Frothy delicious coffee (my taste), remember those?  Who'd have thought it would seem like such a treat?  After weeks of lock-down maybe we've learned something about what the smaller, simpler pleasures in life used to be. 

Two visits to Mole Valley for calf milk have been my excursions during this time, brightened by the availability of some tomato plants which couldn’t otherwise be got at the time.  Our daughters, desperate to get out somewhere, have been to the supermarkets when necessary (what an experience) otherwise we're self-sufficient.  

Family business takes its toll in many ways and after twenty years David and I can find more indoor and outdoor jobs than could be done in six months, so with lots of space and endless work to do we're hardly going to be bored when we're not actually still working.  Thanks to the good weather, the garden, duck pond, stable, fences and many public areas haven’t looked so good for years, while we still have years’ worth of work we could set ourselves about indoors if it would only rain to encourage us! 

For those of you who have enjoyed Sheppyfest (our music festival) in the past, you will, no doubt be as sad as we are that we have had to make the decision not to go ahead with this year’s event.  We hung on as long as we could to the hope that we could close this Summer with our annual celebration, but postponement became inevitable.

If there's one thing we've learned through this it's that each of us feels totally differently about the impact this is having on us personally; there is no doubt we, privately, are exceptionally lucky.  The business on the other hand, providing and supplying into hospitality has been hit hard.  Most of our 50 staff have been furloughed; thank goodness for the availability of that!  We have continued to bottle products for the supermarkets and we've been providing a click and collect service via our website including fruit and vegetables, cupboard essentials, cider (of course) and take-away hot drinks, pasties and pies. 

We were delighted to open the shop and butchery on Friday, (22nd) and welcome back so many of our loyal customers who have supported us over the years, on this occasion we were excited to offer them something different with our recently launched limited edition Redstreak cider, of which 50p from every bottle sold will go to the NHS via the Love Musgrove Fund - it will be good to give something back at a time when it needs us as much as we need it.  Small steps, but in this new uncertain world it feels good to be doing something positive again.

To find out more about Love Musgrove or make a donation follow the link