In a new venture for Hilton Herbs we are sponsoring a jockey's thighs!  A chance meeting with Martin Cooney, a jockey from the well-known Seaborough Manor Racing yard, led to a sponsorship agreement, administrated by the Point to Point Racing Authority, whereby whenever Martin races his breeches and his polo shirts will carry the Hilton Herbs logo.  Seaborough Manor Racing are very local to Hilton Herbs and we use Richard Barber's gallops from time to time for our own horses so it was a logical partnership.  Seaborough Manor Racing is a satellite yard for Paul Nicholls and is owned by Richard Barber, brother of Paul Barber, Paul Nicholls' landlord at Ditcheat in Somerset.  This year's winner of the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, Rock on Ruby, was trained at Seaborough Manor.

Here is Martin's story:

“I come from Fethard in Co Tipperary, which is the home of horses in Ireland. There are plenty of big trainers around there such as Mouse Morris, Aiden O’Brien, and Enda Bolger, and they’ve trained Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle winners. I’ve worked for Mouse Morris but was taught all my good habits by Enda Bolger who is a great schoolmaster of people and has taught Ruby Walsh, Nina Carberry, and many more. I have ridden for Enda Bolger and Mouse Morris on the track, in point to points, and in the famous “bank” races in which Enda takes such pride.

I come from a farming background and Dad always had horses and I’ve always wanted to ride them so one day I just jumped on board and its gone from there.

I left Ireland because times have been hard recently and there are less horses running so fewer rides. I got the job riding for Richard Barber at Seaborough Manor through Ciara who is the head girl there.

I guess my strengths are that I can judge pace and find it easy to settle horses. I can read the race when I’m in it and can take anything on board. I have plenty of experience riding young horses.

I consider myself fortunate to be involved with the Seaborough Manor operation and I also ride work for Paul Nicholls and other trainers like Ron Hodges.”

Martin Cooney with one of his regular rides

Martin in action schooling over fences

Minako is probably our most long-standing distributor and has been selling Hilton Herbs in Japan for over fifteen years.  She has been such a loyal and enthusiastic member of our worldwide distributor team that it is hard to imagine life without her.  Given the distance between the UK and Japan we, here at Hilton Herbs, did not have much personal contact with Minako and in fact the last time we all saw her was at the World Equestrian Games in Jerez.  At the time Minako was very excited about a new horse she had bought from Spain and was having him shipped back home to do dressage.  That is how we would like to remember Minako, enthusiastic, smiley, and full of life.

For several months now Tomohiko, Minako’s younger brother, has been working with her and has taken over the business and will continue to build on what Minako has achieved with selling Hilton Herbs.  We will continue to support Tomohiko, as we did Minako, and look forward to meeting him in the near future as he has a trip planned to the UK.

All the team at Hilton Herbs send their deepest sympathies to Tomohiko, Minako’s family, and Minako’s dear friend, Eriko, who so often helped Minako translate her requests to us.

"Hi my nam is Zac and I am a 12 year Border Collie.  I moved to my current home when I was 18 months old where I have thoroughly enjoyed myself playing at Obedience and Agility and now try and do Cani Cross.  Unfortunately I am no longer able to compete as due to my early treatment I have arthritis in my elbow and spine as well as HD, but since I have been taking Seaweed & Rosehip as a general tonic and Gastrix to help my tummy, as I sometimes get digestive problems, and Veteran and CDRM to help my back, I have felt extremely well and even can give my brothers a run for their money. 

I went to Crufts last year to help mum promote Cani-Cross Trail Runners and thoroughly enjoyed myself, despite some people thinking I was stuffed, but I did get my photo taken lots of times and plenty of cuddles from youngsters and adults alike.

While I was there, me and my brothers, oh and mum, thought we would go and see our friends at Hilton Herbs and thank them a great deal for keeping us all on the straight and narrow.  Yes we do go to the vet when we have a slight relapse but not too often.  Anyway a great hug and kisses from us to Hilton Herbs, thanks".

Just to let you know Bryn has calmed down tremendously since going on the Gastrix without the valarian, can you please send my thanks to Hiliary. 

Many thanks
Denise H Croucher

The weather has been kind to us over the past four days with only a brief rain shower on Thursday. Visitors poured in to wander around the huge number of trade stands and attend the seminars, displays and evening Fantasia show.

I am sure that all the adjacent trade stand staff are sick to death of hearing and watching our video go round and round, but the visitors have been really captivated by the before and after photos of the trial horses and the fantastic testimonials of the trial participants. I am worn out repeating myself but I feel it is vital to explain to customers whose horses suffer from sweet itch that, if they want to effect a change in their horse’s skin cell make up, they have to start feeding the Bye Bye Itch supplement in the winter so the skin is prepared and will not have the usual inflammatory response it has to the bite of the ‘no-see-um's (Culicoides midge) come the spring.

I must have been doing something right because it is now just one hour before closing time on Sunday and we have sold out of the lotion and have just one tub of the supplement left!! I just hope that the owners will persevere and keep us informed as to how they get on. Anyone whose has owned or seen a horse with Sweet Itch will appreciate how distressing this condition is and how miserable it makes the horse or pony concerned. One of our customers (another Hillary in fact) is so determined to take this on as a long-term project that she has bought enough of the Bye Bye Itch to see her horse through to the end of the 2012 midge season. I do hope she keeps in touch and takes photos!

Our fantastic Herball (horse treats with no added sugar) have also sold out as horse and pony owners are really switching onto to using a molasses-free treat that is safe to give to even Cushing's, laminitic, or EPM horses and ponies.

The Himalayan Salt licks were a big hit and despite people having to carry them around we sold lots of the big licks and blocks which weigh up to 11 lbs!

So it's close to the finish line now, when Tony and I will pack up the booth for another year and head on back to PA and then on to the UK. Thanks to all our customers here in Springfield, the USA, or wherever you are in the world, we really appreciate your support, particularly in these tough times. Have a great holiday season and see you again in 2012.

Bye Bye Springfield!

Hilary & Tony

The journey to Springfield  for  The Equine Affire show was uneventful, we arrived safely on Monday afternoon, and got the RV settled into it's parking spot. It is a bit like Colditz here at night as the site is lit with huge overhead flood lights for security,but nothing would have kept us awake as the next two days were spent setting up the stand in the Better Living Centre, at the Eastern States Expo Centre.

We are in a new location this year, and have got a corner booth, which really Helps make the stand look bigger and more inviting. We have our new product Bye Bye Itch in pride of place, and have set up a TV to run our promotional video. This is another saga, as we had to leave the UK before the video was ready. Don't worry they said we can just send it over by someone like You Send It, of course it is never as simple as that! It took ages for the file to download onto Tony's rather sickly lap top, then we discovered that there were two files, one for the sound and one for the visual part of the video, and of course when they were combined the audio was out of sync!! The first day of the show was fast approaching and we didn't have our video for the launch.

At the eleventh hour the guys back at HQ got a new version of the video, and whizzed it over to us, Tony burnt the DVD and after a few tense moments we were able to watch the rewards of many months product trials and many hours video recording of trial participants.

The show starts tomorrow, the weather is looking good, let's hope we have a busy and successful show.

So it's Bye Bye from me for now.

Snow being cleared at the Springfield Expo Centre

We collected the trusty RV which had been serviced and the window we lost had been replaced - did I mention that one of our windows had blown out as we travelled through Texas last time? Anyway onwards and upwards, we also have new tyres on both the RV and the truck, so hopefully we are now ready for whatever the American winter has to throw at us!

On Sunday we will be loading up the RV and heading north to Springfield, Mass. via New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. The occasion is the Equine Affaire held at the Springfield Expo Centre where we have a booth. This is a huge show and attracts horse owners and horse enthusiasts from all the eastern US states. We are really excited about this show because it will be one of the venues where we are launching our brand new Bye Bye Itch supplement and Bye Bye Itch lotion.

These two products are being launched simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK at the Your Horse Live! show in Stoneleigh, and in the US at the Equine Affaire, MA.

But more of this in my next blog, we have to get loaded up for the show and on the road, so its Bye Bye until next time!

And so the long trek east begins. We set our sights towards the rising sun and started our 2,500 mile journey which would include the next trade show, the Southern States Co-op show being held in Charlotte, North Carolina, the epitome of the genteel Southern States, all very 'Gone With The Wind' don't you know!

Our first day's travelling was spent retracing our steps from Santa Fe, only this time we decided to spend the first night in Williams, Arizona, home of the Grand Canyon Railway and the town that proudly declares itself to be the Gateway to the Grand Canyon.

Entrance to Williams

We arrived in time to unhitch and take a drive into town, where we found an excellent restaurant called the Red Raven which not only served excellent food but also, that night, had great music provided by a local guy called Steve.  Whilst waiting for our meal we happened to read a local magazine that gave details of a special train being run the following day up to the Grand Canyon to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the Grand Canyon Railway. The extra bonus was that the train was due to be pulled by a steam engine instead of the usual diesel locomotive.  "let's see if we can get a seat?" I said. "You'll be lucky, they'll be all sold out" replied Tony.

Well, we were lucky!  At 8.30 the following morning, instead of continuing our journey east, we were standing on the platform waiting for our steam train to take us up to the maginificent Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon steam train

The journey did not disappoint and we chuffed our way over flat plateaus and through wooded hills being entertained not only by the breathtaking scenery but also by a group of singing cowboys, complete with guitars, accordions, and fiddles.  Two and a half hours later we arrived at the Grand Canyon depot and walked up to take in the astonishing site of the Grand Canyon, which was bathed in sunshine and providing a technicolour display for the spectators.

Hils at the Grand Canyon depot

Grand Canyon

We had three hours before we had to be back on board, and we made the most of it, taking in the sites, and watching a display of native dancing. The Navajo dancers were amazing and took the time to explain to the watching crowd the meanings of the songs and dances they were performing.

Navajo Dancer

Before we knew it we had to get back to the railway depot and climb on board for our trip back to Williams. If we thought we would be allowed to have a quiet snooze on the way back, well we were in for a big shock. As the train crossed the plateau towards Williams we were 'attacked' by a gang of desperate outlaws who galloped alongside brandishing guns and wearing colourful bandanas over their faces as the train slowed to a stop and the gang boarded the train! The passengers screamed as the outlaws entered each carriage and we were encouraged to hand over our money to save ourselves!

Needless to say this was all a put-up job but the passengers, especially the children, joined in with the game enthusiastically, and the outlaws left the train hotly pursued by the local sheriff. As the train pulled away the outlaws gave us all a cheery wave!

As a final treat we were told that later that night the town was putting on a firework display as part of the 110th anniversary at the local rodeo arena. Right on time as we sat by our campfire we were treated to a spectacular firework display. What a way to end a truly amazing day.

The drive from Santa Fe was wonderful, it took two days and en route we passed through Flagstaff close by the Grand Canyon and through some wonderful wilderness complete with cactus and tumbleweed. It was reminiscent of a scene from " Once upon a time in the West", and I expected John Wayne to come galloping over the plains at any minute.

It's amazing what you see in the desert!

Our journey took us over the Hoover Dam, by way of the new bypass, built in 2010, that is 2,000 ft long and towers 900 feet above the great Colorado river. Unfortunately for security reasons you cannot pull over on the bypass, which meant that taking a photo was completely out of the question, so you will have to follow this link to see the breathtaking views we missed!

After crossing the dam we were only about thirty miles from our destination. We had decided to overnight in a truck stop just half a mile away from our ultimate destination, the Mandalay Bay convention centre, which lies at the beginning of the famous, or should I say infamous, Las Vegas Strip, next door to the prestigious The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.

The reason we stopped at the truck stop rather than go to the RV campsite was because we were going to arrive at the venue early the next day to get a good position, ready to unload the show gear before it got too hot and before the queues for the trolleys grew too long. The Mandalay bay convention centre is a union venue so exhibitors are not allowed to handle their own gear! We had to unload everything from the back of the RV and then stand in line to be allocated a guy who then loaded everything onto the back of his cart so that he could take it into the hall. Luckily enough Tony helped load so we managed to get everything onto just two cart-loads. They charge by the load! 

We got set up pretty quickly and were able to get the campsite, the Las Vegas Oasis RV resort, while it was still light. It was the swankiest campsite we have ever stayed in with a hotel-style reception, grass areas beside each site, a selection of swimming pools and hot tubs, a very well stocked convenience store, and even an area where you could get involved in a Texas Holdum Poker game if you felt lucky.

The staff there were incredibly helpful and we couldn't fault the place, we will definitely stay there again, and it wasn't any more expensive than the other sites we have stayed in. Tony got the awning, chairs, and BBQ out and we were cooking!

SuperZoo is a very large pet show, not quite as big as Global Pet that we do in Florida in the spring each year, but it certainly draws in the pet store owners from the western states of America.

Our stand at Superzoo

Day one was relatively quiet, but we were told that this is not unusual as the visitors are all just viewing the various vendors and making up their minds which booths to visit in the coming days.

Day two was much busier, with a lot of interest in the products, we had customers come by who had seen us earlier in the year in Florida, but this is a slow business and I think with the economy the way it is, people are being very cautious about taking on new products and spending money.

Day three was our best day with several stores coming back to place orders. We met a new member of the Mud Bay team, whose stores are up in the Seattle area of Washington state. Katy is veterinarian who joined the Mud Bay team not long after Tony and I did the training session with Mud Bay in April this year. I took the opportunity to go through the dog and cat products with her in detail and was able to provide her with a more in-depth knowledge of the various herbs in the products, she is going to be a great asset to this fantastic forward-thinking company.

The show finished at 3pm and I am currently doing this blog whilst waiting for the union guy to turn up with his cart, so we can get all the gear back out to the RV in the carpark. Only been waiting two hours!!

Viva Las Vegas!

Our first show at the Foxwoods Casino complex in Connecticut, and it was the Agway show, which was organised by Southern States, who are one of the oldest famers co-ops in the US. The hierarchy is a bit confusing but basically Southern States bought Agway, who were also a co-op with a chain of stores. By the time Southern States became involved most of the Agway stores had been sold off, in many cases to the people who were running them for Agway. So Southern States essentially bought the Agway brand.  We are relatively new to Southern States/Agway and they have only stocked our equine products for a short time. The aim of doing the show in Connecticut was to introduce our pet products, particularly the cat and dog ranges. This type of distributor-organised trade shows are relatively laid-back in the sense that the only people who attend are retailers invited by the distributor.

We stayed at the MGM Grand hotel at Foxwoods which is a new hotel and super-smart.  The whole complex is mind-boggling with acres of slot machines and gaming rooms.  People seem happy to sit at the slot machines all day long to gamble.  Everything in the complex is connected by walkways so you don't even need to go outside unless you want to swim or, heaven forbid, use one of the walking trails.  Our rooms were on the 14th floor reached by a really quick lift, one of the ones that leaves your stomach on the ground floor!

We found the Southern States people very friendly and helpful and the show easy to do in terms of set up. The only annoying thing was having to pay the onsite shippers to trolley our boxes in as the venue is unionised. Hospitality was very good and we were essentially catered for in terms of drinking and eating from morning till night for the two days of the show.

Sadly the second day of the show was a complete washout in every sense of the word as there was very heavy rain and flooding in many parts of Connecticut, and elsewhere in the US. Many dealers just decided to head home and one exhibitor closed up and headed home to Ohio as his store had flooded! The show was so quiet that as vendors we ended up showing out products to other vendors!

Breakdown of our stand/booth was straightforward and this time,for some bizarre reason, the union guys were quite happy to trolley our stuff out to the loading dock and then let us bring the car round and we loaded out boxes in ourselves!  We stayed one more night in the MGM Grand, having negotiated a rate of $99 for rooms that normally costs $350 and the next morning headed off to the Peuqot Indian Museum.

The Peuqot are the Native American Indian tribe who managed to reclaim their tribal lands and then built the Foxwoods Casino on a part of it to help the tribe make a living. They have also built a fabulous museum which features a life-size indian village inhabited by waxwork models cast using real people. An incredible place and well worth visiting, the observation tower alone gives an amazing view out over Foxwoods.

We then got on the road and headed south back to Pennsylvania.

Just to bring you all up-to-date before we get back to work, we have spent the  last six days, resting and relaxing, fishing on the San Juan river, visiting our friends in beautiful Santa Fe and enjoying the sights and sounds of fiesta!

Our R&R began with two fabulous days spent on the San Juan river, in the 'Four Corners' area of the US, just below the Navaho dam. This beautiful stretch of river travels through deep canyons, alongside sloping sandy shores, and provides some of the finest fly fishing available in the US. The river is rich in both Rainbow and the wild Brown trout as well as providing an ideal habit for Blue heron, osprey, beaver, and hundreds of migrating swallows. Tony and I were lucky enough to have a great guide called Don who was a mine of information on the locality and its wildlife, and helped us improve our fly fishing skills no end. We both caught lots of Rainbow and Brown trout, all of which were returned carefully and safely to the river, as the stretch of the river we fished is all "catch & release".  

I was pretty pleased, as my duff knee, stood up to the two long days balancing in the boat pretty well, and I think it is finally on the mend. From the San Juan, we travelled further South to Santa Fe through wilderness land rich in wild flowers such as the lovely yellow Chamisa. 

 The landscape was spectacular, huge flat plains dotted with Desert Sage bushes, with massive backdrops of rich red and volcanic black cliffs.

 We were spending a couple of days with our friend William Prull.  Will is a custom builder whose homes have won numberous awards in Santa Fe, whilst we were there we had the good fortune to be able to see one of the homes he has just completed, which was absolutely stunning. Tony and I always say that if we ever win the lottery we will ask him to build us our dream home.

So, who or what is Zozobra I hear you ask? Well, whilst spending the evening with Will we saw one of the highlights of the Fiesta de Santa Fe which this year is celebrating it's 100 years anniversary. The fiesta marks the "peaceful " reconquest of New Mexico in 1692 by the Spanish! We had been given a brief history on Zozobra " Old Man Gloom", but nothing could have prepared us for the sight that greeted us when we saw the huge 60 ft high marionette of Zozobra.

2011 marks the 86 th burning of Old Man Gloom who, this year, had rust coloured cuffs, a bow tie, purple hair and turquoise eyes!   The local newspaper the New Mexican commented that "with his shoulders hunched, his bottom lip protruding and his long arms drooping nearly to the ground with Goth- like black fingernails, Zozobra looked more depressed than usual"

If I understand  correctly, the Zozobra figure is made and then stuffed full of pieces of paper on which people have written down all their negative thoughts, so that when he is later burned,  all the years gloom will be doomed and destroyed!   25,000 people packed the nearby park and watched as Zozobra was tormented by Fire Dancers and Gloomies whilst fireworks exploded around the park . Then  the giant figure started to moan, it was an incredible spectacle, with the moans getting louder and louder and more tormented!  The announcement was made that Zozobra was to be executed, at which point fire exploded from his mouth, and sparks erupted from his fingers, the moans became more agonised as the giant figure burned. It reminded me of the English tradition of burning an effigy of Guy Falkes on November the 5th, but this was definitely more pagan.  

The event was a great way to complete our brief visit to our favourite town, we were due to move out early next day, to start our 700 mile drive to Las Vegas. But that is another story.

 On the way to Santa Fe

King of Prussia Mall

Well it seems like we've been in the US forever! I think when I left off blogging last we were on our way to the King of Prussia Mall for a bit of retail therapy. Well we did the rounds of the department stores, Macy's, Sears, J C Penney, Bloomingdales, etc, although we didn't do Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom's. Martin finally found a pair of shorts he liked - guess where? In Gap! Fancy flying all this way to buy something in Gap!
We finally got out off KoP and got on the road for our four hour drive up to Connecticut. We'd been advised to make a detour round New York rather than follow the I-95 through the city but to do this we had to buy a map as the sat nav didn't approve of us deviating from the ‘highlighted route'. We started our detour using the map (which was rubbish) and the sat nav however but the sat nav sulked and then finally packed up completely. It was a bit like driving blind and tension started to build in the car with Martin in turn navigating and ‘back-seat' driving, pointing out when the traffic lights had turned green - like I'm colour-blind? Around 6.30 we decided to find a hotel and stop for the night, finally finding a Ramada near a place called Fishkill, in New York state.

Well the stay at the Ramada was an experience in itself (not to be repeated!). We went to the restaurant to eat to discover they weren't serving alchohol. Well, after the drive we'd had I needed a drink! We had seen a Ruby Tuesday's across the other side of the road so decided to give that a try, together with some guys who'd checked in to the Ramada driving huge tree-moving equipment. They'd obviously been working clearing roads after the devastation caused by hurricane Irene which battered parts of the east coast the previous weekend. Ruby Tuesday's was a life-saver and we returned to the Ramada much restored.
The next morning we got on our way for the remainder of the drive up to the Foxwoods Casino complex in Connecticut, which was where the first of our trade shows was being held. First of all we had to find a shop to buy a new charger for the satnav so we stopped off at a Walmart to find what was needed to restore it to life.

the MGM Grand at Foxwoods CT

A couple of hours of uneventful driving later we arrived at the MGM Grand, our hotel, which is part of this amazing hotel and casino complex, run by Native American Indians, in the middle of a huge forest. Its apparently one of the most successful casinos in the world and there's a certain irony in the fact that the Native Americans have reclaimed their tribal lands and now charge the white man to come and visit with them!  The hotel is amazing, with the same level of luxury and opulence to hotels in Dubai and our rooms were on the 14th floor with fantastic views over the forest. Twin queen-sized beds in each room (so you could presumably sleep one night in one bed and the next night in the other!) and lovely huge walk-in showers with water pressure to die for.

The casino complex was an eye-opener, wall to wall slot machines, roulette, poker, and black jack tables, in fact every sort of gambling you could image. Even a huge room, with a giant screen showing live horse-racing, and live results from racetracks all over the US. You just have to see it to believe it!  There is a choice of around eight restaurants with different cuisines and we chose the Scorpion Bar which offered Mexican food. Martin was fascinated by our server, Carla, who had very long legs and wore very short tight denim shorts and a tight top showing plenty of cleavage. He even asked her to pose for a pic, which she was more than happy to do, for the blog at the end of the evening (for the lads at home, he said), cringe-making!

Carla, Scorpion Bar, Foxwoods

One of the slot machine rooms

Then it was off to bed to get an early night as the next day was the first day of build-up prior to the show.

Our Ford Explorer

We collected our rental car, which was a Ford Explorer SUV (4x4), and set off on the 100-mile drive to out Holiday Inn which was just outside Philadelphia. Half an hour later we were still driving in circles round Newark Airport having visited a couple of seriously dodgy areas! How we managed to get lost even with sat nav is beyond me, however we finally managed to get onto the Interstate and on our way. Got to our hotel at about 11.30 Friday night and crashed!

Sat 3rd Sept

The following morning we had breakfast and then headed over to Souderton, a 15 minute drive, which is where the Hilton Herbs warehouse is. We rent the warehouse space from a company called Total Equestrian and the owner, Kerry Gingrich, was there to meet us and show us around.

Tony and Hilary had said they'd left all our show stuff "on a couple of pallets" so I was seriously worried as to how we were going to fit it into our car, despite it being an SUV, however it wasn't actually that much stuff. With a bit judicious re-packing we fitted in. We then went and did some shopping as Kerry had recommended a restaurant in Souderton that was BYOB (bring your own bottle!) so we needed to find a liquor store. It was interesting to compare prices and see that imported wine from the New World, like Chile, was actually cheaper than in the UK. Top-end wine, even domestic wine, is quite expensive, as in the UK, but booze generally seems cheaper, and they do huge sizes even in spirits.

That evening we went for a lovely meal at the Café Melodia in Souderton which terms its cuisine ‘Pan-Asian American fusion'. Everything is cooked fresh and they use only organic ingredients wherever possible. Portions are huge and I made the mistake of having spring rolls as a starter which Martin had to help me eat, but they were lovely. We had a glass of a very nice Californian sauvignon blanc to go with this. We'd both chosen ribs and they were delicious, the best ribs I've ever eaten and nothing at all like the ribs you get with Chinese takeaway! Had a glass of a very nice Californian Cabernet sauvignon with our main. We had a lovely server (waitress) called Courtney who went out of her way to make us feel welcome.

Tomorrow we pack up and get on the road to drive north to Connecticut for our first show. First we are going to visit the King of Prussia shopping mall, which is one of the biggest on the east coast, for a bit of retail therapy!

More later.

It Ain't half Hot Mum!!

We had 450 miles to travel through right across the state of Kansas from our campsite in Topeka and on into Colorado to the next night's campsite in a small town by the name of Limon.

I was really looking forward to this leg of our trip because I had heard so much about the amazing landscape, mile after mile of flat agricultural land given over to raising cattle and cereals. Despite having seen television footage of the Kansas landscape, nothing could have prepared us for the sight of literally tens of thousands of acres of enormous fields, stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction! We had missed the main harvesting season, which takes place in June/July, when the giant combines come rolling through the state. However there were still huge areas that were obviously being harvested later, fields full of sunflowers, maize and a crop I think was millet? The cereal crop fields were interspersed with impressive ranches covering vast acreage, where black beef cattle and some very fine horses grazed. We even got to see some real working cowboys, so girls they really do exist and I am sure they are just as wonderful as portrayed in the movies!!

We had left Topeka early in the morning as we had a lot of miles to cover, even then the temp was 80 deg  and by midday it had climbed to an eye watering 105!! so when we climbed out of the air conditioned truck, it was like stepping into a furnace.

As we drove on we started to see the famous 'prairie cathedrals', the local name for the giganelevators (silos) that dominate the skyline. The elevators are used to store the thousands of tons of grain harvested every year. In fact Kansas is known as the "Wheat State" and provides over one fifth of the US's wheat. Salina is one of the principal towns in the state and is home to a Catholic cathedral, that has been built to resemble the massive white cylindrical elevators. I have to say it makes the UK's grain stores look pretty puny, still I suppose we are talking about a state that you could fit the whole of the UK into and still have room left over!

Arrived in Limon safe and sound, and in need of a very cold beer!

The next part of our journey took us away from the US heartland and into Colorado, towards the beautiful Sangre de Cristo (Spanish for Blood of Christ) mountains . This mountain range lies in the southern most sub-range of the legendary Rocky Mountains. We left the I-70 and at Colorado Springs joined the I-25 that took us through Pueblo, south towards, New Mexico. The scenery changed dramatically from lush green fields to virtual desert dotted with bright yellow chamisa bushes and wild sage. I love this sort of country, with the wild desert scrub and a backdrop of towering mountains climbing 14,000 feet and more into the sky. Our stop tonight is in South Fork ( no, not, that South Fork!).  We have climbed up over 5,000 feet in altitude today, so hoping the old heart can take the thinner air.

Tomorrow we drive to our holiday spot in the Four Corners.  We are staying at the Aztec campground, and meeting up with our great friend Will from Santa Fe. The plan is to do a couple of days fishing on the San Juan river, who said we don't have any fun?

Go West young Man!

Hurricane Irene

We were getting nervous about hurricane Irene as the weather guys were talking of horrendous weather conditions moving up from Florida along the east coast. We decided that in view of our record with all things meteorological we would play safe and leave Pennsylvania ahead of schedule. The hurricane was due to reach the area on the Saturday, so on Friday early evening we put 150 miles between us and the east coast. Hurricane Irene was 200 miles wide on each side, and we didn't want to have to deal with 80 mile an hour winds in an RV.

On the Friday night we stopped in a service area, and by 8 am the following morning were heading west along the Interstate 70 towards Ohio. You have to hand it to this country they really know how to mobilise resources when there is an imminent crisis. The fear was not only of the damage that hurricane Irene could wreak with high windows, tidal surges, power outages, etc, but the east coast has experienced high rainfall this summer and the ground is saturated, with heavy rainfall flooding was going to be a major problem.

As we drove along the interstate, we saw literally hundreds and hundreds of emergency trucks, huge generators, power grid, and tree-handling equipment driving in the opposite direction, heading east so they would be in place ready to swing into action after the storm, clearing fallen trees, tackling fires or flooding and quickly getting the power back on.

Irene arrived in the Pennsylvania and New York area right on schedule late on Saturday night, with winds gusting up to 70 mph, dumping eight inches of rain in a few short hours. Irene had been downgraded to a tropical storm, but don't be fooled into thinking this let the area off the hook, by Sunday four million homes had lost power and flooding in areas of up-state New York and Vermont was horrendous with rivers rising to record levels.

For anyone who thought Hurricane Irene was a joke....

Time to carry on heading west, into Ohio, towards our first proper overnight stop four miles away in Cambridge. We settled down to the drive, and I said to Tony "well we certainly did the right thing, getting away from Irene, we can relax a bit now!". That was when the alternator decided to die!!

"pull, Tony, pull!"

We limped into the campsite in Cambridge, having done just under 400 miles with no radio (hell on earth!) and putting the batteries into charge when we stopped for lunch. Luckily enough having two new batteries helped, although the dashboard was lit up like a christmas tree with all the warning lights that had come on as the voltage dropped. We called into a local auto part store the next day and managed to buy a new alternator off the shelf. Then we really struck lucky when the guy in the store said he had a mate who could fit it for us and three hours later it was all fixed! The following morning, we set off again driving through Indiana, into Illinois, to Effingham, which sliced another 800 miles off the journey. Tomorrow we head for Kansas which lies at the centre of the US and is the ‘bread basket' of the US.

More soon!

Welcome to America!

Our arrive started badly with the US immigration guys taking a dislike to my passport! "Hilary have you lost or had your passport stolen recently?" they enquired. "No!" I replied. "We have you listed as a resident of the USA?" they said. "Well, I know we seem to spend a lot of time here, but I am certainly not a resident!" said I.

We were shown into a back room, filled with immigration officers in black uniforms with heavy duty guns and equally serious expressions. There was a heavily pregnant lady from Bosnia with two young children, and a couple more lost souls. The immigration officer punched a lot of info into his computer and looked sternly at my passport. "Yikes" I thought "This is not an auspicious start to our latest venture."

Ten minutes passed and I was called over to the desk, "how long are you staying in the US?" they asked, "six weeks" I replied cautiously, not knowing whether this was a ‘good' or ‘bad' answer. "Ok thats fine" said the immigration official, handing me back my passport. "What was the problem" I asked, "oh no problem, all sorted now", the guy replied.  Wooh! I reckon someone had input some duff info into the system, however, breathing a sigh of relief we got out of there as quickly as possible!

The next day was taken up with getting hold of two new batteries for the truck and putting together all the kit ready for the "B Team" who arrive in the US on Friday 2nd Sept. The B team consists of Heather Giles and Martin Brooks who are coming out to the US to do two more trade shows, one in Mashantucket, (yes there really is a place with such a name!), Connecticut, and then one in Atlantic City, New Jersey. While we go fishing!! Well what else do directors do? No, don't answer that one!

Martin has taken exception to being referred to as the B team, but then he is still on a high from getting his Bsc Honours degree in Business & Management earlier this year. We keep telling him, he is a mere stripling and will not have earned his A team ‘stripes' until he has done this job for as long as us. I will leave them to write their own blog when they get over here!

More later as we get further down the road to Vegas!

Well travelling Upper Class certainly has its pluses! We very rarely travel business class but Tony had got some good deals and with the aid of air miles this trip we are travelling in style!

Having damaged my knee over the weekend I had been hobbling around for the few days prior to our departure keeping the horse ice packs on my knee to try and reduce the inflammation and wondering how the hell I was going to cope with the airport. Then we got a call from Virgin Atlantic to say that they are now offering their chauffeur driven facility at Heathrow for anyone travelling Business class and using their own car to drive to Heathrow. We always drive up from Somerset and use the Purple Parking company who meet us at the terminal, then they drive the car away and keep it safe while we are away. This time they met us and drove us to the Virgin check-in area which was beautifully quiet, unlike the main check-in desks that are always frantic. After an excellent meal in the Virgin lounge I was whisked to the departure gate in a wheelchair and delivered right to the plane door!! What service, I only wish we could afford to do this every time!

Anyway here we are again, back to the US for two trade pet shows and a few days R&R, including some fishing on the San Juan River located in the ‘four corners' area of the country. The area is called the four corners because this is where four states, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, all meet. It should be a great trip despite involving 5,000 miles of driving from the east coast to virtually the west coast of the US, so watch out for more adventures. We are starting well weather-wise arriving in New York in the wake of a tornado and the biggest earthquake to hit the east coast in living memory!!

Just had an email from the place where we store our RV and truck, guess what our brand new batteries on the truck are flat as a dab! We will need to get these exchanged before we go anywhere - here we go again!

More news soon! 

From immediate effect all our UK and US customers will be able to use PayPal to pay for their purchases on www.hiltonherbs.com and www.hiltonherbsusa.com

Many people using eBay are already familier with PayPal, however for the unitiated, here is a brief explanation below, courtesy of Wikipedia:

"PayPal is an e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to traditional paper methods such as cheques and money orders.

A PayPal account can be funded with an electronic debit from a bank account or by a credit card. The recipient of a PayPal transfer can either request a cheque from PayPal, establish their own PayPal deposit account or request a transfer to their bank account."

One of the big advantages PayPal is being able to pay for online purchases without divulging one's credit card details, which is a huge benefit, particularly when buying from an online store for the first time.

Despite hype from time to time, relating to individual bad experiences with PayPal, the system is hugely popular and there is a counter on the PayPal website showing successful payments made.

People who buy and sell regularly on eBay are able to make online purchases without having to transfer money to a different account.

Proof that providing PayPal as a means of payment is popular with our customers became clear when on the very first day six out of the first twelve online orders were made using PayPal!

Martin Brooks, our Production & Export Manager, has worked hard over the last few years to raise our business profile, and one of the ways he's done this is to enter us for business awards. We've had a good degree of success as well, winning Somerset's "Exporter of the Year" award in 2009 and we were the Western Gazette's "Small Business of the Year" in 2010. We've been short-listed in other business awards, notably the South-West Business Awards 2010 where we attended an Awards Ceremony hosted by the prestigious St Mellion Golf Club in Cornwall.

Hilary & Tony with our Business of the Year Award

Imagine our pleasure when we were short-listed again, in five categories, for the Western Gazette Business Awards 2011. The Awards ceremony took place at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, Somerset, and the tables were laid out literally under Concorde! Sadly the food and wine left a lot to be desired, however we were thrilled to win the "Business of the Year" award for the 2nd year running.  Roll on the next posh do!

One of my colleagues, with a slightly warped sense of humour, took this photo, somehow he seems to think it applies to me - ha ha!

Danger! Armed! You better believe it!

Concorde at the Fleet Air Arm Museum

Martin, our Production & Export Manager, joined Hilton Herbs in January 2007, having previously worked with Pittards Leather for four years as Leather Technologist.

Martin - Production & Export Manager at Hilton Herbs

Martin joined Hilton Herbs as Production Manager when the previous incumbent moved onto pastures new. There had been two changes of manager in the previous two years so when Martin arrived the first problems he encountered were poor staff morale and a confusion of production systems.  In the four years that Martin has been with Hilton Herbs production staff relations have been improved dramatically and production levels and standards have also improved beyond compare, enabling Hilton Herbs to reduce labour costs whilst increasing output.

Two years ago Martin entrolled on a company-funded part-time degree course in Business & Management at local University Centre Yeovil, going to college every Wednesday afternoon.  The rest of his studying, course work, research, etc, had to be juggled around work and a busy family life as he has a wife who works full-time and two small daughters.

We are all very proud that Martin has gained a BA Honours degree at the end of his course and we feel that we have all, in our way, made some contribution to enabling Martin to achieve this qualification!

Have just returned from a wonderful two week holiday in Scotland and thought you might like to see one of our daily visitors who we called Cameron.

We will be sending out a Newsletter in August and if there are any particular subjects you would like covered, please do email the helpline@hiltonherbs.com

Jane Smart