Well we have been open 12 days now and seem to have packed a lot in!

We have served our first customer...

and lots more, Julia and Lila have started working here, we've named a chicken Gladys, awarded a free turkey crown to S. Karjan, sampled Claude's pies, we have sent lots of people home with tasty pies, cakes, olives and fresh bread and sold 17 Lancashire bombs! Phew!!!

We now have the technology to make up hampers with your choice of gifts, so whether your family would like mince pie flavour pop corn or Christmas chutney you can definitely find something to out a smile on their face on Christmas morning!!

If you haven't stopped by to say hello please do and don't forget our Christmas Markets start on Thursday 8th at 4pm..can't wait!

I am pleased to say that yesterday I had my first delivery of Norbury Blue cheese. Made by hand near Dorking by Michaela and Neil in their dairy, which is only 30 metres from the milking parlour for their herd of fresian cows. 

When not being milked their cows graze on the North Downs near the River Mole and have a rich and diverse diet, which contributes to the flavour. The fact the cheese is unpasteurised also means the flavours are not cooked out. 

The hand made cheese is then aged for around 4 weeks. You won't find this delightful cheese in any supermarkets, but I am sure that it will be a permanent fixture from now on in our deli counter. 

Why not drop in for a taste and see what you think? I am confident you will be pleased you did!

Well last week I felt like I had moved into The Medicine Garden literally! My husband and I seemed to spend all day and most of the night on site putting the shop together.My children thought we had left home and my parents did a wonderful job filling in!  However, I am really pleased to say we are now open!!

A big thank you to everyone who has been in to see me since Friday. It has been lovely to meet you all and to share the food that I have spent the last few months tracking down for the shop. 

If you haven't been in yet please do drop by. There are always plenty of tastings on offer and I would love to know what else you would like to see in store. 

On Saturday 26th 10-4 I am throwing an opening party so do come down if you have time. There will be cake and pie tasting and you can suggest a name for our fluffy Medicine Garden chicken in exchange for a donation to Marie Curie. Mick, who feeds her, will then pick out his favourite at the end of the day. I will also be drawing the lucky winner of the Copas turkey crown that day. Lots going on , so should be great fun!

Finally I would like to say a big thanks to my husband Nigel and my friend Rachael who put in so many hours to help me last week, but still managed to smile for the photo!

Last Thursday I visited Coffee Real in Newdigate near Dorking. Coffee Real is a business set up by Gary and Maarit Best fuelled by their love of coffee. 

It started in their kitchen- about 5 years ago frustrated by the lack of good coffee they began roasting their own. They soon got a name for this amongst their friends and the business began to grow. Today they operate from a converted barn , have a range of over 45 single estate coffees and deal direct with coffee farmers all over the world. 

Their coffees are single estate, single origin and hand roasted to order. They are bagged within 24 hours of roasting to ensure the flavour remains at its peak for when you open the packet.

What did I learn from my visit?

- Coffee is like wine! Where it is grown has a huge impact on the flavour. They select the best beans from a specific area of the farm. They only buy beans from between 1400 and 2000m above sea level as they believe this is the best location for the tastiest beans.

- their coffee is triple sorted for quality and hand picked by the growers,sometimes dangling from a rope! I will never throw out coffee again now I understand the effort that goes into harvesting it!

- they don't blend their beans (except for espresso which needs a very complex flavour) as it would be insulting for the farmers who work to grow the best beans they can.

-95% of their coffees are grown organically as the farmers can't afford to use pesticides, but most are not registered as organic as the farmers can't afford to do that either!

- Gary and Maarit buy the best quality beans they can find and they buy 60% of their beans directly from the farmers. The rest come through local coops and traders they trust. 

-they stock a coffee from a Rwandan women's coop, which is amazing as women were only allowed to own land in Rwanda in the last couple of years, so it is lovely to support their enterprise.

-Mocha coffee is not that chocolatey stuff from Starbucks, but a coffee which has travelled through the port named Mocha in the Yemen.

- they don't believe in buying Fair Trade as this only guarantees the price the farmers get, not the quality of the beans. They pay above fair trade pricing levels for excellent quality beans and operate their own "Real Trade" system. 

-they taste coffees like wine and give them a "cupping score " that describes their flavour. 

I will be stocking 6 Coffee Real coffees initially including a columbian decaf that I have become totally addicted to already! My starting range will include the Rwandan coffee I mentioned, one Brazilian, one Kenyan, one Ethiopian (which has big flavour- perfect for post Christmas dinner!) and an organic Indonesian. 

I plan to rotate these so we can try different coffees every month and their range changes with the seasons too. So,if you love coffee come in and have a chat and you can help me choose which to get in next time!