Starting on Sunday 3rd June, we’ll be celebrating everything British, with our lovely staff dressed in 50s style costumes and vintage tunes playing! Come down for the Old Amersham street party where we’ll be recreating last year’s hugely succesful royal wedding party. There’ll be prizes for the best dressed and why not bring a picnic to enjoy in the (hopefully) sunny memorial gardens. For an extra indulgent bank holiday weekend, why not leave the hard work to us and pick up our Luxury Jubilee Picnic, menus to arrive soon and picnics can be pre-ordered and picked up on the day!

Visiting a friend for the long weekend? We’ve got plenty of perfect gifts all in the spirit of the jubilee! Tea and coffee with the iconic slogan ‘Keep calm and carry on’ and the ever popular Williamson tea elephants sporting union jacks and London scenes. Perfect for the patriotic brew!

If you prefer punch to pots of tea, then our Belvoir Summer Celebration Punch is perfect for a summer afternoon. Pour over ice with a slice of lime and a dash of gin for an evening cocktail that wows!

If all this drinking is leaving you a little hungry, then our Prestat Jubilee Truffles are sure to hit the spot. Emblazoned with images of gold carriages and queens, these chocolates are not to be missed! Get them while you can!

With all these chocolates, tea caddies, jubilee gingerbread men and punch, you’ll need a little help carrying everything. Enter our limited edition union jack carriers, handily compact in a space-saving pouch and unfolds to reveal a sturdy and statement-making shopper. Join the fashion elite and get yours now!

We are looking for people that enjoy working with others to serve our customers in the special Seasons way! If you are interested you can either wait until the notices go up on our facebook page below or just send you CV to team@seasons-support.com.

Keep up to date with opportunities at http://www.facebook.com/work4seasons

January fun does not stop there. Sunday 29th January is the Big Garden Bird Watch at Rowan Garden Centre, in association with the RSPB who will be with us here at Rowan from 10am-4pm to answer any questions and hand out all sorts of advice about tempting birds into your garden and how to identify them. There’s a Bird Hunt taking place with a chance to win a Bird Table and loads more competitions and prizes, you can even make a Dragonfly to take home and put in your garden. Frankie is busy in the kitchen conjuring up lots of lovely things to eat in the cafe, have been hearing whisperings of Birds Nest Soup and Chocolate Crackle Nests!! YUM!
Phew, we are going to have a busy last weekend this January. We hope to see you this weekend up here at Rowan, but don’t despair if you can’t make it as we will be having loads of events in February kicking off with our new artist of the Month Preview Evening on Friday 3rd Feb, 5-7pm. Carrie Bayley is a recent illustration graduate with a real talent and flair for design, check out her website http://carrieboomoose.blogspot.com/to get an idea of her style and come along to her Preview Night to meet her and see her lovely works! We are very excited about this one!!
So that’s all our news and gossip here at Seasons@Rowan for now, we hope you will come and visit us soon. Andrea, Frankie, Alice & Rachel.

www.rowangardencentre.co.uk

Get your morning off to a headstart with our Bloody Mary, packed full of antixodiant containing tomato juice, this classic cocktail will have you looking forward to the rest of the day and forgetting last night. For the slightly more innocent among us, indulge in a Virgin Mary, all the flavour of its more devilish alter ego without the alcohol.

Feeling the January blues? Perk yourself up with our Bueno Burrito, a toasted tortilla wrap with chorizo, potato, salsa and mature cheddar served with guacamole, sour cream and chilli jam. So tasty you’ll forget you’re in England and think you’re in España!

Now you’re wide awake and fully functioning it would be a shame to leave without sampling some of our delicious Farmhouse Breakfast Week desserts! Treat yourself to our Belgian Waffles with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce, or if you’re more of a savoury sampler than a sweet tooth why  not try our Belgian Waffles with crispy bacon and maple syrup. Either way, it would be a shame not to!

So come on down and join us in celebrating the age old tradition of eating food in the morning. It may sound simple but by gum its delicious! And don’t forget! After you’ve tried our delicious brunch menu, remember to vote for your favourites at the till and you could be in with the chance of winning our Breakfast Week Hamper!

Last minute checklist:

• Cranberry sauce, turkey gravy and goose fat
• Christmas pudding and panettone- we’ve got chocolate ones, boozy ones and ones that feed a family of ten!
• Have you ordered your mince pies yet?! Our homemade bitesize treats are perfect for pre-dinner canapés.
• Freshly baked croissants for Christmas morning, Gordon Ramsay has his sliced and toasted with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for an indulgent festive breakfast!
• Wine! We’ve got a vast wine selection and still 20% of Port!
• Cheese! Our amazing range of cheese in the deli includes the ever popular Godminster Vintage Cheddar, Stichelton blue cheese and the delicious Vacherin Mont D’or.
• Don’t forget your stocking fillers!

-          Half bottles of Champagne

-          Bags of nuts, chutneys, jams and relishes

-          Tea pigs

-          Chocolates, biscuits, Turkish delight, Burnt Sugar fudge

• Store cupboard essentials

-          Bread

-          Cream

-          Milk

Come on down and pick up those last minute essentials and while you’re here why not enjoy a warming glass of spiced mulled wine, its our favourite!

Merry Christmas!

Leaving the party hosting to someone else but still fancy a helping hand for the Christmas feast? Seasons To Go is the perfect ingredient for a stress free Christmas day. Leave us to make those niggling extras that always take longer than you wanted; buffet dishes, quiches, or simply some delicious red cabbage and cranberry for that extra zing with your turkey. Or otherwise, let us prepare some festive treats for your Christmas Eve meal and take the strain off having to cook another meal for all of those extended family members you inconveniently forgot were staying. Dish them up one of our festive puddings and they’ll be so impressed they’ll forget it wasn’t you that made it! We’re here to help you have a fantastic Christmas, so why not do it with Seasons.

For those last minute Christmas presents, pop into the cafe for our great selection of wines. With spicy black pepper complimented by juicy ripe black fruits, the Broken Shackle 2010 Classic Red is a great Shiraz to give to any wine lover. Ask one of our assistants to put it in one of our lovely gift bags and you’ve got a dinner favour anyone would be happy to receive.

Or for those of you with slightly more mature taste, why not indulge in a bottle of Barros port, we’ve got a variety of vintages and with 20% off throughout December there’s no reason to miss out!  Why not try the 1991 vintage, normally priced at £37.50 but with 20% off you can get your very own bottle for just £30, now that’s what  I call drinking in the new year in style! Compliment yours with some Colsten Bassett Stilton found in our very own deli, or to shake things up a bit, why not try this delicious port cocktail, it’s our favourite for dinner parties and Christmas soirees!

Season’s Champagne Velvet
Serves 6
175g blackberries
50g caster sugar, plus 1tbsp
6tbsp Barros port (your choice of vintage)
1 bottle chilled champagne

-Reserve 6 of the blackberries and put to one side for decoration.

-Place the remaining blackberries with 50g caster sugar in a saucepan. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved then simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened slightly and is syrupy.

-Sieve the blackberry syrup over a bowl, gently pressing with the back of a spoon. Discard the fruit pulp. Chill the syrup.

-Place a little of the syrup on a saucer and the remaining caster sugar on another saucer. Dip the rim of each of six champagne glasses first in the blackberry syrup, then in the caster sugar.

-Blend the port with the remaining blackberry syrup and pour a couple of tablespoons into six champagne flutes. Top with chilled champagne.

-Skewer a blackberry with a cocktail stick and place on top of each glass. Serve immediately. Et voila!

Lastly, but by no means least, everyone at Seasons wants to say a big thankyou to June for making the beautiful Christmas bunting that’s hanging in the cafe. Thankyou!