Blog
Hello all, it’s been awhile since our last Blog post. I have to be honest, we were so busy it was hard to stay on top of things with the Blog. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. For myself I have just returned from the beach, missed it for the most of December as you all kept us so busy.
We are few hours from the end of 2018 and the start of a new year and I’m thinking of what a great year this one was for Gower Fresh Christmas Trees. We accomplished so much, and we have so many people to thank for it.
First, a massive, thank you, to all who visited us this year, many travelled from a far, all the way from London, Birmingham, Cardiff to name a few. I’m always amazed how far people come from to visit the us.
November and December were crazy busy, especially the weekends and weather wasn’t exactly been festive but people came anyway. We are sorry there were some, who couldn’t get to see Santa. We simply couldn’t cope with the number of visitors, we were packed to capacity, fully booked. Hopefully, you can make it next yer, if you book early.
Our reindeer are now looking at their finest with help from all of you, who fed them their favoured moss, rich in vitamins and minerals they need. We import it from Finland, so the reindeer can be as healthy as possible, especially the unborn babies inside their mums .
The coffee shop and the grill house were a great hit this year keeping you all fed and in great mood with hot drinks. This was the first year we have catered for you all and looking forward to doing more for future events and Christmas.
The grotto is now closed, it’s a bit sad to see it empty, as so much fun and magic seemed to be going on in there over Christmas. But, the the new grotto is already in my mind and I can’t wait to get started. I have some great plans and ideas for 2019. The grotto has become so popular and such a vital part of our business that it’s now just as much work as the trees are.
It’s all worth it, though, when you see the thousands of children loving and enjoying the experience, see their smiles and the look of wonder and fascination on their faces. We had nearly 20000 people go through the doors of our Winter Wonderland, young and old, all enjoying themselves. It’s an incredible achievement. We had thousands of people commenting and giving feedback on how impressed and astonished they are of the grotto, how magical and beautiful it is.
Our trees sold incredibly well as well, a record number, we were selling right up to Christmas Eve. It was a tough year getting them from the fields as it was so wet and so muddy, but with a great team and lots of machinery we managed. We sold many trees in November this year, as many people wanted them early, knowing they will last until the new year. If you want to recycle your tree, you can drop it back at the farm and we will recycle it and use it to fertilise the next crop of trees. We also have collection services. We have partnered with Gower view Gardening & Landscaping who will collect your tree for £5. Just give them call at 07585141078 or send them a message on Facebook and they will do the rest.
Moving on to the next crop, we have just cleared 25 acres of older trees to make way for 35,000 new trees, Nordman , Fraser Fir, and Korean Fir. Lately, the Korean Fir has been very popular and we should have some more ready for 2020.
We took a brief break with Lloyd in mid December to visit the Foreign Office in London, where our tree ended up, due to winning the best social media video in the BCTGA awards. It was an amazing day, thank you, to the staff in the Foreign Office. We were given a 2 hr guided tour and Lloyd had the honour to switch on the lights on the tree. For Lloyd, the highlight of the the trip was meeting their cat and hearing stories of fights the cat has with the next door Downing Street cat we met last year. Lloyd was more excited to meet the cats rather than the dignitaries, lol.
Also, our local MP Tonia Antonazzi then took us too Parliament for afternoon, fascinating insight to see why we can’t make decisions in this country ! It was amazing afternoon for us all and much needed break.
2019
Moving forward at Gower Fresh we have decided to keep the doors open through the better part of 2019, as we already miss you all and it’s great having the farm busy, with lots of people around.
Pumpkin season will be the biggest one in South Wales with the success of last year, we will be having crafts and maybe a food fair. Please, get in touch if want to be involved. Our next big thing going on will be Ester 2019, the Great Gower Ester Egg Hunt, so watch this space. We haven’t finalised it yet but we plan to open for the end of April, so you can see the new born reindeer as they are due then.
In 2018 we had our new amazing website launched and we couldn’t be happier with it’s beautiful design and functionality. Special thanks to Diyan from iNNOVATION PHOTOGRAPHY & DESIGN, who built our website and did all the amazing photography for it.
We would like to encourager you to get in touch via Facebook or our website, and give us your feedback, good or bad, suggestions and ideas for the next year. We will appreciate it if you take the time to give us 5 star review and a testimony on Google: https://goo.gl/RcGdc2
As for Dave, he’s back wandering the fields and frequenting the local pub.
We appreciate your friendship and support and already miss you all.
Happy New Year to you all, be the one who smiles not the one who smiles back. We wish you and your families a prosperous and joyous 2019.
Rob and son Lloyd
