I promise that the only reason that I have not blogged for the last few weeks is simply because I just haven’t had five minutes spare! I have been working virtually every night and of course during the day and Sunday was one of the latest nights ever… 12 am! So much has happened, the team have all worked so hard setting up the new Tea Room and the amount of things we have got through is phenomenal!! Here are a few pics of how things progressed…

As well as the tearoom we have been moving the display kitchen to make way for the new toilet. We want to provide a ‘posh loo’ with baby changing facilities etc, so that your visit to HBC will be a happy one. We have had new drains and lots of digging and moving has taken place..

We also had to move the containers to reveal the lovely view of the mountains…..

We have had coffee training and will make sure that we provide a ‘great cup of coffee’ for you!

So at long last the work is complete we have opened the doors, pulled back the curtain to reveal the delightful new Sugar Plum Tearoom….

We will be serving delicious homemade food, all locally sourced and where possible using as many local suppliers and businesses as we can. We haven’t had the ‘grand opening’ we have decided to have a very ‘soft launch’ this week to enable us to try out the kitchen along with it’s new equipment and to get the new staff working well together as a team. As I write this blog (Weds) we have already had four lots of customers returning for a second visit…in just three days. It has been lovely to see such support and enthusiasm (along with excitement) from our loyal customers and friends. I am sure that many of you don’t even know we have opened. We will have a special ‘Sugarplum’ webpage with info and opening hours etc soon. We also have a Facebook and Twitter page. Beth will be blogging about Sugarplum as and when she can. She has her own blog too (which has so many followers already) ….http://bethanyseabear.blogspot.co.uk/. We will be developing the Sugarplum Tea Room menu and will offer daily specials as well as lots of yummy stuff.

Beth and Scott have helped me and John so so much with the tearoom set up.

They have worked and worked, especially at night and have contributed massively to the look of the tearoom, the menu and cutlery, crockery, equipment implementing…THANK YOU.

John & I would also like to sincerely thank our amazing staff for their sheer hard work and commitment and to let them know that we couldn’t have done it without them. THANK YOU!!

We mustn’t forget our lovely joiners, plumbers and electricians too….. it has been a joint effort.

It feels quite emotional, after all the hard work and after almost fourteen years of being in business, now seeing all our faithful customers, friends & family enjoying time together eating, drinking and relaxing in the Tea Room gives us tremendous satisfaction, it’s something John & I have wanted to do for many years and we feel very proud of our business and reputation that we have built up.

Lots of lovely new stock has been arriving and Jubilee and Fathers Day frenzy is building up. Of course not forgetting Olympic fever…. All so very exciting.

Will blog about other things soon…..

Emma Bridgewater article in the Daily Telegraph..

Click here

Back soon with lots of news and pics….….hey thanks for being so patient!!

Hazel, John and the team (and additional new team members) XX

A micro blog folks….( as predicted) To touch base with you and give you a snippet of whats gone on this last seven days ..

Tearoom prep is ‘full speed ahead’. The display kitchen has been moved from its existing room to make way for the new toilet (so that we can offer great facilities for our cherished customers)

We have been finalising menu’s, suppliers, sampling cold drinks and the coffee machine has been delivered! State of the art (staff training to come) and our new logo is ready.

We have finished interviewing and have been overwhelmed by the wonderful response that we have had for our recently advertised ‘Tea room manager’ post. We are touched by the amount of people that want to work here!! We are very close now so will let you know when we are ready to ‘open the doors’ and reveal all…….Thank you for your patience, people ask us everyday ‘are you open yet’ so hopefully you won’t have to be frustrated for much longer. The team have worked so hard and we really appreciate their support and dedication!

We recently had a networking event at Homepatch Shop! What a wonderful evening it was!

Some extremely talented women gathered together to showcase their handmade products and mingle with similar enthusiastic business women and mothers.

Back soon, thanks for reading….

Hazel John & the team xx

I may be a little later than usual with the next few blogs… so much is happening! I don’t want to let you down though so I will post when I can (please bear with us)

As mentioned in last weeks blog we had a trip to the International Antiques Fair. We braved the dreadful weather (driving rain & wind) to search for some extra special treasures for the shop and Tearoom to be..

Whilst there we bumped in to some good friends and dealers that we know. We also saw the film crew who were filming for an episode of ‘Bargain Hunt’!

When we get back from a fair it’s always ‘so nice to be home’ Whilst away It’s often tiring and sheer hard work. Walking for 9 hours or more at a time routing and picking up lots of second hand stuff that can be dirty and in need of some TLC. When home it’s good to see the family, the dogs that give us such a fuss (because we are normally together every day at work etc) and to have a hot shower, get clean and reach for the slippers. Makes you realise then just how good home is….

When we caught up with what had been happening in the shop whilst we were away we realised that we had missed a visit from Bryn Williams and Sharleen Spiteri (pop group Texas) So nice to have them at Homewood Bound though!

We have also had some other very special visitors this week too, including family who live in Newcastle. Great to see them xx. Not forgetting this lovely boy….

If you get the Daily Post you would have seen a fabulous article about Female Creatives of Clwyd! I am a proud member of the group and brought most of the girls together (a talented bunch!!!).

Here is a link to the article for you to have a read…… Daily Post Article

Lots of lovely new things are arriving in the shop and we have more things due..

Tearoom is coming along nicely… We are interviewing this week and the patio door and window has gone in. We will keep you posted! Thank you for your patience… the interest and anticipation is becoming incredibly exciting….

Homepatch news

We are holding a networking event which is promising to be a great business opportunity to ‘get or stay on track as an entrepreneur’ will report back and let you know how it all goes. The Homepatch shop is an ideal meeting place (hub) for this event and others to follow!

Back soon with news and updates…

Hazel John & the team xx

Hope that you have all had a lovely Easter and made the most of ‘family time’. We have been open in the shop over the bank holiday and have had lots of lovely visitors. We were especially thrilled to have a visit from a very special lady called Virginia. She is from Denbighshire and her family still live here, she lives in London now and is ‘Senior Editorial Director’ of MTV Europe….. most impressive! She is the loveliest person you could care to meet…. This is a picture of her with husband Gary and their children.

We also had a visit from the Tweetbus… it was lovely to see them again, keep up the great work!

As you can see from the picture, we have had snow this past week…

But as you can see the Team have been very busy!

I found these pictures of Ruthin  (going back a few years….)

In last weeks blog we asked you to give us feedback about your favourite cakes. Well ‘Thank you’ we had a great response! We have had various e.mails and Facebook/Twitter messages from you… much appreciated! Here are a few of the responses…

Sarah Edwards Rasberry Bakewell

Melissa Davies ‘coffee & Walnut’

Rachel Roberts Jones –  ‘Brownies’ or ‘lemon tray bake with icing’
Charles Gale Hasleham – ‘Christmas cake’
David Clough (My lovely brother) – ‘Mum’s no bake choc cake’
Someone even said ‘all cakes’!! (love it). Thanks again! The interest and excitement about the Tea room is certainly building…

Homepatch News

Patchwork MD Rufus Carter was interviewed on Calon FM which was very interesting. Have a listen if you get some time spare

Calon FM – Talking Business..

Bacon Jam was featured in the Evening Standard… It’s causing quite a stir..

Evening Standard – Down The Cakehole “Bacon Jam”

Sharon has settled in nicely and is doing a great job of linking the two businesses together. Don’t forget to follow on Facebook & Twitter for news and views. We are off to an Antiques fair this week so will report back on our latest finds…

Thanks for reading,
Hazel John & The Team XX

The week was off to a roaring start and I haven’t had a chance to get near the computer to blog! But I’ve made a big effort to sit down and to try and keep you right up to date with whats been going on! We have a new catalogue in the shop which is packed with some gorgeous and very stylish pieces of Furniture and accessories…. Take a peek…

Work on the tearoom is constant and we are doing our best to get things complete as soon as humanly possible….

We have been finalising the Menu and are just finishing off the ‘cake’ plans….We will have a fantastic selection of cakes in store for you! As you know we are simply passionate about our customers (always have been since day one) and have always listened to what you have to say regarding the furniture, service and everything that evolves at Homewood Bound so therefore…. Just wondering…. What is ‘your’ favourite cake and why? We would love you to leave a comment and let us know… Thankyou xx

Still a few more days until the closing date for our job vacancy….

As you know we like Kelly Hoppen (celebrity interior designer) and I was lucky enough to meet her last year (as mentioned on previous blogs). Well we had a tweet off her which was really great to have!!

One of Kellys videos..

We also had another lovely message off a very special friend and customer

Talking of friends… lots of my ‘business friends’ have been in the limelight lately, some being photographed with Theo Paphitis from Dragons Den (who have been small business winners)…

Talking more about friends this lovely lady called Sarah Hughes had her beautiful flowers featured in this weeks Telegraph newspaper!! It was in the weekend magazine about the Easter holiday food & drink special….We are very proud for her. It was a lovely Easter article and her flowers were on cakes being served at the Dorchester Hotel in London!!

This is Sarah with Holly at the Homepatch shop on Thursday where we all met Martin from the Daily Post who is writing about our stories and business connections

Lots of lovely Jubilee things arriving on a regular basis, selling out fast due to the demand for Jubilee keepsakes..

So as you can see… lots going on, lots to report back to you and lots more will be happening over the coming weeks!! We hope that you have a wonderful Easter and make the most of the school holidays and family time.

Back soon… Thank you for reading

Hazel, John & the team XX

What a sunny week we have had, the clocks go forward and Spring is well and truly in the air…

We have made the most of the good weather and have been able to work outside which has been great, particularly when we have been laying the new floor for the Tearoom. When I say new, it isn’t new by any means infact it is quite an old
Original/reclaimed one which we were lucky to find and buy from a well known Antiques dealer.

We knocked part of the wall down which will join the shop to the tearoom, lots of dust and hard work but thanks to a fantastic team effort things are coming together nicely. When the wall came down we found these two cigarette packets!

Our plans for the tea room are coming along nicely and we are just about to start recruiting…. Here is our first advert, please pass this on to anyone you know… we are looking for someone extra special and because you know a lot about ‘us’, you might know who we are looking for and of course we value your opinion…x

What else has happened this week… well we attended a charity event and had a stall on Thursday at Oriel house. Some other great businesses were involved including Tommys Hair Company, Network She and Patchwork Traditional food company etc. The money raised from the stall holders and people involved was for St Kintergens. That was a long night, didn’t get home until 11.00pm….

I am very proud of Beth because she did her first dinner party for someone very important and their family and was given full responsibility to buy, make and present the meal from start to finish. She is only 19 and it was a huge challenge. She made prawn cocktail, beef wellington, chocolate brownies with frozen fresh berries and hot milk chocolate sauce & vanilla ice cream (I can’t explain it in a fancy way but it looked amazing), her friend Georgie helped her serve, etc. Beth had the thumbs up and everyone was delighted with the meal!

This week in the Daily Post was a great article about an outstanding local business called Llaeth y llan / Village dairy est 1980’s who make wonderful yogurts etc… it was nice to see a lovely vintage jug in the picture that was bought from Homewood Bound!

Homepatch News

The shop is looking lovely, with lots of lovely new patchwork products which
have been launched this week at the Food & Drink Expo held at Birmingham NEC!

Lots more happening this next week…. Will keep you right up to date, even if it is a few days later than usual!!

The Homewood Bound blog is well established now and has been coming to your computers since 2009! We really appreciate your continued support and are delighted to hear that so many of you look forward to it every week. We even have readers in New York, Canada and France!

Back soon,

Hazel, John & the team XX

Remember when I told you about Beth getting a place at Leicester University (shoe design)? well that particular course was highlighted in the news for the Queens Jubilee visit!!

Kate Middleton visited and had to select a shoe that she loved and would wear, it was narrowed down to six students and this was the wining shoe that is now going to be personally hand made for her! So exciting!! It has gained worldwide recognition already!

Hazel attended a Mary Portas worksop which was held at Ruthin Castle. It was a great day and very beneficial. Lots of special people were on the course and many well known and highly regarded businesses were involved.

The tea room set up is dominating our workload this month (in a nice way) it’s rather like setting up a whole new business in itself! We have been sourcing all the crockery and cutlery and of course organising the kitchen which needs to be well equipped with fridges, an oven, super dishwashers etc etc. The coffee machine in particular is very important to us so that has been quite time consuming. We have had some excellent help and advice from various friends and business aquaintances. In particular Gavin & Chris from the Manorhaus Ruthin (who have just taken on a fantastic new venture…a planned boutique Hotel in Llangollen… good luck to them!!). We are also extremely grateful to Janet (& Adrian) Dallolio of Afonwen Craft & Antique Centre who have been most helpful with kind words of advice and experience, they are a family business & the the restaurant side of their business in particular has grown dramatically in the last ten years. We are so grateful for all your advice Janet!!

We have also been tasting some lovely fresh homemade and local breads and cakes (which is a very nice pastime) its great to see such local talent out there! We are passionate about helping and supporting the local economy.

Don’t forget that we have lots of lovely new things arriving in the shop each week…

Homepatch shop

Homepatch has been quite busy over the last few weeks, we are very proud of the fact that the Patchwork Factory, shop and premises has had a ‘5’ star grading from the food standards agency which is excellent news. Their standards are commendable and certainly worth shouting about!

A chosen pate of the week is on offer and the famous ‘bacon jam’ is still selling like hot cakes!!

Please follow on Twitter and look at the Facebook page for regular information and news about products and goings on….

Margaret Carter was chosen to be an inspirational speaker on International Womens Day which was on 8th March..

Back soon with news and updates… thanks again for your patience!

Hazel John & The Team XX

 The tea room is coming along, the team have been working hard and things are developing nicely! We had been waiting for an extra special reclaimed wood floor and thankfully we have now found one!! .. exciting times!!

This next picture made me laugh…. Just looked funny with a big ‘false wall’ moving about with the mountains in the background……..

We have mentioned it to you many times over the years….that we are so very proud of the team here at Homewood Bound. We are like a little family and everyone pulls together to make things work!! Even though we are professional and serious about what we do we can still smile and have a bit of fun! Recently I found out that someone was trying to poach one of our staff… not nice…….

In this business people often copy (which happens to us all the time) but sometimes it is quite blatant!! Seen it all before and will see it again (guess we should be flattered) don’t mean to sound negative but sometimes it has to be said. For over thirteen years now we have tried and tried to keep things different, new & exciting and to offer unique little touches, thankfully all these little touches and ‘special’ customer service clearly helps as we are lucky to have many loyal customers that continue to visit us again and again..

Mothers day is not far away now.. Sun 18th March

Homepatch shop

Sharon is doing a fab job and creating quite a stir in Ruthin! She has already got her fans and is a great asset to the business!! We are working on the HomePatch website and newsletter and will be letting you know what our plans are.

Back soon

Thank you so much for reading our blog!!

Hazel, John & the team XX

I did tell you that last week would be frantic…. And it certainly was hence the longest break from the blog for quite some time, sorry, feel a little guilty!

Beth had some interviews at various Universities last week so I took her and we stayed overnight Tuesday & Wednesday

We were in Nottingham, Leicester etc. I knew that she was passionate about the BA Hons Footwear Design Degree course and realised that there were only 35 places out of hundreds of applicants….I had quite a good feeling, don’t ask me why but I just thought that if they could see the potential in Beth’s creativity then…. Who knows, this could be a chance of a lifetime. Well this afternoon (Monday) Beth has had an offer!!! We are all thrilled. Well done Beth, we are SO very proud of you!

We arrived home late Thursday night and Friday was taken up with the eagerly awaited photoshoot. The shoot lasted most of the day and was a great success. Will let you have more details soon… and pics of course!

We were so grateful to Caroline James (local ‘celebrity make-up artist’) who was at the Brit awards just a few days before she did our makeup… she is highly sought after and has been Katie Melua’s make-up artist for six years, her list of clients would amaze you (we have talked about her before on a previous blog). Also thanks to Amelia who did an excellent job shadowing Holly & not to forget Beth who was fab too!

Amelia’s Mum is called Sharon Gale-Hasleham, she has worked at Homewood Bound for odd days over the last five years or more.

Well we are delighted to say that Sharon now works here permanently (mainly based at Homepatch Shop). She is part time and we are proud and very pleased to have her as part of our extra special team! A very warm welcome Sharon from Hazel, John, Med, Julie, Neal, Linda & Scott.

Mothers Day is fast approaching and we have lots of gorgeous gifts for you to choose from…

The date is Sunday March 18^th

At the weekend I went to a marvellous Vintage fair in Milton Keynes, I didn’t really feel like driving after being away already and driving so many miles but I had made a commitment to my very special friend who was organising the Fair… so off I went… Gosh was I glad that I did!

Hayley (Mrs Scoops) had done a magnificent job of bringing together some exceptional exhibitors!! There were singers, dancers, hairdressers and Betty the ice cream van was in full glory offering delicious hand made ice cream (all complimentary… needless to say the queue was very long all day).

All in all it was a very special Sunday and even the weather was kind. I met such friendly and talented people (many who I have been dying to meet from my Twitter family) who are all so passionate about their businesses and are creative, friendly and professional all at the same time. We did have some fun and met up the night before for a great ‘Tweet up’ networking session (and some wine!)   Well done Hayley (& little Miss G) you did a sterling job xx

I didn’t manage to get pics of some other special peeps but they know who they are…

The Homewood Bound tea room plans are coming along nicely and the Homepatch shop is still doing very well…

Back soon with more news and updates for you…

Hazel John & The Team XX

Lots has happened since we last spoke, as you know nothing stands still here anyway!

We visited Spring Fair at the NEC ensuring that we are right up to date with trends and have found some awesome new suppliers whose Homewares and gifts we think you will love. Its quite cut-throat in that lots of stockists are competing for the same things, but we always prefer to avoid that and stick to our exclusive Homewood Bound style. Watch this space for glorious new stock filtering through!!

Whilst at the NEC we bumped in to a very special person….What a lovely surprise it was… To those of you who are familiar with the classic ‘Old Bear’ books by Jane Hissey… well we bumped into Jane!!

For Hazel It was a very emotional moment when she met Jane whose books had played a huge part in Beths childhood. It was a rare treat to meet such a talented writer and put a face to the name. The books are being re-launched which is all very exciting. Jane was delighted to hear how much her books & television programme had been an inspiration and that Beth (now aged 19) still has ‘Old Bear’ in her bed….He has been in the suitcase to many worldwide destinations I’ll have you know… including New York!! Beth also has all the other book characters on her lovely old pine bookcase (From Homewood Bound of course…)

We were eager to keep in touch with Jane and were thrilled to find out that she is on Twitter… Here is the lovely Tweet that mentions Beth. I’m still smiling!!!!!

Had a visit from Holly Edwards (who is becoming quite a regular these days, business & pleasure) she is a hugely talented female photographer whose work you will be seeing a lot more of, and in the press! She is helping us with Various projects (which have been planned for some time) and is our photographer for our exciting ‘photoshoot’ with some very special ladies who are in the Daily Post this week!!! Cant tell you any more about the shoot now but can’t wait to tell you soon……..

This is a picture of Holly and her sweet little boy Harry, he is no trouble at all when he comes along with Mummy!

Because I am so very late with this weeks blog… sorry, never seem to have a good half an hour slot spare in-between everything going on… so as I’m writing this. The Daily Post article is out today (Wednesday). Remember me telling you about mentoring Jay and Frey, Fiddlestitch Art and Bathing Beauty? Well there is a lovely story about the ladies for you to see for yourself. I introduced Tanya to Georgina and Holly thinking that their products/services would gel.. things have literally springboarded from there..

Click here to read the article

On a previous blog I mentioned Johns niece Nell, who is the manageress of the new Weatherspoons in Ruthin, here is a picture of her with the lovely Ann Bridges (a wonderful, talented and well known local artist) who has been doing some art work for the Hotel.

My Mum and Dad are both 84 now and are still keeping up to date with all the comings and goings in the Homewood Bound World, Hectic as it is… I know it meant a lot to them to meet up recently with some very special friends in Llandudno for the day. Valerie and Mike Bradley from Manchester (who were neigbours for over 40 years) had a pleasant stroll on the Pier together, blue skies, calm sea and bright sunshine all day apparently and a lovely chat about life and old times.

Homepatch News

The Homepatch shop is working nicely, we have a new member of staff joining the team next week and of course we have lots of exciting plans! It has been hard to get together to plan things in the New Year because we have all been busy with other projects etc. Cheshire Life Magazine has just been to the shop and will be doing an article about Ruthin which will include Homepatch shop..

Next week looks set to be even busier… Beth has an interview with a couple of Universities and our photoshoot will take place. We are having a visit from Network She and we are almost finished with another gorgeous bespoke kitchen, in between all the comings and goings in the shop the workshop is a hive of activity!

Back soon with news and updates…

Hazel, John & The Team XX