Firstly I must say a great big happy birthday to Jo who works with us on a Friday & Saturday ?
This weekend saw Ali and I venture out to our first food festival. It was a bit of a step into the unknown and we learnt a lot on Saturday which meant that Sunday ran more smoothly. Overall it was quite scary, thoroughly exhausting and hugely pleasurable. After all, you have to enjoy your job and as it happens I absolutely love mine!
We’ve bought an amazing van to take to markets which is fully kitted out with everything that a cheesemonger on the road could need 🙂 We have 3 refrigerated display cabinets and 2 further refrigerated units as well as a set of retail scales, running water and the all important kettle! At the end of the day tea is just as important as the cheese.
We took several different cheeses with us – a couple of cheddars (Gould’s farmhouse mature & Westcombe’s mature), a couple of blues (Colston Bassett Stilton & Oxford Blue), a local offering of St Bartholomew, Waterloo, Wigmore & Spenwood, a smattering of goat (Longbow, Rachel & Kidderton Ash) as well as a selection of waxed mini truckles. We had no idea what was going to be popular so we thought we’d cover all bases.
Saturday was a tad wet but we had loads of interest in our cheeses as well as lots of compliments about our van. We had to go back to the shop in the evening to restock on waxed truckles – cheddar with caramelised onion & Rioja is a firm favourite of the the people of Wallingford!
I set up on my own on Sunday as Ali had to go and play a spot of netball for our team. Luckily she arrived just as the sun came out and with it the crowds of shoppers. We were so flat out all day that I started to lose my voice. Great teamwork saw us through with Ali doing all of the selling whilst I cut, wrapped & weighed the cheese.
All in all it was a great show for us to cut our teeth on. The other stall holders were fantastic, offering loads of good advice. We will definitely be preparing for the next one…