Green!

Living and working in such a beautiful place makes us think about how we can treat our environment better and strive to be more careful with our wee spot on the planet.

Beautiful Glen Fyne

So, we buy as much of our stock from local nurseries such as the Ardkinglas Estate Nurseries. We 'shop local' for our cafe food - our famous Venison burgers come from Winston Churchill Venison (yes, seriously) at the Balagowan Deer Larder, our cakes, soups, quiches, sandwiches are all made in-house from local ingredients and by our wonderful cafe staff and other local cooks and bakers. This also gives us the opportunity to try out inspiring ideas on each other - usually a good thing!

Mmmm - gluten free Honey, Fruit & Nut slices

Even our plates, cutlery, napkins and cups are 'green' - they make look like ordinary disposable items to you, but these bad boys (see below) are 100% compostable! 

As green as it gets! Vegware plates & napkins

They come from a fantastic firm called Vegware and we were delighted to hear that they were named Best New Product in the Climate Week Awards - Vegware’s completely compostable packaging was the 'most inspiring and innovative entry with the greatest impact when it comes to tackling climate change'. In 2010 they helped their clients save over 110 tonnes of carbon, and are aiming to help save over 250 tonnes in 2011. Not bad, eh! And we are very proud to use them and do our bit at reducing our carbon footprint.

100% Compostable - Genius!!

Ace Acers!

Possibly one of the most beautiful of trees, this delicious deciduous comes in all shapes and sizes and they just gets more and more stunning the bigger they gets. Check out some of our new stock below:

Stunning colours

Green!

Beautiful shades

And wait until you see them in their startling and stunning autumn colours - truly sensational!

Easter Feaster!

The weather is blissful, the shop hums with activity and the area heaves with visitors - the Easter weekend is here!! In honour of this we have gone Cake Mad!!

Divine Cupcakes

Decorated Shortbread

The Most Amazing Chocolate Cake

Little Nests!

Could this simply a case of having ones cake and eating it, literally!! Drop in if your driving past and save us from all this temptation - please!!!!

Yo Mama!!

With Mother's Day fast approaching, boy, have we got some lovely gift ideas for you! Our speciality Camellias, Rhododendrons and Azaleas are looking fabulous and make a colourful gift for any gardening Mum.

Or how about a customised planted arrangement - you pick what you'd like us to plant and we will pot it up for you at no extra cost. A lovely idea if your Mum has a favourite plant or two. If you're not sure about plants then we have some cool miscellany of gardening goodies from Apples to Pears: 

and we love their bird scarers - they'd look very pretty in any garden:

If gardening is not her thing, the shop is bursting with colourful and lovely gifts -

Pretty embroidered purses from Ness.....

.....or a beautiful brooch 

Jewellery from Smashing Glass of Gigha is one of our favourites - beach glass and pottery shard jewellery from the beautiful isle of Gigha, each piece unique, washed up on a beach and made into something to treasure.

Or the very different, colourful beads and baubles of Highland Bling - unique and individually crafted jewellery made right here in beautiful Argyll by the very talented Samantha MacPhee!

All this plus special foodie treats in the cafe over the weekend - so, how about a stroll round the stunning Ardkinglas Woodland Garden then pop across the loch for a sumptious tea at the Tree Shop - meringue nests with fresh strawberries and cream, special cup cakes, savoury prawn, chicken or ham wraps, delicious salads and soups. 

Go on, spoil your Mum - you know she deserves it!

Spring Fare!

We love our food at the Tree Shop, we love cooking, we love experimenting and we love it when a good plan comes together. So very excited to unveil our new veggie pasties -

Going, going....

Homemade shortcrust pastry filled with sweet potato, kidney beans, peppers, courgette, red onion, carrot and celery! Delicious!!

Gone!!!

It went down an absolute treat with our tasters as you can see! Just a few crumbs left and some very satisfied grins!






And as we head into spring we continue to expand our range of vegetarian alternatives and offering healthy options. We already offer a mouthwatering array of soups and will be offering stuffed peppers, veggie spicy bean burgers, salad pots, vegetarian flans and bakes - we even do a gluten free toastie! Plus, we have lots more ideas we're bursting to share with you and wait to you see our cakes!!

Meet the neighbours!

So, not only are we located in the most gorgeous area, we also have some very cool neighbours!

Beautiful Loch Fyne

Next to us we have the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar, the original and still the best! Do you like beer? Well, just up Glen Fyne, a short stroll away, we have the superb Fyne Ales micro-brewery, where you can buy their amazing award winning ales and see how they make them. 

Walks - have we got walks! Behind the shop you can stroll up the hill and visit our tree house; feeling more adventurous, then can head up into Glen Fyne for a spot of Munro Bagging - Beinn Bhuidhe is an isolated Munro at the head of Loch Fyne, separating Glen Fyne from Glen Shira. There are roads in both glens but Beinn Bhuidhe is mostly accessed from Glen Fyne.

View to Glen Fyne

Gardens? Ardkinglas Woodland Garden is 5 minutes from the shop and well worth a visit - you can even get a tour of the extraordinary and stunning house.

Ardkinglas House and Woodland Gardens - Magical!

And us - well you can eat, drink, feed your gardeners soul and be merry. Look out for our next post on our fantastic take-away cafe and who is behind our amazing soups and fabulous bespoke baking. Oh, and we've got a lovely van!!

Our cool van!

It's not all about trees, y'know!

Yes, we are called the Tree Shop but it's not all about trees! In a diverse, rural area it pays to be a retail version of a 'multi-tasker'

From plants.....

.....to trees

Great food!

Scottish gifts.....

.....and crafts

even a bit of 'Garden Kitsch'!

And we are in such a fab location, close to so many places and activities that the shop actually makes a great base for striking out to do loads of different things. Watch out for our next blog later in the week - we'll have info about what is nearby and what you can get up to! And did I mention the potatoes..........

Yes, we've got potatoes - more than enough to feed your gardener's soul! Get out there and get planting!!