New card payment processor & Paypal

We are pleased to have changed to a new payment processor, Protx, this week. We previously used HSBC to manage our card payments, but found that too many customers experienced difficulties or interruptions during the check-out process.

Protx appears to be working much more smoothly, and an added benefit is that customers now have the option of using Paypal to check-out, as well as credit or debit card.

Nice testimonial received 05-03-2009

"Just wanted to say thank you for excellent service. My cards and my mum's (who lives next door to me) arrived the next morning and we loved the descriptions of the cards and easy to use website. Many thanks, J.H."

New stock in from Emma Ball

Absolutely tons of new cards have come in over the past two months, but we are particularly delighted to have started stocking Emma Ball's cards. If you like her watercolour paintings, type "Emma" into our text search box, or look for her regional designs under [Theme] e.g. Cornwall, Scotland, Wales etc

Nice testimonial received 06-02-2009

"Order arrived this a.m. Super service. Am delighted with cards. Hope you will have more Easter cards. I will be back. Many thanks. Mrs M.J."

Disaster in the orchard

We have just lost all our hens to a fox - there was a powercut shortly after midnight (which we didn't discover till morning) and so the electric fence was off for most of the night. I have heard that foxes can be very persistent, and will check a hen house every night for months, just waiting for that one occasion when they haven't been shut in, and that seems to have been proved in this case. I'm just glad that I didn't send Kate and Charlie out to get the eggs today, as the fox only took one hen away, and left the other corpses scattered around the paddock (and one dead in the nestbox).

Cold snap

The cold snap has made life a bit more difficult at Mere House Farm, providing extra food and water for the poultry and animals. However it has brought some more unusual birds to our feeders, and we've been really delighted to receive regular visits from a flock of long-tailed tits over the past few days, never before seen within the boundaries of the garden. Now they know we're here, we hope they keep coming when it warms up.

The "Violent Veg" have arrived

We've been trying to get hold of these hilarious cards for months (it's a long story) but the Violent Veg range has finally arrived. Becky & I have never laughed so much loading them onto the site ... and they're flying off the shelves already!