny hamlet of Spaunton on the edge of the North York Moors.  They mill grain grown in Yorkshire which includes unbleached white, spelt and wholemeal.  They only mill organic grain using granite mill stones and the flour is then sieved and packed.  It really is that simple.  Angela and Tom are using traditional bread making methods, including the slow rise method of making bread without added baker’s yeast, ideal for diets which exclude added yeast. 

Our ‘buy local’ theme continues and if you haven’t been into the shop for a while we now have a good selection of organic fresh fruit, veg, and eggs.   Whilst the fruit has, understandably at this time of year, to come from abroad, the veg is more locally sourced, with lovely English new potatoes full of flavour and delicious salad items from Growing with Grace in Clapham (their baby spinach and courgettes are also absolutely superb!).

And finally …..  Don’t forget to take advantage of our offers which run up to the end of May.  25% off ALL Potions & Possibilites products in stock (learn more at  http://www.potions.co.uk) and 25% off a selected range of our top quality (food-state) supplements from Natures Own.

At last, the rain has come and the winds abated somewhat leaving us with ominous black clouds and showers punctuated with fantastic bright sunshine.  Lots of drama, clarity and colour for the artists and photographers out there and walks in the woods have never been better.  My own newly planted trees are happy and I’ve even risked planting a few more with more rain and showers forecast for the rest of the week.

So, what’s happening in the shop?  New products include free range organic eggs and, at last, fresh wholesome bread which will make its first appearance on Friday, 20th May.   Our first loaves will be an Organic White and an Omega Seeded loaf.  From here we plan to extend the range according to what you, the customer, wants - spelt, rye, brown, tomato & herb, mixed seed … you decide.  These breads will be made using Sunflours (Yorkshire based farm and mill) flour which is all UK sourced - no flour enhancers, unecessary additives or flavourings.  Bread how it used to be, bread how it should be.  If you want to try some bread that hasn’t been messed with, is baked locally and comes to us fresh every Friday please call in.  Ordered bread can be frozen for collection at your convenience.

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Thank you  to all of you who came up into Settle and tried a veggie burger on the Royal Wedding day.  Our BBQ was a great success and sales of the frozen burgers has now trebled.  That was the first chance some of you had to try the new bread – no complaints that I heard, just compliments!  Ah, William and Kate (and guests) should have sat down with one of our burgers, not roast beef and Yorkshire puddings!