It is Breast Cancer Awareness Day today. The Carreg Crew have worn pink all day and donated all their tips to the cause. It really is staggering how many people are being affected by it.

The Carreg has always been about more than chasing the gold at the end of the rainbow. It has always been about giving something back.

On January 15th 2009 we are holding a New Years Ball at The Carreg with all profits going to Cancer Charities. Aside from a wonderful feast, we will have an auction and a fabulous raffle. All manner of other fantastic fundraising activities will happen between now and then with the sole aim of raising as much money as we can for worthwhile causes.

Sometimes it is the rainbow itself which is worth chasing and not the pot of gold.

In Great Britain today, we can go down any High Street, any retail park and come across the same bars, gastro pubs, chain restaurants offering the same kind of pre cooked, re heated food with hardly any variance of taste between any of them. There is a time and place for everywhere, but it is sad to see the small, independant eateries using fresh produce on the decline.

Isn’t it time to think hard about what we eat and make incremental changes to our diets to better ourselves?

The thought process behind The Carreg has always been to encourage a healthier dining experience in fabulous surroundings. With first class service. Simple really, but ignored in so many places these days.

Anyone who can think of anything, no matter how small, we can do to improve the process, please e-mail me at info@thecarregrestaurant.co.uk and anything we use we will reward in some way. I don’t know what yet, but it will be lovely.

God bless!

 Ian

I met a guy at the ‘Do’ lectures called Will Vaughan. Will and his business partner run pedal powered rickshaws in Hereford as a taxi service. On their website www.herefordpedicabs.com they describe their service as :-  “In short – We are a sustainable, pedal powered, zero emission taxi service, keeping things simple and fun, honest and green.” And they have won an award for being Environmental Champions in Herefordshire!

Town Centres are never easy to negotiate with today’s traffic and what a brilliant way to get around the High Street in a pedal powered rickshaw!

Visitors to The Carreg are always finding difficulty in finding a cab unless they have pre-booked. Is it time for Carreg Pedicabs?

Watch this space!

Ian

Brought to you by the power of:-

We received an e-mail over the weekend for a booking for May 2009!!!! And from Australia!!!! It seems The Carreg’s reputation is spreading far and wide! Whilst I was mucking the goats out in the cold October drizzle, just look at what was happening on the other side of the planet. 

“Hate to say it..but it was beach weather on the weekend…30 degrees and
Bondi Beach was packed…oh it’s such a hard life ))).”

Maybe so, but pity the people in Australia. There is no Carreg over there!

And what does “Chuck another shrimp on the barbie!” really mean?

Ian

Stradey Park closed its gates last night. The Scarlets www.scarlets.co.uk played their final match  with a resounding victory against Bristol Before the match there was a procession of previous Scarlets captains including Scott Quinnell and Rupert Moon, both of whom enjoy dining at The Carreg; half time singing by Carol Parry Jones with Llanelli Male Voice and Scarlets choir after the full time whistle. A fabulous firework display followed and we went home with a strange mixture of elation and sadness as the evening ended.

As a child I remember travelling to Stradey to see the Scarlets with my grandfather as Ray Gravell would power through the opposition, making his mark on history in the process. Ray is related to us and a big friend of the family. I remember Ray coming to our house with Carwyn James when I was small, too young to realise the importance of the two legends in our kitchen. Carwyn James’ outlook on competition was fantastic-”Even if you are playing marbles, always play to win!”

Unfortunately neither Ray or Carwyn are with us anymore. I was privileged to be at Ray’s funeral and witness to the fantastic respect shown by the thousands of people who will always remember this enthusiastic, whirlwind, gentle giant of a Welshman. “West is Best” was his catchphrase and it is something I have always believed in. One of the last occassions I spoke to Ray was when I invited him to The Carreg. “Ian Bach,” he said “Ma’ rhaid i fi dod lawr” (Ian, I will have to come down) Unfortunately Ray died shortly after that but his wife and daughters have since been down and experienced The Carreg.  I saw them last night at the match, and it really was great to see them.

Scarlets next match is at their new stadium on November 15th. I have referred to change in a previous entry, which we all know is inevitable, and there will always be our memories, but it will be hard not thinking of Stradey in the early days at the new place.

Here is a new one for the Blog-A competition! The first person who e-mails me the correct score for last night’s game will get a bottle of wine from me with their next booking! If your name is Quinnell (first name Scott) or Moon (first name Rupert) you are banned from this one! Sorry lads, but I will buy you a drink next time you are in!

And Scarlets won!

Ian

Have you ever seen ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ and that fantastic bit where the machine makes the chaps’ breakfast for him? The same type of machine was in ‘Back to the future’ and one of the superb ‘Wallace and Grommit’ films. I get ideas all the time, some of them are completely ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ bonkers and some of them have a little grain of fantastic in them. Wendy acts like a ‘gold panner’ seperating the little grains of fantastic from the rest, which stops me making an idiot of myself too often! Initially everyone thought I was bonkers when I said I wanted to open a restaurant where the unique selling point was to cook your own food on a flaming hot piece of granite! But Wendy believed in me and we slowly got the idea off the ground.

When we wanted to turn our beautiful garden into a magical ‘Tranquillity Garden’ complete with pet farm animals, people didn’t say we were bonkers this time, but a few eyebrows raised.

When we decided to change some of the already successful dishes on the menu to more organic produce, more nods of agreement and hardly any furrowed brows.

By now people know that if something is stated by us, the whole idea will have mileage. Seld Mam Leon opened for business yesterday and today teapigs www.teapigs.co.uk sent us a load of exciting tea temples to go on it. Somebody liked them so much that they bought some to go home with.

As the old guy in the ‘A team’ said years ago “I love it when a plan comes together!”

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not so much the sale but the fact somebody had enjoyed the experience so much that they wanted to take something of it home with them, which makes me smile

We must be doing something right, but will we ever build a flying car, or a time machine or mechanical trousers? Who knows? If it adds to the whole Carreg Experience, and we get to see how Scarlets play next season beforehand then it may be worth a shot!

More cheese, Grommit? 

Ian

When I went to Angus’ lecture about ‘Link Juice’ and suchlike recently I met Julie from Plas Farmhouse www.plasfarmhousenarberth.co.uk and we agreed to have reciprocal links to each others websites. Julie runs a smashing guest house in Narberth which is in the oldest building in Narberth.  I forgot to link to Julie’s website, so big apologies Julie! But you can click on Plas Farmhouse from here now, and it will be on our main Links page in a couple of days.

Take Care

Ian

When Wendy and I started talking about the concept of The Carreg we both agreed that we wanted a pleasant, happy atmosphere, somewhere positive to relax with good food and drink without being too formal.

It isn’t always easy being positive and we all hit patches where it is difficult  to stay positive. Five years ago my son, Lewis, was having problems with his reading at school. Unfortunately the school he attended was extremely poor in their handling of the situation and, despite independent evidence proving he was dyslexic, Lewis was branded stupid. 

Llandovery College www.llandoverycollege.com has a great dyslexic programme and, with some extremely generous help from my parents, Lewis changed schools.

At the initial interview we were shown the positive side of dyslexia and who has gone on to achieve fantastic goals.  NASA is dyslexia positive when  hiring, Richard Branson is dyslexic, Andy Kirkpatrick at the ‘Do’ lectures is dyslexic: If you want to find out more go to www.dyslexia.com to find out more about dyslexia in the UK.

But the story doesn’t end there Lewis is doing great things at school now as he is getting the right kind of help and he is also enjoying himself! So much so that his sister Abi and step sister Jazz have joined him there. Yesterday I went up to see him play Christ College Brecon and, although his team lost, he had a great time out there! The first fifteen won though! Unfortunately a Breconian was injured during the last 10 minutes and was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure. We all hope that he is ok and is able to return to the sporting life he obviously enjoys so much. I have just heard in the last few seconds that, thankfully, he is fine.

Sport is such a wonderful pastime and can have such a positive effect on life (remember, we don’t do negativity!) that it is such a shame that we fall out of practise as we get older. I was reading an article last evening that, if we aren’t having enough exercise, we should use a heavier chopping knife in the kitchen, try putting things on higher shelves to stretch ourselves a bit and, of course, use the stairs not a lift in the office. All these are well and good but what is wrong with going out for a long walk?  A long walk with a loved one can provoke conversation, see new places, new people and just have great fun!

Along with exercise, a balanced diet is essential to a healthy way of life. At The Carreg our ‘Black Rock’ grill system is extremely healthy as no oils or sauces are used in the cooking process. Just good quality meat or fish prepared exactly as you like it. And our vegetarian menu and our off the rock specials are second to none! Be assured that we only use the finest quality ingredients so you can enjoy an excellent meal in superb surroundings in a positive atmosphere (because we don’t do negativity!) A lot of our produce used is sourced on Narberth High Street to support local businesses and minimise our carbon footprint. Which makes an already positive atmosphere even better!

Because we don’t do negativity!

Keep smiling!

Ian

When I was growing up, the main feature of our house was a Welsh Dresser or ‘Seld’ to use its Welsh translation. This was used to display the best china which only was used on special occassions but I wasn’t allowed to even touch it as a small child, for fear of breaking anything!

Leon Beck is a friend of mine. Leon’s mother sadly died and, like any self respecting Welsh woman, she had a ‘Seld’ which she cherished. Leon has eaten at The Carreg a few times and we were talking about what we could do to enhance The Carreg Experience. Leon very kindly offered us his mothers prized Welsh Dresser to be placed in The Carreg to do with as we please.

This act of generosity from Leon is fantastic. Next Monday Leons’ mothers’ Welsh Dresser (Welsh Translation-Seld Mam Leon) will have pride of place and we will be displaying quality products for sale under the banner ‘Seld Mam Leon.’

This will give Carreg visitors the opportunity to enjoy part of The Carreg experience at home and, hopefully, do justice to this wonderful gift my friend has given me, for which I am very grateful.

Recycling is very much my thing, so I am very proud that we can reuse this gift in such a practical way, without having to resort to purchasing a new unit where love hasn’t yet been instilled.

On Monday I am going to a honey farm to talk about the practicality of keeping bees in the Tranquillity Garden. Perhaps it won’t be long until fresh honey is for sale from Seld Mam Leon!

Please remember we aren’t opening on Sunday as the High Street will be closed again because of the water mains work, and please don’t let the weather spoil your weekend!

Ian

The last blog entry was supplied by Ben Roche (he is on face book) who I met at the Do lectures www.dolectures.co.uk at fforest www.coldatnight.co.uk recently. The Do lectures were organised by Howies www.howies.co.uk as part of their Earth Tax in which they give 1% of their turnover back to the planet, and this was an opportunity to educate people on all manner of things. Basically, for 5 days, we stayed in luxury tents, had great food, attended all manner of workshops from firestarting and foraging to canoeing and bread making, and were privileged to be present at 20 superb lectures by 20 original thinking individuals to really fire up the imagination. Which, for me, it did. I have completely changed the way I ’Do’ things on a day to day basis, both personally and in my business life and I am very grateful to all at Howies for their generosity and influence.

One of the lecturers was Yun Hider, a forager, who I am meeting soon to organise a special evening in the restaurant, incorporating food which has been foraged in the woods. Jethro (evening chef), myself and Yun will go into the woods, collect all kinds of things and incorporate these ingredients in a delicious feast. Yun will also give a talk on foraging, either in the restaurant, or a Marquee in the Courtyard that evening as well.

I went home yesterday and started talking to Wendy and Plum (daytime chef) about Ben’s Blog Entry and what we could do about it. It turns out that Wendy and Plum have already started a scheme that, if you have a takeaway daytime salad bowl, you pay a pound deposit and have it in a proper bowl. If you want a takeaway coffee, 50p deposit and you get a proper mug. Brilliant stuff, but please bring back your empty mugs and bowls and reclaim your deposit so that others can benefit from this fantastic scheme.

Small, incremental changes to how we do things will get us all to a better place.

The next time you visit The Carreg, please be aware of how importantly we treat our animals, our surroundings, what we do here and please enjoy being part of the whole experience. Also you can go to our links page on our main website and see what some of our friends are up to. 

We are here to provide a fantastic dining experience in beautiful surroundings. However, if we stir some fresh thinking into the mix for some painless changes on how we do things to keep the planet beautiful, then surely that’s an added bonus to the Carreg Experience. 

Even the fairy lights in our Courtyard trees are solar powered

God bless

Ian