Once I get you up there.......
Whilst on holiday recently I had the chance to do a tandem paraglide from the highest paraglide venue in Europe. It was an amazing experience throwing yourself off the top off 6550ft Mount Babadag and being able to see directly to the coastline and sea below.
So when do I pull the cord?
We took off in the clouds and had a bit of a bumpy ride as we soared along just below them. I must admit to finding it terrifying/exhilarating and beautiful in equal parts. Of course Graham is our resident pilot and this gave me a glimpse into the attraction of flight with no engines – as they said in the sales blurb, ‘Come and find out why the birds sing!’
| Posted in John Orchard |
Turkish Delight
John recently went on holiday and came across an unusual demonstration of customer service which really impressed him;
The whole family recently travelled to a lovely resort, Lykia World in the south west corner of Turkey. Beth and Noah both loved the beach and swimming pools and Maggie and I loved the great food and childcare!
Every afternoon two local women would sit under a canopy and bake Turkish pancakes on top of a traditional charcoal oven. The resort didn’t promote this, it was something you eventually discovered as part of the experience. It was a delight to watch them working, one preparing the dough and rolling it to a unbelievable size and thiness before passing it (rolled on a long baton) to the other who carefully unfurled in on top of the hot oven. As soon as they started cooking a small queue of enlightened guests began to form watching this elegant performance.
Noah waits ...... and waits!
Eventually the pancakes (heavenly, melt in your mouth crispiness) were ready to serve and inevitably each guest would ask ‘How much?’ - to be told that they were free, a gift. It was somehow the combination of the authenticity and the performance that made this gift seems so valuable and unexpected and the customer service message so powerful. It left me thinking, ‘What can we do which is the property equivalent? What is the Marchday Pancake?’
What indeed? We’re thinking about it – Watch this space.
| Also posted in General, Philosophies |
Lingfield Point Honey - Liquid Gold.
After much talk our bees at Lingfield Point Darlington have done what they do best and despite a bitter winter have produced their first crop of honey. Having tasted it we can honestly say it’s some of the best honey we’ve ever tried. Our bees forage over a wide area and the silky, soft set consistency suggests that they are feeding on a wide range of wild flowers, including our own wild flower meadows.
We’re really enjoying our first experience of beekeeping and thanks to Willie, Chris, Colin and Graham hope our bees will produce around 40-50lbs of honey from the two hives this summer. It’s also thanks to Christian Barnes, one of the artists behind the ‘Futurescope’ art project as his thinking has been inspirational to us.
It’s really exciting to hold our first jar of honey after so much anticipation – let’s hope it’s the first of many.
Our first honey harvest.
The latest iconic Futurescope image by artists John Kennedy and Christian Barnes was revealed this week at Lingfield Point, Darlington. ‘Lingfield Lamb’ is a lovely reference to Lingfield Point’s heritage as a wool factory whilst looking to the future plans for organic food production on site as part of our sustainable mixed community. You can read all about the thinking behind the image by clicking on Christian’s blog site, http://futurescopedarlington.blogspot.com/
We’re all interested in where our food comes from and how it’s produced. At Lingfield Point we already have allotments and an organic garden producing fruit and veg for local residents. Last year we installed beehives and hope to sell our own honey to customers in our café this summer. Who knows, some time in the future Lingfield Point might be home to a flock of its very own but for now we’ll have to make do with this little fella!
Just another day in the office...
Last Saturday, artists Christian Barnes and John Kennedy spent many happy hours chasing lambs around one of our customer’s office spaces – and photographing the results! The fruit of the labours is the fantastic image which will appear on Futurescope from the end of May.
Christian became excited about the link between the heritage of the site as a wool factory and the future plans for a sustainable mixed community some time ago;
Although this image started with an city/urban farming idea.. the idea that it really might be practical to ‘farm’ the soft estate at Lingfield… we both felt that the image really touches on the heritage of the site as a wool factory in a way we had not expected. It really stuck us as we noticed for the first time on the Friday that the meeting rooms in the SLC are named after wool manufacturing processes.
More photos of the shoot can be viewed by clicking on the link below;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vistaprojects/sets/72157624060537842/show/
We’ll be previewing the chosen ‘Lingfield Lamb’ Futurescope image here next week so watch this space!
“John joined Marchday in 1989 from the glamorous world of interior design and became a director of the company in 1995. John enjoys surfing, Victorian taxidermy and has recently (against his better judgement) developed an unhealthy interest in golf. John is married with three children Tom, Beth and Noah and lives near Deal on the Kent coast.”
