Sssshhhhh, we’ve been keeping a little bit of a secret here at Turtle Towers but now we’d like to share it with you. We’d like to introduce you to the newest addition to our Turtle Mat Classic Collection, the small but incredibly mighty “Micro” Mat…..isn’t it a beauty!

The “Micro” Mat measures 37×50cm the perfect size for all sorts of situations and locations. Here’s just a few:

• Festival/camping essential to keep tents mud free – the perfect “glam-ping” accessory

• Caravanning – perfect doorway size, because Turtle Mats deserve   a holiday too!

• Pet mats – for food and drink bowls

• Kneeling mats – appealing to the gardener in us to avoid muddy knees

• Car foot-well mats

So go take a peek (you can nip straight there by clicking on the picture) and now for the best bit….they’re only £14.95 each and until the end of July we’re offering free postage* when you quote offer code MM88.

* free delivery offer is available to UK mainland addresses only, postage saving for Micro Mat orders is £4.95, postage saving for Micro Mat orders with Turtle Vac is £7.50.

It seems to happen every year, Father’s Day has snuck up upon us once again and discussion here at Turtle Towers has turned to “what gift should I get my dad?”.

It may not be the same for you (you lucky things), but over the years I have pleaded with, pestered and cajoled my inscrutable father to reveal what he would like most to mark the day, all to no avail! I have however developed a secret weapon to get round this pernickety-ness (some might say obstinacy), and it’s covered by one word…sport!

Well not just any sport, football and tennis to be more precise and for once timing could not be more perfect with the World Cup upon us and Wimbledon just around the corner. I can picture my dad reclining on the sofa and smiling with glee as England do battle in the qualifiers or as Murray strikes another winning return (mum meanwhile has suddenly found something very interesting to do in the garden). I know without fail a gift along these lines will illicit a similar response – job done.

My grandfather however is a different story, he makes taciturn an art-form, so it came as little surprise when my father ended our telephone chat last week with the immortal words “what gift should I get my dad?”  Oh, how the worm has turned!

I will admit I pondered whether to answer as enigmatically and frustatingly as he always does but the truth is I had the perfect present in mind. My granddad, you see, has his own magic word…trains!

No sooner said then are two Flying Scotsman Turtle Mats winging (sorry I couldn’t help myself) their way to my granddad to adorn his loft. Not the normal place for a Turtle Mat you might think but then my grandfather’s attic is anything but normal – it is in fact a giant model railway set, resplendent with stations and shrubbery, passengers and platforms, tunnels and the obligatory sheep on the hillside….ever the rail enthusiast.

The moral of this somewhat rambling tale is that the magic word isn’t always please. Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s planes, trains or World Cup fever.

Up until Father’s Day (20^th June 2010) we will be offering the Flying Scotsman mats at £34.97, a discount of 30% – order by Sunday so you don’t get left on the platform!

There has been a bit of debate at “Turtle Towers” this week about British-ness; perhaps it’s the feverish electoral cries of “broken Britain” that have got us mulling this over but the one thing we can all agree typifies British-ness is the slightly barmy things we do when the sun comes out.

Not only do we have a propensity to fling clothes (and modesty) to the wind when the weather sneaks above 18^oC but we also seem to believe ourselves imbued with superhuman powers as soon as the days lengthen (I like to call this May madness). What other explanation could there be for flinging yourself down a hill after a cheese (unless you were very, very hungry) or seeing shin-kicking as sport. We are lucky enough that “Turtle Towers” is nestled in the Cotswolds and it seems (whether by accident or design I wouldn’t like to speculate) to be the epicentre of quite a lot of the “crazy” and we love it.

Heading out towards Gloucester at Coopers Hill we have the now infamous cheese rolling (which will be missed this year) on the spring bank holiday. I was lucky enough to be there last year, right at the top jostling for position with the German and American TV crews and could only marvel at the recklessness that leads men and women to hurl themselves down that hill into the waiting arms of the local rugby team.

Even closer to us are the Tetbury Wool Sack Races also on the bank holiday weekend at the end of May, where teams and individuals carry 60lb wool sacks up a 1 in 4 gradient hill – this is Tetbury’s idea of a race; a tradition arising from rivalry between the two local pubs The Crown and The Royal Oak. I shall be attending this year, for the first year, come rain or shine so will hopefully have some pictures to add to this and later blogs.

Finally, an event I attended for the first time last year (and will attend again this year) Robert Dover’s Olimpick Games on 4^thJune, where the self-explanatory shin-kicking competition takes place. Villagers and tourists alike venture to a field just outside Chipping Campden to see all sorts of events, most notably competitors kicking each other’s shins (ouch). The culmination of this fabulous evening is a firework display and a torchlight walk back into the heart of Chipping Campden where a band entertains the assembled crowd.

The greatest thing about these events (aside from the camaraderie of wincing at someone falling down a hill or cracking their shin) we believe is their support of rural traditions, practices and businesses; whether this be Smarts Farm of Churcham Gloucestershire, the makers of the much chased Double Gloucester or the Tetbury and Chipping Campden pubs which benefit from increased trade.

Makes me proud that I as well as Turtle Mats are “Made in Britain”.

In the final part of our “baking odyssey” to celebrate the launch of our new spring/summer 2010 catalogue we thought we would share with you a slightly unusual (but still scrumptious) cupcake recipe as well as offer you the chance to win your own Cupcake. Thankfully, we are not giving away one of our culinary creations but one Cupcake Turtle Mat worth £44.95

To be in with a chance of winning the ‘Cupcake’ just post your own original cupcake recipe or flavour combination as a comment on this blog. The entry we here at the Turtle Mat Company consider our favourite will win one Cupcake Turtle Mat worth £44.95. Competition rules apply (see below).

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Expanding our culinary abilities (as well as our waist lines) here at Turtle Mat, here is another cupcake recipe or two to celebrate the launch of our new spring 2010 catalogue with its “cupcake-y” cover. (more…)

You may have guessed by now that here at “Turtle Towers” we are animal and wildlife lovers (just not fans of the mud they bring in on their paws!)

In fact, as I write this Molly and Lucy our loveable but curious “Turtle” dog double act are bounding around our garden. Lucy (Jack Russell) is certainly lively and Molly (black Lab) is the perfect foil to this, being quiet, thoughtful and tolerant (well she has to be with Lucy around).

We also know how much some of our customers love their pets, as we often receive photos of cats and dogs lounging on Turtle Mats. It’s great to receive these so please keep them coming and you can also now add them as fan photos on Facebook too.

With all this talk of our “furry friends” we’d like to tell you about the great work animal welfare charity The Blue Cross do, as they are a charity not only close to our hearts but also close to our home here in the Cotswolds.

We have visited their Burford facility a number of times and seen first hand how they make a real difference. As a pet charity they provide support and information for pet and horse owners – The Blue Cross has a fascinating history of helping work horses in London during the early 1900s as well as horses from the trenches of World War 1.

They provide practical care for pets whose owners cannot afford private vet bills, work to re-home abandoned and unwanted pets as well as educate people on the responsibilities that come with owning a pet.

We were lucky enough to have around 300 spare Turtle Mat – Pet Mats and were pleased to pass these on to The Blue Cross who were able to make use of them to raise much needed funds to support their ongoing work.

If you would also like to show your support for the Blue Cross, find out more about the great work they do or volunteer please visit http://www.bluecross.org.uk

Here at Turtle Mat we love our mums (not just because some of us forgot to post a card for yesterday and want to apologise); as they effortlessly manage the demands of a busy household.

We like to think here at Turtle Mat that we help just a little bit to make mums lives easier; keeping floors and homes cleaner for longer with the dirt-trapping power of a Turtle Mat. Don’t just take our word for it though; the Family Panel (review guide)     thought so too…

http://familypanelreviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/turtle-mat.html

It’s great to receive such positive feedback (stop – you’re making us blush!) and it got us thinking about the secrets our mum’s have shared with us to make housework a breeze.

So we thought we’d spend the week (through tweets #cleaning and Facebook posts) sharing with you the hints and tips that make the boring job of cleaning that little bit more bearable. So to get the ball rolling:

Vinegar is a great household cleaner (good on chips too!)…

* Use white wine vinegar to clean floor tile grouting (two tablespoons of vinegar into a large mug of warm water)

* Cider vinegar (approx 100ml) with about 4 litres of warm water is great for cleaning wood floors – just make sure the mop is well wrung out and not too wet

* Vinegar into the warm water you use to clean glass (1 litre water and 250ml vinegar) makes your windows sparkle, dry-off excess with newspaper

Hope they help and if you have any tips you’d like to share don’t forget to comment, we’d love to hear from you.

Image by TimmyGUNZ via Flickr

In most homes, the kitchen is the busiest room in the house, a hub of activity centered on meal planning, cooking, eating, and cleaning up. And in today’s busy world, it’s essential to be able to maintain the kitchen quickly and easily, so that you can get to all the other things on your to-do list.

Here are some ideas (more…)

Image by SMN via Flickr

Having a new baby in the home means a lot of work. One of the most important aspects is to make sure your home is as baby-proofed as possible. This starts right from the crib, but is especially important when the baby starts to crawl and walk. There are many tips that you can follow that will help keep your home baby-proofed. (more…)

Image by ChiefBraun via Flickr

Making your home environmentally friendly can be a truly motivating process. Not only you will be helping to save the planet from pollution, but you’ll be also making savings for your budget by using less energy.

You might want to start by something extremely simple. Make it a house rule that everybody turns out all lights anytime they leave a room. You can also do something as simple as getting up earlier everyday – this will prevent using the artificial light and also save money and energy. (more…)