A little bit of England!

WHEN we arrived here in Crete nearly ten years ago, it was almost impossible to buy many of the creature comforts that we could easily pick up in our UK supermarkets. We are not talking shopping trollies of food, but the few items that we miss from the UK.

  Gradually over the years as more and more ex-Pats have come to the island that changed a little. Take brown sauce as an example. You can go into any Greek supermarket and the range of tomato sauce products is vast but no brown sauce (vital for fried eggs or bacon sandwiches). It was impossible also to obtain castor sugar and golden syrup, not everyday requirements, but sometimes essential, after all you cannot make a golden sponge with honey instead of syrup! We won't talk about Marmite of course.

  Well, gradually over the years the demand on friends and family coming to the island has gradually diminished, now, virtually everything is possible, thanks to the opening of various English shops on the island.

  The first for us was the English Warehouse in Agios Nikoloaus, a trip of 40 minutes each way. Run by an English lady and her Greek husband, it really came into its own around Christmas with top cheeses, frozen goods and even cards and crackers.

  This year another shop has opened about 10 minutes away, at Stalis. Delightful Vicky Light  and her Greek boyfriend Nondas run this shop, small but packed with more than 300 ambient lines, plus an ever expanding frozen goods, all those essentials much needed. We also know of at least one other English shop, to the east at Chania, too far for us of course. Stalis is the shop by choice, they would even deliver is needed, we get an update of their range of goods, as well as their frozen produce list. They deserve every success for their enterprise, it took a great deal of planning and hard work, which from our view is paying dividends.
  Their first Christmas was a surprise to them, they had nothing to judge the situation by, but learned a great deal, making sure that planning for the big week would be done earlier next time. Their customers of course realise the value of such a shop, and together with personal service are sure to return time after time. 
  Now both local (to us) shops have increased their ranges, importing direct from the UK a wider and wider range of frozen foods. We love Greek food, cooked oiur way also, but there are also little treats that make life that little more special.
  A toasted tea-cake for example in the afternoon. Real English pork pies with that crisply outside housing a delightful pork and jelly inside, nothing in Greece can offer that, although there have been some who have tried  without real success.
  Of course the shops really are for those living here, but on the influx of tourists they get to hear of the shops and load up with items for self catering, which is certainly better than the fully inclusive hotels that ties visitors to their hotels - but that's another story.