The Western Gazette
Yeovil Business Awards 2010 - Celebrating the best "

Last night (Thursday 20th May) a group of us donned our DJs and posh frocks and attended the Yeovil and South Somerset Business Awards ceremony, organised by the Western Gazette, and held at the Augusta Westlands Sports and Social Club, in Yeovil.

Posh frocks and DJ's

Our Production & Export Manager, Martin, who was responsible for entering us for the Somerset Business Awards 2009 seems to have got the taste for these awards and so he put in an entry.  We then received a phone call from the organisers saying that we had been short-listed (along with two other businesses) for the "Small Business of the Year 2010" award and that it would be in our interests to attend the Awards ceremoney!  Not needing much persuasion to attend a posh do we all rushed round and organised DJs for the boys and us girls rooted around in the wardrobe and dusted off the smart frocks.  Unfortunately because it was a bit short notice not many of us were able to attend so we roped in some 'other halves' instead.

Martin & Tony looking suave and debonar!

We all had a very enjoyable evening and we were thrilled to win the Small Business of the Year award and received a very nice framed certificate and trophy, both of which have joined the Somerset Business Award on our display shelves in our Reception area.

Hilary & Tony celebrating, trophy in hand

Thanks to the Western Gazette, the sponsors, and everyone involved in organising the Awards and the Gala evening and roll on the next business awards competition!

Two interesting and productive days in New Orleans followed our arrival with talks from both the Centre for Veterinary Medicines (part of the Food & Drugs Administration - FDA) and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO for short) who control animal feed in the US. The NASC is making great progress and, over the years, has developed a good working relationship with both the FDA and AAFCO helping companies, such as Hilton Herbs, to navigate the troubled waters of marketing feed supplements in the USA.  Another piece of good news was that we can now market probiotics in the US so our product Digest Plus, a probiotic with added Slippery Elm, Marshmallow root, and Fenugreek, can now be freely marketed for both horses and dogs.

April the 30th was our wedding anniversary and my birthday (I thought Tony would only ever be able to remember one date a year!) and we celebrated in style at a great restaurant called Nolas, in the French Quarter, and enjoyed excellent food, service and atmosphere.  It turned out that this restaurant, along with another restaurant called Emerils that we went to the next night, are both owned by a famous chef Emeril Lagasse, who is apparently a famous TV chef in the US. Both restaurants were excellent and not overly expensive.

Cafe du Monde

On the 1st May we decided to spend our last day and only day off, exploring New Orleans. We just had to visit the famous Café du Monde down in the French Market which was incredibly busy. After coffee and two portions of beignets drenched in sugar we thought that a sightseeing tour of the French Quarter would fit the bill. They have great carriages pulled by a mule that will give you a guided tour for $15 each. We took ages to choose which carriage we wanted but finally settled on one pulled by Dixie the Mule. Dixie is 24 years old and was one of the animals evacuated from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

the first Catholic cathedral in the US

Her driver was an absolute mine of information and answered all our questions. We started the tour at the main square in French Quarter and the site of the first Catholic Cathedral in the US. As luck would have it there was a wedding taking place and we timed it just right and saw the bride and groom leave the church and walk down the street accompanied by a jazz band and the congregation.

Hilary and Dixie

As we left New Orleans the next day you could still see the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina and we had been told by our guide that the only reason the French Quarter survived this disaster was because it sits just 8ft higher than the surrounding land which was flooded. A clever move by the French man Jean Baptiste La Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, who in 1718 established New Orleans, although at the time he wouldn't have been aware of how low lying the area was and would never have experienced a hurricane in his life!!

Hilary & Tony up for a ride!

We left New Orleans in a storm with the threat of tornados, which has been about par for the course during this trip, to start out drive back to Pennsylvania - 1,000 mile in three days.

Hilary

The first day of Badminton dawned dry and bright, although as it's the first time we've slept off-site for a few years we missed the 8am ‘curfew' for getting the van behind the stand and so had to carry the last few bits and pieces we needed - note to self - get up earlier tomorrow!

Our Badminton 2010 stand with its smart new Hilton Herbs flag!

We had told Clare, whose first show it was - after only a month with Hilton Herbs - that the first day would be peaceful and allow her to get to grips with the layout of the stand, the pricing, etc. In the event she got thrown in at the deep end as we were very busy throughout the day and we are sure that the fact that it was cross-country day for the Grassroots Championship was a big factor. Our colleague, Janice, who is also Hilton Herbs' accountant, drove up to join us for the rest of the show and we were so pleased at how well we'd done that we decided to sample the culinary delights of Tetbury that evening and we had dinner at the Blue Zucchini restaurant and had a very pleasant meal.

Day two brought some respite from the rush and the morning was very quiet but we made up for it during the lunch interval and in the afternoon, especially once the dressage had finished. All the visitors to the stand were thrilled with our 25% show discount and free shipping and many existing customers (and some new ones!) made the most of the opportunity and stocked up on their supplements. At the end of the day we did our short ‘commute' back to Tetbury but decided not to squander the day's takings on another meal so we settled for pizza and salad in the cottage.

Day three, being cross country day, was pretty busy and the weather was kind. It had rained hard the evening and night before but it dried out in time for the start of the cross country, although it was damp and made it feel colder than it actually was. We didn't close up until gone 7.30 and it was a bit of a rush to get back to Tetbury and into our glad rags for our meal out. It's an old Hilton Herbs' tradition - we always eat out on the cross-country day at Badminton! We went to the Priory Inn, where we had a lovely meal two years ago, and we weren't disappointed this time either!

Monday was another reasonably busy day, although the morning was quiet. The highlight of Clare's first show with Hilton Herbs was serving HRH Princess Anne, who came on the stand in the afternoon and bought some of our salt licks and a herb mix for one of her dogs. This isn't the first time she's been on our stand and we know she uses our products, sourcing them through one of our retailers, but it was nice to see her in person again. We're only worried about we do as an ‘encore' at Clare's next show!

Breakdown under way!

It all comes down more more quickly than it goes up!

With the end of the show comes the stand breakdown which is always hard work, especially after a four day show, however one of our colleagues very gallantly gave us his bank holiday to come and up to help us breakdown (thanks, Stacy!). With four of us breakdown went quickly and smoothly and we were off and heading for home by 8pm. Another Badminton over for another year!

Well what can I say? Arrived New Orleans and booked into our hotel which just happens to be sited on the corner of Canal and Bourbon, right in the heart of the French Quarter, and it just happens to be Jazz Festival time! Of course once we were settled in our room we just had to go out and see what the famous Bourbon St was all about!

Bourbon St, French quarter, New Orleans

Bourbon St at night

Started with a dozen oysters at Felix's, a small bar/restaurant on the very next corner to our hotel. Our friend Will Prull who builds the most amazing bespoke houses in Santa Fe www.prull.com had recommended this place to us, so we had to find out if it was as good as he said. Well thank you Will, what a great recommendation.

You literally just stand at the bar and a guy ‘schucks' oysters onto the bar top for you until you tell him to stop. The oysters were fabulous, icy cold and soooo fresh! You mix up your own dip (Horseradish, Tabasco, vinegar, etc) and then go for it. Tony and I stopped at a dozen (between us) lus an excellent Bloody Mary each because we were due at the NASC reception by 6 pm.  At the reception we were all given necklaces of brightly coloured beads and were told that apparently during Mardi Gras if you throw the necklaces up to the ladies on the balconies above Bourbon Street all will be revealed!!

Unfortunately our knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time seems to continue unabated. When we arrived in New Orleans we were told of the terrible disaster on the BP oil rig in the Mexican Gulf, not far out from New Orleans. What a disaster! The local fishermen, and of course all the restaurants that rely on the supply of fresh seafood, shrimp, and crabs, are desperate. The city, which is only now recovering from the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, is once more being asked to cope with an unprecedented environmental disaster. I dread to think of the long term impact this is going to have on marine life, birds, and the marshlands, which are home to the oyster, crab, and shrimp breeding grounds? Our excitement at visiting this wonderful city has certainly been tinged with sorrow for what these folk are going to have to deal with both now and in the future.

Hilary & Tony

Set-up Day 1

Preliminary vetting in front of Badminton House

With Badminton being on different days this year (starting on Friday 30th and finishing on Monday 3rd May) its taken us a few months to get our heads round the logistics however we arrived, in convoy, on the Tuesday evening , parked the truck up behind our stand and drove into Tetbury to find 1 Blackhorse Hill, which was to be our 'home' for the week.  Access to the cottage proved very tricky with the van, an impossibly narrow lane down a steep hill which we managed by folding back the wing mirrors!  The cottage proved to be very comfortable, our hostess, Ros Porter, very welcoming, and once we'd had something to eat we went out to have a wander round Tetbury ending up having a late night drink the Snooty Fox pub.

View from the terrace of No 1 Blackhorse Hill

Wednesday morning found us (us being myself, Heather Giles, Clare Laurence, and Martin Brooks) back at Badminton waitng for the arrival of a colleague, Stacy, who was driving up to help us set up.  Set-up went well, the weather was dry, things were reasonably quiet, and with the truck behind the stand the endless journeys back and forth with stand material and stock with are a feature of other shows were thankfully absent.  By the end of the day we were well on way to having the stand built with just the stock to bring on.  Badminton is Clare's first show as she has only been with us for a month and she was relieved to discover that we didn't have to remove the stock every evening, which is what she'd imagined having to do!.

i'm sure this goes somewhere.....!

who needs an electrician!

Setup Day 2

Thursday was fairly relaxed as we just had to unload product and 'pretty up' the stand, although being Thursday it felt a bit odd not to be open and selling!  We were finished by mid-afternoon so we decided to walk the course, although it was a bit confusing as there was the Grassroots Championship course to walk as well.  Any confusion as to which course was which ended when we looked at the size of the obstacles!

it was this big!

We walked round the rest of the 'proper' Badminton course which was enormous and with the prospect of rain for cross country day we reckoned it was going to be a serious challenge!

just call me Brian!

We finished our walk of the cross country and then stood watching some of the riders working in their horses, always a fascinating exercise, then we headed off to the car and home to Tetbury to have some supper and prepare ourselves for the first day of Badminton.