James, Camilla and Mark were at Hampton Court to stand up and present to a panel of entrepreneurs and bankers for the HSBC business thinking awards this week. They were pretty nervous but completely thrilled to discover afterwards Higgidy had been chosen as winners from hundreds of entries across the South of England.
We were all very proud of Camilla this week because the lovely people at Mumpreneur UK gave her a mention in the 2011 Mumpreneur awards.
With sideshows and stalls, hoopla, a hook the duck game, bubbles, a balloon man and an enormous red football, this year the higgidy picnic was bigger than ever. Over 150 higgidy cooks and their families boarded two big yellow busses and zipped out into the Sussex countryside for a day of fun, food and little ducks.
As if Mark’s life wasn’t busy enough with organising a wedding while being higgidy’s "Pie Merchant" and whatnot he still found time to be roped into being Father Christmas at a local tots and toddlers group. Not all the children were completely convinced though, and his niece Lily, like us, was little bit frightened by this unusually tall, rather skinny looking father Christmas.
We like a bit of a show here at higgidy, and so it was that we embarked on a grand higgidy pie tasting challenge. Our three galant contenders, Lecia from the office, Dean from the warehouse, and Barbara, representing the kitchen, took their places in front of an eager crowd of cooks and admin staff. Once blindfolded, the pies were revealed, one higgidy, and three pie imposters.
Lecia, and the higgidy festival team have been having some summer fun trundling up and down the country, visiting festivals in the little higgidy kitchen, and making friends. They’ve been having a little competition to see who can meet the nicest celebrity. So at Camp Bestival when the lovely Jo Wiley wandered past with her family, Lecia was a little star struck.
James and Camilla took a trip to Seattle recently on a pie discovery mission. They visited little markets full of excitable, whooping Americans, and rode on a Duck, a sort of amphibious adventure vehicle. The highlight of the trip for James was a visit to a rather unusual pie company, High Five Pies.
A Battle Prom is a big day out featuring a classical orchestra with a live battle, cannons, cavalry, fireworks, plus lots of picnics, gazebos and Champagne.
So it was with great excitement that Philippa, Lecia, and the Higgidy team packed up the little Higgidy Kitchen and zipped up to Northamptonshire last weekend for the Althorpe Park Battle Proms.
Our Lecia has packed up a trailer full of pies, and is taking the little higgidy kitchen up to the Cornbury Festival this weekend. It's going to be an exciting event full of music, laughter, entertainment and pies.
Roll Up, Roll Up, it's time for the Big Higgidy Tombola. Just pop your name in the hat for the chance to win some pies. This month we're giving away a lovely big bag of £30 worth of pies, plus an apron.
There are also 4 runners up prizes of a pie voucher each. It's free to enter and we'll be picking the winner on the 11th of July. If you'd like to enter our higgidy tombola (and we'd love you to), please do click here and we'll write you out a ticket.
On the 5th of June, we’ll be joining in the nationwide festivities of "The Big Lunch". You can't beat a bit of old-fashioned community spirit so we'll be taking the little higgidy kitchen out to the grassy bit of the Old Steine in central Brighton (just outside St. Peter’s Church - see here on the map). There’ll be pies (for free), fun and games and hopefully some sunshine.
A problem shared is a problem halved and a pleasure shared is a pleasure doubled. Whether it's a ride in the country, bread for the ducks, an umbrella in the rain or a tasty pie for tea. So when we were trying to think up ways to make our chicken pot pie even nicer one thought kept coming back to us. "Let's just make it big enough to share" said Camilla, so we did.



























































