Hello everyone,
Firstly, I would like to apologise for the blog drought for the past few months. We have had a change over of staff. I'm Charlie, and I'm the new sales and marketing manager here at Northumberland Cheese. One of my first projects is to do a regular blog, so this will mark a new beginning! I would really like to put you all a bit more in touch with what goes on at Northumberland Cheese; there are a lot of really interesting parts of this job, and I want to share them with you.
Local Produce 'Local' is a bit of a buzz word as far as food marketing is concerned. Brian, one of our suppliers, and I, were discussing this fact only the other day. Brian is the brains (and palette) behind Northumbrian Preserves; he makes regular appearances at local farmers' markets. Brian uses vegetables and fruits which he has grown, and he genuinely has grown them:the only fruit which he buys in are mangoes, for chutney. We like this honesty:his product is truly local! It's also nice because his fruits and vegetables are organic, so that's good too. His Beetroot and Ginger Chutney is fantastically good, and is proving to be a hit in our shop. With rhubarb season upon use, we're excitedly awaiting some rhubarb chutney from Brian. I'm singing the praises of all of the chutneys at the moment, but don't overlook his plum and cinnamon jam:it's extremely good.
We also have some Valley Cottage chutneys and jams in stock at the moment, and Sheila Robinson is behind these wonderful creations. She is based near Alnwick. My personal favourite is her Spicy Tomato Chutney, which is so delicious with our Cheviot cheese. Again, we haven't limited ourselves to chutney, and we also have sweet and sour peppers, and strawberry jam.
One of my favourite parts of the job is working with Carole, our shops and cafe manager, to source new products. We love finding these local producers and singing their praises, so please, if you know of anyone we should know about, get in touch!
Cyclists We are ideally situated for riders on the Reiver's Route. So much so, that we have sposored a mile on the route with Sustrans: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/mymile/donation/34824. We see a lot of cyclists in and around the estate, and we wanted to be supportive. In addition, we have voucher a loyalty card for cyclists:come to our cafe, and receive a card with entitles you to a house tea or a large coffee, and a scone with butter or a traybake, for Ј3.00. We have bike racks outside, and on warm days, you can even sit in the sunshine...
The Terrace We have a terrace outside of the dairy, where you can luncheon outdoors. We would love to serve you out there.
That's it from me for this edition, but stay tuned, I will be writing more soon.
Charlie ([email protected])
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