Last month we took part in the annual Halstead Floral Display competition. The theme this year was Roald Dahl books and the characters within so it was perfect for us. Now we’re not the most green-fingered of people and tend to rely on the parents to keep things growing and so we decided to play to our strengths and go down the edible route by plying the judges with a glass of Frobscottle. It was surprisingly tasty (Kiwi, Strawberry yoghurt and cream soda), well we thought so...
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There’s always a bit of friendly competition with Richard Edwards Accountants who always take part in the competition. Having seen some pictures of their efforts we are certainly not too big to admit when we’re beaten...tortoise hanging baskets and planted BFG boots – great work guys!!
| Eagle-eyed visitors to the Cafe may have noticed our rainbow bookshelf. It was one of those ideas which seemed like a nice plan at first but halfway through when we were knee deep in colour coded piles of books sprawled across the cafe I had a moment of doubt. However, the end result does look very striking...what do you think? |  |
 | We are absolutely thrilled to receive our Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence for 2017 based on our consistently good Trip Advisor reviews. Thank you to everyone who has written a review of us. We are extremely proud of the comments and feedback we’ve received and will always strive to maintain those standards. |
Following a lot of customer requests, we have started offering Iced Coffees - ideal for still getting your caffeine kick in the hot weather. We’re always open to feedback and now have an official suggestion box in the cafe. Each month we’ll be doing a prize draw from the feedback forms we’ve received to win a £10 gift voucher so do let us know your thoughts and ideas on how we could improve.
Some of you may be aware that there is a Halstead Creative Writing Group called Pen Friends who meet at The Little Book Cafe each month. They’re a wonderfully friendly group of all ages. Each month they agree a ‘homework’ topic and then at the following meeting they can read out their creative writing and discuss their different interpretations of the theme. A few of the members have kindly agreed for us to put some of their work on our website. So take a look...
There’s an intriguing tale based on the topic of ‘music’ by Jill Curtis. A bittersweet encounter based on ‘a misunderstanding’ by Wanda Sellar and an entertaining poem about ‘The Garden Shed’ by Dave Bryant. We hope the pieces inspire and amuse you. If you’d like to find out more about the writers’ group you can find out more on their Facebook page.
If you’re looking for some holiday reading inspiration I recently read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and would thoroughly recommend - it is funny, poignant and sad. Ove is a fantastically grumpy yet loveable character; I know one of those myself.
There’s an intriguing tale based on the topic of ‘music’ by Jill Curtis. A bittersweet encounter based on ‘a misunderstanding’ by Wanda Sellar and an entertaining poem about ‘The Garden Shed’ by Dave Bryant. We hope the pieces inspire and amuse you. If you’d like to find out more about the writers’ group you can find out more on their Facebook page.
If you’re looking for some holiday reading inspiration I recently read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and would thoroughly recommend - it is funny, poignant and sad. Ove is a fantastically grumpy yet loveable character; I know one of those myself.
 | Some of the team have been on holiday this month and so the other team members have been doing a wonderful job at filling in. Whilst helping in the kitchen, Toby did an unbeaten run of cracking 26 eggs in a row without breaking a yolk...we’re proud as punch! And finally, Jane’s been sporting more of her fancy footwear, here are my personal favourites...sparkly always gets my vote. |
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