The Aardvark Blog

Stunning sunny day, thoughts on London and being a country mouse
23/02/2016

An absolutely stunning morning in Brampton Bryan, and perhaps as a result the first customer arrived for the café before 9am, when I was just clearing the ash from the woodburner. Brampton Bryan on a crisp and sunny winter morning is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and I never fail to marvel how lucky we are to be able to spend our days here.

A packed programme today as I have a trip out to see some books this afternoon, and have a planning meeting for the Easter event in the morning (along with all our other daily tasks). This is an exciting week because Lucie our new staff member is coming in for an induction day on Thursday, and we are very much looking forward to starting a new era here (whilst at the same time being very sorry to lose Holly who has been a fantastic member of the team over the last year). With another of her hats on Holly is one of the contibutors to our 'Garden' exhibition which opens before Easter, and another of my tasks today is ordering Private View Cards with a wonderful Holly Brookes picture on the front.

Having worked the morning here on Saturday, we left to travel up to London to celebrate the significant birthday of Tony Good, a great friend of Aardvark and our supplier of High Ground coffee since the café's inception. The party was at a fantastic hotel just outside Kingston on Thames, and on the Sunday we drove from Kingston to Kew to visit some friends. On the way I marvelled again at how beautiful that part of London is. I particularly liked the area around Ham Common, which is filled with wonderful Georgian houses and public buildings. Because we visit London so little it always makes us feel like country mice, and I confess whilst I like visiting the capital, I am always happier when I spot the signs for Herefordshire on the drive home.

Today I had an enquiry from Germany about the wonderful copy of Flaxman's Dante, which we bought towards the end of last year. It truly is a wonderful book, and the prints are so economical and powerful (albeit in a very mannered symbolist style). A truly beautiful book, and one which I will not see go without something of a pang. We buy many great books each year, but only a few which are truly beautiful or important. The Flaxman is such a book.