Father’s Day 16th June

What does your Father mean to you – could you easily choose his one best quality or are there too many to mention?

I think we women receive much attention these days as our multi-tasking juggling skills are admired, questioned, written about and debated. Don’t get me wrong, we need the attention (!) but I do think that sometimes the men in our lives are a tad overlooked. Father’s Day is a great way to show Dads, young and old, how much we appreciate them by giving a gift or hamper that suits their personality, individual taste and style.

To celebrate Father’s Day we’ve devised our very own list of Father’s Finest Qualities. Choose which one describes your Father and show him how much you care by giving him one of our Father’s Day gifts and hampers.

F: Funny Bones
Does your Dad tell jokes with aplomb, does he have funny bones or do they sink without a trace of a giggle? Maybe you laugh anyway because you love him!

A: Action Man
Is your Dad a modern day action man? Does he ride, swim, surf, fly, or is he a rugby, football, cricket or tennis fan? Maybe he’s a mountain climber or a jungle explorer?

T: Thoughtful
Perhaps he constantly surprises you with his thoughtfulness. Does he have an elephant-like memory – does he never let an occasion go by without a thoughtful gift or act?

H: Heroic
Maybe your Dad is a hero. Does he do a dangerous job or is he heroic in other ways?

E: Energetic
Does Dad possess a ‘you can’t keep me down’ energy? Is he positively enthusiastic even in trying circumstances?

R: Reliable
Can you always rely on your Father? Is he always there for you and the rest of your family?

S: Supportive
Maybe his particular skill or lovable trait is that he knows just how to be supportive and say the right thing at just the right time.

D: Dashing
Do you have the most dashing Dad of all? Is he a modern day Mr Darcy!

A: Admirable
Does your Dad do something that you admire – maybe a caring job or do you admire him for his spirit, his grit or just for his positive attitude.

Y: Youthful Spirit
Is your Dad a man who is a little on the older side but who carries a youthful spirit.

So, that’s our Fathers Finest Qualities list as a ‘reverse acronym’ for ‘Father’s Day’!

I hope this will help you choose the great traits of the special man that you’re going to treat to a surprise this Father’s Day.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Fabulous Fathers

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To celebrate this very popular event we gave away a handful of bespoke luxury food hampers. The lucky winners each received 4 tickets to this very popular polo match and a bottle of the very fashionable Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque Champagne. A fabulous recipe for a glorious day – they just needed the cooperation of the British weather…

I’m really pleased to say that the sun shone and our very happy winners had a fantastic day enjoying the Polo, sipping Champagne and tucking into our tasty picnic hamper. Here’s a picture of one of the foursomes:

Our winners were absolutely delighted with their Virginia Hayward hamper!

Our winners were absolutely delighted with their Virginia Hayward hampers. Here is just some of the lovely feedback that we received…

“The hamper is adorable, I can’t wait to tuck in to all the goodies inside” Victoria, Shropshire

“This is the ideal size to take for a family picnic – perfect for a day at the Polo” Kate, Basildon

Virginia Hayward Bespoke Luxury Picnic Hamper

If you’re planning a day at the Polo and want to brush up on your facts and figures, take a look at one of our previous blogs here.

To really push the boat out, browse our range of traditional hampers and perhaps choose one of our wonderful lidded wicker hampers to take on the day. Just add good company and sunshine!

Have a wonderful Polo day.

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Now you may think that sampling the delicious food and scrumptious snacks or tasting the champagne and wines must be one of the most exciting jobs here at Virginia Hayward but Dan begged to differ.

I asked Dan to put his case forward and share the hustle and bustle of a typical day with me and I’m sure you’ll agree that’s it’s a very entertaining read and perhaps we’re coveting the wrong job…

A day in the life of Import Manager, Dan Haysom

Container ships steam purposefully from one side of the planet to the other like a procession of leaf cutter ants hauling treasure from afar, shedding their loads before returning East, empty handed…..

Dealing with industrious suppliers from the East (India, China, Indonesia), every morning starts by trawling through raft of emails sent while we in the West slept peacefully. Suppliers of baskets, boxes, bags, crates, slates and anything in between will request anything from confirmation of design, colour, size or finish, to asking whether samples should be sent by air or packed onto a slow boat. Proforma’s are checked, purchase orders are sent, containers are booked. There is a narrow window of same-time communication with our suppliers, but on the whole, we are like passing ships in the night.

10:38 – When a customer makes an enquiry for 3,000 rattan storage baskets that must be on store shelves by October 1st, there are many things to consider.

Although we always carry plenty of basket stock, our wholesale customers buy a broad range of bespoke items that are certainly not limited to just baskets alone. In our business, we work on the basis of a 3 month production schedule plus 5 weeks shipping. Container ships may be big but with a top speed of 15 knots, they are hardly the Ferrari’s of the sea.

With such a lead time, it is vital to get the specification absolutely right the first time as it is a lengthy process to revise. After understanding the customer’s requirement on shape, material, colour, weave, handle type, degree of taper, style of lining, etc., a cursory test pack will be done to make sure our proposed measurements are realistic. The next job is to raid our photo library of baskets to find images of baskets that contain any of the crucial elements of the new hybrid so that there is no doubt in the supplier’s mind what we require. A few clicks and the quote requests are sent off to the Far East…

11:52 – I get a call from the warehouse, a 40’ container from India was delivered at 10:30 this morning and has just been unloaded. I double check the container count versus the packing list to make sure that we were delivered exactly what we were expecting. All present and correct. This reminds me that two suppliers in China should have shipped two more containers today (it’s now 18:52 in Shenzhen), so I fire off an email to check if this happened and hopefully I’ll have the replies waiting for me tomorrow morning.

13:12 – Time to take a look at the basket quotes received overnight. The first job is to calculate the landed cost of each basket, i.e. the actual cost of the basket including all freight and relevant charges, while considering foreign exchange, shipping and duty rates. Next is to speak to the customer and confirm lead times for samples, delivery and discuss any technical issues that might be relevant on any of the baskets.

14.38 – I make a quick call to our freight forwarder for an update on shipping rates. The shipping lines claim to have been losing millions upon millions of dollars over the last few years and have recently been threatening to increase rates for 2013. It seems the situation is still unclear and we must wait for the dust to settle. More often than not, threats of rate increases turn out to be empty, since no single shipping line wants to be alone at increasing the rates as it will only compound their problem. It’s when they are unanimous in their decision to increase rates that there is trouble.

16:01 – A call comes in from a US department store looking for 50 empty willow baskets. It seems our traditional lidded baskets of various sizes are just what they are looking for. I make a few calls to check the most cost effective way to have these delivered, whether by boat or plane, what taxes and duty we responsible for, etc. I calculate our best price for this enquiry and try to offset some of the expensive delivery to the US in a bid to win the order.

16:26 – Parcelforce arrive with a huge box of sample baskets: this is Christmas for an importer. There is some trepidation when opening the box, hopefully the samples look exactly as we had hoped. If not, then it’s back to the drawing board and we’ve just wasted crucial time and money getting the samples organised.

Accurate communication with suppliers is imperative and we rely on their command of English and interpretation of my quote request – as opposed to them relying on my Cantonese! Now it’s time to measure, tag and photograph the new samples, pass them to the relevant project manager to do a test pack and show the customer for their feedback.

As a man of many time zones, I’m well aware that, somewhere in the world, it’s time for a glass of wine…

Dan Haysom

Virginia Hayward Import  Manager

Dan has been Import Manager at Virginia Hayward since 2008 after ten years working in London. Dan brings a wide spectrum of experience from the world of broking and property and claims to speak Italian and German (although this has never been proven). Dan & Ali are besotted by their toddler Izzy. Their terrier, Albert, is not.

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Congratulations to Ellie from Middlesex – our Top Tip winner!

To coincide with National Gardening Week 2013 we recently ran a Top Vegetable Growing Tip Competition and gave away a tasty ‘Treats From the Garden’ gift hamper and I’m delighted to announce that our lucky winner was Ellie Sutch from Middlesex. Congratulations Ellie!

We asked whether your secret tip was talking to your turnips, scattering eggshells around your artichokes or cuddling your cabbages but it turns out that none of those were in your top tips! Thank you for all your entries though, we were really pleased with the response but, after much deliberation, Ellie’s entry was deemed the winner and here it is:

“Don’t be deterred by a lack of garden! You can grow vegetables in the tiniest of spaces. Lettuces have shallow roots & grow well in pots. Similarly, chillies will grow in a pot or window box on a sunny ledge. And if you don’t have a suitable window sill, here’s a thought – hanging baskets aren’t just for flowers! Try growing herbs, chilli peppers, peas & dwarf beans, to create an instant edible basket.”

Our judges particularly liked and were drawn to Ellie’s positive approach to gardening without a garden! Many people don’t actually have gardens and we felt that the window box and hanging basket ideas and suggestions were very worthy of winning. Very well done.

Ellie said:

“Thank you very much for your message and thank you for the lovely surprise! I’m glad you liked my suggestions. I loved seeing all the different tips. Hopefully they’ll inspire other people to have a go. I’ll be looking forward to tucking into my basket of tasty treats.”

So, even if you don’t have a garden, don’t let that stop you having a go at growing your own vegetables.

Our Next Favourite Top 10 Vegetable Growing Tips

Here are a few more of your inspirational suggestions:

1. Grow sweetcorn in old toilet roll inners with compost to protect the roots then plant the whole roll when ready (biodegradable obviously)
2. Pop old CDs up around your garden to stop those pesky birdies pecking at your veggies!!!
3. Grow potatoes in olds car tyre piles. Add new tyres as the potatoes sprout and you recover shoots with soil.
4. Use recycled contains for patio veg, herbs in old food tins, carrots in cut down oil cans or paint pots. Remember to add drainage holes.
5. Make sure you protect any seedlings, young plants with fleece or cloches as you never can trust our British weather to throw in a surprise frosty night.
6. Make sure you go out every evening on slug patrol, particularly if it’s wet.
7. Plant some marigolds alongside your vegetables – they keep aphids away! Plus you can eat the flowers.
8. For beginners I would suggest to start with some spinach seeds – they require little effort and the end product is always plentiful and rather tasty!
9. Grow carrots and onions together as the smell from the onions acts as a deterrent to carrot fly!
10. If you haven’t got much of a garden you can use planters, we have all sorts from fish tanks to beer buckets with strawberries growing in them.

Indoor Wicker Basket Planting

I hope that gives you some good gardening tips. If however, you’re more of an indoors gardener and house plants are more your style then take a look at our empty hamper baskets – they’d make really stylish indoor plant baskets. You’d just need to waterproof them before putting your favourite pot plants in them.

So, whatever your style, enjoy your indoor or outdoor gardening pursuits this Spring.

Sarah

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To mark the beginning of the 2013 polo season we’ve teamed up with St. Regis Hotels & Resorts group and are giving away a handful of bespoke luxury food hampers to celebrate the 6th annual St. Regis International Cup at Cowdray Park – the famous polo ground in West Sussex. The lucky winners will receive 4 tickets to this fabulous event, one of our luxury food hampers and a very fashionable bottle of Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque Champagne. See below for details of how to enter.

The game of Polo: A brief history
Did you know that Polo is possibly the oldest recorded team sport in known history? Apparently the first matches were played in Persia over 2,500 years ago and although it’s most definitely evolved over the years it remains known as “The King of Games”. You may have heard the saying: “Let other people play at other things but The King of Games is still the Game of Kings”. Indeed, for a period of time, it was recognised as an Olympic sport but, sadly, its last Olympic appearance was 1936.

By its very nature Polo is a dangerous game which may be why it attracts participants that are bold and brave and so admired. However, it’s no longer a sport just for ‘kings’ and, during the Polo season, it has become a very popular day out choice and we can totally understand why! There is no better excuse needed to put everyday life on hold and step into kingly (or queenly!) shoes for a day.

Few Polo Facts and Figures
If a Polo day is on your agenda here are a few facts and figures!

The Game: it’s all about riding a horse while holding a polo mallet and scoring as many goals as possible by hitting the polo ball through the goal posts with the mallet. Sounds so simple!

Polo Teams: A polo game is made up of two teams with just four players in each team.

How Long is a Game: A game can last from one to one and a half hours long.

What’s a Chukka: Chukka is the name given to chunks of the match – The matches are divided into chukkas which each last 7 minutes

What is Divot Stomping: This is a long standing spectator tradition that is usually actively encouraged! At half time the spectators wander across the field literally stomping down the torn up turf in readiness for the second half.

Fast Balls: Balls can travel up to an astounding 110 miles per hour

Safety: Although Polo is a very dangerous game, the safety of player and pony is paramount and most of the rules of the game are safety-orientated.

Shoes: Ladies – never wear stilettos! Pretty flats or elegant wedges are a must to avoid that sinking feeling…

Refreshments: bubbly and picnic food hampers of course!

Win Polo Tickets, Champers and a Hamper
On Saturday 18th May 2013, the 6th Annual St. Regis International Cup will be taking place at Cowdray Park, West Sussex and features polo legend Nacho Figueras as captain for South America while they take on Audi England.

The competition is being run by the below magazines – click through to their sites for full details of how you could be in with a chance of winning tickets for you and 3 friends. Additionally, the winners will receive a bottle of Perrier-Jouet Belle Epoque Champagne and a luxury food hamper that we’ve created especially for this fabulous event!

Stylist Magazine

The Lady

Marie Claire

Good luck!

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• Are you a crunchy carrot cultivator?
• Do your sprouts sprout?
• Are your marrows marvellous?

What’s your top tip…

• Do you talk to your turnips?
• Do you scatter eggshells around your artichokes?
• Do you cuddle your cabbages?

Here at Virginia Hayward we are extremely lucky to work in the heart of the Dorset Countryside and I, for one, try never to take it for granted. As well as being surrounded by fields we work in converted farm outbuildings around a gorgeous courtyard garden.

Martin our gardener regularly bestows much care and attention on our garden and during one of his recent visits a very animated discussion took place amongst our staff as to their own gardening skills. It was amazing to hear all the different types of tips and tricks that our team have up their sleeves especially when we run our annual Marvellous Marrow competition. It really does bring out the competitiveness amongst us!

Every year we’re all offered the chance to take home a teeny little marrow plant and see if we can grow a winning specimen. Following months of hard work and regular top ups of fragrant manure we had a wonderful display of marrows brought into our Virginia Hayward offices last year.
After much deliberation, Sam Hayward (our Sales and Marketing Director and nominated judge), chose the winning marrow! It was lovingly tended by the wife of our head of the IT department who wishes to remain in the shadows and let his Marrow do the talking and here it is…

Simply share your top vegetable growing tip with us on Facebook and you could win this gift hamper full of tasty treats. Be quick… the competition closes at midnight on Sunday 28th April. Good luck!

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Here are our top five Virginia Hayward gifts for budding or seasoned gardeners who are keen to get out and about in between the raindrops.

Treats from the Garden

A gooseberry-coloured trug which we’ve packed full of tasty treats to enjoy after a hard day’s work in the garden.

Farmhouse Treats Basket

Gifts in wicker baskets are ideal for keen gardeners as they can be used in and around the garden. This is a great gift choice for those with a penchant for red wine and cheese too!

Fairtrade Feet Up

Whether tea or coffee is your recipient’s favoured hot tipple, I’m sure this gift will be delightfully received by any pottering gardener.

Tea and Bubbles

Most definitely one for the girls… a lovely looking dome-lidded wicker gift hamper containing tea, cake, biscuits and bubbles. Just add a picnic blanket, good friends and settle down for a good gossip!

From the Garden Wicker Hamper

This wicker trug will make a lovely gift for novice or seasoned gardeners.

So there you go… our top five recommended hampers for enjoying in the garden (possibly with an umbrella within reach!) or even from the safety of a summer house if you’re lucky enough to have one.

All are ideal as birthday and thank you gifts.

Happy Gardening!

Sarah Jane

PS: Look out for our gardening competition coming soon!

19th April: Our gardening competition is now live. For your chance to win a tasty ‘Treats From the Garden‘ hamper visit our Facebook page . All you need to do is tell us your top vegetable growing tip to be in with a chance of winning! Our competition closes at midnight on Sunday 28th April. Terms apply. Good luck.

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Martin the Virginia Hayward gardener and his dogs, HobNob and Shreddie, having some ‘down tools time’

Even though currently it is a trying time for gardeners with cold windy days and frosty nights, the dry conditions do at least mean we can get on the garden after nearly 12 months of wet weather.

We are currently getting ready for the garden to burst into life by clearing up the effects of winter, cutting back herbaceous perennials and pruning those shrubs which should be cut back at this time of year.

This includes most roses and any later summer flowering shrubs such as Buddleia, Hebe, Senecio (now called Brachyglotis), Purple Sage, Lavenders and Potentilla.

Do remember not to prune any earlier flowering shrubs as you will spoil their display for this year. One rose we won’t be pruning is the pale yellow Banksian Rose which will provide us with a colourful display of pale yellow blooms in the next few weeks.

These roses and indeed most of the courtyard display provides a wonderful view when in our product sample room which is currently a hive of activity as the product team are sampling, choosing, planning and putting together the 2013 Virginia Hayward Christmas hampers.

Also coming to flower soon will be the perennial wallflower ‘Bowles Mauve’ which gives such a great display for much of the summer season.

The blue flowers of Brunnera another good ‘doer’ are now appearing along with the stunning darker blue of Pulmonaria ‘Blue Ensign’.

Because of the cold weather the Hellebores continue to provide a colourful display – what an easy and reliable plant they are spread under the canopy of shrubs in the courtyard just outside the call centre and also bordering the marketing and despatch departments.

these colourful Hellebores are spread around the courtyard so all the Virginia Hayward teams can enjoy when criss-crossing to and fro to chat with colleagues

One of today’s tasks is to dig out the lavender on the wall of the back of the house. The original plants have seen better days and needed replacing as did those in the courtyard.

Because of the limited space we shall be using Lavender ‘Thumbelina’ which is a newer free flowering and compact variety.

In the courtyard we are replacing the Lavender ‘Hidcote’ with the same variety but adding Lavender ‘Twickle’ Purple a reliable older dwarf variety.

Personally, I just love Lavender and I’m so pleased that Martin plants and tends these different varieties all around our courtyard garden for everybody to enjoy

One of the best varieties for scent and oil is Lavender ‘Grosso’ which we have by the reception entrance which provides a lovely welcome to all our visitors.

By Martin Hurt Kew.Dip.Hons

19th April: Our gardening competition is now live. For your chance to win a tasty ‘Treats From the Garden‘ hamper visit our Facebook page . All you need to do is tell us your top vegetable growing tip to be in with a chance of winning! Our competition closes at midnight on Sunday 28th April. Terms apply. Good luck.

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2013 actually sees the CGA celebrating 120 years since it was founded so we were really pleased to be able to give them one of our luxury gift hampers as an Easter prize for their February / March 2013 magazine!

After much deliberation we plumped for our scrumptious Chocolate gift hamper which, not unsurprisingly, is brimming with all things chocolatey to drink, dip, munch or savour.

The lucky winner was Mrs Rance from Shropshire who said: “I was very surprised but absolutely delighted to hear that I’d won this delicious prize!”

If you love the country and all that it has to offer in terms of lifestyle and sporting pursuits then you may be interested in joining the CGA. Membership offers a remarkable collection of benefits including the CGA magazine, exclusive events, numerous privileges, a wide range of retail discounts and much, much more. Visit the CGA website to find out more. You may even be in with a chance of winning a Virginia Hayward Hamper or Gift in future issues!

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I also heard this morning that we may have a white Easter – wouldn’t that make for a pretty Egg Hunt. We think Easter is a great time to catch up with friends and family so we’ve been swapping Easter Egg hunt ideas – we’d love to hear about yours too!

Here’s our starter for 10 to give you some inspiration:

Pirate Egg Hunt

Why not organise a themed Easter Egg hunt. Children love to dress up as girl and boy pirates so push the boat out and make a treasure map for them – egg’s(!) will mark the spot. Our choc box is an ideal Easter gift idea and holds plenty of treasure for you to hide.

Spell for Easter

If your children are just learning to spell then this is a great way to combine learning with play. Simply write each letter of Easter separately on a coloured sticker and stick it onto 6 of your children’s favourite chocolates and hide them. Their task? Find all 6 and spell E-A-S-T-E-R with their Easter gift chocolates before eating them!

Right Box, Wrong Box

A little bit of preparation needed for this one but it’s really good fun. You’ll need some empty boxes or baskets and some shredded paper or tissue paper as well as an Easter egg or two. Fill one of the boxes with Easter eggs hidden amongst the packaging and leave the rest of the boxes empty. The hunt is on… who can find the box full of eggs. Just make sure you have enough eggs to go around at the end to avoid any tears.

However you choose to spend your Easter bank holiday weekend, I hope you have an eggs-ellent time.

Happy Easter All!

Sarah Jane

If you have a really good Easter Egg Hunt idea please do share with me by commenting below.

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