A Week of 'Brides', Romance and Cameras!

Lovely day today with the sun out and a bit of spring in the air, let's hope it dries the ground out a little bit.
It is just right for a nice day of relaxing with plenty of corn available from our friends who come to feed us....in truth we are a bit exhausted after a very busy few days and we need a rest.......

First there was Valentines evening when the restaurant was open until late with romance in the air.  There were roses and candles on the tables and some sharing dishes on the menu plus hearts everywhere - everyone looked really happy and relaxed.  It was especially lovely to see some very familiar faces among the diners including Ron and Rebecca who celebrated their marriage with us two years ago (still just as cheeky as ever - both of them!) plus some new faces who were testing us out - we hope they enjoyed themselves and we see them again soon.

After this it was full steam ahead into some filming for TV.  The show is part of a new series that Channel 4 will be running in Autumn about people changing their work lives and lifestyles.  In this case a couple (Martin and Anne-Marie) from Nottinghamshire are interested in starting up a craft centre and needed some experience working in an operating one,  where better could they choose? On Friday morning the film crew arrived at 8am and set up in the kitchen to film Martin cooking with Head Chef Shirley. The Jinney Ring staff and TV crew arranged for lots of problems to be thrown at them while they were cooking – many based on real life occurrences except that they were compressed into a deliberately hectic day!

Our couple debriefing at the end of the day in the restaurant

Next Anne-Marie was tested in the gift shop with lots of different requests and problems to deal with, she coped very well with everything overall.

It was quite a disruptive day with lots of comings and goings and it was busy too, particularly with the weather being very pleasant - our customers and friends were great and some of them even joined in by playing a part for the filming.  We were lucky enough to have 3 of "our brides" visiting us, all who agreed to take part of the proceedings and "acted up" - Amy (who wed Simon in May 2012) had trouble with her credit card,  Joanne (who got married to Matthew in 2009) and brought her toddler Hannah May along to be "a pest" in the shop (not a normal situation as she is a very well behaved little girl!) and Louise (who is marrying Richard here in April this year) was shopping for wedding things (her Mum really came to talk to The Hattery about her wedding hat - she got more than she bargained for!).  They all acted their parts so well and were such good sports!  A few other customers joined in too and have potential for stage roles we feel (especially Les and Anne!).


Now to the best bit -- despite me thinking we would be left out this time (because of the type of show) the camera crew came out and filmed us too --- and they rewarded us with corn!!!


When the day was finished everyone was absolutely exhausted but the film crew were happy and we will now wait and see how it all turns out.

Talking of Brides - this morning we saw Laura and Mike who got married here in 2012 - they came for a Valentines breakfast.... what a week for brides and grooms - absolutely fab!