A little treat

Hi everyone! It's frantically busy here, taking late bookings by the dozen, preparing invoices, sorting out the garden and planning our fabulous summer!

So here's a little treat at a time I otherwise wouldn't be blogging!
In the July edition of the Gazette we had a fabulous article, which told people lots about the recent Food and Family Festival fun, and reminded people of what we do, and why we do it.
Please enjoy reading it, if you missed it before.

Happy Summer lovely people :)

"Here at Ottery Secret Garden we recently had great fun hosting two sessions for children during the weekend of the Ottery Food and Family Festival. These sessions were a first for us, and we thoroughly enjoyed the vibe of the festival going on just over our walls as we ran about enjoying the wealth of nature in our beautiful gardens. We met new families, basked in the beautiful sunshine and baked 'Hedgehog bread' in the spirit of the festival. The Hobbit house got it's first use since the roof went on, and as we wait for our new stove, the fire pit did us proud. Many marshmallows were roasted and consumed along with sausages in buns with fresh eggs on top, laid by our own friendly hens.

Ottery Secret Garden is a family run local business which offers Environmental Education based activities to children aged between 4 and 14 within our beautiful walled gardens in Ottery St Mary, during the school holidays.

As many relatively new Ottery businesses will echo, we are humbled by the support and kind words that we have experienced from our local community since opening back in 2011. We feel very loved and appreciated here. The people of Ottery St Mary are great, and in return we try to offer the best experience for all who attend. We give every day or sometimes entire holidays a different theme, among them, teepees and American Indian traditions, History, Bees, Sculptures, Birds, and even Archaeology (attempting our own small dig last year, which produced some very interesting finds). We have an 'Apple Day' every Autumn, where we visit our neighbour's orchard and pick apples. The windfalls go to Ruby our pet piggy, while the rest are drawn, printed with, painted, used for games such as Skittles and Apple Boules, and of course, the children go home with individual apple pies and crumbles made in our vast Secret Garden kitchen.

This Summer will see the official opening of the new 'Hobbit House', and will hold all sorts of exciting surprises for our regular and new children. Everyone enjoys making and taking home brilliant things such as bee houses, bird feeders, dream catchers and unique breads and cakes (to name but a few of our fabulous creations).

We want to say thanks to all of the families who continue to support us, sending their children to run through the long grass, play in the fallen leaves, wade through the stream and climb the lofty low branches of the trees. Our kitchen rings with the laughter of happy, proud children as they create culinary delicacies, and our hearts feel fit to burst watching their enthusiasm and excitement.

We are in the business of having fun. It is at the top of our list of priorities. We marvel at the beauty of the world around us, and the children learn without realising they are doing it! The camp fire has become a regular favourite, with, of course, the customary marshmallows on sticks, and our very busy toasting forks with all those tasty toppings.

Summer is almost upon us. Here at Ottery Secret Garden we are making plans for the best Summer ever. If you'd like to join in with the fun you can book, or contact Jules or Roger via the website at www.otterysecretgarden.co.uk You'll be amazed at what you'll find behind our walls."

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