COW ON ROOF OF MELLS VILLAGE SHOP

 Santa and his reindeer may be planning a visit to the rooftops of Mells shortly but Mells Village Shop Manager Mike Phypers and his customers were not expecting to find a cow up on the roof of the community-run Shop last Thursday lunchtime.

They were disturbed by the noise of trampling overhead and rushed out to find a cow on the roof of the old cottage which serves as the village Shop and Post Office.

The herd of cows was being driven down Park Hill towards Woodlands End in Mells when one of them made a bid for freedom, turned right and leapt onto the shallow catslide roof on the same level and only a yard away from the low driveway wall to Rock House behind the Shop.  The cow eventually slid off the roof into the inaccessible gulley between the back of the Shop and the wall and had to be winched to safety by a tractor.

The cow was happily unharmed after its experience; the shop roof, however, suffered a number of broken tiles which have already been replaced.

Mike commented, "It’s a testament to the original builders of the cottage that the cow didn’t come right though the roof ending up in our stock room!"

 by June Costelloe

Kevin McCloud on Frome TV

Channel 4's Grand Designs housing guru Kevin McCloud recently gave a talk in Mells Barn in aid of our Shop and Cafe on Homes & Housing in the 21st Century.  You can view Frome TV's video of the event here:

http://www.frome.tv/2011/08/kevin-mccloud-support-mells-community-cafe/

VICKY BRATT, Mells Cafe Manager - INTRODUCING MYSELF

This is me on my first day as Mells Cafe Manager and I’d like to thank everybody involved with Mells, its Café and Shop for the incredible welcome and support I've received.

The team and I are hoping to put Mells Café on the map of great places to eat and drink in Somerset. We 're offering inspirational breakfasts, tasty lunches, delicious homemade cakes and Somerset cream teas, inspired from my experiences overseas but using as much local produce as possible.  During the summer holidays we will be catering for the little ones with packed lunches and kids' teas.

The Café and Shop is the best place to meet people in Mells. And all we do would not be possible without support from volunteers so if you’ve a spare few hours we would love you to join our team of helpers.  Just have a word with me when you're in the Shop.

And if you've a glut of fruit or veg in your garden I'd be very grateful for a donation which I can put to good use in all those lovely dishes I'm cooking up.

Vicky Bratt

DON’T FORGET – MELLS OPEN GARDENS ON SATURDAY 4 JUNE

St Andrew’s Church bells will be ringing to celebrate a record 17 lovely gardens, including 4 new ones, open for your enjoyment on Saturday 4 June from 11am – 5pm.
Why not make a day of it and have coffee, lunch and tea either in the Cricket Pavilion, laid on by Mells Shop volunteers, or in newly opened Mells Café?  And, if you get inspired, you can buy some of the plants you have seen at the Plant Stall outside Mells Shop.  All profits go to community-run Mells Village Shop, where you can buy tickets with map (£5, accompanied children free) in advance or on the day. 

MARY BERRY OPENS MELLS CAFÉ

Mells Cafe opened in a blaze of sunshine to the click of cameras on Easter Saturday as TV Chef Mary Berry cut the ribbon on the terrace door.  Introduced by the Earl of Oxford & Asquith, who also thanked the Management Team for their work and praised architects Llewellyn Harker and builder Dave Fishlock for the handsome building, Mary Berry told the crowd, "Tell all your friends about it because it is very very special."

The large crowd of well-wishers expressed their delight that the wait for Mells Cafe was over.  It gives people jobs in the local area, they said, it brings people together and is great fun for the village.

Mary Berry chatted with the crowd, and after that it was business as usual at the Cafe, serving drinks and meals to a steady stream of customers.  As well as a changing menu of breakfast, light lunches and cream teas to eat in or take out, the Café offers a range of locally made gifts, such as the distinctive earthenware pottery from Phillip Wood of Whatley; kiln-fired glass from Emma Wells and the Mells Mug designed for the village by Steven Jenkins, potter and calligrapher based at the Black Swan in Frome.

If you have time to spare and would like to volunteer a few hours of your time every week or month, perhaps in conjunction with a friend, please contact Liz O’Sullivan on 01373 812 201 osullivanmells@gmail.com.  The 30 or so volunteers who already help out in the Shop or Cafe enjoy meeting lots of new people and making a positive contribution to the community.

Here is Frome TV's video of the Cafe Opening :

Mary Berry opens Mell's community cafe from Frome.tv on Vimeo.

MARY BERRY TO OPEN MELLS CAFÉ

TV chef Mary Berry, judge on BBC’s Great British Bake Off and author of the indispensible Aga Cook Book, will open newly-built Mells Café at 12 noon on Easter Saturday, 23 April – the culmination of the community’s campaign to secure amenities and a social hub for Mells and the surrounding villages.

Mells Village Shop has gone from strength to strength with a full range of basic groceries and household goods as well as fresh produce and delicatessen items.  Its aim as a community shop is to provide what its customers want and to source it locally if possible.
And now the villagers’ dream of a café has become a reality, providing a much needed focal point for the local community and facilities for walkers, cyclists and tourists. Thanks to  generous grants from local funding bodies including the RDPE’s Community and Social Enterprise Fund, a doorway in the Shop leads into the stylish beamed café serving delicious local food. The space will be available to local people out of hours for clubs, meetings and small parties – contact Manager Mike Phypers on 812 251 or mvshop@btconnect.com for details.

Mary Berry

MELLS COFFEE SHOP UNVEILED

Scaffolding came down in mid February from the new Mells Coffee Shop to reveal its oak and stone structure to the outside world for the first time – the first new building at the eastern end of Mells’s historic Selwood Street for at least 2 centuries!

The moment was marked by topping out the annexe with an evergreen oak bough.  MVS Chairman, Bobby Hanscomb expressed the Management Team’s appreciation of architect Martin Llewellyn ‘s much admired design and of the hard work put in by Dave Fishlock and his workforce who are set to finish construction on schedule.

The new 20-seater Coffee Shop is scheduled to open to the public on Easter Saturday with an all-day menu serving high-quality coffee, cream teas and locally-made food, including soups, snacks, salads and sandwiches.  A small terrace with seating will look out over the Lutyens designed Horner memorial shelter next to the duck pond opposite, where more benches for sitting out are to be found.  Further retail space in the Coffee Shop will offer guides, maps, local history books and locally sourced souvenirs.

MVS Chairman Bobby Hanscomb topping out Mells new Coffee Shop while architect Martin Llewellyn, builder Dave Fishlock and the Team look on.

RDPE’S FIRST SOMERSET GRANT AWARD GIVES GO AHEAD TO MELLS COFFEE SHOP

The construction of Mells Coffee Shop is now underway thanks to a grant of £48,000’s worth of funding from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Community and Social Enterprise Fund.  This is the first project in Somerset to be funded by this grant.  A coffee shop was high on the community wish list when plans for refurbishment were first mooted and its construction was taken into consideration when the Shop layout was reconfigured.

Like the Shop through which it will be accessed, Mells Coffee Shop will be staffed by a mix of paid employees and volunteers, offering a simple range of basic, reasonably priced hot and cold food and drink for up to 20 people at a time.  It will be a venue for locals to get together, a lunch base for business people and will provide refreshments for the many passing walkers and cyclists. The room will be also be available as an informal meeting room for clubs and small parties.

A disabled WC, which will be accessed from the Coffee Shop, was completed last year, thanks to a grant of £1,000 from Mendip Housing (now Flourish Homes) and funding of £12,000 towards the project has also recently been granted by the Somerset County Council Rural Services Fund.   In addition the Mells & Vobster Trust has given a further grant of £10,000 towards the project.

A design in stone, oak and glass has been chosen to complement Lutyens’ memorial shelter opposite and the adjacent old stone buildings.  The tented scaffolding surrounding the site should enable work to continue throughout the winter and it is expected that the Coffee Shop will open for its first customers in the spring.

Below is a view of the area to the side of the shop where the coffee Shop will be located, and a front elevation from the plans.


by June Costelloe