9 minute read
Meet the owner
Marmite
world, on the salty, seaweed beach just below the cliffs of the Iron Age fort… and the sea so keen and tangy and cold!
And the gulls, a whirling of great white birds, screaming and squalling in a sweet, salty breeze! And no other dogs, except a few sleek and glossy characters with their sleek and glossy owners! And no crocs! Not a crocodile for more than seven thousand miles! Gudrun and Smokey came along soon afterwards. From the sultanate of Brunei Darussalam to the royal borough of Caernarfon…
Gudrun and Smokey, two cats we brought with us. We’d found Gudrun on another night of lashing monsoon, outside our favourite fish restaurant. She was huddled in the sodden
remains of a cardboard box, all sticky with slime as though she’d been stuck in a mud-slide, and so utterly emaciated that she looked like a strip of rag that had been tossed out of the restaurant kitchen and onto the street outside. The waitresses in the restaurant, to give them some credit, had been leaving a few scraps for her to sniff and lick – but the poor little creature was too weak and apathetic to try and eat.
We took her home. She would surely die. Except that my wife tended to her so lovingly and carefully that she made an almost miraculous recovery. Gudrun, that would be her name… and within another month she was strong enough to get up and about and into the jungle around our house. She repaid my wife’s kindness with all the love she’d kept and stored within her resilient frame – for she had a strongly beating heart full of love. And sometimes she would return from her forays into the jungle with a gift… a snake, black and writhing, brought into our kitchen, or a mud-hen, a bird like a coot, bigger than Gudrun and still feebly fluttering in her fierce
fangs.
On one of her adventures into the neighbourhood she must have met an ardent admirer, because Gudrun grew plumper and one evening she hid herself in the cupboard under the kitchen sink and had four kittens. They grew fast and they grew strong. Gudrun, who’d been skin and bones and starving not long before, was a super mother to her rumbustious, ebullient offspring. And when the time came for us to leave Brunei and return to Europe, we found loving homes for three of the kittens and kept one of them – a swift and sooty panther we called Smokey. Gudrun and Smokey… like Poppy and Marmite before them, they snuggled in the belly of an aeroplane for 18 tumultuous hours and arrived in London. And so to North Wales.
Sadly now, Poppy the sweet foxhound and lovely, loving Gudrun are no longer with us. They’ve passed on – they’ve made another journey, even more extraordinary than their passage from Borneo.
But Marmite is still enjoying the cooler climes of North Wales. Every day he explores the park on the outskirts of Caernarfon,
AND FROM THEIR WALKS ALONG CROCODILE BEACH, THEY TRAVELLED MORE THAN SEVEN THOUSAND MILES TO NORTH WALES, AND THE CRUNCHING SHINGLE OF DINAS DINLLE.
Smokey gets deep and meaningful
sniffing long and deep into the dewy grasses and into the
shade of beech and oak and horse chestnut… no mosquitoes whining in his ears, and no crocodiles lurking in the shallows of the lake.
And Smokey has a life of leisure and luxury in a comfortable house… no air-con, but central heating. He prowls in the little garden, where sparrows come for a scattering of peanuts and there are gulls gleaming in a cool blue sky.
A long way from their native land, re-settled in North Wales – home from home. n
Stephen Gregory’s first novel, The Cormorant, which he wrote in Snowdonia 35 years ago, has been published several times in both the UK and the USA, and translated into German, Polish and Italian. The new edition, which is available from Parthian Books, is its tenth publication.
Ellekat and EK and Co are independent shops that can be found in the heart of Rhos-on-Sea
The power of three
Rhos-on-Sea is renowned for it’s fabulous selection of independent cafés and shops. Sophie Reynolds owns no less than three of these great establishments, and here she explains just what it is that makes this picturesque village so special…
While I was born in Somerset I moved to North Wales when I was about three. I grew up in Llandudno and went to St Marys College in Rhos, but then moved back down south in order to attend university in Kent and then Cambridge. I taught for 22 years with my specialism being in special needs, but decided that it was time for a change…
My grandparents all had businesses in retail and hospitality, and my mum owned her own cafés in Glan Conwy and Beaumaris, so I decided to follow in my family’s footsteps by establishing my own small business. I spent my teenage years with friends pottering around the shops in Rhos, hanging out in Nino’s, drinking in the Cayley and attending school parties at the
Aberhod. I think it must have been these fond memories that drew me back to Rhos-on-Sea, because it seemed like the most natural place on earth to launch my new enterprise.
I took on Marmalade Kitchen five years ago. It was originally
Marmalade café but, following a rebranding in January 2020 with the help of Simon Cotton from VCA, we established the new contemporary name, look and vibe and created Marmalade Kitchen.
I think that one of the things that makes Marmalade so appealing to customers is the fact that we support local suppliers. Our ice cream is locally produced, as are our sausages, bacon, breads and patés. I work closely with two local bakers for my bara brith and my gluten free cakes – as well as an amazing local vegan chef. The rest of the extensive range of homemade cakes and scones are all baked on site by me in Marmalade baking kitchen, and I have established some great unique recipes – ask everyone locally about my Guinness and ginger cake and see what they say!
I owe a great deal of gratitude and love to my team at Marmalade Kitchen who are more like a family to me. Customers often ask if we are all related in some way as we all get on so well and work so efficiently as a team! Although they
aren’t completely wrong as my sister, who has Down Syndrome, does actually work at the café three times a week – and my mum, dad,
daughters and niece have all had their part to play in the success of the businesses. This was especially true during lockdown when the family was all hands on deck to ensure that Marmalade Kitchen managed to survive when all the team were furloughed.
And, thanks to the support of my great team at the café, I was able to undertake my next challenge! I had felt for a long time that Rhos-on-Sea needed an independent clothes shop – and so Ellekat was born out of my love of clothes and fashion. I fell in love with the look of the shop, even before I took it on, as it lent itself well to a small boutique. The name is derived from my daughters’ middle names – Ellen and Kate.
I consider my latest venture, EK and Co on Everard Road, as more of an extension of Ellekat – introducing gifts cards and household finishing touches. I aim to offer unique Welsh gifts,
but this is still a work in progress as I continue to source local suppliers and interest in the shop. Opening post pandemic and before a looming recession was a significant risk when
considering opening Ek and Co, but I saw a niche in the market in Rhos and wanted to offer something different in terms of gifts and homeware. It is still early days, but I have a good feeling about it.
Ellekat and EK and Co customers travel from everywhere too, and this is not only due to the gorgeous clothes we have, but also for the excellent customer service. Customers can shop privately if they prefer if they book a time slot, or they can browse and try on at their leisure with honest feedback. We very rarely have items returned, which I think speaks for itself.
I decided early on that I was not going to have a website. I very rarely buy things off the internet, incredibly old fashioned I know, but my aim was to ensure that customers had great customer service and face-to-face interaction. We have established a great deal of trust with our customers, allowing them to try before they buy, reserve items, and even pay over time if that helps them financially. Again, it is a very old-
fashioned approach, but it seems to work for us. In all three businesses we have established a good local trade. I was overwhelmed by the local support during Covid 19 when times were hard for all businesses. Of course, the tourism trade is especially important to us, and we welcome customers back year-on-year due to our excellent customer service and great food. We pride ourselves on meeting the needs of the local community as much as we can, supporting charity events, donating afternoon tea vouchers for prizes, and creating a central meeting place for people to meet. I would never consider myself to be an entrepreneur, I do not really like that term to be honest. I am just a businessperson who likes developing ideas and seeing if they will work. I
Sophie Reynolds is the proud owner of Marmalade Kitchen in Rhos, as well as boutique Ellekat and gift and homeware shop EK and Co
Ellekat stocks a wide range of gorgeous clothes
really struggle with numbers and anything financial, but my
thinking is always brought back to the term ‘we are a nation of shopkeepers’. I enjoy being busy and strangely get a buzz from being stretched – both physically and mentally.
I owe a great deal to my husband Simon, daughters Phoebe and Neve, and my mum and dad who, even though I am now 50, still encourage me to do whatever I think might work. I do quite often think ‘what next?’ and I do have some ideas, but they are just seedlings at the moment so watch this space! In the meantime I am simply enjoying walking the dog, cooking, socialising and drinking good wine – as well as working on my three businesses in order to help make Rhoson-Sea be the best seaside village it can be. n
