The Terrace

18 December: It's been a really busy time for us!

We are now stacked to the gunnells for CHRISTMAS and have a big selection of CHEESES including seasonal favourites such as Stilton, Normandy Camembert, Cornish Brie, and quite possibly the BEST strong mature cheddar around from the Isle of Mull. We also have plenty of Kirkham's Lancashire (brilliant with Christmas Pudding), Richard Clarke's Wensleydale and Cropwell Bishop Shropshire Blue.

We have had our last pre-Christmas delivery of Cowburn's sausages including the essential PORK CHIPOLATAS and special seasonal recipes. We have plenty of RICHARD WOODALL'S brilliant, non-shrink Cumbrian Bacon, air-dried hams, including the very special Royal Cumbrian Mature, and Gammon joints.

Christmas wouldn't be the same without a dose of SMOKED SALMON and why bother with the thin, tasteless supermarket variety when you can get succulent and flavoursome BLEIKERS SMOKED SALMON and ROMANOV GRAVADLAX here? If you do see any BLEIKER'S in the supermarket, please check our prices! We are cheaper, and our queue is shorter!

We can also make up gift baskets and boxes from £10 upwards, either leave us to choose the contents or pick your own special selection!

All your Christmas chutneys, pickles, jams and curds are here too - so have a quality Christmas and a taste of the best, from us!

And finally, for that special gift, Kimberley has been buring the midnight oil to add to her great range of handmade jewellery - why not come in and have a look at everything we have on offer? We don't charge admission!

Kimberley and Marcus would like to wish all our customers, and our great suppliers, a very happy Christmas!  

1 December: We had a quieter week last week but it did give us a chance to get more organised and to order some fabulous NEW STOCK from "Tastes of Andalucia". The range includes some amazing Serrano Hams, Chorizo and Salami from SOuthern Spain, together with a range of Tapas, a very flavoursome estate Olive Oil, a wonderfully heart vinegar and a luxurious Pedro Ximinez grape juice syrup. It also includes sweet items: a very unusual sweet olive jam, and two rich and satisfying fruit sweetmeats. All of this produce is simply busting with sunshine flavour and we guarantee that you will NOT be disappointed - if you have tried supermarket "Serrano Ham" or "Chorizo" and wondered what all the fuss was about, then come and get some of the REAL THING here at The Terrace and find out what it is really supposed to taste like!

We hope you have a good week and look forward to seeing you in the shop! 

21November : We've got ALL of our shop now! We are sorry we had to close for a few hours on Thursday but we were in a jumble - the second prep counter and our new storage fridge were delivered. We then had to quickly re-arrange everything, but we now have space for even more goods and have been busy all week with refreshing our stock.

We now have the first of our Christmas Stock on display! Come and have a look as we have a range of traditional items as well as new and exciting novelties. We also have a much increased range of Italian Cooking Ingredients and Food including oils, vinegars, pasta, rice, and meats including Salamis and Mortadella, genuine Italian Cheeses including Pecorina and Buffalo Mozzarella.  We also have a full range of Herbs and Spices supplied by Quay Ingredients.

16 November: It's been another interesting week at the shop! The good news is that we have had more customers, and that more of you are discovering our very special produce! We have also had some strange events including a photo-shoot outside the shop, and 1001 telephone calls from people trying to sell us electricity (we already have some, thanks!).

We are a bit more organised this week, and have had time to cook up some special recipes including our own hummus, salsa (Kimberley's creation: it kicks!) and fresh coleslaw, as well as the pasta salads including a Serrano Special featuring spanish ham and a heavy dose of parmeggiano!

Marcus has been busy marinating and cooking chicken with Richard Woodall's fantastic pancetta - it is on the menu this week as our fourth "Deli Special"!

Cliff Cowburn's "Cowman's" Sausages (yes, the Special Stuff) sold out AGAIN - if you missed them this week we will have more in on Friday - but beware, some of them didn't even make it as far as the shelves before they were whisked away!

Paul from Clippy's dropped in and stayed for ages - he brought with him a really special seasonal chutney. As soon as we tasted it we knew exactly what to do with it so it is a fair bet that our next special will be Clippynation Chicken (a lot of people have asked for Coronation Chicken but we wanted to do it better).

Finally an apology to those people who have asked for things we haven't got. We are of course a very small shop and it just isn't possible to carry everything. On the other hand, if there is a demand for something, we will try to supply it!

We are trying to track down some good quality rice, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. The problem is always that it is hard to find the best quality at a price that doesn't make us look ridiculous when we put it on the shelves. We try as far as possible to deal with independents to keep the prices as low as possible, and so as long as we find the right product at a reasonable price we will have it in.  

We also know that there is a demand for "Patchwork" pate but as we have no freezer we are trying to work out a way of stocking it frresh without crippling ourselves financially - but we are sure that it will be in the shop  again very soon!

Have a great week and we will be back with more news soon!  

11 November: Firstly, we'd like to say a huge thank-you to the people of Davenham, and our new friends in the local businesses, for making our first 10 days trading really, really, enjoyable! We had hoped that our little place would, in time, become accepted as part of the village but you really have made us feel like we we have been around forever!

There have been lots and lots of memorable moments for us already - but more than anything we are thrilled that people seem to be liking what we do. We both said, right from the start, that we would do honest, quality food at the right price. The right price is one that keeps us afloat as long as enough you like it - and judging by the first week's business we are confident that we can carry on doing it.

Making the food and sandwiches from scratch in an open shop, with no fancy equipment, and inviting people to look at what we are doing, what ingredients we use, and being straight with customers when they ask questions is maybe not the easiest way to do business, but we hope that you will carry on coming, looking, tasting, and buying our Great Food if you like it. 

We will keep on trying new things - for example after the sold-out success with Cliff Cowburn's amazing sausages on our first night, we are having a SAUSAGE FRIDAY every week with different recipes of Cliff's in to buy fresh for FRIDAY AND SATURDAY ONLY (we eat any leftovers!).

We will also carry on adding to our "Deli Specials" in the sandwich range. Really, they are only good home-style recipes using the really great ingredients you can see around you in the shop. Just one example of what we like to do: We believe that great food is for everybody - and Bleiker's Smoked Salmon in a fresh Devonshire's Barmcake or between two slices of their Harvester Bread, with a little freshly prepared salad and dressing really is the sort of thing we wanted to bring to you at a good price. We have been delighted that so many customers have enjoyed this  sandwich and we will be keeping it on the menu until you decide otherwise!  

We will of course continue to offer all the usual sandwich fillings (real butcher's roast meats, real cheese, free range sliced eggs, our own recipe tuna mayonnaise) and prepare FRESH SALAD from REAL VEGETABLES every morning.

We are looking forward to meeting many nore customers over the next few days - and please do ask us if you have any questions about what we do or how we do it. We have some excellent suppliers so if there is anything you'd like us to obtain for you just ask and we will do our best!

1 November: It's been a lovely sunny autumn day in Davenham. This morning, a family from the Isle of Man came in looking for a souvenir of their stay in the village, and went away with one of Kimberley's beautiful bracelets. It was lovely to get the chance to say hello to some more customers during the morning, and in the afternoon to have time to get a little more organised as we look forward to our first full week's trading on Monday! We will learn as we go along, but we will always put quality and value first.

31 October: Kimberley & Marcus would like to say a BIG thank-you to everyone who supported our opening day on Friday! We were busy all day right up until 9pm and it was fantastic to see so many people enjoying the atmosphere and tucking into the food! Have a look at the photos in the gallery to see some of what went on during the day!

Cliff Cowman's sausages have flown out of the shop - as have Ann Riley's eggs - so we will be chasing some more supplies very soon! We will keep listening to you and will try our best to get what you want, when you want it - so please keep telling us what you'd like to see in the shop.

We can't get Devonshire's bread until mid-morning, and we won't sell it to you unless it's been made that day - but if you want us to keep a loaf back for you please call in early in the morning, or ring us, and we will keep it for collection until we close at 6.

We will be down to business on Monday with a full lunchtime sandwich service! 

30 October: We've been too busy to update our news over the last few days! Let's just say that our last big delivery arrived today, a little later than expected, but it is all up on the shelves! We finished off the day packing our fantastic range of sausages ready for sale - although it was much more tempting to get a hot pan and cook some! Late on, Ann and Megan Riley called with our first batch of eggs - lovely big free-range ones - can't wait to get some of those on the go! We have a bit of work to do tomorrow morning still, to make sure we are ready for everybody, but WE ARE REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!

See you tomorrow - from 12 NOON to 9pm!!

25 October: See what we've been up to over the last three and a half weeks in the gallery! 

24 October: Another late night as we finish off the wiring and hook up our range cooker! The day had started with a trip to Devonshires Bakery in Frodsham. Rob, the bakery manager, was really helpful and showed us the whole operation. Bread is still made using traditional methods at Devonshires, and it really shows in the taste and quality. Great bread is a vital ingredient in a great sandwich and we are 100% sure that this is the best we can get! Stock continues to arrive: today we had cases of fruit juice delivered by Eddisbury Fruit Farms - including an extra case for our opening event! Later that afternoon, "Clippy" (Michelle McKenna) came by with lots of cases of apple and fruit jams, jellies and chutneys! In fact, there were three generations of her family there as her mother and daughter had come along for the ride. We're sure that Clippy's is going to be one of the most popular lines we stock - and yes there is some extra for tasting on the 31st!

23 October: A lot of chasing up on various things today - and some excitement as the first stock arrived. Cabrelli Brothers are supplying us with some excellent Italian cooking ingredients, and De Cecco pasta is quite simply the best you can buy. We have several cases in stock and if there is any left over once we've finished cooking it we'll even let you buy some! It's not wildly expensive and the difference between real Italian pasta and the fakes you see in supermarkets makes it well worth buying.  

22 October: Today was quite a landmark as the old serve-over unit was finally dismantled and taken away! It took up far too much space and gave us very little display and storage so we were really pleased to see the back of it.

Instead, we have BRAND NEW units - 3 of them! A neat little self-serve refrigerated display, a beautiful Italian Patisserie case, and a cold preparation and storage counter: all provided by Nantwich Refrigeration who have been a pleasure to deal with. The new units give us much more space for chilled goods, will keep everything at exactly the right temperature, and mean that we can prepare sandwiches on a clean, hygienic work surface with everything close to hand in the refrigerated worktop.  

The rest of the day was spent ordering yet more stock - and varnishing the lovely new shelves (well, Kim did!). Hopefully the varnish will soon wash out of her hair!

21: October: If we thought the last few weeks had been busy, it's getting even busier now! We have water, a sink to put it in, another one to wash hands in, some lovely shelves (thanks Lee!), our cooker arrived today, and the smell of paint is slowly being replaced by the aroma of fresh varnish!

Our beautiful new range cooker arrived today (no we WON'T be having a microwave!!) and we are determined to make it fit! 

We placed orders with a few of our producers, who we've been busy talking to and meeting over the last few weeks. Friendly Food and Drink had to ring us back as they had a batch of plum sauce on the go, and Bleiker's changed our delivery date so that everything is as fresh as it can be when we open. We've been talking to Michelle "Clippy" McKenna for a while now but as she had a baby girl only this week we were wondering if we would be able to get her fantastic jams and preserves delivered in time for opening - but luckily they WILL BE HERE!

We are taking a trip over to Devonshire's Bakery in Frodsham on Friday to taste and order our bread, but before that Birtwisles are coming to  talk about what we need in the way of quality cooked meat and pies.

Tracking down the best producers has been a lot of work but we hope that you will agree that it is worth it!

It's not always difficult: Marcus's mum goes to her local chapel in Inglewhite every Sunday with a lady called Mrs Kirkham, who coincidentally makes the best Lancashire cheese there is. It wasn't hard to decide which one we're going to stock!  

20 October: We are still busy preparing for our OPENING DAY on FRIDAY 31 October. As it's Hallowe'en, we will be opening from 12 noon until late (9pm). We'll have some free samples to try out, treats for the kids, and some spooky goings-on!

We plan to start our SANDWICHES and SALADS takeaway service from MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER.

At the moment, after a huge clean-up operation, and redecoration internally, we are fitting out the shop. The kit should all be arriving this week, closely followed by our stock.

We'll update this news regularly, and tell you what the latest arrivals at the Terrace are!

If you're in Davenham, and we're in, please do come in and see us and say hello!

Marcus & Kim