Cottontails Baby

Big Garden Birdwatch - get ready!

2012-01-27T14:10:00.009Z

Don't forget this weekend is the The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. It's easy to take part and simply involves sitting by a window for one hour and recording all the birds you see (i.e. enforced relaxing bird watching time - bliss!) All the details are on the website here, along with a sheet to help with bird identification.

In the meantime, to help you get ready, can you identify any of the birds in this photograph?

The photo is an area of wilderness on the farm we are moving to and the birds are little handmade wooden creations from Ostheimer.

All our Ostheimer toys are on the website here, we don't stock a lot of the birds but can get them in pretty quickly. And I am awaiting an order from them at the moment with lots more little animals - woodland and farm animals. Even a little wooden snail is on his way. Slowly.

The 'John Lewis' model

2012-01-25T11:24:00.005Z

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg urged companies to follow the 'John Lewis' model and offer shares to their employees - apparently it will improve productivity and unlock growth.

With this in mind I have decided to offer shares in Cottontails to Humphrey and the ducks.

New shareholder: Humphrey

New shareholders: Mary, Dick and Jim

Also, from now on Humphrey will be sitting on the Cottontails remuneration committee - to make sure I don't award myself any huge bonuses at the expense of employees' carrots, corn etc.

Humphrey consults other workers ahead of remuneration committee

This will surely be the start of a new period of unprecedented productivity and growth at Cottontails!

Cottontails Bunny Biscuits

2012-01-20T11:13:00.006Z

This is a lovely simple recipe I tried and tested ahead of putting it in our little Cottontails Book - they are simple, sweet, delicious little biscuits and Humphrey and I cannot recommend them enough....

Cottontails Bunny Biscuits

Ingredients
1 tsp vanilla essence
100g golden caster sugar
200g butter
300g plain flour, sifted

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then stir in vanilla essence.

Add sifted flour and mix together until crumbs come together - don't overwork the mixture.

Turn out, wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least an hour. (Overnight is fine - I tried!)

Preheat oven to 160*c / fan 140*c / gas 3 and cover baking trays with baking parchment

Place dough on floured surface, cover with clingfilm (to prevent rolling pin sticking) and roll out to 5mm thick.

Carefully cut out bunny shapes using our bunny cutters and place on baking trays.

Use a cocktail stick to give each bunny an eye.

Bake for about 15 minutes until golden.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool and crisp up.

Finally, GOBBLE THEM UP!!

This really is a nice recipe - I tried several different ones - the biscuits are really light and crispy.

Well worth a try...

UPDATE: I made a batch of these biscuits on Monday in a bit of a rush and 'rested' the pastry for five mins in the freezer - this is probably a dreadful baking faux pas, but it worked perfectly.

Dream Toys 2011 - The Cottontails Alternatives

2011-11-21T18:18:00.006Z

Every year the Toy Retailers Association publish a list of 'dream toys' for Christmas and I have just been looking over the list for 2011. A world away from what I do here at Cottontails, it is a list rich in plastic and electronics - in at number one is 'Doggie Doo', a pooing plastic dog.

But I'm not too worried about this - after all I am not trying to compete with Argos or Toys r Us - what I try to do is offer an alternative to the mainstream - and thank goodness - I have just returned from a shopping trip to the dreaded Tesco where children's toys are piled high as you walk in. It's a relief not to be going head to head with that.

However, I'm not completely out of touch and I know that lots of children will really love a pooing dog or Full-auto Long Range Nerf-Disc Blaster (yes, really). These toys are bright, active, instant. The have big box packaging appeal and are doubtlessly being promoted all over children's tv.

But maybe there is room in the stocking for something a bit more traditional too? And, with this in mind, I have put together some alternatives. Here are five toys from the original list along with some rather more traditional, quirky and charming alternatives...

1. Doggie Doo vs Philbert the velvet sausage dog

Doggie Doo (£34.99) - the aforementioned plastic pooch produces his own poo. Philbert (£19.99) is a velvet sausage dog who lives in his own little cardboard kennel. He has Liberty print ears and he does not poo. (This is a good thing, right?)

2. Fijit Friends vs Bunny & Mouse Little Wardrobe

A 'Fijit Friend' (£55) is a funny dancing robot doll billed as "your interactive BFF". As an alternative I have selected a couple of more traditional 'best friends'... The Bunny and Mouse Little Wardrobe (£55) play set includes two little soft toys in their own carry case (wardrobe) along with a whole host of outfits - perfect for plenty of 'interactive' playing.

3. Milky Bunny vs oooh too many to choose from!

Milky Bunny (£59.99) is from the 'Emotion Pets' series and has batteries so she moves, snores and makes little noises. Scary eyes though. We have so many alternatives at Cottontails, where rabbits are our forte, that I couldn't choose just one. A few favourites though include the lovely French bunnies Lola, Sylvain or Jeanette who comes in her own a sturdy gift box. Or for something more interactive how about a handmade wooden hutch from Ostheimer with some wooden bunnies and a bag of hay.

4. Moshi Monsters Moshlings Treehouse vs Maileg Mouse House

The Moshi Monsters Moshlings Treehouse (£20) is a plastic moulded tree which opens up to reveal a place to play with and store your Moshlings (small plastic collectible things, I think). Maileg make two homes for mice. There is a wooden home (£35) fashioned on a cheese which also includes some furnishings and a little bell on the doorway*, or there is a much larger sturdy cardboard home based on a milk carton (£43). It might be nice to buy some mice to live in the house too - how about these little babies that come in their own matchbox bed with blanket? (£20)

(*Sorry I have sold out of wooden mouse houses.)

5. Let's Rock Elmo vs Moulin Roty Orchestra in a Bag

'Rock out' with Let's Rock Elmo (£69.99) - a plush toy who sings and comes with his own plastic drums and tambourine, or play percussion with Moulin Roty's Orchestra in a Bag (£73) - a cloth carry case full of eight traditional wooden instruments including xylophone, tambourine, bells, and whistle. Either way, it's not going to be a peaceful Christmas!

The ducks are famous!

2011-11-20T16:42:00.004Z

Wonderful news - my runner ducks are on a Christmas card!

Catherine over at Bumpkin Bears has featured them on one of her lovely hand made Christmas cards.

I feel like a proud mum and have treated the famous trio to fresh tomato, peas and a lovely deep layer of hay in the duck house.

Well done ducks! (And thank you Catherine.)

Once upon a time there was a mouse...

2011-11-13T11:17:00.007Z

Those of you who read our Facebook page will have already heard about this - we have had an adventure with a real life mouse!

(This is not the Real Life Mouse, this is an actor)

Friday afternoon, and my other half turned up in the office doorway with a tiny, drenched, barely moving baby mouse he had rescued from the cat. It didn't look too hopeful, but I popped the little chap into a box with some of Humphrey's hay and placed it next to the heater under the desk. He was so, so tiny. Half the size of my little finger.

Over the next few of hours the little mouse brightened up considerably! He dried out and started to move around in his box. He had a bit of a problem with a back leg, but otherwise seemed pretty fast and agile. It was hard to catch him, even in the little box. I was delighted - it looked like he was going to make it!

I toyed with letting him out into the garden that night, but it was torrential rain and pretty cold. I decided to keep him in his box over night and release him the next morning. I added a handful of rabbit food, a bit of chocolate, some leaves, a cotton reel table and a tea set water bowl to his box. (I admit I also dreamed about keeping him as a Cottontails pet, but knew this wouldn't be a happy life for a wild mouse, so the next morning was to be 'release day'.)

The next morning. I gingerly poked about in the hay looking for the little chap but there was no movement or scrabbling. My heart sank when I thought he might have died, but I couldn't find him anywhere. And then I spotted a tiny round hole in the corner of the box. HE HAD ESCAPED!

(Angel Mouse could barely fit her nose through the escape hole)

I was happy he was clearly alive and well and full of beans if he had managed to stage an escape, but not so happy at the thought that somewhere in my office, rammed to rafters with expensive toys, lived a tiny nibbling creature.

Not long afterwards I noticed the phone wasn't working. The cable had been chewed. Oh dear.

Well... I don't really have a conclusion to this story as to be honest I don't know if he is still here or not. I spent the whole day spring cleaning and emptying every little cubby hole in the office. A couple of times I thought I heard a scrabbling sound under the packing table over by the door (when Humphrey - the usual creator of scrabbles - was asleep at the other end of the office) and I had the door open all day. I am hoping he has made his way back into the big wide world.

But I don't know. After all, if I was a mouse who happened up this office, complete with Mouse Houses, mouse furniture, mouse beds and a ready supply of fresh bunny food throughout the day, well I might be tempted to stay....!

The Grand Family grand day out

2011-10-28T10:52:00.011+01:00

Last week we had an afternoon out at Westonbirt Arboretum (where they are filming this season's Autumnwatch). Just for once I took pity on my long suffering other half and didn't take along any fabric animals, but I did take lots of pictures and had a play on Photoshop at the weekend.

So this is the day out we would have had, had I been able to sneak the entire Moulin Roty Grand Family range into my handbag....

The Cottontails Grand Family Grand Day Out
An afternoon at Westonbirt

Philemon Pig, Jeanne Goose and Perlette frog love the autumn leaves and colours

Arsene the squirrel in his element - so many trees to scamper up!

Igor and Albert prove that a wolf and a lamb can play nicely together

Apolline mole wore her pretty but impractical summer dress

Nini and I have a little sit down...

...while some of the others are more energetic!

"No Amedee, you must NOT waddle off without permission."

Carrot cake for afternoon tea!

The perfect family day out.

Competition - Name that Biscuit!

2011-10-10T18:08:00.009+01:00

(3rd November update: And the winner is....... Sharon Peters! Well done Sharon, I will email you now...)

I think it's about time for another Cottontails competition, and this is a fun one - to take part all you have to do is identify some classic British biscuits!

The prize is a lovely children's apron kindly donated by Caron at English Eclectics (a new brand at Cottontails) and a coordinating Moulin Roty soft toy - the winner will be able to choose from a pretty duck egg blue apron and a 20cm Jeanne Goose or a natural doggy print apron with a 20cm Julius dog - total prize value £39!

Have a look at the five yummy biscuits pictured below and see if you can work out what the biscuits are - they are all well known family favourites - then simply send me an email to enquiries@cottontailsbaby.co.uk with your list of biscuits.

Number 1 - a creamy sandwich biscuit

Number 2 - mmmm, chocolate!

Number 3 - quite a mouthful

Number 4 - a simple biscuit, and my favourite

Number 5 - an absolute classic

All the correct answers will go into a hat and I'll pick a winner on the 31st October.

We have a selection of Caron's lovely children's baking accessories on the website here, or you can visit her own website for mummy sized aprons and home accessories too.

Please do tell your friends about the competition, it would be nice to have a lot of people playing Name That Biscuit!

And finally, it would be nice if you would like to leave a comment to say you've taken part, but please don't give away the biscuit names in your comment.

Enjoy!

Me, a bit of history and how (not to) open a shop

2011-10-08T14:26:00.010+01:00

I get asked quite a lot about how Cottontails 'came to be', so I thought I'd write a little bit about my story...

I have worked in retail since I left college, never anything managerial or anything just normal shop work. To be honest it was the only thing I knew to do. I had a degree in Sociology but that didn't exactly lead to an obvious career, and I didn't have much confidence. Besides, I always liked working in shops and was quite good at it, 'good with people' as they say.

(In fact maybe the story goes back even further - as a little girl my favourite games always involved playing shops. I am an only child and my long suffering mother must have spent years being my only customer!)

I worked in a few shops but my favourite shop was definitely Waterstones where I worked for a few years as a bookseller. I ran the children's department at Stratford upon Avon for quite a while and loved that.

But about 10 years ago I started to get itchy feet and wanted to try something else. I tried a few office things but wasn't happy. I despaired of myself at the time, but looking back now maybe some of it did have a purpose - for example I worked part time at a little design agency and also spent 12 months teaching myself web design - both of those things are really useful today.

Around the same time someone I knew opened a little shop selling second hand films and music. Not my kind of thing at all but I helped out there some times, and I guess more than anything it made me realise that opening a shop was possible.

In 2002, feeling more lost than ever, I decided to give it a go. I had about £1000 in savings and put together a business plan to get a bank loan for the rest. My full start up budget was £10,000. (I extended the loan a couple of years later and am still paying the damn thing off today...)

At first I was going to open a nice bedding and bathing gift shop with a nursery section and looked for premises in lots of small market towns, but when I eventually found a nice empty shop in Pershore there were too many 'general' gift shops already there. As such I amended my plans - took the nursery element of the original plan and added baby and children's clothes.

We opened in 2003, but to be honest I had a pretty appalling first year. The relationship I was in broke up, I was a mess and not really coping. I didn't know if the shop was a blessing or a curse but at least it kept me going.

For the next six years Cottontails traded at 60, High Street, Pershore. My mum worked in the shop with me (often more than me!) and we sold mainly baby clothes and some gifts and toys. I started selling surplus stock on eBay and in 2005 I launched the website to sit along side the high street shop.

And it's about here that Cottontails started to look more like the business it is today. The toys sold really well on the website - much better than the clothes. I was selling a lot of Moulin Roty toys - remember this was only 2005, the internet was a lot less saturated.

Over the next few years it became clear that the shop was barely supporting itself / losing money whereas the website was (a bit) more successful. Early in 2009 I took the decision to close the shop and focus my energies online. At the same time I took a p/t evening job as a receptionist to help pay off a massive VAT bill (a nightmare story - guess who crossed the threshold without realising and had two years of back pay to find) and bring in a little extra cash.

For a short while I worked from my home in Pershore, then in Summer 2009 moved over to Herefordshire to move in with my partner Mike. He works from home too (he is a cider maker - www.henneys.co.uk) and didn't really fancy sharing a working space with me (not to mention my enormous stock of soft toys), so the office in the garden was built and that is where I work today.

I don't have any storage facilities apart from the office which is packed to rafters with toys, and some space in the garage for the big items, and I don't have an IT department or a marketing department or anything like that. Oh what a dream that would be! But it is a lovely space, and although it has its challenges and I miss people, it's nice to work from home. Also I am able to 'use' the garden and the surrounding countryside for inspiration. Since moving here, Cottontails has become a lot more interested in nature!

I work on my own apart from Humphrey. He is my rabbit, who I have had since 2004 and who I love to bits. He is a house rabbit but I carry him over to the office every morning and he mainly hangs out under the desk. Every so often he hops out to try and nibble something. He is also a huge inspiration. Rabbits have been a passion of mine all my life and I think that is obvious in Cottontails.

There are some people who support me though and who are a big part of Cottontails:

My mum, who was there from the beginning, picking up the pieces when I was falling apart during the first year of Cottontails and quickly pretty much managing the shop, even though just weeks beforehand she had been terrified of using the till. What a star. These days she still helps out in the busy few weeks before Christmas.

Tamsin - who has been my web designer since day one. I knew her as the woman behind Rabbit Rehome - a website she had set up to help rescue rabbits - and emailed to see if she would help with Cottontails. We have never met! We do everything by email and she is amazing for general technical support too.

And, more recently, Kaitie at Leaff Design, who has just worked with me on my first catalogue for Cottontails. She has been lovely to work with, has really 'got' the Cottontails brand and it has been an absolute pleasure to have help with something. I am so used to having to do everything myself - it has been such a novelty to have someone quietly getting on with something in the background.

As for the future, well sales are growing steadily each year which is something given the current economic climate (although believe me, it continues to be a bit of a struggle financially) and my plans for the future definitely include more handmade and ethically produced toys. I dream of making some toys of my own too... it might happen.

Finally, I get asked a lot specifically how I set up the website, how I find stock, how I manage the marketing. Well I don't want to give all my secrets away and obviously things have evolved for me over nearly 10 years, but here is a quick general guide - and honestly, anyone can do this.

1. Probably do not open a high street shop!
2. Look at other websites / shops for brands you like
3. Work up a brand and proposition for yourself - a name, look, feel, make a mood board, logo. put a little creative proposition together to take to potential suppliers
4. Contact the manufacturers directly - ask if they supply wholesale
5. Also go to trade fairs to source stock from bigger suppliers - they are free to attend if you register as a potential business. Top Drawer is my favourite.
6. Start selling on market places like eBay - save any email addresses of your customers to make a database
7. Based on your eBay sales decide on one or two areas or brands to do really well - to be really good at - it could be a brand (like Moulin Roty) or an area (like toy rabbits!)
8. Get your own website designed - I can't recommend Tamsin enough for this, she is friendly and reasonable
9. Email your database to promote your website
8. Use Google adwords to drive traffic to your website for the specific things you do well in
9. Use Twitter, Facebook and a Blog to promote
10. And, well, that's it really!

Of course there are hundreds of details to think about, but this is the essence of it really.

If anyone has any questions, do email me - I am no super businesswoman and will never be a millionaire but somehow, amid the personal crises and mistakes, I seem to have created something that just about works and I am happy to share any experiences and help anyone.

Amedee and the Runner Ducks

2011-09-06T14:17:00.006+01:00

We have recently acquired three runner ducklings. Well, I say ducklings, they are eight weeks old now and pretty much fully grown. They are beautiful.

They live at the farm we are moving to and we go down twice a day to feed, water and visit them.

We will be digging them a pond soon, but for now they are splashing around in washing up bowls. Apparently this is all they need, but having seen how much they love to play in the water (not to mention the dreadful mess they make!) a pond is now a must.

Of course they are not my first ducks. Amedee duck has been here at Cottontails for many years now. And last week I decided it was time for him to meet his feathered family...

The runner ducks were a little unsure of Amedee - I don't think they have seen a duck in dungarees before? But I will take him down for regular visits and I'm sure they will all be splashing around together very soon.

So watch this space for many more duck stories..........

One summer evening

2011-08-25T11:50:00.004+01:00

The wheat has been harvested from the meadow behind the garden and the trees are heavy with apples. So last night I took Amedee duck and Jeanne goose outside to enjoy a lazy end of summer evening...

(stretch!)

("Hurry up Jeanne, my legs are going...")

Next door's hen

2011-08-22T14:08:00.002+01:00

A few months back some chickens appeared next door. I love chickens and had high hopes that, given time, they might start to wander into our garden... and they have.

One chicken in particular is very brave and has made herself right at home.

Here she is knocking at Cottontails door:

Sometimes she even comes in and sunbathes on the carpet.

And Felicie hen is very pleased to have a new friend...

I am hoping that given time she might become yet another useful member of the Cottontails team. Perhaps she could start by writing a review of our handmade wooden hen house and little felt hens?

But in the meantime she seems content just to dig holes everywhere. Particularly in the Cottontails Kitchen Garden. Hmmm. Naughty hen.

The marvelous Maileg mice...

2011-08-16T11:42:00.003+01:00

I am constantly amazed by the ingenuity my Maileg mice...

Last week they were reading the daily paper...

...when something caught their attention.

Next thing I knew they were busy tearing and folding...

...and before I could say 'cheese' they had made themselves a new set of furniture

Amazing!

(Factual note: the mouse furniture is actually made of lovely printed fabric and is available at Cottontails here - but the story was nice eh!)

Nini goes to the seaside

2011-08-08T11:12:00.006+01:00

Not many people know this but mice love the sea.

So guess who sneaked into my overnight bag when we went down to Lyme Regis for a couple of days?

Yes, Nini mouse came along too....

The Stowaway

View from the B&B - Nini spots the sea!

A nice comfy bed

Playing on the beach

A spot of window shopping

Nini's favourite shop

A bit scary for a little mouse...

Even mice like to reflect on life while gazing out to sea...

Lyme Regis is a very pretty seaside town with two lovely beaches (sandy and pebble) and lots of little shops. We even found a shop selling Nini's cousins!

And our B & B was very comfy and quiet although unfortunately Nini was unable to join us for breakfast - for some reason Mike seemed curiously short tempered whenever I suggested it.

But all in all we had a lovely time and Nini is now flicking through brochures for the South of France for 2012 - she understands the weather and the cheese is very good over there.

Catching up in the garden... and on the farm

2011-08-02T14:37:00.006+01:00

I'm a bit behind in the Cottontails garden this year so I thought I'd better enlist some help. And who better than Apolline the mole - with those big digging paws she doesn't even need to use a shovel!

Even with Apolline's help the Cottontails garden is on the verge of becoming a bit of a jungle at the moment so I am too ashamed to capture it on camera. But here are a couple of pics from earlier in the summer, when it all looked pretty neat.

So, why am I so behind? Well there is some Big News afoot at Cottontails - we are soon to be on the move to a small farm!

As it is we have already taken over taking care of the land and veggie gardens, so instead of one small patch to maintain, I find myself with rather more...

For example, the strawberry patch:

And the, erm, wilderness patch:

And believe me there is much more. I am starting to feel quite alarmed at the prospect of harvest and am going to need a whole team of Apollines I think.

We won't be moving in for a few months so the whole thing is going to happen pretty gradually, but I will start posting about the farm over the coming weeks to introduce you to Cottontails new home to be.

Baking and the Bromyard Gala

2011-07-03T11:48:00.010+01:00

This weekend was the Bromyard Gala - our local country show, and for the second year running I entered some cakes and jam in their Handicrafts and Produce Show.

Also for the second year running I missed the entry deadline, entered late, entered too many classes and left everything rather late in the day. I have decided that this kind of thing is part of my character.

In fact I had attempted to plan things so that this wouldn't happen. The plan was to go shopping for ingredients on the Thursday evening, then take Friday off work for a lovely relaxed day of baking. Additionally my mum had volunteered to make a couple jams for me which she was to drop off on the Friday. Perfect.

I had entered the following classes, along with a couple of jams. An ambitious list but I had my plan and felt certain all would be well.

Things started to go awry on the Thursday evening, I had had such a busy week at Cottontails (end of the sale) that I was terribly behind and still packing parcels into the evening. Never mind, I thought, I'll work late and get everything finished, shop early tomorrow. It will be fine.

I worked until 10 but still had many, many parcels and emails to attend to. And at some point in the evening my mother called to tell me she had had a jam disaster. So no jam. Never mind, I thought, I'll get up early in the morning to finish things off, then I can go shopping, be home and baking by 11. I can make the jam in the evening. It will still be fine.

The next morning I failed to get up early. But was in the office by 9 and working like the fury. I had gravely underestimated the work still left to do and lunchtime came and went. In fact it was well after 2 by the time I left the office - and I still had the post office run to do. I was starting to think things might not be fine.

About an hour to source recipes, plan the shopping list and measure cake tins (none of the right size, obviously) then I hared off into Ledbury. Two trips to the post office, a quick dash to the cook shop and finally I started the grocery shopping. I arrived home just before 5pm, sat on the sofa for 10 minutes with my head in my hands, then girded myself, donned my apron and began.

It was 3am when I finally took the apron off, and the evening had not passed without its challenges - a cremated Dundee Cake prompted a 9pm dash to the Co-op for more ingredients and there was a tearful moment in the small hours when the strawberry jam failed to 'wrinkle' after about 40 minutes of the cold plate / teaspoon of jam nonsense.

But I did it. Okay the strawberry jam was liquid, I gave up entirely on the Granola Bars and there is still a massive charcoal encrusted Dundee Cake sitting in the kitchen, but by 3am I had my the entries complete, put a bemused-looking Humphrey to bed, and fell asleep happy.

So, drum roll please...................

Success! I was absolutely chuffed to bits - and genuinely surprised - to win four prizes. In fact, I came second over all and within a whisker of the challenge cup. Delighted!

ps. I am now trying to decide whether to retire gracefully or go for the cup next year...!

End of the Spring Sale

2011-06-24T10:12:00.006+01:00

The spring sale has been running for a month now, and - at the risk of sounding like a furniture advert - It Must End Soon! After all, apparently it isn't even spring now, it is summer... *peering out of window at rain*

I've just added lots more items to the sale in my usual haphazard fashion - oh how I wish I had a proper reporting system that would tell me what to reduce and by how much. As it is I glance down my inventory, furrow my brow and, well, guess.

So, to recap, we are having a sale with lots of lovely things at lovely prices. Do come!

Springwatch at Cottontails - part 3

2011-06-16T19:39:00.004+01:00

Welcome back to our third and final part of Springwatch at Cottontails hosted by our three long eared presenters Rabbit Packham, Bunny Humble and Martin Hughes-Carrots.

First up tonight, let's have a look at what has been happening in Nest Box 1...

And now, at long last, we would like to introduce you to our guest naturalist Charlie Haymunching-Jaws who has been investigating the controversial reintroduction of dragons into the British countryside:

That's all we have time for for now (I really must get back to doing some proper work!) but thanks for watching and who knows, maybe we'll be back in the Autumn...!

Springwatch at Cottontails - part 2

2011-06-09T22:35:00.004+01:00

Welcome back to Springwatch at Cottontails - where rabbits are far more than just a furry meal.

Today our three presenters, Rabbit Packham, Bunny Humble and Martin Hughes-Carrots, will be reporting on life in our mouse's nest.

But first, here is Bunny Humble with a quick update on Nest Box 1.

And now it's time to see what has been happening over on Mouse-Cam...

And that's it for today, but do tune in next time when we will be introducing our guest naturalist, Charlie Haymunching-Jaws.

In the meantime thank you all for your comments and please do get in touch with any photographs or footage of what is happening in the countryside near you. See you next time!

Springwatch at Cottontails

2011-06-06T14:42:00.010+01:00

I am a massive fan of Springwatch and have been in my element since the new series started last week, but if there is one thing I don't like, it's the fact that rabbits only ever seem to feature as furry suppers at the bottom of raptors' nests :(

So I have decide to make a Cottontails version of Springwatch, where bunnies have a rather more significant role to play!

So, welcome to 'Springwatch at Cottontails', a series of blog posts which will run throughout June to follow the adventures of some of our local wildlife.

Here are our opening credits where you will get a glimpse at our three rabbity presenters:

And here they are on the Springwatch sofa - meet Rabbit Packham, Bunny Humble and Martin Hughes-Carrots:

Using state of the art technology we have set up cameras in several key locations around the garden including Next Box 1, Pampas-Cam and Mouse-Cam.

Here is Bunny Humble outside our first location, Nest Box 1:

And here is Rabbit Packham checking out camera at our Pampas-Cam site:

But to kick things off this week, Martin Hughes-Carrots has been down to visit Mouse-Cam and see what is happening with some of these favourite Springwatch residents...

It looks like we have selected a good location amongst the logs - Martin quickly spotted evidence of mouse occupation:

And it wasn't long before we were able to film this footage:

What a lovely creature! Mice are of course well known for their reticence in front of the camera, but Martin will be spending plenty of time monitoring Mouse-Cam and we hope to bring you lots more footage later in the week.

Well, that's it for our first installment of 'Springwatch at Cottontails' - but stay tuned for regular updates and stories over the next few days, including a report from a guest naturalist on the controversial project trialling the reintroduction of dragons to the bottom of the garden...

Thanks for joining us!

Rabbit Awareness Week: An interview with Humphrey

2011-05-26T10:41:00.013+01:00

You may have noticed that there have been quite a few rabbits in the news this week? I am a massive rabbit fan (just in case anyone reading this hasn't realised that yet!) and as such I keep getting texts and calls from friends to say 'they're talking about rabbits on Radio 2 today' and so on...

The reason for all this media interest is that it is Rabbit Awareness Week, an annual effort to raise awareness of these lovely creatures and what it is they need to be happy and healthy.

The sad fact is that many people still think it is okay to keep a bunny on his own in a hutch at the bottom of the garden. No, no, no! Bunnies are intelligent, active, curious, social creatures. They need to be able to run and jump, they desperately need company and things to do. It is so, so cruel and unfair to keep a rabbit alone, in a small hutch. I feel physically sick when I see the size of some of the small hutches sold in pet shops - a rabbit couldn't even stand up on his hind legs.

Have a look at this video. I watched it for the first time last night and it really stopped me in my tracks - just imagine what life is like for a bunny alone in a hutch, and then think what it could be like if that same bunny had a companion and some space to run around.

Those of you who read this blog regularly will know all about Humphrey, my lovely house rabbit who 'helps' me run Cottontails. He really does have a happy life. He is a house rabbit, but with regular access to the garden. He is never caged (it is perfectly possible to litter train bunnies) and although he doesn't have a rabbit companion he is closely bonded with me. He is in the office with me every day, in the sitting room every night. He lives a charmed life!

And we are very grateful to Humphrey for taking some time out of his busy bunny schedule to give us this interview and share some of his thoughts on rabbit care...

Cottontails: Humphrey, please tell us about your accommodation.

Humphrey: My main place of residence is the top floor landing where I have a big blanket, a litter tray and a willow cottage to sleep in. I am free to run around the house but I don't like to go down stairs any more, I used to when I was a young buck but these days I prefer to chill out in my own space.

Cottontails: And what about your work place?

Humphrey: I work out in the Cottontails office every day where I have another litter tray. I am free to wander around the office but mostly sleep under the desk.

Cottontails: Do you ever go outside?

Humphrey: Oh yes, I love the great outdoors. I have two runs in the garden - one just outside the office and one over by the vegetable patch. And sometimes I run around the whole garden but that is a rare treat saved for weekends when mummy can chase after me.

Cottontails: What do you like to eat?

Humphrey: I eat a dried pelleted food, lots of dark green leafy salad, carrots, herbs and celery. I also eat a lot of hay - for us bunnies hay is a bit like you humans eating your five a day. It's very good for me. Mummy has recently ordered some lovely Timothy Hay from The Willow Warren. I love it, it's far nicer then the dusty stuff in petshops. I used to have the odd but of toast, biscuit and at Christmas I was allowed some bits of mince pie, but then I got poorly so now I am only allowed rabbit treats. At the moment I am really enjoying a small branch of apple tree every day.

Cottontails: Humphrey, you are a bachelor. Have you ever been married?

Humphrey: I did have a wife for about six months but married life didn't really suit me. Mummy took me along to a rescue center so I could go on some dates and choose my own girlfriend - I met some very feisty women! - eventually I settled for a little lop-eared doe called Emily and we came home together, but to be honest I wasn't happy. We didn't fight or anything, but I became quite withdrawn and chose to live downstairs by myself most of the time. Eventually mummy divorced us and I was much happier just to see Emily from time to time. Sadly she passed away after less than a year with us. I also used to spend time with mummy's other two bunnies, Cassie and Bart (both sadly passed away now). We quite liked to lie next to each other but with the bars of the run between us, and occasionally mummy would let us run around together but it was always a bit chaotic. To be honest I am very
bonded with mummy and we spend a lot of time together.

Cottontails: How is your health?

Humphrey: Pretty good. My digestion is good because I eat up my hay, and I am lucky to have good teeth. I have vaccinations twice a year against myxi and VHD so there's no danger of me getting those nasty infections. I have an excellent rabbit vet - Andy Barwise at de Montfort Veterinary Hospital in Evesham. We live in Herefordshire now so quite a way away but we still travel back to see Andy because he is a rabbit expert. A couple of years ago one of their vet nurses, Nicky, organised a Rabbit Awareness Day and I went along as a star guest!

Cottontails: Do you go on holiday?

Humphrey: Yes. I usually go to stay with my Aunty Diane at Hoppy Holidays. It's lovely there, Diane looks after me very well with plenty of spa treatments and massage (cuddles and strokes) and it's all inclusive with delicious food.

Cottontails: Tell us about your typical day...

Humphrey: Around dawn I wake up and bang my food bowl about a bit, sometimes I race around the bedrooms on the top floor. After a long and boring wait mummy will eventually get up and she brings me out to the office, gives me breakfast and we start work for the day. I have the job title of 'Floor Manager' in the office, seeing as I am based, erm, near to the floor. I am in charge of marketing and frequently feature in blogs and on the Cottontails face book page, and I often help with unpacking boxes too. I love to shred cardboard. If the weather is fine I will sometimes go out into my run for a while, I quite like to snooze in the sun and eat daisies. In the evening mummy carries me into the sitting room where I have supper and mooch about a bit, then chill out between an armchair and the radiator. I usually spend a good hour on mummy's lap. (Last night we watched The Apprentice together.) At bedtime I am taken up to my landing spot and given some supper and an apple branch to nibble on during the night.

Cottontails: And finally Humphrey, what would you say a bunny needs to be happy?

Humphrey: Space to run around with safe places to hide, companionship with either another bunny or a human, a nice diet with lots of hay, plenty of things to do - boxes to shred, branches to nibble, regular health check-ups and vaccinations. Lots of affection but also lots of respect - we bunnies are quite proud little creatures, and even though I love cuddles a lot of bunnies would prefer to be stroked on the ground and don't much like being picked up a lot. And finally organic carrots with tops on. Preferably from Waitrose.

Cottontails: Thank you Humphrey

Humphrey: You are welcome. And that will be my standard £500 interview fee please.

Awkward silence
End of interview

Tilley Printing

2011-05-23T11:16:00.010+01:00

We have a lovely new range of stationery at Cottontails, something that has evolved almost by accident following a chance discovery of an amazing letterpress printers in Ledbury.

Here are our beautiful new tags:

And here is how they came about...

I'm embarrassed to admit that for some time I had been printing my own stationery (and believe me, the products of a pretty basic £50 desktop printer are hardly what you would call professional).

'Sort new stationery' had been on my to-do list for well over 12 months when I spotted this lovely looking sign at the entrance to an alleyway in Ledbury.

At first I thought what a gorgeous vintage design. It wasn't until I'd had my first visit to Tilley Printing that I realised it wasn't just vintage by design - this was the real thing. Note the old fashioned phone number on the sign. I honestly don't think much has changed at Tilley's for, oh, 50 years?

It is a truly authentic letterpress printers, and stepping through the doors (at the bottom of an alley, through a yard, up some steps) is like traveling back in time. I was perplexed when I first arrived - I guess I was expecting something digital and 'ordinary' but believe me there is nothing digital about life at Tilley's - it doesn't even have an email address.

I had pitched up with a vague idea of having some sheets of pretty labels printed and rummaged in my bag for some samples. Martin, the owner, frowned and said he didn't really do that kind of colour. Or labels. 'You could use some paste.' he suggested. I peered past him at the dusty space, dominated by the vast black printing machines, and suspected I was in the wrong place.

But Martin is a charming man. He offered me a tour of the premises and a cup of coffee, and in the half an hour which followed I went from mild panic and a silent plan to leg-it to the nearest branch of 'Pronta-Print' to a feeling of genuine excitement about creating a really special range of stationery. Nothing fancy or colourful but something I couldn't even have imagined before my visit to Tilley's - something authentic, hand-pressed, crafted and simple.

Over the next few weeks we looked at beautiful paper stock, from hand torn Italian to chunky cardboard usually used as the backing for notepads, and settled on a range of natural craft 'luggage tags'. I re-drew my bunny logo in pen and ink and Martin arranged for an engraving to be made.

We worked on lettering, fonts, layout and colour. There was much rifling through tray upon tray of letter blocks, and whilst we eventually settled on a plain black colour, there was an interesting diversion while Martin mixed pots of paints to create a sample of a biscuit colour. He even went out and bought digestives to work from! And everything was done in person, over coffee. What a wonderful change of pace and genuine pleasure not to be able to email proofs and amends.

I am thrilled to bits with the results and love filling in the inventory forms (what's in the parcel) when I send out my orders.

So far I have compliment slips, 'to and from' tags, tags to use on a new 'Bunny Box' product (coming soon!) and the beautiful inventory sheets. But I am sure there will be many more beautiful stationery items to come, and we are even looking at creating a range of Cottontails greetings cards.

Below are some more photographs of this truly amazing printers. And for anyone local to Ledbury, I will put the contact details at the end.

Tilley Printing
Tilley's Alley
High Street
Ledbury
HR8 1DS
Telephone - 01531 632750

Rabbits on Holiday... Part 2

2011-04-28T15:50:00.019+01:00

As promised, here are a few behind the scenes photographs from The Rabbits go to Center Parcs film - including pics from a roller-skating scene which I deleted due to some very dodgy photoshopping (not to mention my, erm, inelegant performance).

Isobel takes a break from quad-biking for a pep-talk with Daniel:

It starts to become clear that Sylvain's bicycle is a touch on the big side...

My first time on roller-skates in, gosh, 25 years? And things don't start too badly:

Look, I'm not even holding on to anything!

But then...

And have you ever tried to stand up while wearing wheels on your feet? Well at least Mike was there on the sidelines with a few encouraging words (ahem) - and the camera to catch the occasion.

Anyway, having recovered myself...

Back at home I had great fun trying to recreate Center Parcs amazing world of swimming pools and water fun... with just the utility room sink, a cut up IKEA bag and some rocks from the garden. (Take note Center Parcs planners, it doesn't need to be complicated!)

And here is little Daniel drying out in the sun after his swim

And finally, here's where I filmed the credits:

Obviously I am expecting a call from Hollywood at any moment.... :)

Rabbits on holiday... Part 1

2011-04-26T16:14:00.009+01:00

Last week Mike, Isobel and I headed off to Center Parcs for a short holiday, and I just couldn't resist taking along a couple of Cottontails creatures...

So, squeezed into a car full of luggage, bicycles and four days worth of groceries were a couple of very excited soft toy bunnies - little Daniel from Maileg, chosen for his practical, outdoorsy clothing (perfect for Center Parcs) and dear old Sylvain rabbit as I thought it would be wise to take along a more mature bunny to keep an eye on little Daniel.

(As you can imagine, my long-suffering other half was delighted to discover the extra guests - but at least we had Isobel, aged 10, with us this time which meant less grown-man-posing-with-toy-rabbit scenarios for him.)

I have made a little film of the bunnies' adventures here:

Or you can view it on YouTube here along with some of our other cinematic masterpieces...

I hope you enjoy it, and I will publish some behind the scenes photos in the next blog post.

xx

Humphrey at work

2011-03-28T14:34:00.006+01:00

I'm having a bit of a 'photographic spring clean' today - transferring images from the camera to the lap top, doing a bit of editing - and I came across some lovely pictures of Humphrey taken a few weeks ago.

He hasn't had a post of his own for a while, so I thought it would be nice to share the photographs with you.

So here he is, hard at work in the office. As you can see, it is a hard life as manager on the 'shop floor'...

(Spot the ~~box nibbling~~ packaging modification in the last photo!)

The Monster Parsnip

2011-03-22T12:19:00.003Z

I finally decided it was time to dust off the gardening gloves and head back into the Cottontails garden yesterday.

I'm afraid it's been more or less ignored since I wrote my last post here in October and it is in a bit of a sorry state.

But clearly some activity has been happening out there over the winter as something rather massive was just poking out through the earth...

An extraordinarily large parsnip!

Anyway, massive root vegetables aside, I made good progress by weeding and digging over the herb / salad bed.

No sign of the 'overwintering' peas and beans that I planted in October. Should they be shooting up by now?

Will try and do a bit more later today, and in the meantime any recipes for a monster parsnip would be gratefully received...

New bun on the block

2011-03-19T13:59:00.005Z

A lovely, sunny March Saturday.

A perfect day, thought Humphrey, for enjoying some fresh air in the garden.

But hang on a minute - who on earth is that?

Why, it's one of the new En Gry and Sif felt bunnies!

(Coming soon to the website - while Humphrey enjoys an afternoon in the sun, I am diligently photographing and uploading new stock - should all be 'live' next week.)

New bunny fabric accessories

2011-03-18T17:26:00.002Z

Just a very quick post - a sort of a teaser because I just wanted to share a glimpse of a new range of fabric accessories that have just arrived at Cottontails.

Isn't it gorgeous?

I have been doing the photography today so this lovely lavender cushion, along with a LOT of other new stock will be appearing on the website next week.

The Bun Blog Pledge - part 2

2011-03-01T10:36:00.005Z

As planned, Ms Rabbit - the ambassador for the No Cruel Cosmetics campaign who is visiting us at Cottontails - has been rifling through my cosmetics bag to highlight some cruelty free brands.

She was very pleased to find lots of lovely Dr Haushka stuff. They are my very favourite - for bathing, skin care, make up, the lot. They are a genuinely lovely company (I visited their UK base for a biodynamic farming day last year). Nothing they produce is harmful to animals.

She was pleased to find Jason shampoo and conditioner:

And these goodies are from a cruelty free local producer called Skinny Dip - my friend bought me some for Christmas, they're lovely.

She also found lots of other things from the Co-op and Marks & Spencers - they are the two big name retailers whose cosmetics (and household products) are not tested on animals. It's such a relief to me as it means I can pick up essentials like washing up liquid, soap and so on without having to plan to visit any specialist shops.

But when I do have time and want to indulge myself though I visit The Apothecary Shop in Ledbury - they sell loads of lovely cruelty free brands, and shopping there is a real pleasure.

Finally, Ms Rabbit was delighted to find a big box of cruelty free soap in the Cottontails office. We buy mini soaps from Sara at Mitcheldean Soap to put in with our some of our orders. (And the bonus is that they make the office smell divine!)

Ms Rabbit will be traveling on to her next stop soon. Don't forget to leave a comment if you would like her to come and stay...

The Bun Blog Pledge

2011-02-23T10:20:00.006Z

It's a happy day at Cottontails today because I am taking The Bun Blog Pledge - and we have a very special guest to stay.

I'd like to introduce you to Ms Rabbit - the beautiful pink and white cardboard bunny who is currently making her way around Blogland to promote a very important cause.

Ms Rabbit is an ambassador for the BUAV's No Cruel Cosmetics campaign and I first heard of her a few weeks ago over on Annette's blog at The Dragon House of Yuen. I love rabbits, am passionate about animal welfare, and am always careful to buy cosmetics and household products that aren't tested on animals - so it is a pleasure to be able to host Ms Rabbit, have a bit of fun, but also to raise awareness of an important campaign.

She arrived today, a little tired from her long journey down from Scotland where she had been staying with the Crafty Green Poet, but after a reviving cup of tea and a chocolate eclair she was ready to get down to business.

We had quite a little crowd assembled to meet her and hear her talk about the campaign. It is, after all, a subject dear to a rabbit's heart.

Humphrey gave a welcoming speech, then Ms Rabbit stepped up to say a few words.

Ms Rabbit introduced us to the BUAV - that is a British Union for Abolition of Vivisection - and told us about their campaign to end animal testing in the cosmetics industry.

She told us about the campaign to date and how, after tireless campaigning, all animal testing for cosmetics was banned in the EU in 2009. All the rabbits cheered at this point...

But then she told us that currently it is still legal for cosmetics tested on animals in non-EU countries to be sold in Europe. The rabbits sighed and shook their heads sadly.

This was due to be stopped in 2013 - the final phase of the ban - but some in the cosmetic industries now want to see this deadline delayed. And if they get their way, it could mean 10 more years of needless suffering for rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and rats across the world.

But there is something we can do. Ms Rabbit told us all about a petition where we can say NO to any further delays and NO to cruel cosmetics in Europe. So please, if you have a moment, and want to see this needless suffering end, pop over and sign the petition here.

And then she told us to make sure we only buy cosmetics that haven't been tested on animals - for example products which carry the BUAV leaping bunny logo.

Tomorrow she and Humphrey are going to be rifling through my make-up bag and I'll tell you what brands and products she finds...

In the meantime, I'm sure Ms Rabbit would love to hear of any future hosts who would like to have her come to stay. Her needs are quite simple:

-she needs tea and biscuits (and eclairs)
-she likes to have her photo taken and to be blogged about
-she asks that you put the 'Bun Blog Pledge' badge onto the side of your blog
-and that you please sign the petition

(and she'll probably want to go through your make up bag too)

More from me and Ms Rabbit tomorrow...

Little houses

2011-02-21T12:32:00.009Z

I love little things, miniature things. There is something magical and fascinating about things on a small scale. I don't know, but perhaps this is why I sell toys?

And one of my obsessions is tiny houses. From the tiny little homes for mice that I sell at Cottontails, to the wonderful child size play houses that are available these days. Here are some favourites...

I spotted this little creation on someone's blog over a year ago, and have been waiting for a chance to share it. Thank you PomPom for the link. (She is always sharing gorgeous children's illustrations and little treats like this house on her blog - well worth a visit)

The classic Maileg mouse house, always a bestseller at Cottontails, along with the little mice in matchbox who live there:

And this little toadstool house is from En Gry and Sif

And finally, I must tell you about Stone & Watkins play houses - probably the loveliest collection of children's play houses I have ever seen. Just look at these...

They do painted cottages, rustic wooden cottages, tree houses, bespoke designs. And inside there are little staircases, stable doors... Honestly, go and have a look at their website, it'll make you smile.

Vintage toys coming soon...

2011-02-19T17:25:00.003Z

For some time now I have been planning to add a - very small - vintage toy department to Cottontails, and in the corner of the office I have a little 'heap' of the things I have been collecting for about 18 months.

My newest acquisition is this little chap, found in an antique center in Leominster this afternoon...

...Isn't he lovely?

I've probably got nearly enough toys to launch the department very soon, and I'll make sure I write about it on here when I do.

Make your own traditional toy

2011-02-18T15:22:00.007Z

Last week I mentioned I have discovered some lovely new toy making kits for Cottontails.

Emily's Ark, a small company based in Northumberland, design and assemble toy making kits which include everything you need to create your own beautiful soft toy animal (including some truly gorgeous mohair fur).

I have ordered the kits for George the rabbit (or is he a hare? I'm not sure - what do you think?), William the bear and Archie the Aardvark. They should be arriving at Cottontails soon and will sell for about £30.

I plan to have a go at making one up myself (so if I never mention this again, you can assume I have created a dog's dinner...)

Spring Fair visit - French things and lapins

2011-02-09T20:28:00.008Z

It's 8.30pm and I am not long home from the Spring Fair at the NEC. I've had a lovely day and, as usual, have come home brimming with inspiration for Cottontails. It does me so much good to get out there and talk to other people, play with the toys, make connections.

Tired as I am, I thought I'd write up my report on the day while it's all still fresh.

My main reason for visiting was to spend some time on the Moulin Roty stand. I look after their UK website for them, and so often I am trying to write product descriptions by peering at photographs and trying to comprehend a bit of French text, so it's a treat to go and spend some time among the toys - ooh-ing and ah-ing, seeing which bits squeak, which bits rattle and so on.

The stand was as lovely as ever:

The highlight was the new 'Aime & Celeste' range - it is exquisitely French in colour and style.

Also lots more of their 'Pretty Ugly' range (that's the translation of Les Jolis pas Beaux).

There are lots more lovely gardening / nature toys to come too, including a selection of flora and fauna themed rubber and ink stamps. Sorry no photos of those - the samples haven't made it over from France yet.

After a happy hour or so with Moulin Roty I wandered around without much direction, just waiting to see what would catch my eye.

I've ordered some lovely Little Red Riding Hood themed toys from RJB Stone (an unusual move for me - I don't normally order from wholesalers, but the range was so sweet and the price was great. And there were rabbits! Who knew rabbits crept into the Little Red Riding Hood story...)

In terms of existing suppliers, it was lovely to put a face to a name and meet Jane from Snapdragon. I placed a little order and have plenty of embroidered goodies coming to the website soon - including these lovely bunny mirrors in a woolly pouch:

Also I've ordered some gorgeous 'make your own' traditional mohair rabbit kits - which I will tell you about in a separate post.

And finally I discovered a gorgeous French stationary company. Old fashioned school style exercise books, blackboards, chalk and rubbers, simple little colouring kits. Nothing is translated, it is unapologetic in its Frenchness, and I love that.

So lots more lovely things coming soon to Cottontails, and, in the meantime, lots of work for me to do on the Moulin Roty website.

Crafty competition to win £50 worth of toys!

2011-02-04T14:34:00.008Z

Would you like to win £50 worth of Moulin Roty toys? If so then please, please, please take a bit of time to enter a competition we are running along with Moulin Roty...

To enter all you have to do is draw a picture, take a photo, or otherwise create something crafty which features a Moulin Roty toy in an autumn / winter themed setting.

The full details are here on the Moulin Roty website - along with lots of pictures of their lovely toys to inspire you. You don't even have to own a toy as you could just use a product picture on the website as your inspiration.

You can email your entry as an attachment through the Moulin Roty site, or you can send it directly to me at enquiries@cottontailsbaby.co.uk

It's really worth having a go - we've only had a couple of entries so far so £50 worth of toys really is very much 'up for grabs'!

Here are a few photos that I've created at Cottontails in recent times to give you a few ideas, but don't forget it could just be anything from a simple wax crayon drawing to a sculpture...

Here's Apolline, the Moulin Roty mole, doing a spot of harvesting back in the autumn...

A couple of Moulin Roty friends playing in the snow...

And an autumny pic I drew of Nini mouse ...

Go on - have a go..!

The Big Garden Birdwatch results

2011-02-01T16:18:00.006Z

I spent a peaceful hour on Sunday taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch - it was lovely to have an hour of 'enforced' nothingness - and this is what I saw from the Cottontails office window:

Robin x 2
Blackbird x 7
Blue tit x 3
Coal tit x 1
Chaffinch x 1
Starling x 1
Jackdaw x 5
Collared dove x 1

Inside the window I also spotted:

1 x Lesser spotted blue goose
1 x Turquoise and red crested hen

(But apparently these two species are not officially recognised by the RSPB)

The Saga of the Wardrobe

2011-02-01T14:32:00.003Z

I'm only human and every so often I make a mistake - like I did before Christmas when for some mysterious reason an order slip made its way into the 'orders sent' pile before I'd actually processed it. The order in question was for a Moulin Roty Grand Family Wardrobe going to the US. I don't normally send this overseas due to the weight etc but the customer had sent a lovely email asking if I could make an exception, so I'd done all the necessary weighing and quoting, sent an invoice, she had paid it... and then the mix up occurred.

A couple of weeks later I had an email from her asking if I could track the parcel as it hadn't arrived. I had a dig around in my records and realised right away what had happened - I hadn't sent it.

To make matters worse I had, in the meantime, sold out of the wardrobe - and didn't expect any more in that side of Christmas.

Oh dear.

I had to write one of those difficult emails, confessing to my mistake and crossing my fingers that I hadn't just ruined someone's Christmas. There was still time for the recommended last posting date to the US so I had a trawl around the internet and found a couple of alternative suppliers to suggest to her.

Later that day I had a really nice email from her saying not to worry, these things happened. She had managed to source one from one of my recommendations. I refunded her original order, sighed with relief and thought that was that.

The next day she emailed me again. Her 'fall back' shop were refusing to send it overseas (I was not entirely surprised, as I said it is a heavy little toy) so could she please arrange to have it sent to me so I could send it on to her?

It meant me taking the £20 odd hit for the postage but I didn't hesitate - it was the least I could do, given my original mistake.

A couple of days later the parcel reached me, I re-wrapped it and sent it on to the US, still with a day or two to spare for Christmas delivery. Once again I sighed with relief and thought that was that.

Not so.

A couple of days before Christmas I had an email - it still hadn't arrived. She was very nice and understanding, there was nothing I could do. We both just hoped it would arrive soon. I closed Cottontails for a couple of weeks over Christmas and New Year and was appalled to find it STILL hadn't arrived when I reopened on the 10th January.

Just as I was going into worry overdrive, thinking I was going to have to sort out a refund for a second time, for an order that had gone to a different shop etc, I had an email to say it had finally turned up. No less than a month after I had sent it.

Thank goodness she was very gracious and understanding about the delay and even offered to pay for the postage. I refused but did say that if it was no trouble, I would love a photo or two to share with you all - and these are the photos you can see on this blog post.

At least it looks like the little girl in question loves her toy, even if it was terribly late.

I think maybe Father Christmas may have got the blame..?

Big Garden Birdwatch - this weekend

2011-01-27T12:59:00.002Z

It's the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend - a really simple idea, and anyone can get involved. Simply pick an hour at any time on Saturday or Sunday, find yourself a nice comfy chair next to a window, and note down all the birds you see. Then you log your sightings on a website where they will form part of a national survey. Lots more details here.

I'm planning to do my 'watch' from the Cottontails office and will let you know what I see next week.

In the meantime, here are a few birdy items for sale at Cottontails...

This is the lovely wooden nest box from Moulin Roty. I really must pilfer one from stock and put one of these up this year. Am quite excited as this might be featuring in an interiors magazine in a couple of months, fingers crossed.

This is a sweet little bird feeder - I've already got (a slightly damaged) one put aside to put up in the garden but haven't got around to it yet.

And this is really lovely - a little 'sew your own' kit which contains everything needed to make three little fabric birds. And the box turns into a bird house!

Oh, and the picture at the top, that's one of the gorgeous hand made, hand painted Ostheimer birds - a little sparrow. You can see him here.

It feels like spring...

2011-01-18T13:03:00.010Z

...for today at least. The sun is shining here in Herefordshire, the birds are twittering, Humphrey rabbit has even been out in his run this morning (although he is back inside lying next to the heater now).

To kick off the new year - and only 18 days late! - I thought I'd weave one of my new years resolutions into the post - which is to take time to read the blogs I enjoy. So, here are a few of the blogs that I hope to find time to read, and that I think you might enjoy too...

Catalogue Living is a tongue in cheek look at the kind of photography we see in glossy interiors magazines. You know the kind of thing - delicate glass vases balanced on open tread stairs or dainty twig displays just inches away from a roaring log fire. It's really funny, have a look.

Our New Life in the Country is Sue's personal diary as she develops a small holding in Oxfordshire. It's refreshing, honest and really very interesting. Sometimes I read her posts, complete with photos of lovely little chicks, and wish I had her life. Other times she writes about the mud and the cold - and I think again.

And finally, for today anyway, there is Sarah-Jane Down the Lane. Think countryside, garden flora & fauna, and beautiful classic children's books. Her blog is just lovely, the sort of thing I would like to create, in a slightly different life.

One of my other resolutions, by the way, is to finish the recommended toys by age guide I started back in December so expect to see a few more of those popping up shortly.

'Twas the week before Christmas....

2010-12-22T22:23:00.001Z

What a funny week it has been. On the one hand I've been wringing my hands with worry over the snow, the lost deliveries and the decimated online sales. But on the other hand it has been oddly nice to be snowed in, to trudge to the office through the garden, to enjoy the fact that, actually, there's very little I can do about the weather.

My other half is away at the moment too so it really has been a quiet week. Just me, Humphrey and an occasional visit from UK Mail to collect parcels. But I quite like the enforced seclusion, and the fact that I haven't bought half the presents I planned to buy.

And this afternoon I decided to 'call time' at Cottontails, put the 'Closed for Christmas' signs up on the website and head outside into the snow with a few friends....

Merry Christmas everyone! xx

Now who is this knocking at Cottontail's door?

2010-12-05T17:33:00.005Z

Now who is this knocking
at Cottontails door?
Tap tappit! Tap tappit!
She's heard it before

And when she peeps out
there is nobody there,
But a present of carrots
put down on the stair.

HARK! I hear it again!
Tap, tap tappit! Tap tappit!
Why - I really believe it's a
little black rabbit!

This is from one of my all time favourite books - Appley Dappley's Nursery Rhymes by Beatrix Potter, and it was this little rhyme which popped in to my head when I first met one of Maileg's new style 'black' (well, dark brown) rabbits a few months ago. We order a fair few months ahead so it's taken a while for the new rabbits to arrive, but here they are!

You can see him, and more of the new Maileg stock (including this lovely little tea set in a tin) in the 'New Arrivals' section of the website.

(ps More gift guides coming soon... I've chosen my favourites but just need to find a quiet hour to write the post...)

Cottontails Favourites for 1-2 years

2010-12-01T15:25:00.017Z

Time for a few favourites for one to two year olds now. To be honest a lot of the soft toys would be just as nice for new babies too, but whereas my favourites for new babies tended to be neutral and super soft, these ones have clothes to come on and off, and a bit more colour and personality.

Nini the mouse and her little baby - at 50cm in length Nini is quite a big soft toy, and she has lovely long dangly limbs and a very soft and huggable plush body. She is £39 and comes with a lovely gift bag.

And here is Julius the dog and puppy. Same price and size as Nini (above) but a much more manly creature!

Next I have chosen a classic - a solid beech wood rocking horse designed especially for little ones. Not too big it measures just 58cm in height and is recommended from 12 months in age, £106.

Jeanne the rag doll comes with her own little linen gift bag which can double as a little girl's handbag. Jeanne is my favourite of the Moulin Roty rag dolls and she is £47 (but do have a look at her big and little sisters too!)

Next is a beech wood and wicker doll's pram with a canvas hood that lifts up and down. A lovely, sturdy little pram at £66.

I always think hand puppets make a nice alternative to a normal soft toy, and here are a few of my favourites - they are each £13.

Next up is a lovely set of soft safari-themed skittles from the Les Loustics ('Little Friends') range by Moulin Roty. The set of four skittles and ball is £30 and they come in a really nice carry case.

My next choice is actually two toys - but they work really nicely together and I just love the colours. Solid wooden walking trolley is £63.50, and the set of twelve fabric cubes (which again come in a nice carry case) are £40.

I have always referred to this next chap as 'a gentleman bear' and have noticed other retailers using this description now so it must be catching on! Monsieur Alexandre is a lovely traditional bear. He comes in his own box and is wearing a rich burgundy night shirt and cap - which makes him a particularly suitable bedtime companion, £47.

Next up is a little trike - recommended from 12m upwards this cheerful little bee trike is just as popular with boys and girls. My favourite bit is the wiggly antennae!

And to finish, here are a few more of my favourite soft toys for this age group:

Lila the mouse, £23.50 - she has pink roses on her cheeks and really pretty dress!

Albert the sheep is available in two sizes - 20cm at £13 or 30cm at £18. Albert was lucky enough to have a 'makeover' in 2010 and is now wearing a natty fawn outfit.

And finally Jeanne the goose. Like Albert (above) she is available in two sizes - 20cm for £13 or 30cm for £18. Jeanne is quite a new member of the Grand Family range of toys but she has been an instant hit - she really is a pretty little thing, and it makes such a nice change to see blue on a little girl's toy.

My next post will be looking at toys for three year olds - and it opens up a whole new world of toys as so many are only suitable for those over 36 months. I am really looking forward to this one!

Cottontails Favourites - new babies

2010-12-01T11:59:00.029Z

Here are a few of my favourite things for new babies - these are my personal favourites and I tend to like soft, gentle colours, as you can see. They are all safe from birth and come with a lovely gift bag or gift box.

Lola rabbit is one of Moulin Roty's oldest and most enduring toys, she was overhauled a couple of years ago and given an even softer fur coat. You can see the whole range here, but this is my very favourite - the musical rabbit at £25:

Next is a gorgeous activity dog from the Koko la Lune range - at £40 he has a pedigree price tag, but there is quite a lot to him as he rattles, scrunches, rings and plays music:

Now we have Lila mouse - perfect for baby girls. There are lots of toys, rattles, comforters in the range, and this is my favourite. She even has tiny little pink roses on her cheeks! She is £18:

Next up is this little wooden play ring from the Balthazar and Valentine range. Its a nice little gift for someone who wants to give something a bit different. There are lots of textures and the three little attachments to ring, rattle and scrunch, it is £15:

Next is one of the classics - a teddy bear. Leo is very soft and cuddly and comes in a lovely gift box, all part of the charm - there are two bigger sized bears in the range too, but this size is nice for a little baby, and he is only £20:

For anyone looking for something little, something perfect for tiny hands, I love this soft fleecy sheep rattle, he is just £11:

Another activity toy, this quirky stacking hen would look lovely sitting on the nursery shelf until baby is old enough to play with him. There are bits that rattle, ring and scrunch and he is safe from birth, £40:

I'm going to finish this list with a bit more bunny. We don't do a lot of things to wear at Cottontails (which is odd really, as many years ago now we started life as a high street baby clothes shop) but these little slippers for 0-6m are pretty irresistible, £13:

And finally here is one more soft cuddly comforter. (By the way for anyone wondering, a comforter - or 'doudou' as they are sometimes known - is simply a flattish soft toy, usually made of a few different fabric textures - they are the much nice up to date equivalent of a a bit of blanket!) This one is £15 and is soft and fluffy on the back with velour and cotton on the front:

And in the next post I'll take a look at gifts for one year olds....

Cottontails Favourites

2010-12-01T11:27:00.002Z

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on selecting my own personal favourite toys at Cottontails.

It's been quite hard to choose, and has taken a bit longer than I had hoped (due to the fact than almost every waking hour has been spent chained to the packing table, battling manfully with brown paper and parcel tape) but I have finally managed to ~~cobble something together~~ create a list of professional recommendations.

One of the hardest things has been trying to pin-point the 'best age' for certain toys. I lack confidence in doing this and am constantly worried I get it wrong because I don't have children myself. So to help me get it right I asked a few real mums for their thoughts and guidance too. In fact the whole thing has shown me that age suitability can be quite a personal thing and varies hugely.

For this reason, a lot of my favourites appear in more than one age list, and if you are looking for something for a four year old - please do checkout the three and five year old lists too, it's probably just as likely you'll find something there...

I'll post my lists by age shortly in different posts, and plan to put a department on to the website too to help people searching in this way.

Finally, thanks especially to two mums who helped a lot with age guidance: Melissa who writes the lovely blog Country in the Town and is mum to Charlotte and Caitlin, and Sara over at Mitcheldean Soap who is mum to Jess and Timmy. Thank you both :)

The End of Autumn

2010-11-14T14:34:00.004Z

I spotted this the other day when trekking down the garden, and thought nothing symbolises the end of autumn quite as well as a pumpkin sitting on a compost heap. Which means it's winter. Which means I think it's okay for me to start writing about Christmas?

As a retailer I've already had months of thinking about it because I have to plan (probably not as much as I should) but I've tried to keep it low key. Until now anyway, as I really want to put together some Cottontails gift guides.

A good friend of mine who has just become an auntie (hello Auntie Anna!) emailed me the other day to ask if I could recommend something really special for her new niece. It stuck me that I am rubbish at recommending things. I really doubt my own confidence at choosing the right things, which is silly because I know my stock inside out, am 'passionate about it' (this sounds like a job interview!) and really shouldn't be afraid of sharing personal favourites. But I find it really daunting.

So, with this in mind I am going to write a series of posts recommending my favourites for various ages, occasions and so on. Hopefully it might be a useful resource for people, and also it will be a good exercise for me to gain a bit of confidence in making recommendations.

I'll mostly pick Cottontails things (obviously) but will try and share a few favourites from other websites too to make things more interesting.

So watch this space... a slew of posts to come!

Halloween Cupcake Wrappers

2010-10-22T12:29:00.007+01:00

In a spectacular piece of disorganisation I have managed to list some Halloween cupcake wrappers with only one week to go before the big day.

Please buy some people, please - otherwise they'll be looking at me from the stock room for 12 months making me feel like a fool. (Either that or I will have to eat a lot of scary cupcakes. Hmmm, maybe not such a hardship...?)

Anyway, they're ever so nice, and feature a parade of Halloween characters, including a rabbit in a pumpkin. (Note to self - idea to shamelessly exploit Humphrey for marketing purposes and force him into a pumpkin?)

"Just you try it!"

As if by magic, the Maileg pixies appear....

2010-10-19T17:14:00.004+01:00

I have been expecting the Maileg Christmas pixies for a couple of weeks now, so wasn't too surprised when I glimpsed a flash of red in the woods outside the office this morning. They are here!

They're always pretty shy this early in the year (these are the best photos I could get) but don't be fooled. Give it a few days and they'll be popping up all over the place.

In fact, one has already tried to sneak into the office this afternoon - but Humphrey was quick to react and 'see him off'.

Oh dear, it's going to be a long couple of months. If you think you might be up to the job of adopting one I would be very grateful and have listed them on the website here - but be warned, they're mischievous little folk!

Autumn gardening with Sylvain rabbit

2010-10-17T17:55:00.005+01:00

Thought is was about time for a Cottontails garden update...

Most of our spring / summer crops have been harvested now, but the parsnips are still in the ground (apparently they are happy to be 'stored' there) and I am trying not to look at the ravaged purple sprouting broccoli - am just hoping it might resurrect itself for spring.

Being a beginner, I kind of assumed I should just tidy things up and leave it alone for the winter, but a quick bit of research revealed that no, there are still plenty of things to plant in October. This left me without an excuse, so this afternoon Sylvain rabbit and I donned thick jumpers and headed outside to sow some more seeds...

We have planted peas which should be ready in spring (we are planning to eat tiny pea shoots as well as peas - rabbits love these apparently, and Humphrey has volunteered himself as a taste tester)

And broad beans (again, we are hoping that come spring we will be able to eat some plant tops - nice wilted in butter apparently - and also some whole tiny pods).

And in our new mini greenhouse thing we have filled pots and seed trays with spinach and various winter salads.

By the way, do you like Sylvain's jumper? Those of you with a keen eye and encyclopedic knowledge of Moulin Roty will notice that he is not wearing his usual stripey dungaree outfit. I am considering creating a small range of clothes for the soft toys and this is a prototype. What do you think? He is also wearing a lovely Snapdragon robin badge. I have a few in stock here or visit Jane's own Snapdragon website for loads more.

Miss Mouse's Miniature Apple & Blackberry Crumbles

2010-10-10T14:04:00.008+01:00

Time for another installment in our baking adventures, and this time Miss Mouse decided to have a go at individual apple and blackberry crumbles - perfect mouse size.

We decided to try a recipe here from The Independent website because it has something called a 'sable pastry base' thus elevating the humble crumble into something rather special. Ideal for mouse dinner parties.

First we gathered blackberries from the hedgerows and apples from the ~~trees~~ Co-op, and we sauteed the fruit in a little butter until soft, then added some sugar.

The sable pastry was made using icing sugar, butter, egg yolk and flour and is essentially a sweet light pastry. And the crumble has ground almonds in it... yum. It all sounds good, yes?

But this is where I have to tell you that the whole thing didn't quite work. The delicate pastry was pretty sticky and it was an almighty fiddle, blind baking it in tiny tins. It kind of rose like a sponge and became a less of a pastry base than a small cake. (I am guessing this was not supposed to happen?) Anyway I'm afraid the camera was abandoned as me and the mouse battled to save the situation.

The end result, as you can see, is something rustic rather than refined. It looks quite pretty on a Moulin Roty fruit dish though...

I definitely want to try again - and if anyone at all fancies having a go I would LOVE to hear what happens and would gladly share your pictures and tips on here. I am certain there is a very elegant but yummy little pud in this recipe - I just haven't quite nailed it.

The mice loved it though and ate it up with lots of clotted cream.

There's something in the woods...

2010-10-02T11:13:00.005+01:00

Look what I spotted growing in the woodland area outside the Cottontails office this morning!

I have harvested some and they are for sale at £2.80 per pair here on the Cottontails website. Off to do some more foraging now....

Lovely Catherine!

2010-09-29T21:30:00.008+01:00

This post is to say a huge thank you to the lovely Catherine at Bumpkin Bears who very kindly let me use some of her artwork on my new autumn sale banner

I started the autumn sale at Cottontails today (well, okay, truth be told I have renamed the summer sale and added some new reductions - oh no, hope I am not turning into one of those furniture stores where the sale never ends?). Anyway, I needed a new banner and inspiration / skill were lacking... so I asked Catherine if she could help and she sent me this lovely image from her Halloween range to play around with:

Don't you just LOVE the little bunny dressed a ghost? I think Humphrey might be getting ideas for Halloween. This is just one of the many, many lovely drawings that she creates for her cards and prints. I have some for sale at Cottontails here or do visit her blog or etsy shop to see lots more.

And to finish, here is one of her lovely toadstools...

Thank you Catherine!
x

Colette, Baking and the Perfect Plain Scone

2010-09-27T17:28:00.010+01:00

I've absolutely loved watching The Great British Bake Off on the BBC over the past few weeks and this, along with our ever expanding children's cookery range, has inspired a spot of baking here at Cottontails. And of course, I have had a bit of help from some of our fabric friends...

First up was the lovely Colette, one of our pretty new soft toys from Moulin Roty, and she decided she'd like to have a go at making The Perfect Scone.

The contestants on The Great British Bake Off tackled 'perfect scones' in the second episode and we decided to use their recipe by Paul Hollywood which you can see here. The thing I really love is the specific instructions about how to knead scone dough - apparently there is a particular technique called 'chaffing' : "Lightly chaff the mixture - use your hands to fold the dough in half, and then turn the dough a quarter turn and repeat." (Obviously Colette knew all about this - being French she is of course a natural in the kitchen).

Anyway, it all went very well and Colette created a batch of delicious scones which were all well risen and just begging for lashings of cream and jam!

To be honest I think if I make them again I would add some dried fruit - but this was an exercise in creating the perfect plain scone and it definitely worked a treat. Do have a look at Paul's recipe if your scones (like mine) are a bit hit and miss and you'd like to go back to basics on a baking classic.

And in the next post I'll share Mrs Mouse's posh individual apple and blackberry crumbles with you... another Cottontails baking triumph!

Update... just a thought but I noticed on the forum for Paul's recipe that a few people had a problem with too much of a baking powder taste. I think mine were okay but in retrospect maybe there was a hint of it in the taste? I might be tempted to try less baking powder and use self raising flour next time. I'll see what Colette thinks first though.

Harvesting carrots... and a garden pest

2010-08-24T11:28:00.005+01:00

Time for a spot of carrot harvesting in the Cottontails garden this weekend - much to the delight of the bunnies of course.

Along with normal carrots we have grown some special little Parmex Carrots - stumpy round ones. These especially appealed to baby Sylvain rabbit - it can be outfacing to a little bunny when the carrot is bigger than him.

The bunnies ate what they could but even rabbits have a carrot limit, so plenty have been washed, chopped, blanched and frozen for the winter.

Meanwhile, we have been a bit anxious about our purple prouting broccoli as something has been nibbling the leaves.

Finally got a glimpse of the culprit - this little insect here was spotted chomping away. A-ha! I thought Florimond bee was getting fatter!!

And finally here is Humphrey sandwiched between the basil and oregano. He is enjoying harvest very much.

I made a patchwork quilt!

2010-08-20T17:00:00.016+01:00

This isn't really Cottontails-related, but I just wanted to show you my first ever patchwork quilt.

This time last week I was a total novice who needed twenty minutes and a manual to even thread her sewing machine... And now, while I am still a novice, I can sew (wiggly) lines, do seams, mitered corners, binding and have actually made a little patchwork quilt!

I attended a fabulous two day workshop with Diana Sanderson, a textiles tutor at South Worcestershire College and honestly I cannot recommend her enough. She was so lovely, patient, helpful and encouraging.

I think I might give this quilt to Humphrey because it is just the right size for him. And before I cut it up to make the quilt, the main blue gingham fabric was part of a duvet cover from Turquaz (gorgeous children's bed linen) and I have some lovely picture of him sitting on it as a youngster. Here he is in 2004:

Awww...

I am now working on my second quilt at home before my confidence runs off, and am looking forward to more classes with Diana next month.

----

Update - 22nd September 2010

Quilt number two is finished, here it is - all lovely naturals and warm colours. Think this one is going to go up on the wall somewhere - but at the moment it is draped over the pile of ironing!

Also Diana now has her own website up and running at www.textileworkshop.com - do have a look if you live anywhere near Worcestershire / Herefordshire and would like to have a go at a new skill.

Happy Customers and Soap Smuggling

2010-08-16T12:24:00.006+01:00

I've had a few really nice emails over the last week or so from happy customers and thought I'd share some:

I saved the link cottontailsbaby.co.uk already a while ago and was just waiting for the chance to order. Now time has come as my little daughter was born :-) But even without a reason I often browse your webpage - it is so cute and made with a lot of love for all the nice things you sell. And the Blog is great!
From Bettina, in Germany

I love your site and Cottontails has served me well, in particular last Christmas. Most of my 'adult' presents were from your shop!!! I love all your toys and products and always refer back to your site as I think the friendliness and helpfulness really is acknowledged, as is the nice way you carefully package items.
From Jo S, Liverpool

I just to wanted to say a huge thank you! I ordered yesterday afternoon, asked if it was possible to send before Sunday and it arrived this morning - amazing - less than 24 hours later!
You have a lovely website, super fast delivery, beautifully wrapped parcels and exquisite gifts. In a world of terrible standards and customer service I just wanted to say thank you - yours is to be commended:)
From Jo C, North Shields

The photograph, by the way, is of the little bars of soap that we include with our orders as a nice little extra. (Although this backfired somewhat last week when an overseas order was held up by the Australian Quarantine & Inspection Services due to an 'item of concern' in the parcel!)

Jeanne Goose - the movie

2010-08-13T15:11:00.012+01:00

From time to time I like to treat the fabric friends here at Cottontails, and so last week when Mike and I had a day out at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetland Trust I thought it would be nice to take someone along with us - and Jeanne the Goose seemed like the obvious choice.

For reasons I still cannot fathom Mike was less than delighted to discover we had a fabric friend joining us for the day and seemed positively pained every time she came out of ~~my hand bag~~ her carry case for a spot of photography and filming. (I swear I heard him muttering something about 'never again' and 'men in white coats').

Anyway, despite resistance I managed to get enough material to put together a little film of the day's events - there is some real goose footage along with the lovely Jeanne, and quite a fitting sound track. Just click on the goose to view...

Jeanne the Goose goes to Slimbridge
The Movie

Jeanne enjoyed herself very much an is available here at Cottontails for more treats, adventures and days out...

My marrow's bigger than your marrow

2010-08-11T15:54:00.005+01:00

Last month was my initiation into the world of country shows and competitive vegetable growing, jam making and so on.

I entered what I felt was a rather impressive nine categories in the Produce & Handicrafts Show at Bromyard Gala (Actually it turns out that nine is not that impressive - the 'serious' competitors are in the 20 - 30 region. Gosh). But still, some success! A 1st place in the Fruit Drink category with the Elderflower Cordial and Highly Commended in the Bakewell Tart, Banana & Nut Fingers (to a given recipe) and Three Sweet Peas. I was chuffed to bits.

Sadly my homemade strawberry jam did not scoop any prizes but no real surprise there. Not only was it still a bit runny (presumably the ultimate no-no in competitive jam making?) but there were LOADS of entrants plus the overall winner of the jam category was called Nan. Nan! I mean, who can compete with a jam maker called Nan?

Also I have to admit to a spot of sulking around the 7 " Bakewell Tart category. Apparently the judge found my pastry too sweet and ended her comments with a cheery 'What a shame'. Not really something anyone want to see on their judge's notes. That's the last time I use a Waitrose recipe. AND most annoying of all is that the winning tart was at least 9" big. That's 9" in a 7" category! I ask you. Mutter, mutter, mutter....

Despite flagrant tart rule flouting and the 'what a shame' comment I had a fab time and have already collected my entry form for the Ledbury show at the end of this month...

Mouses in Mousehole

2010-07-27T11:29:00.007+01:00

A couple of weeks ago we went away to Mousehole in Cornwall for a few nights. It's such a pretty village and with a name like that I could have kicked myself for not packing a few of the Cottontails mice in my suitcase so I could have a little photo shoot on the harbour.

But not to worry because with the magic of Photoshop I have added a wee mouse to every photo that follows...!

Can you spot the Mousehole mice..?!

That's our cottage at the top of the road

And here it is up close. It was really nice to sit on the step and watch the world go by. (And quite a lot of world there was - Mousehole is a very busy little village)

This is the village pub, where we spent most evenings

And here we are having the first of many ice creams of the holiday...

Isobel and I spent hours sandcastle building while Mike watched the world cup final. The picture completely fails to capture the size of the creation - it was hours of work!

Mousehole is a really pretty little harbour, with a couple of small beaches and lots of boats. It has a very compact and safe feel... nice for families

Even the village fish n chip shop was pretty!

Mostly we just mooched about Mousehole but we did a couple of nice coastal walks. Here we are on our way to Lamorna (blissfully unaware that the skies were about to open on us!!)

So...
Did you spot all the mice...?

------

And finally, while we were on hols in Mousehole. Humphrey enjoyed an all-inclusive mouse-free break at Hoppy Holidays in Pershore. A huge thanks to Diane for taking such good care of him as ever.

Overwhelmed!

2010-07-09T14:40:00.006+01:00

I think I am having the busiest day imaginable so in posting this I am just taking a little bit of time out to breath.

I launched the summer sale yesterday and the response has been great, plus I have a load of eBay auctions finishing today (baby clothes left over from the high street shop - some auctions are running til tonight if you want to have a look) and a pallet of Moulin Roty toys was delivered this morning containing lots of customer orders. Added to that we are going away for a few days on Sunday so I need to get all orders on their way by tomorrow lunchtime, when the post office closes.

Yikes!

I thought the photo of the lavender growing in the herb garden would calm me down, but I think maybe I need to inhale (inject?!) some as well....

Before I go, here's the long-eared one enjoying the first carrots from the garden :-)

Right. Come on nose, back to that grindstone!

xx

The elderflower story - and a prize

2010-07-05T18:01:00.009+01:00

A couple of week ago that I posted a little film about the Maileg bunnies making elderflower cordial, and here is a photo story for the people who weren't able to watch it, plus a bit of an update and some behind the scenes footage!

-------

Once upon a time a few of the Maileg rabbits decided they wanted to make a delicious cordial and persuaded me to help.

So off we all went to a nearby field.

The bunnies enjoyed their walk in the fresh air and picked plenty of elderflower blossoms.

Upon returning home the we rinsed the flowers ready for steeping...

... and prepared a sugar syrup. Obviously we had to get an adult rabbit to help with this bit as the syrup was VERY hot.

We soaked the rinsed elderflowers in the syrup for 24 hours, along with some sliced lemons.

And the next day we put it into pretty bottles and the cordial was complete.

But the story doesn't end quite there...

A couple of weeks later the bunnies decided to enter their cordial into the Produce and Handicraft Show at Bromyard Gala. (There was some silly clause in the rules preventing fabric rabbits from taking part so we had to put the entry in my name.)

Imagine the excitement when the bunnies discovered that their delicious drink is now an award winner!!

Well done the bunnies!

For anyone who has yet to watch our little video, you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVPxKoR31lc

--------------

ps I just HAD to share this behind the scenes shot of my other half helping with film production - can't you just SEE the enthusiasm?!

The working from home thing

2010-06-29T18:52:00.010+01:00

I'm not having a good working week, which has prompted me to think / write about the whole working from home thing.

Generally I love it and am very, very grateful that Cottontails is what I do. And it's fair to say there are loads of positives to working from home, just off the top of my head:

- I don't have to get up early (not a morning person)
- I can work in my nightie if I want to
- I can have Humphrey at work with me
- Friends and my mum can pop in
- I'm here to take deliveries and things at home

But a lot of these positives have another side:

- Not having to get up early means, well, that I don't... and am often a lazy article
- I miss having to put a bit of make up on and wear nice clothes
- People pop in, I pop out. Discipline is lacking
- I get distracted by household chores - washing up, watering the garden
- I miss having someone to talk to about worky stuff (apart from Humphrey)
- I don't have set working hours... i.e. here I am writing this in the evening

It's a funny thing when work and life are as mashed up as mine are. Mainly I love it, but just sometimes I miss the structure of working elsewhere, the sense of 'coming home' in the evening, the proper 'switching off'.

Right now it's 7.30pm and having had a really lackluster couple of days I am still out here in the office, kind of half-working. Feeling guilty that I've been lazy for a couple of days. Feeling like I don't deserve an evening off because I haven't really had a day 'on'.

Must try harder.

But, I wouldn't swap it. And when all else fails, I just look at my long eared colleague sleeping under the desk and can't fail to be grateful.

Motorbikes and Maileg bunnies

2010-06-29T11:57:00.009+01:00

My other half has recently bought a vintage motorbike which he claims is a thing of beauty. Art, he says. Somehow it has taken up residence in our hall-kitchen area. He says it's nice because 'it matches the cooker'. I question the fact that the motorbike is even anywhere near the cooker.

Anyway, dressed with a Maileg rabbit, it looks better.

Maileg Woodstock girl bunny is available to buy at Cottontails.
Motorbike not for sale. Yet.

Bunnies and beetroot

2010-06-28T18:35:00.005+01:00

Malo rabbit: Psssst... Humphrey!

Humphrey: What? Can't you see I'm having my afternoon nap..? And where have you been all day anyway?

Malo rabbit: Wait til I tell you what she's growing for us in the veggie patch...

Maileg rabbits make Elderflower Cordial!

2010-06-22T17:36:00.009+01:00

I am so excited because I have just made a little film!

It is called 'The Maileg Rabbits make Elderflower Cordial' and is the story of what happened when a few of our lovely cotton rabbits decided to try their hand (paws) at making Elderflower cordial.

It all began when they found a simple little article in Country Living magazine.

They did a spot of online research and came across this lovely blog by Ellie Tennant (the lady behind shopping ideas at Ideal Home). It's a really good place to start if you are a beginner at cordial making, like the bunnies.

Ellie recommended a fantastic online shop for supplies called The Jam Jar Shop. I ordered the necessary muslin and citric acid, and the bunnies talked me into buying some very pretty glass bottles. (Incidentally, I was so delighted with their things I have already placed a second order for jam jars - pickling and jam-making, here I come!)

Anyway, have a look at our film and let us know what you think.. click here

Now I'm off to have a glass of the yummy cordial!

And the winner is.........

2010-06-21T19:13:00.003+01:00

Well done Abby Harris for correctly identifying the three characters painted by Isobel as Jeanne (goose), Mimosa (cat) and Louna (bee).

Isobel wrote out the correct entrants names on Saturday evening and we assembled the three characters to supervise the draw. You can see Louna bee holding the winning name in the photos.

Well done Abby and please email me your address so I can send you something nice - charlotte@cottontailsbaby.co.uk.

Have a look at Abby's lovely blog over at Mutterings from the Moor - she has a lovely creative blog header which I was talking about today in my creative textiles course!

Last chance to enter competition...

2010-06-19T16:30:00.002+01:00

Just a little reminder that we'll be drawing a winner of our competition (see last post) this evening so still time to enter this afternoon if you would like... All and any entries welcome, even from friends as the draw will be completely random anyway. In fact, I may enter myself!!?
xx

Competition - need entries!!!

2010-06-17T11:01:00.008+01:00

Whilst bored during a football match at the weekend (imagine that!) I put up a little competition on the Cottontails facebook page but alas have had no entries... clearly the facebook page is not yet as vibrant and interactive as I hoped it would be!

So I thought I would pop the competition on here. It's quite easy and as I have yet to have any entries the odds of winning must be quite high!

During half term while she was staying with us, Mike's daughter Isobel (aged 9) lined up a few of her favourite Cottontails toys and painted some lovely pictures.

The competition is simple: Can you identify any of the characters? I know you are probably thinking 'I haven't a clue' but it would be ever so easy to find them on the website - just have a look at Moulin Roty's Grand Family toys and Moulin Roty's range of bee and insect toys!

And if you win I will send you a mystery something nice by Moulin Roty :-)

-------------

ps - If you would like to enter twice and thus double your already quite good chances of winning (!) you could leave a comment on the Facebook page too - click here

pps - Oh dear. As the lovely MutteringsFromTheMoor has gently pointed out, there is a bit of a flaw in proceedings as folks can just copy earlier entries... Ah yes. Of course. Hadn't thought of that.

Never mind... press on!

Please enter anyway and I'll give the next competition a bit more thought!

ppps Despite discovering this unfortunate hitch, I am thrilled that putting the competition on the blog has created a bit of interest and a few entries. THANK YOU!

pppps Draw will be Saturday evening (19th) so keep entering up til about 6pm at which point me and Isobel will try and find a hat to draw names from

Mouse travels globe and builds stylish nest

2010-06-10T12:05:00.005+01:00

As the fabric mouse population continues to expand across the globe, news has just come in of a new colony establishing itself in the US...

Showing considerable nest building skills, this little chap has even constructed his own comfortable matchbox bed:

Have a read of this lovely blog for more details or visit Cottontails if you can offer a home to these increasingly industrious creatures...

Cottontails Kitchen Garden - going well!

2010-06-10T11:55:00.003+01:00

Sorry to be a bit quiet for a few days, but as you can see I have been fairly busy watering, weeding and generally tending to the burgeoning Cottontails garden...

I am quite frankly staggered by how much is growing (mainly from seeds) and am spending quite a lot of time just wandering around grinning.

Meanwhile Humphrey is on the sidelines twitching his nose and licking his lips...

Potato growing advice...?

2010-05-24T13:27:00.008+01:00

I have been 'earthing up' my potatoes for the last fortnight and am wondering how much longer I should keep this up? They keep on growing - which is a good thing - and I'm going to end up with a mountain if I keep heaping earth on them... Advice please!

In the meantime the sunny potato patch is proving to be a popular spot with Nini mouse and her baby..

Also, I have finally got a Cottontails Baby Facebook page up and running. It's a bit more interactive for competitions and things.

A matter of trust..

2010-05-22T13:31:00.007+01:00

He says he's only here to help and promises not to snaffle any veg...

Hmmm. I'm not sure.

For those who would like to take the risk, we have plenty more gardener rabbits eager to, erm, help...

Mouse problem spreads to the US

2010-05-21T10:07:00.004+01:00

I wrote yesterday about the latest mouse infestation at Cottontails and reports are now coming in of a similar problem unfolding in the US...

One of my lovely regular customers, Jessica, sent me an email to tell me about the problems they are currently experiencing in their New York apartment:

"In our household, in total, we've on hand all the Lila(s) acquired from Cottontails :-) 8 rattle Lila (3 retired/worn out, 2 in rotation, 2 new), 2 Medium Lila (1 retired, 1 new, 1 in use) 2 Large Lila (1 retired, 1 in use) Hubby says we are infested by pink mice! :-))))

And as four more Lila mice head off for New York this afternoon, I'm afraid the problem is only going to get more serious...

Mouse problem

2010-05-20T12:27:00.005+01:00

Oh dear, we seem to have a bit of a mouse problem in the kitchen this week. I even caught them breakfasting on the quaker oats this morning...

But happily I've managed to catch most of them - humanely of course - and they are now available for re-homing on the Cottontails website. Please visit if you are able to offer a loving home to a Maileg mouse.

Cottontails Kitchen Garden - growing mint

2010-05-06T10:44:00.006+01:00

Did you know you can grow mint just by picking a sprig and putting it in a glass of water? I vaguely remembered reading something about it and thought I'd have a go, and so far the signs are good.

I pilfered a sprig of mint from my dad's garden last time I went over and within about 10 days look what had happened:

So this weekend I planted it up into a pot of compost, gave it a good feed and water...

...then popped the pot into the ground.

Apparently mint is so voracious that it's best to do it this way - if you plant it directly into the ground it will have taken over your garden within the week (or so you would think given the number of warnings I have had from more experienced gardeners. Just mention mint and there is much sucking in of breath and shaking of heads!)

So finger's crossed for a thriving mint plant in the near future!

Meanwhile it was time to try out another Cottontails garden tool, and this time I picked one of our watering cans.

The Little Pals green watering can (£8) is one of three children's watering cans available at Cottontails and a very nice little thing it is too! Small enough to be very quick to fill and light to lift when full, but holds enough water to be worthwhile.

I also discovered it is quite handy for doing the watering in our little plastic mini greenhouse thingy (you know, one of those sets of shelves covered with some plastic) - there is not much space between the shelves and it's a bit of a challenge to squeeze in a full size watering can so this is just the job.

Rabbit Awareness Week

2010-04-29T13:55:00.006+01:00

This week - 26th April to 3rd May - is Rabbit Awareness Week in the UK. Have a look at the official RAW website for details of some of the rabbity things that are going on this week - there is even a neat little map search facility where you can enter your postcode and see what is happening near you.

Today I thought I would share a couple of my favourite rabbit websites with you. The first is Rabbit Rehome, a fantastic rehoming site for rescue rabbits. If you are thinking of getting a rabbit please, please, please have a look on here before you visit the local pet store. (Personally I don't think rabbits should be sold in shops anyway). It has loads and loads of information, along with a fully searchable nationwide database of bunnies looking for a new home.

And for anyone living in the Midlands I'd like to recommend a fantastic 'rabbit hotel'. Hoppy Holidays is based in Pershore and is run by the lovely Diane. A knowledgeable, caring and kind bunny lover, Diane has become one of my best friends over the years and Hoppy Holidays is the only destination Humphrey will even consider for his holidays!

And finally I thought a Rabbit Awareness Week post would be incomplete without a picture of you-know-who... although I have to say that in this photo my rabbit does not appear to be aware of very much at all!

(In the interests of professionalism I would like to point out that the soft toy rabbit Humphrey has draped himself upon is his own Moulin Roty Sylvain toy and not an item of stock I plan to sell!!)

Cottontails Kitchen Garden Part 2 - some planting

2010-04-28T11:56:00.012+01:00

Another nice weekend weather-wise, and planting is now underway at Cottontails.

Friday evening Mike and I went down to visit mum and dad and do a bit of a raid on my father's greenhouse - he has an amazing garden and had offered me some seeds and plants. This is his lovely garden:

Saturday morning I made a plan of what was going to go where (in the Moulin Roty gardener's notebook of course!).

Then we popped to the local garden center for some compost and some more seeds, and the rest of the weekend was spent digging, sowing and watering.

So far we have little plants of: runner beans, broad beans, beetroots and marigolds, and seeds of loads of herbs, potatoes, radish, carrots, spring onions and salad. I have been checking daily for shoots but nothing yet... guess two days is a little optimistic?

The Cottontails gardening equipment trialed this weekend included our Little Pals gardening gloves (£3) and trowel (£3).

Isobel, aged nine, donned the gloves and gave them a definite thumbs up! She said they are warm and comfy and even commented with surprise how soft they felt inside when she put them on. As for the little trowel, I tried that one out myself and in the interests of honesty have to say I was a bit disappointed that it didn't 'hold' more earth - it is quite a flat little tool. But sturdy and comfy to hold none the less. Just better for digging than for earth carrying!

Finally it's Rabbit Awareness Week this week so I will be back tomorrow with a more rabbity post!

Cottontails Kitchen Garden Part 1 - Building the raised beds

2010-04-20T11:36:00.014+01:00

Haven't we had a beautiful weekend? And the timing was perfect as it meant we could make a start on the Cottontails Kitchen Garden.
Thanks to everyone's comments and feedback last week, I decided to go for a mixture of raised beds and a couple of borders. The borders will be for lavender and herbs - maybe with some peas at the back? - and the raised beds will be for other veg and salad things.

Mike did some research and came across Moor Court Farm, a nearby farm selling railway sleepers, oak timbers and vegetable bed kits. We drove over on Thursday afternoon to meet Nick who runs the business, and by Friday morning he had delivered the timber for two 8' x 4' veg beds and two tonnes of top soil. They deliver nationwide (have a shop on ebay) and I can't recommend them enough so if you are on the look out for really good quality raised beds (sustainable oak, 100% organic, not requiring any treatment) have a look at their website.

Saturday morning Mike assembled the raised beds (while I slept in!) and once they were in position we dug out the turf and forked up the ground underneath.

I relaid the turf and started digging the nearby borders while Mike began filling the raised beds with the top soil.

Sunday was spent with more of the same plus digging compost out of our four year old 'heap' of grass cuttings and garden trimmings in the far corner of the garden. It's good stuff!

We worked until 8pm with only the odd break to drink tea and read Alan Titchmarsh, and by the end of the day most of the hard work has been done.

So far there haven't been many occasions to test out my children's gardening equipment (Mike snorted when I suggested we use one of the little pink wheel barrows for transporting the two tonnes of top soil) but I have managed to give the Moulin Roty rake a good work out on the borders and can report that it really is a strong, sturdy tool. Easily up to the job of any full size garden rake but just slightly smaller and lighter - it's a genuinely good quality, scaled down garden tool.

Also I am using a Gardener's Notebook for the planning and ideas:

And next weekend the planting begins!

Cottontails Kitchen Garden

2010-04-14T10:04:00.013+01:00

The last few days have been warmer and I have decided the time has come to don one of these...

... and start work on a new project - the Cottontails Kitchen Garden.

The two ranges I am particularly keen to develop at Cottontails are the children's gardening and cooking departments, and I thought a really nice way to do this would be to set up a little kitchen garden and use some of the toys and equipment I sell at Cottontails to grow, harvest and then cook with the fruit, vegetables and herbs. I will take pictures and make little videos along the way.

(It sounds simple doesn't it, but I can see a fair bit of mud, hard work and an aching back ahead - and I will tell you now I am a complete novice at all this.)

The area I have allocated for this is behind the house, and is currently grass and 'rubbley' earth. Here are a few photos.

The photos make the ground look deceptively prepared but as this close up of Delilah the cat shows, it is far from rich and ready.

The first job is to create some vegetable bed areas so - limited knowledge here - I think I have to mark out some beds, take up some turf and turn over the earth. Then add some earth enriching substance like manure? Does this sound right?

Sadly at Cottontails we do not sell heavy duty digging machinery or manure, so I will have to buy this in.

So, stage one: to draw a plan then hire something called a 'Rugged Tiller' this weekend. I will share the results with you soon - assuming of course that they are not too humiliating. It can't be that difficult, right?

Finally, one of my inspirations for all this is my dad, who has created an amazing vegetable garden. This picture, taken last summer, is just one of his herb gardens. You can just about make out who is hiding in the center nibbling the parsley - I think he thought he was in heaven!

Finally, I know some keen gardeners & self sufficiency folk read this blog, so any advice would be most welcome :-)

Bits and bobs...

2010-03-26T12:12:00.005Z

This will be something of a bits and bobs post as I am writing it without a theme, just as something to do while I am running various bits of software to extract and verify emails ahead of my first ever email campaign.

Firstly a very belated but very big thank you to Sue over at A New Life in the Country who very kindly sent me some lavender goodies a few weeks ago when I was lucky enough to win her giveaway.

She sent a huge array of lavender themed things which turned my office into a really relaxing and fragrant space for a while. And this is my very favourite - a simple but pretty little lavender filled heart. It is hanging next to me as I type.

Thank you so much Sue. And for anyone who has yet to discover her blog do go and have a look - it is fascinating stuff. As the the title of her blog suggests Sue really has started a New Life in the Country - growing veggies, raising chickens and attending country markets with her lavender things. It sounds like a dream life doesn't it, and in many ways it is - but I know I couldn't do it. There is hard work outside in the cold and lots of mud. Go and see!

It is Friday which means that Isobel will be coming over later - Mike's daughter who lives with us at the weekends. I love this picture of her in my office with Humphrey.

And while we're on family photos I kept meaning to post this picture of Mike I took when Ernest the rooster came to stay. He is probably going to kill me for publishing it (those of you who know Mike will know he is not the sort of man to enjoy being photographed with a soft toy rooster) but I think it's a nice photo!

Well that'll do for now and I'll post something a bit more 'professional' later on...

More Moulin Roty gardening...

2010-03-17T12:54:00.005Z

I've just been adding some more Moulin Roty things to our new gardening department. Humphrey - and some of the other rabbits - are particularly taken with this lovely grow your own carrots kit...

This one contains Sylvain rabbit and carrot seeds, but there are four other varieties available including Felicie hen and sunflower seeds, Nini mouse and poppy seeds and Perlette frog and pumpkin seeds.

Gardening (and where is Ernest?!)

2010-03-15T12:24:00.007Z

Just a quick post to let you know that we now have a dedicated children's gardening department at Cottontails. It has been a new and different experience to write the product descriptions - I am so used to describing soft cuddly things that are safe from birth, it is an altogether different thing to be describing, for example, a 3' garden rake - not safe from birth!

One of my favourite things is this small wooden weather vane - perfect for the shed, summerhouse, play house etc - when I get some spare time and a sunny day I am going to put one up on the Cottontails office.

Humphrey meanwhile likes the look of this salad garden kit...

The plan is for me to set up my own little Cottontails garden over the coming weeks, and to use some of the equipment as I do so. And I will of course be writing about it on here...

(****NEWS FLASH****As I am in the middle of writing this post another huge gardening delivery has just arrived - so my gardening department is about to grow!)

Just a little update on Ernest who left for his next destination at Pomona's last week (in case people are wondering where he is, and thinking that maybe I have rooster-napped him and not actually sent him on his way at all - which did of course cross my mind....) Anyway, Pomona has left me a message to say that Ernest has indeed arrrived in Faversham, but that the family has been a bit under the weather so there hasn't been chance for adventures and postings yet... but keep an eye on Pomona's blog and I'm sure he'll pop up very soon now.

Lovely Humphrey takes a nap

2010-03-11T14:19:00.007Z

For some reason both Humphrey and I seem to be sleepier than usual this week. I have been in bed by 9.30 the last two nights (which is most unlike me) and Humphrey has, as you can see, taken to downing tools for an afternoon nap....

...and After

2010-03-08T20:36:00.007Z

Later that day...

This is the visitor's chair, okay there is still stuff on it, but it's an easily moved pile of pictures (there's nowhere else to put them):

A neat and tidy desk...

And a packing table with space to pack!

Humphrey thoroughly disapproved of the clean up - he much prefers his environment scattered with bits of hay and cardboard, and piles of things to hide behind, not to mention his deep loathing for the vacuum cleaner. But he's not too bothered - wise old bunny that he is, he knows this won't last long.

Before...

2010-03-08T11:26:00.003Z

This is going to be like one of those 'before and after' magazine photo shoots - trouble is, there is no 'after' as yet

This is the horrific state of my office this morning, following several days of unpacking boxes in a hurry and pulling out stock to photograph and describe, and not tidying up as I went along.

This is my visitor's chair. Good job I don't have any...

This is my packing table - lots of room for packing, as you can see.

And worst of all, this is my desk. Words fail me.

Even Humphrey's area is in a mess. This photo looks a bit staged but honestly, this is the state of the floor after a frantic search through my children's books to find a suitable backdrop picture for some photography yesterday.

Incidentally, this is the book / picture I ended up using:

So, as you can see the website and all the new products are things of beauty, but my office is most definitely not.

So I have bin bags, a hoover, one hour of spare time and a lot of determination - and I will be back later with the 'after' pictures.

Ernest's last day at Cottontails

2010-03-07T23:19:00.005Z

Well my week with Ernest is just about up and before I send him on his way I decided to throw him a little tea party in the garden. A whole host of friends came along - including Ernest's new lady friend, Felicie Hen. And of course Humphrey turned up - not like him to miss anything involving cake.

The sun was shining and we had a lovely picnic using some of my new Oskar and Ellen play food.

I even served up a bottle of Mike's cider - well, with a name like Henney's it seemed inevitable - but only a thimble full for the little ones of course. Hic!

Humphrey gave a speech saying how much he is going to miss Ernest...

...But nevertheless the time has come for him to move on....

....So, I had a little draw and am delighted to announce that Ernests's next port of call will be....... over at Pomona's place: http://littlecottagecomforts.blogspot.com. I think he's going to love it there as apparently there are some real life hens for him to meet! (Pomona - please can you email me your address, then I will send Ernest on an overnight delivery).

Well we'll be sad to see him go, but it's been great fun having him to stay.

It's just you and me again Humph!

Ernest - the date!

2010-03-03T21:33:00.004Z

As a thank you to Ernest for all his... ahem... 'help' at Cottontails over the last couple of days, I decided to arrange a treat for him tonight - a dinner date with a lovely young lady hen called Felicie.

They were a little shy with one another to begin with...

But by the time the food arrived - a delicious dish of finest porridge oats - they were getting along very well...

When I last popped in to see them Ernest was regaling Felicie with tales of his journey so far (she was particularly impressed to hear that he had been learning to sew over at Mutterings from the Moor)

Meanwhile, not too far away Humphrey was tucking into his own supper...

He was particularly hungry tonight after a valiant attempt at unpacking some stock this afternoon.

I honestly don't know where I'd be without Ernest and Humphrey to help out...!

Ernest goes to work

2010-03-03T10:26:00.007Z

I decided it was time to put Ernest to work and enlist his help with some parcel packing.

Here he is surveying today's sales and preparing himself for the job at hand...

At first he was more than helpful...

But it wasn't too long before he began to get up to mischief...

...And before I knew it he had landed himself in a spot of bother with the parcel tape.

Having decided that parcel packing is perhaps not his forte, I thought he could help with sorting out the new gardening stock. There is quite a lot of it and I haven't been able to face it all on my own. Perhaps Ernest would make all the difference?

But then he spotted the 'Hip Hop Bird Stop' and took it rather literally. He has barely moved since.

Ah well. He tried.

Big night for Ernest tonight. He is going on a blind date with Felicie hen (do have a look at her - what a stunner!) I'll let you know how they get on...

(And for anyone reading this who doesn't have a clue what I am on about, Ernest is a little soft toy rooster traveling around on his 'gap year' staying with various host families... He set off from his home at The Hen House about a month ago and Cottontails is is fourth port of call. If you would like him to come to you next, just leave a comment on this blog post - or any other Ernest blog post - saying that you'd like him to visit, and I will draw names out of a hat at the end of his stay with me.)

Ernest & Isobel bake a cake

2010-03-01T14:53:00.004Z

Ernest has had a most enjoyable weekend, the highlight of which being a cake baking session with Mike's daughter, Isobel - she comes to stay every weekend and was very pleased to help entertain our feathered friend!

He helped assemble the ingredients (fortunately I caught him trying to eat the chocolate before too much had gone...)

There was some nibbling of cake mix however...

Slightly tense moment when Ernest looked like he was going to dive into the bowl of chocolate icing...

He sampled the first slice himself and seemed to quite enjoy it :-) He is now a fan of Jane Asher.

Other than the baking he had a very relaxed weekend, hanging out with Isobel and Humphrey, but I decided it was time to put him to work at Cottontails today and will share something of what happened when Ernest got himself into a bit of a pickle with the parcel tape in my next post...

(And for anyone reading this who doesn't have a clue what I am on about, Ernest is a little soft toy rooster traveling around on his 'gap year' staying with various host families... He set off from his home at The Hen House about a month ago and Cottontails is is fourth port of call. If you would like him to come to you next, just leave a comment on this blog post - or any other Ernest blog post - saying that you'd like him to visit, and I will draw names out of a hat at the end of his stay with me.)

Ernest and Humphrey - day one

2010-02-26T22:59:00.004Z

At first Humphrey was a little shy and tried to hide behind Ernest...

But it wasn't long before they were the best of friends....

A few rounds of Moulin Roty's Memory Game together...

...and Humphrey even offered Ernest a nibble of his corn on the cob. Now THAT'S bunny friendship.

They're supposed to have settled down for the night now but I'm sure I can hear shenanigans upstairs.

Not sure yet what we'll be up to tomorrow. I'm off to the hairdressers in the morning and am tempted to take Ernest with me, but I've not been there before and there's the outside possibility that they might think I'm a bit mad if I turn up with a rooster...?

(And for anyone reading this who doesn't have a clue what I am on about, Ernest is a little soft toy rooster traveling around on his 'gap year' staying with various host families... He set off from his home at The Hen House about a month ago and Cottontails is is fourth port of call. If you would like him to come to you next, just leave a comment on this blog post - or any other Ernest blog post - saying that you'd like him to visit, and I will draw names out of a hat at the end of his stay with me.)

Guess who has arrived at Cottontails!

2010-02-25T21:00:00.005Z

He came in a special delivery box....

...packed in a lovely cream traveling case....

...He peeped out his beak....

It's Ernest! He's here!

Well it didn't take him long to make himself at home and ask for a cup of tea (in MY chicken mug, I might add)

Meanwhile, in a bedroom not too far away, Humphrey and his little friend Sylvain have no idea who has just entered the building.

I'll let you know what happens when they meet in the morning....

(And for anyone reading this who doesn't have a clue what I am on about, Ernest is a little soft toy rooster traveling around on his 'gap year' staying with various host families... He set off from his home at The Hen House about a month ago and Cottontails is is fourth port. If you would like him to come to you next, just leave a comment on this blog post - or any other Ernest blog post - and I will draw names out of a hat at the end of his stay with me.)