Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Festive basket by Miles - age 4
In the run up to Christmas we have been running a Christmas competition via our factory shop. Since November customers far and wide have been picking up baskets from our shop manager Joan, making a donation for each basket, and returning the baskets for judging by our chocolatiers. Now we are proud to announce the lucky winners! Drum roll…
First prize: Eileen Lewis
Second prize: Wilma Goldstone
Third prize: S. McLuckie
We received some adorable kids entries and awarded surprise prizes of handmade chocolate santas to Miles Clarke, Morgan Pitfield and Sandra.
We are pleased to announce we raised £30 for Dorset West Country Hospital’s Boost charity 2011 digital mamography appeal. In addition to this, we have also stayed true to our values to do to the right thing to look after the environment and, rather than send out Christmas cards, we have again this year donated £500 to The Children’s Trust, a national children’s charity that relies entirely on the support of the community to provide the specialist therapy, education and residential care to children who have had a brain injury.
To donate yourself to either of these charities please visit:
Boost http://www.boostdch.co.uk/
The Children’s Trust www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk
Our offices will re-open on 3rd January 2012. Any orders placed through our online shop over the festive period will now be dispatched on 3rd January.
We would like to wish all our customers a very merry Christmas!
Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? We have some super organised House of Dorchester employees who are almost finished… But assuming you are still searching for the ultimate Christmas gift, how could you go wrong with a chocolate hamper? That’s what we thought too, so we decided to start selling chocolate hampers on our website. Here’s a picture of Natalie, our Marketing Executive, who recently (rather reluctantly, it has to be said!) posed behind a lifestyle shot of a selection of hampers for a magazine shoot. We hope you enjoy browsing our website and treating your friends and family to a chocolate hamper! http://www.hodchoc.com/hampers
17Oct
It’s so great to see so many people already getting into the spirit of things for this year’s Red Nose Day – only the other day I was at the supermarket and came face to face with a human penguin! Comic Relief definitely seems to bring out the funny side in everyone and only last week Julian, our Business Development Manager, got involved in a Sainsbury’s ‘Do something funny for money’ fundraising event – lots of silly challenges including how many of our new ‘LOTACHOC’ chocolate coated pretzels (yummy!) you could eat in a minute – HOD 16 v Sainsburys 26! The Sainsbury’s buyer was still eating them after the challenge had finished!
We’re all geared up for the International Food Exhibition at Excel, London (www.ife.co.uk) and are looking forward to a busy show talking to people about our new Chocolate Larder collection and our delicious range of chocolates. Please pop along to see us on stand N1315!
Finally just a quick Easter reminder – be sure to place your orders for Easter delivery before 6th April 2011 – our chocolatiers are really busy at the moment!
Katherine
11Mar
Dorset Food Week was a great success and we got some very valuable and constructive feedback on some of our new product ideas – not to mention that we got to see some very happy faces at our Poundbury Chocolate factory!! One person described it as like winning one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets! We would like to thank everyone who came along and gave their opinions on some of our new ideas.
Speaking of new ideas we have plenty in the pipeline for 2011 – from our new stands for shows and events (pics to follow soon!), to a range of new products to add to our collection, it’s all happening at HOD! Sarah Goodridge who works here at our Poundbury HQ will be celebrating a new addition of her own very shortly – so we would like to say congratulations to her as she leaves to go on maternity leave.
Our Luxury Chocolate Selection tins (shown in the photo above) are proving really popular in the run up to Christmas – but instead of telling you all about them myself why not read what Jo thinks on her blog, called ‘Given to distracting others’!
Katherine.
04Nov
The Weymouth Pavilion has reached the milestone of 50 years in the entertainment business and to celebrate they are presenting two shows; the first will be a production by the ‘players’ of Weymouth on 6th November and the second is an all Dorset cast in the Dorset Variety Show. The Pavilion is a really important landmark for the local area and we are helping them to celebrate by giving every person that attends the shows some House of Dorchester Chocolate to enjoy – what could be better than a wonderful production at the historic pavilion theatre with a piece of perfect chocolate to enjoy whilst you’re watching!
For full details of the shows and to book tickets just – click here.
At the chocolate factory we are all gearing up for Dorset Food Week, this year it is begin held on 23rd – 31st October. Now in its 10th year, there will be events taking place all over the county from tasting’s and markets to live demonstrations and farm tours – it’s a chance to learn lots about a great food producing county. To celebrate we are holding a tasting at our factory shop in Poundbury – this tasting is extra special though. As well as some of our popular ranges, we will be offering people a chance to taste some of our new product ideas, direct from the development kitchen only a few feet away. We want to give people a chance to have their say on what we should put into production – so for the chance to try some never before seen chocolate – please come along!
Katherine.
22Oct
Recently I went to visit the Casson family who have been growing Original English Black Mitcham Peppermint on their Frith Farm in Hampshire for over 50 years.
For decades the mint farming industry in the UK was in decline due to the import of cheaper but less flavoursome varieties from America. However, in the 1970s Jim Casson re-propagated the Original English Black Mitcham Peppermint from plant stock that one of the old growers in Mitcham, Surrey had maintained in his own garden!
The Casson family now grow this rare variety over 100 acres, alongside other herbs such as sage, chamomile and lavender.
The essential oil that the Original English Black Mitcham Peppermint produces is distilled on the farm, and this is a key ingredient in ‘Duchy Originals from Waitrose’ Mint Duchy Thins chocolates. The essential oil gives the chocolates a truly British flavour.
The farm is run and operated by Jim Casson and his daughter Charlotte, who has been involved in the business since the age of 12 during her summer holidays.
Charlotte certainly knows her mint; on the visit she explained to me that Original English Black Mitcham Peppermint is renowned for its rarity and superior flavour, and the family are pretty certain that there is no one else growing this variety anywhere in the world.
The mint changes from a very dark green, almost black, colour to a lighter shade as it grows and reacts with sunlight. The crop is normally harvested in August but this year it was harvested in September due to wet weather. The oil extraction process takes around four hours, before it is transferred to barrels where it matures for four months.
It has taken Charlotte 10 years to learn what she knows now, but she assures me she has another 30 years to go before she completes her apprenticeships!
I am just glad to know that this spectacular variety of peppermint will continue to be grown by the Casson Family for generations to come; so that the chocolates we create at House of Dorchester will retain a delicious and truly British flavour.
Katherine.
21Sep
At House of Dorchester, August is all about preparing for the Speciality and Fine Food Fair (5 -7 September) in London. It is the definitive event for local, regional and artisan food and drink and it gives us a great chance to meet other like-minded food producers, deli owners and all-round lovers of great food!
We have a new stand for the show and are very excited to be introducing our newly designed contemporary, British branded packaging and some fabulous new chocolates! If you’re planning on going along we will be on stand 849 and we’d love to see you there! Speciality is a great place to see what other producers of artisan food are creating, and as well as giving us a chance to meet owners of delis, farm shops and retail buyers it is also just a lot of fun getting to see and taste some of the finest food being produced in Britain today.
Closer to home, Andy Joslin our Production Manager at House of Dorchester, was interviewed last week for The Guardian on the virtues of living and working in Poundbury where House of Dorchester is based. Poundbury was the brainchild of Prince Charles and has a strong commitment to providing combined work and living space to offer an alternative to the daily commute. Andy is one of the few at the chocolate factory that both live and work in Poundbury so far but others would certainly like to move in soon. I think it’s safe to say everyone thinks it is a lovely place to work – even if they have to commute here!
For the full article click here.
Katherine.
11Aug
From time to time we have people contacting us to find their nearest stockists. The information is available online but we are aware not everyone is completely savvy with the World Wide Web, including us sometimes! It’s a really lovely feeling to think that people are actively seeking out the chocolates that we work so hard to make, so we are only too happy to help.
One such lady was Patricia Petit from Belbroughton near Kidderminster. Patricia was looking for her nearest stockist and happened to mention it was coming up to her 90th birthday so we decided to send Patricia a lovely box of our Luxury Assortment to say ‘Happy Birthday’! We let Patricia know where her nearest stockist was as well, but hopefully the box of chocolates will keep her going for a bit!
Jeremy and Matt are currently at the Fancy Food Show in New York. With over 180,000 products on show and the sights and sounds of New York City to keep them entertained, they should be having a great time. Hopefully they’ll have some exciting stories for the blog when they return, not to mention some pressies!
I mentioned last week that Jeremy ran a stall for House of Dorchester at the Garden, Plant and Food Fair in aid of St Margaret’s Hospice, at Cothay Manor Gardens. We just found out that they raised £10,000 in total for the cause which is a fantastic achievement!
Katherine.
05Jul
With so many exciting things happening at House of Dorchester at the moment we thought it was about time we told you all about what’s going on, so welcome to our new blog! We promise we won’t just harp on about our products and prices as we want you to get to know the people and personalities, the chocolatiers and chocolate tasters that help to make our Dorset chocolates so delicious.
In the world of chocolate one time of year reigns supreme over all others……….. Christmas! That means Father Christmas isn’t the only one working all year round make sure he’s prepared! We have to think really far ahead of ourselves, so we start thinking about what goodies we want to make for Christmas, when we’ve just put away the last lot of tinsel and decorations. Over the past few weeks we have been trying, tasting, testing and making, all of our Christmas products and have been finalising our Christmas orders as well as putting together ideas for Easter 2011!
On top of that we’ve had two new arrivals in Poundbury; Jaqueline Ridler has joined our technical team and on a more personal note Gemma from our Dorchester office has just had a baby girl, Niamh Aimee Wrixon, weighing in at 8lb 6oz……….congratulations!
Katherine
16Jun
