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The Fabulous Fleece Company Blog

Summer Giveaway | The Fabulous Fleece Company

Celebrate summer and WIN a £150 voucher!

When long summer days turn to hazy evenings, it’s the perfect time to wrap up in a gorgeous sheepskin. It’s an ideal way to keep toasty and enjoy the summer vibes after the sun goes down!

That’s why, to celebrate the arrival of longest day, we’re giving away a fantastic £150 voucher to spend in our online store. There are many ways to enter the giveaway and the more options you choose, the more chances you have of winning!

If you’re the lucky winner, you’ll have your pick from a selection of sheepskins, animal hides, accessories and more. It’s the perfect way to treat yourself, your home or your pet!

To enter, simply use the giveaway form below! Terms apply - see the form for full details.


E-Commerce Giveaway

How to enjoy a Nordic Christmas

Thomas Rasmus Skaug / Visitnorway.com

With our favourite addition to Fab Fleece's collection of sheepskins this year being the Norwegian Grey Pelssau fleece - we thought we’d take our festive inspiration from Norway too and discover how Christmas is celebrated there.

After all, Norway has the snowy winter wonderland weather and are experts in creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere with some Scandinavian hygge.

Jul is a special time in Norway with lots of delicious food and fun activities involved. So here’s our lowdown on the essential elements of a Nordic style Christmas.

Christmas kicks off

The festive season usually starts on the last weekend in November in Norway, with the baking of many Christmas cookies... up to seven different kinds actually! These include sandkaker (sand cakes) - shortcakes baked in little molds and filled with jam, jelly or fruit and cream and krumkaker (curved cakes) - a waffle biscuit rolled into a cone shape and filled with whipped cream. There are various other buttery cookie delights and as well as pepperkaker (gingerbreads).

Visiting Christmas markets is a very popular activity and Maihaugen in Lillehammer is one of best ones to visit. Alongside the market you can enjoy sleigh rides and visit historic houses that recreate Christmas as celebrated in days gone by.

Other December activities include going to at least one cheerful Christmas concert and enjoying Julebord parties. You gather together with friends, colleagues or family to eat all day and night. It seems that the main goal for the evening is to get so drunk that you (almost) can’t find your way home!

Little Christmas Eve

On December 23, Norwegians celebrate Lille Julaften, (or Little Christmas Eve), a time when the family comes together to decorate the house and tree, make a gingerbread house, or eat risengrynsgrøt; a hot rice pudding served with sugar, cinnamon and butter.

An almond is hidden in the pudding, and if the almond turns up in your portion, you win a marzipan pig! A Norwegian alternative to finding the sixpence in the Christmas pudding!

Norway is very big on marzipan - one of the manufacturers Nidar estimates that Norway's population of 5 million can get through more than 40 million marzipan figures during the festive season!

Christmas Eve - the main event

The Silver Boys Choir (Sølvguttene) appear on national television for their annual festive concert and at 5pm, church bells ring throughout the cities to announce the official start of the holiday.

The evening will start with a traditional meal - the most popular Christmas Eve dinner is either ribbe (pork ribs or belly), or lutefisk, cod cured in rye and served with bacon, mashed peas and potatoes. Lutefisk is both loved and loathed by Norwegians who largely agree that eating it once a year is enough!

After dinner, people usually hold hands and dance around the Christmas tree while singing carols. Julenissen, or Santa Claus, then comes into the living room to hand out presents. The family and guests then play games, sing and open gifts the rest of the evening.

Rest for romjulen

Romjulen is the time between Christmas and New Year’s Eve when shops are usually closed or have limited opening hours, with Norwegians typically heading to the slopes for skiing and sledding with their families. As unlike the mild UK, Norway actually has a decent amount of snow in most places at Christmas time, which helps add to the seasonal atmosphere.

More Nordic inspired ideas

If like us, you can’t head to Norway to experience these wonderful sounding festivities first hand this year, then you may still be inspired to add some Norwegian touches to your own Christmas - especially when it comes to home decor and cooking.

Head over to Pinterest to see our latest board - A Nordic Christmas - for more ideas.

Wherever you spend Christmas, we hope you have a God Jul!

Cosy up in Coppa Club’s igloos

Everyone loves a spot of alfresco drinking or dining, but at this time of year?! Brrrrr!!! Well, now you can eat and drink while enjoying the outdoors, and keep satisfyingly snug too, inside festive pop-up pods from Coppa Club.

From these timber-framed globes, with sliding perspex doors, you get 360 degree views of your surroundings, while always staying winter warm.

Each igloo has heating and speakers for added ambience and is decked out like a Scandinavian sitting room to create that hygge factor. The decor is designed around a winter woodland theme, with twinkly lights, candle lanterns, evergreen fauna, plus warm blankets and snuggly sheepskins.

That’s where Fab Fleece Co came in, of course! We supplied the finest sheepskins to drape around Coppa Club’s latest trio of pods that have just popped up outside their newest venue in Brighton’s South Lanes. Clustered round the dolphin statue in Brighton Square, the igloos will stay in situ over the winter months.

If you’ve not come across Coppa Club before, aside from the new Brighton club, they have four other venues in their home county of Berkshire plus a London outpost at Tower Bridge. This is where the igloo concept first took off and became a runaway success the past couple of winters, with eight enviable pods overlooking the Thames across to The Shard.

So if you’re visiting London or Brighton this winter, try and grab yourself an igloo experience. The bookable spots sold out super quick after their release in late October, but they still keep open a few walk in slots everyday so you may get lucky.

And if you can’t snag a spot in an igloo, the main Coppa Clubs still offer a very laid-back and inviting place to stop by. Designed to feel like a members club but one that is open to everyone, each venue combines smart dining with more casual spaces for a coffee, cocktail and food.

Open all day, every day, the lounge areas are comfy with sofas to relax in. There's great wifi and plug sockets if you want to use the venue for work meetings or settling in with your laptop. Then when work is done you can gravitate around the clubs' iconic copper bar.

Sounds like our kind of place. Think it may be some time before they open a Coppa Club here in Norfolk though, but we can keep our fingers crossed!

For more information about the latest Coppa Club igloos in Brighton, visit the website: https://www.coppaclub.co.uk/brighton

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