No64 Biscuit House in Country Homes & Interiors

No64 Biscuit House, the delightful interior design shop in Milford on Sea high street have a full page in the October issue of 'Country Homes & Interiors' magazine, as their 'Favourite Shop for Scandi Style'! 

click here to read article

This is a big hitting monthly interiors magazine from the Time Inc. Group, subscribers will have this issue already (they have already had 3 customers through the door because they read the article) and it hits the shelves in a few weeks time for non-subscribers.

Clare said; "Obviously we're thrilled and delighted that little old No64 Biscuit House in tiny Milford on Sea, after just 6 months, have been featured in such a prestigious magazine, and with such an accolade as their 'Favourite Shop for Scandi Style'." 

No64 Biscuit House

www.No64.co.uk 

The Future of MoS War Memorial Hospital

Local people are being asked their views on how Milford on Sea War Memorial Hospital should be used in the future. 

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The hospital was opened in 1930 and is now used for local clinics including leg ulcers, iTalk, rheumatology and Parkinson’s.

However its clinical rooms and facilities do not meet modern healthcare standards. 

NHS West Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is reviewing the services provided at Milford and is asking local people to tell them what services they use.

Chief Officer Heather Hauschild said: “Bearing in mind Lymington New Forest Hospital is only five miles away, we would also like to know what health and care services are important to local people.”

The CCG has opened an online survey to gather people’s views – paper copies are available at Milford Hospital.

The survey will be open until 31 October. 

To complete the survey, please visit: www.westhampshireccg.nhs.uk or click here.

Mini Bus for Local Residents

The Milford-on-Sea Charitable Trust has been offered the use of an 8-seater minibus several times a week. This is the first step to establishing a full time service with a larger minibus in the future. It is for the use of local residents on a non-profit basis.

The minibus can be used for various purposes such as a shopping trip; visit to the post office; going somewhere for coffee and there is no requirement to fill the minibus. There are some volunteer drivers but we could do with more. We hope people will take the opportunity to organise some trips so if you are interested in using this service, please contact Tony Harrison on 01590 645404 or milfordonseava@ageconcernhampshire.org.uk

Toad's Hole Found

Last week we published the article below looking to find the location of a painting believed to be from the local area.

We were fortunate to hear from Bob Braid of the Milford on Sea Historical Record Society, and it looks as if he may have identified the location of the painting, as it looks very similar to an old photo his archives held of Cliff Walk, Barton on Sea. Bob also found an interesting birds eye view of Taddiford Gap & Keyhaven on YouTube.

Only guessing, but on the painting in last week's article there was what looked like a hole in the foreground, that may just be 'Toad's Hole'?

Other readers have also suggested that Toad's Hole is possibly a reference to Taddiford Gap (Toad Ford) although the cliff has eroded so much it might be difficult to place exactly.

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Taddiford Gap & Keyhaven Drone

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Last Week's Article:

We have been contacted by an art dealer who is trying to identify the location of the painting below. The painting has a reference to Toad's Hole (Milford on Sea and Hordle.)

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Can anyone throw any light on where this might be?  Doesn't seems to be a view that I recognise.

*Hit the 'No Comments/Comments' text below to add your thoughts.

Holly Gardens Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee Morning

Once again, Nev & Jean Wood, together with the 15 other families in Holly Gardens, will be supporting the Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee Morning by opening their lovely communal garden on Friday 29th September 2017 from 9.30am to 1pm.

This is a true community effort to make a special morning, and everyone is welcome to come along.

At the coffee morning there will be coffee or tea, some fine cakes. Book stall, plant stall, Bric a Brac Raffle etc.

In previous years, Jean Wood & Diana Barker-Benfield did all the organising & the men just lifted heavy weights & ate the cakes! 

Over the years they have raised an impressive amount to donate to this worthwhile charity. Nice work guys!

Thorny Questions for Milford Gardeners'

The Milford on Sea Gardeners' Club have a rather special guest for their September meeting.

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Helen Yemm, a regular journalist for the Telegraph Saturday supplement is coming to talk to the Club at 2.30pm on Saturday 16th September at All Saints Church Hall. 

Helen's writes the 'Thorny Questions' newspaper column in which she answers gardening questions in her informative and quirky way. She will be talking at the meeting about a very topical subject of late summer colour.

Doors open at 2pm with tickets are at the door £1 for members of the Club and £4 for visitors which includes tea and biscuits.

Milford on Sea Gardeners' Club
www.milfordgardenersclub.co.uk

Anyone Heard of 'Toad's Hole'?

We have been contacted by an art dealer who is trying to identify the location of the painting below.

The painting has a reference to Toad's Hole (Milford on Sea and Hordle.)

click image to enlarge

Can anyone throw any light on where this might be?  Doesn't seems to be a view that I recognise.

*Hit the 'No Comments/Comments' text below to add your thoughts.

Learn more about Flower Arranging

Ever fancied doing a bit of flower arranging? Then, Milford Floral Art Club are organising some Basic Flower Arranging Classes.

The six week course commences on Thursday 12th October in All Saints' Church Hall from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

For further details please contact:
Sheila on 01590 641867 or Carol on 01590 641296

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The club also have Irene Hickson, NAFAS demonstrator coming along to do a 'Dem and Do' on Thursday 14th September 2017.

This will consist of two demonstration pieces and one teaching piece.

After a break for tea and cake (Editors note: Yummm, that just got me interested!) there will be the opportunity for everyone to 'have a go' at the teaching piece.

For further details regarding what to bring please contact Carol on 01590 641296.

La Perle & Verveine in Good Food Guide Again

The team at La Perle were thrilled to discover that they are included in the Waitrose Good Food Guide for the second year running.

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This delightful village restaurant makes many of their offerings from scratch, from the bread and butter to the ice creams and sorbets. The New Forest is a key source of many of Chef/Patron Sam’s ingredients with over 90% of his produce sourced from sustainable suppliers in Hampshire and Dorset.

Many of us have always know this is a restaurant well worth visiting, and it seems Waitrose agree!

La Perle 
60 High Street, Milford on Sea, SO41 0QD
www.laperle.co.uk


Stop Press...

Just heard that Verveine have also again made the Waitrose Good Food Guide. A worthy accolade for this very special fish restaurant.

Verveine

98 High St, Milford on Sea, SO41 0QE
www.verveine.co.uk

Job Opportunities at La Perle

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the ambitious young team at the award winning La Perle restaurant in Milford-on-Sea, working with the Head Chef/Patron who trained under Raymond Blanc. 

The restaurant is currently rated in the top 5 restaurants in the New Forest by Trip Advisor, and Sam & his team will continue to push for accolades and awards.

Chef

The successful applicant will be encouraged to stamp his/her identity on the menus and to drive the kitchen forward. The ethos of the restaurant is 'Seasonal, Local, Ethical' so expect to cook beautiful British cuisine using fresh, local ingredients.

Benefits: Excellent rate of pay and gratuities; Sunday, Monday and Tuesday lunch off; Meals provided on duty and a very friendly place to work!

There are also vacancies for other important team members:

Front of House Waiting Staff

La Perle are looking for enthusiastic part time waiting staff to join the expanding business. Hours to include day time, evening and weekend shifts. Some experience is required but a great personality and a 'can do' attitude will go a long way to securing the job.

Benefits include: Excellent gratuities; No Sundays or Mondays; Meals provided on duty and a very friendly place to work!

Kitchen Porter

La Perle are looking for a reliable person to join the small team at an award winning restaurant in Milford-on-Sea, working as a kitchen porter. Full training will be given.

Benefits include: Excellent gratuities; No Sundays or Mondays; Meals provided on duty and a very friendly place to work!

To apply, or for more information, please contact Sam or Bonny on 01590 643557 or email :info@laperle.co.uk.

La Perle 
60 High Street, Milford on Sea, SO41 0QD
www.laperle.co.uk

Milford Music Festival - Your Feedback

The organising committee would like to ask all villagers and partakers of the Milford Music and Arts Festival to give them feedback on the festival by kindly completing the following survey. 

The Festival Team are really keen to know what is loved and what they could do even better. (If that's possible!)

Please click here to complete survey.

The Milford Music and Arts Festival

Next Festival - 16th to 22nd July 2018

www.milfordfestival.org.uk

Harissa burgers at The Wash House

The Wash House micro ale pub has teamed up with La Perle Restaurant in Milford on Sea High street to offer the harissa burger to enjoy with your drinks. The spicy burger comes in a brioche bun, served with a home made coleslaw and chips. 

The burgers are available: 

Tuesday to Sunday: 12noon to 2.30pm and 6pm to 9.30pm 

and 

Saturday: 12noon to 2pm and 6pm to 9.30pm. 

Price: £9.95.

Sam and the team at La Perle have been hugely supportive since Duncan opened The Wash House, and they are delighted to be able to work together filling their customers hunger pains!

The Wash House

27 High Street, Milford on Sea, SO41 0QF
www.thewashhousebar.co.uk

St Barbe needs extra volunteers

Due to the overwhelming success of the re-opening of St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery in Lymington, the Museum is seeking more volunteers every day of the week for weekly or on-call ‘front of house’ duties. 

In particular it needs people to act as stewards in the museum area and in the art galleries themselves. So these vacancies would suit people who are good at dealing with the general public and who enjoy art as well as those who love local history. 

There are also vacancies for volunteers to work partly at the reception desk, where they will use an electronic till and also be involved in giving tourist information. 

Volunteers work for half a day a week and are part of a team, so the work is sociable.

Details of these roles and application forms are available from the reception desk at St Barbe or by emailing volunteers@stbarbe-museum.org.uk.

St Barbe Museum

www.stbarbe-museum.org.uk

Hillyfield's first annual BBQ

Hillyfield Rest Home have started a new tradition, they have just had their first annual BBQ! 

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Sara Phillips, Registered Manager at Hillyfield Rest Home said; "With extreme luck with weather, our friendly Chef from The Pig in Brockenhurst in charge of the food, music by Retro Rita and amazing friends, family and community turn out we consider our first annual BBQ a huge success and we can’t wait for the next one!"

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Everton Hyundai Open Triples Competition

On Sunday Milford on Sea Bowls Club held this years Everton Hyundai Open Triples Competition.

It is a round robin competition between 12 teams from Milford and other clubs in the area playing through 3 heats to reach the semi finals.

It was day of close matches with the Lymington Team of Ngao & Geoff Mapes and Vernon Cox beating the Milford club team of Tim Capron, Bob Ward and Peter Brett in an exciting final.

Thanks as always goes to Everton Hyundai for their sponsorship of this competition and to Sean Willson for his help and trophy presentations..

Lymington L-R: Geoff, Vernon, Sean, Ngao

Milford L-R: Bob, Peter, Sean & Tim

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Explore the Hurst Lighthouses

International Lighthouse Heritage Weekend (ILHW) is a time set aside to promote awareness of all Aids to Navigation (AtoN), which include lighthouses, lightvessels and buoys. Over this particular weekend, as many lighthouses as possible will be opened to the general public, not only in the UK but also throughout the world.

International Lighthouse Heritage Weekend will be held at Hurst Point Lighthouse on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th August 2017.

The event spans the whole of the weekend and, at Hurst Point lighthouse, which is located by Hurst Castle at the end of the shingle spit, will be celebrated on both Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th August. 

On each day, members of the Association of Lighthouse Keepers (ALK) will be available in the ALK Museum Rooms at the far end of the west wing to answer visitors’ questions. 

Tours will be provided giving explanations of all the five lights at Hurst Point and how the acetylene gas was made and used to light the lamps in both the tall lighthouse and also the steel lighthouse on top of the castle wall. One tour will take place mid-morning and another mid-afternoon on both days. The tours are free of charge but a small donation towards the upkeep of the Lighthouse Museum within the castle would be very much appreciated. It is regretted that the lighthouse tower will not be open due to health and safety reasons.

Both the ALK Lighthouse Museum and the Trinity House exhibition rooms within the castle will be open on both days but normal entrance fees to the castle will apply. Light refreshments will be available from the Castle café on both days.

Travel to the Castle on the ferry [at Cost] – first ferry at 10.20am - or you can walk to the Castle via the 1½ miles long shingle spit.

Entry to the Castle is at cost. Free to members of English Heritage or the Friends of Hurst Castle

Lighthouse tours are free and start from the Lighthouse Museum at the far end of the West Wing in the castle.

There will be two tours each day at 11.30am and 14.30pm. (Tours will include the Acetylene Room but regrettable NOT the lighthouse itself due to health and safety reasons.

Over this same weekend the Christchurch Amateur Radio Society will be operating within the castle as part of the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW). This is also a worldwide event where attempts are made to communicate by radio with as many lighthouses as possible. So why not visit the castle to see, first‑hand, just how many contacts have been made.

If you would like to know more about lighthouses and the ALK during this weekend, then please contact the ALK Hurst Castle Project Manager, Keith Morton, at hurst@alk.org.uk or on 01329-843883. Also, take a look at the ALK website www.alk.org.uk.

Great Taste Awards for Keyhaven Lamb

Several months ago we sent Keyhaven lamb, hogget and mutton off to be judged for the Great Taste Awards 2017. Here are the results and some of the judges’ comments:

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Shoulder of Keyhaven Mutton - 3 stars 

"Judges were jostling to photograph and eat this. Melt in the mouth, tender, moist without being fatty with crisp skin. A stonking piece of lamb"

Rack of Keyhaven Lamb - 2 stars 

"Extremely tender with sweetness in the meat and the fat. Rounded flavour with the herbs from pasture coming through at the end. Cuts beautifully. Very moreish".

Leg of Keyhaven Hogget - 2 Stars

"Lovely smelling, extremely tender lamb. It was so easy to cut. Its beautifully strong, full flavour had a hint of gaminess and its savoury tasting, crispy fat was a delight. We would absolutely go back for more".

Keyhaven Barnsley Chops - 1 star 

"The aroma coming off this gleaming meat with its lovely strip of fat was heavenly. It cut beautifully to reveal tender and succulent meat that had a rich, long lasting lamb flavour. The fat was also sweet and melted in the mouth. A truly lovely piece of meat".

To put this in context there were 12,366 products with only 165 foods achieving the highest and most coveted rating, three stars, 1011 foods grabbing 2 stars and 3171 were awarded a 1 star. That means only 35% of entries were accredited.

The competition was tough and Lisa, Simeon and Keith (In picture) are delighted to receive this national recognition and it is great testimony of the hard work put in by the whole Lisa's Larder team.

They are planning a celebration when they open again on the 22nd & 23rd September and they will have news of their new online shop very soon.

It is official, Keyhaven Lamb tastes great! 

Lisa's Larder (Pop Up Farm Shop)
Aubrey Farm, Keyhaven Road, Keyhaven, SO41 0TH
www.lisaslarder.com

Milford to soon have Monsoori Heights

New shop front signs have gone up on the old Zaika curry house, and it looks like it is going to be called Monsoori Heights.

For those that love spice in their life (or more importantly on their plate) this is excellent news.

No idea who is operating the restaurant now, or when it opens, but who cares - the most important thing is appears that 'Milford's getting a curry house back!'

The Wash House Opens

A new micro-ale bar launched in Milford on Sea this week, further reinforcing the village’s reputation as one of the best places to drink and eat in the New Forest. The Wash House, aptly named due to the building being a former launderette, formally opened on Wednesday 26th July with the aim to provide a little oasis for craft beer, wine and gin lovers looking for a different experience. 

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Working in close partnership with some of the region’s leading artisan producers, The Wash House is independently owned by Joe Woodsford and Darren Spinks and will be managed by Duncan Broomfield. The idea behind the micro-ale bar is to offer beer lovers something different from the standard pub offering. The Wash House team are also huge supporters of local producers and want to put the bar at the heart of the local community. 

The Wash House will stock craft ales, lagers and ciders from a range of producers across Dorset, Hampshire and the south coast. Alongside awarding winning Pothecary and Conker gins, Dancing Cows, Broken Bridge, Beavertown and Vibrant Brewery cask ales will be stocked throughout the summer, but, being independent, the guys plan to have an ever-changing selection of ales throughout the year. 

With the help of Lymington based wine merchants, Solent Cellar, they have developed a balanced wine list from both new and old-world vineyards. Their coffee will be freshly roasted by Coffee Monger’s and over the coming weeks Duncan hopes to introduce a range of pastries, cheeses and bar snacks that complement the drinks offering. 

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Commenting on the launch, Wash House manager Duncan Broomfield said; “After months of planning and refurbishment on the bar, we are excited about opening our doors to both Milford locals and visitors from further afield. We have taken time to source a fantastic range of craft ales and spirits to ensure we’re offering beer lovers a new and more authentic experience.” 

“We are in the process of finalising a range of bar snacks and nibbles that will be perfect with a beer or a morning coffee. We won’t ever have a fully operational kitchen, but if people want to enjoy a take-away from one of Milford’s restaurants they can bring it into the bar and we’ll provide plates and cutlery. The bar is also available for private hire and can accommodate up to 40 guests, making it the perfect place for a celebration or event, especially as we can work with outside caters to take care of your every need.” Concluded Duncan. 

The Wash House will be open from 10am – 11pm, Sunday to Monday, serving alcohol from 11am. For more information or to stay updated on news please visit www.thewashhousebar.co.uk, Facebook or Instagram @thewashhousemilfordonsea

The Wash House

27 High Street, Milford on Sea, SO41 0QF

Another Successful Flower Festival

The Milford on Sea Flower Festival, which was a collaboration between Milford Floral Art Club and the Flower Arrangers of the Churches of Milford and Everton, took place in All Saints’ Church, Milford on Sea over the weekend 28th to 31st July 2017, and run alongside another very successful Art and Music taking place on the Village Green. All proceeds were divided equally between Oakhaven Hospice Trust and All Saints’ Church Building Repair Fund.

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Ladies, Children and Men (!) produced a total of thirty designs using as their theme something which had ‘inspired’ them – hence the title of the Festival - 'Inspirations'. The titles of the ladies’ designs varied from biblical quotes through musical themes, pastimes and paintings to a very moving tribute to the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Passchendale.

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The men used stepladders and old paint pots to depict their title ‘Gone to Lunch’ whilst the children used old pairs of ‘wellies’ into which they inserted plastic bottles and garden flowers to depict their title ‘Puddle Jumping’.

To add to the beauty of the flowers and the building musical interludes were included each day, consisting of flute groups, singers, recorder groups, harmonicas, organ music and even traditional jazz.

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Refreshments were available every day provided and served by a wonderful team of volunteers.

The event was staged with much enthusiasm, laughter and thought hence producing an unforgettable, beautiful and successful weekend.

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