At the end of the last blog entry I wrote ‘Let us keep the rain at bay”. After the deluge of rain we have had this week I will never, ever write something as stupid as that again! Ever!

Have a great weekend! Whatever the weather brings!

Ian

Last Saturday, the rain held off and we were fortunate enough to witness one of the greatest carnival processions ever! The hard work of every member of the organising commitee was evident and it really proved to be a smashing day. I really am extremely lucky and proud to be a member of such a giving community.

I also managed to do a trade of some quail and duck eggs for some lovely soaps for Wendy!

Once again we had a smashing weekend at The Carreg and we woke up to one of the nicest e-mails I have seen for a long time. It read:-

“I would just like to let you know that we really enjoyed our meal, it was a great dining experience. Is there any chance you might be opening one in London or closer to Watford so that we can introduce our friends and family to your wonderful food?”

I am afraid that I  get a bit queasy if I leave Pembrokeshire so I can’t see it happening in the short term. But then, who knows?

Have a fantastic week and let us keep the rain at bay!

Ian

I read this weeks ‘Big Issue’ on Saturday and was dismayed to read about Evelyn Calcabrini and Shirley Edwards, two Welsh speaking descendants of Welsh pioneers who left Wales to start new lives in Patagonia, being refused entry into the UK. I am outraged at this. My late grandfather was fascinated with Patagonia and spent much of his life liasing, helping and visiting ‘Y Wladfa’ and this kind of heavy handed bureaucracy would have made his blood boil. When Wendy and I were thinking of names for the restaurant before settling on The Carreg, ‘The Memosa’ was one name we considered, after the tea clipper taking the original settlers from Liverpool to Argentina.  

This morning I sent an e-mail to my father and brother informing them of what I had read and to see if there is anything more that we can be doing. As I googled the girls names, I came across this:-

“Patagonian links
SIR – I read with interest your article on the refusal to allow Patagonian students entry to this country and how they were promptly sent back to Patagonia (“Welcome in the hillside, but not at Heathrow for Patagonian pair”, June 18).

The Border Agency officials were more interested in being dictators than researching why this young Patagonian student wanted to come to Wales.

My late father visited Patagonia 13 times to help foster closer relationships with the Welsh there and, thanks to Llandovery College, there is now a Tom Gravell Scholarship which allows one Patagonian student to study at Llandovery every year.

Llandovery College has also benefited as it now sends students to Patagonia to work for their Duke of Edinburgh awards.

So much for bureaucracy.

DAVID GRAVELL
Ferry Road, Kidwelly”

My father, who is equally outraged about this, had written the above letter to the Western Mail last week.

I urge anybody who feels strongly enough about this to e-mail the Home Office expressing your concern, and also join Plaid Cymru’s online campaign, whatever your political affiliation.

Please remember, this isn’t about politics, it is about two young women who saved to make a journey to find out more about their heritage, only to have a door slammed in their faces.

Ian

Wendy and I have just spent a lovely weekend in Dublin. We had walks along the Liffey, had tea in ‘The Clarence’ (Bono and The Edge from U2′s boutique hotel), experienced the ‘craic’ of Dublin on Saturday night, enjoyed the mystery of how Guiness is brewed and experienced a three and a half hour mammoth performance by Bruce ‘The Boss’ Springsteen in the RDS stadium on Sunday evening. After much cajoling by Little Steven,”One more song” he yelled at 11.20pm and launched into ‘Twist and Shout’ for eight minutes!!!

If you look at a previous blog entry of mine, you will see that good manners are of paramount importance to me, which is why you will always experience great attention to detail in this area at The Carreg. On Sunday, I inadvertantly ‘queue jumped’ the breakfast buffet at the hotel we were staying at. Wendy pointed out what I had done wrong and I turned to apologise to the guy standing behind me. He answered “Don’t worry. I am in no rush whatsoever.”

Isn’t that just so brilliant? This side of the water we run around getting angry over the slightest detail, over there it is “I am in no rush whatsoever.”

Do they not say “Why don’t you slow down and smell the flowers?”

Finest Chef/Cook for Jethro Lawrence

Exciting New business/Owner for The Carreg

Greenest Achievement for eco eco in The Carreg Courtyard Shopping and The Tranquillity Garden

We are really excited that we have been nominated for the above three categories for this years’ Pembrokeshire Awards. If you believe that we are worthy of any or all of the above please go to the website on this link www.pembrokeshiretourismawards.net

Once there, please search out the relevant categories and you will be asked to give a nomination and to state a few words to support the nomination.

You will also be asked for our full address which is 32 High Street Narberth, SA67 7AS and our phone number which is 01834 862990 (except eco eco which has The Carreg Courtyard before ’32 High Street’, phone number remains the same for now)

Let us all cross fingers that we get there!

Thank you all! It is an honour just to be nominated!

Ian

Last week we had a lunchtime diner who questioned if our homemade soup was authentic. In fact the statement was made that it was not homemade, but was made by Heinz! Now I really enjoy Heinz’ soup www.heinz.co.uk: There is nothing better than after surfing the fantastic Pembrokeshire, cold, October waves, preparing a tin of Heinz on your camping stove in some beach car park and the tasty warmth being put back into your body.

But we don’t do tinned soup at The Carreg. As you would expect, our fantastic soups are always prepared on the premises, using the freshest ingrediants that we can get our hands on. Full Stop. 

Should anybody disagree with me then you can talk to Kristin at Heinz Foodservice (as I have done when discussing this situation with her this morning) and she will tell you about the dim view they take on unscrupulous people trying to pass their soups on as homemade, and what legal process they then follow.

Heinz Foodservice can be contacted on the above website, or by phone on :- 0800 57 57 55

Or by letter:- Heinz Foodservice, South Building, Hayes Park, Hayes, Middlesex, UB4 8AL.

Or alternatively, make an appointment and you can see a soup being prepared from scratch in the Carreg kitchen and you will see the process followed, with the absence of tinned soups in the pot.

Ian

PS It was the Heinz brand brought up by the diner concerned. We equally do not use any other brand of tinned soup either.

As you may know, one of the reasons we held our Pink Ribbon Fundraiser was Sharon from St Raphael (ex of The Carreg Courtyard) being diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Wendy saw Sharon a few days ago and whilst we don’t know how well she is now, she looked absolutely, positively, convincingly fabulous!

Big, big smiles all round!

Ian