we have had a good day:-

no-one can remember why he was laughing although he is not a laughing fool as somebody pointed out

joe was searching for mary!!

we did our best to get in on the act although no-one would take our picture so we had to do it ourselves. and this is the result.

At the bottom is the recipe for the very popular Devon Cake as requested by many of our fantastic customers.

The apple cake has a nice dense sponge and a stewed apple, raison and cinemon filling so with that in mind a good serving suggestion is to have it warmed up with creme fresh. you can have it warm with cream, custard and even some of our local clotted cream but for me the acidic edge the creme fresh gives the sweet filling it is in my opinion the best way to enjoy it.

I always recommend this as a surving suggestion because it is how I eat it myself so why don’t you drop in and see if i am right.

Recipe:-

• 7oz grated apples
• 3.5oz vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• Vanilla essence
• 8oz brown sugar, self raising flour and sultanas.

Mix it all together and bake in the oven at 170 degrees C for approx 20 mins or until firm to the touch and serve with stewed apple, cinnamon and raison filling.

She’s a dotctor you know

Hard at it

The whole of ashburton will miss her. us, tess designs and number 14 are all places she used to run at least those are the ones she told us about. what about the other three days in the week lucy?

Good luck doctor lucy we will miss you lots.

Happy Birthday Holly 18 today

She’s working it now

Oh she’s smug. 18 yrs old and out tonight on the pull

Lucy- another 18 year old- 18 years ago (natch)

The obligatory group photo. from the left : birthday girl Holly, Harrie, Ilona,  me and one half of Joshleigh.   ( josh this and josh that blah blah blah)

I am not sure what i am looking at but thank god its nobody’s cleavage.

Many happy returns Holly.

Here is the team first thing in the morning thats rowan as the power ranger martyn as a chef (which is really funny if you have seen him actually cook) and harrie who trumped us all with her sully outfit. ps thanks toby and jamie for the costume lend

Ilona didn’t wear an outfit but got into the swing of things as you can see mainly by laughing. all day long  laughing. mainly at harrie.

Denny didnt dress up either she said I told her not to…. and I did.

Ahhhh the weekday front team they really are the best at those scary hands. Harrie, Martyn and Bex

Here is the star of the day saving lives, working and sweating all at once. God bless her and all who ride with her.

We managed through the generosity of our customers and the monstrous efforts of well mainly Harrie to raise a whopping £80.00. Well done everyone but next time we are going to have to do something a lot.

This is us standing in the garden on a loverly day in august last year.

I am the one on the right

We moved from cheshire last june, me the wife and the three kids, leaving behind two steady incomes to come to ashburton to make a life here and we are taking very seriously running the place so that all our customers have a wonderful time, time after time.

By way of an introduction to the period town house where the tea rooms are located, I thought I might mention a little about our inside dining areas.

We have three main inside areas which consist of the front room, the conservatory and the yellow room.

The yellow room is set up with a farmhouse kitchen feel to it. We have a south facing garden and this room is at the back so it gets lots of light along with great views out. Also in this room is our amazing inglenook fire place which is a to be found blazing away on a cold winter day

The conservatory is all about the garden ,again situated at the back of the house it is warmed by the sun for most of the day and with the large windows you feel a little like you are sitting in the garden itself.

And finally the front room is our most formal type dining area in the whole place. When we had our valentines day this was the area we chose to set all the tables up in which gave an intimate feel that we had not had before. This is also the room that we have all the private parties in when someone throws a shindig at our place.

You can see several pictures of these areas in our gallery.

Well where to start its been 8 months 4 weeks and 5 days since we moved from the north of England to Ashburton and started to put all our daytime energies into making the tea rooms a roaring success and the night time a time for quit contemplation and prayer apart from when we fill the place with our friends and make merry.

We at the café green ginger have a few very simple philosophies

# We source all of our ingredients locally, we use milk and cream from a great farm up in Chagford the fruit and veg comes from a local wholesaler to the trade we use our fabulous butcher next door Rodney Cleave who is full of (amongst other things) the best advice ever about meat. Devon is such a rich county for produce we believe that to buy from anywhere else would be just “plain ole mad” as they say.

# Everything, and I do mean everything on our menu is delicious it is all freshly prepared and baked in our kitchens this way we can maintain our high standards. We also have, as well as the great regular menu, a specials board where you can try out something a bit out of the ordinary. These specials are swapped around every couple of days or so- just to keep you on your toes.

# We offer great customer service. Café green ginger opens 7 days a week (the next scheduled close is Christmas day) when you arrive you will be met by one of our staff who will help you to find a seat either in one of our three inside dining areas or the magnificent garden. Then we aim to serve you with your selection from our menu promptly so you can relax and enjoy your time spent as our guests. From when you sit down, we will get you whatever you want so you can just concentrate on having a good time.

Well that’s enough for the first blog see you soon

They are from the left Matt, Martyn (me), Derry and Nathan. matt is to be found in the kitchen at the dishwasher on a sunday, derry is assistant to the cook on a sunday as well and nathan is our cook on a weekend, monday and wednesday.

why is it that matt never changes his expression

they are a happy bunch