The Rocks Marketplace: Boyd & Doyle

Historical artifacts have long intrigued Ken Chester. As a teenager, he collected antique bottles. As an adult he turned to a larger hobby – restoring old houses. Ken and his wife (and business partner) Heidi now live in a late 19^th century farm house in Lancaster, which is the fourth old house Ken has worked to refurbish. The former horse barn on the property serves as the hub for Boyd & Doyle, the company Ken started in 1996 and which he and Heidi now run together.

Boyd & Doyle is a merging of the old and the new and comprises three brands: The Bottle Wick, White Gate Glass (with pieces hand painted by Heidi) and Hancock Iron Works, which includes a wide array of items, from coat hooks to candle holders to wind chimes.

We talked with Ken about what inspires his work. Here’s what he had to say…

Many Boyd & Doyle items seem to be grounded in nature. Do you find inspiration in the outdoors?

Heidi and I love nature and have always spent time in the outdoors. We are most often outside gardening on our property, hiking and cycling in the mountains of New Hampshire, or escaping to the Maine coast.

Where else do you find ideas for your work?

The main driver is what our customers need and want. We often have customers looking for a certain design, and we create an item to fill that need. We ask customers for direction, then we look for ideas either out in the field through antique items or from friends who have been great for suggesting designs.

What’s your favorite item from your catalog?

I like The Bottle Wick, which was my first item for Boyd & Doyle. It allows you to transform a nice bottle – which would otherwise sit on a shelf collecting dust – into a candle. We have three 19^th century bottles with Wicks on our dining room table.

What do you like best about your work?

During the last 18 years, we’ve had so many calls from people telling us how much they like what we do. It makes us happy when a person sends pictures of our products in their homes. You know they love it if they go to that kind of trouble just to say thanks.

The Candle Wick and several Hancock Iron Works items are included in the fine selection of home goods offered by local vendors at The Rocks Marketplace. The Marketplace opens for the season next Monday, November 7, and will be open daily from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Christmas tree sales at The Rocks begin November 19!

Local artisans at The Rocks: Hillary McMahon of Wild Oaks Farm

We’re proud to offer a plethora of locally-made items in the Rocks Marketplace, and we make it a point to seek out artisans and their wares from surrounding towns and throughout the New England region. One of these is Hillary McMahon of Wild Oaks Farm, not far down the road from The Rocks Estate in Landaff, New Hampshire.

Winter Hike soap in festive shapes

Hillary makes goat milk soap in a variety of scents, from traditional Tea Tree and Cedar Wood to seasonal offerings like Santa’s Tree, Winter Hike, and Snow Day. She manages her 10-acre farm between shifts at her day job, working for her family’s painting business. She also moonlights this time of year as a wreath decorator at The Rocks.

We asked Hillary to give us some insight into Wild Oaks Farm and her fabulous soaps – and Hardy Hand Salve. Here’s what she told us…

Are you the sole Wild Oaks proprietor?

Yes I am. The farmer, the grain and hay hauler, hoof trimmer, milker and the soaper! But I get a lot of support from my family and friends, who have been great about lending a helping hand when I need it.

How many goats do you have at the farm, and what breed are they?

We have up to 20 goats in summer, with all the kids. Right now I have two breeding bucks and seven does. They’re Oberhasli goats, a Swiss breed known to be very friendly and docile. In the peak of milking season our girls average 8-10.5 pounds of milk daily. Excess milk is either used in our household or fed to our pigs – they love it! Beyond the goats, we have two pigs (seasonal), one mini horse, 24 laying hens, and two ducks at the farm.

How did you get started with goats – and making soap from goat milk?

About 10 years ago, we had a couple of Oberhasli goats as companions for our aging horses. I wanted a way to nurture my love for animals and also have an income from that love – hence the farm and goat milk soap business. I began creating the formulas for my products in the spring of 2013 and selling them that fall. I love creating, testing and marketing new products! Last year I came out with Hardy Hand Salve. As a farmer and working in the store, my hands are constantly cracking to the point of bleeding. I knew I needed to make a product that penetrated, healed and protected my skin without being too oily so I was unable to carry on with day-to-day tasks. I now have happy hands!

What else goes into your soaps?

I take pride that goat milk is the first ingredient on my label! I believe if you are purchasing goat milk soap you should get the most milk per bar possible. Along with goat milk our bars are created with a blend of oils and cocoa butter. All oils and butters lend their own special qualities to soap. Wild Oaks Farm does make different varieties of soap - we have a Bug-OFF bar that is popular in the spring through summer months, an All Four Paws bar that is formulated to be a very conditioning bar for all animals, three different scented shave soaps, and a kitchen scrub bar that removes everything from garlic and onion to gas and oil smells. We offer our bar soaps unscented, unscented with oats (for extra nourishment), scented with essential oils and over 30 varieties scented with fragrances.

You’ll find soaps from Wild Oaks Farm and myriad other fantastic, locally-crafted items in the shops at The Rocks this season!

The Rocks' shops OPEN November 2nd!

We are so excited for the holiday season to start that we’re opening both our wonderful gift shops at The Rocks Estate NEXT WEEK! That’s right, both the Rocks Marketplace and the Rocks Gift Shop will be offering up holiday gifts, decorations, and good cheer daily, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., from November 2^nd right through Christmas Eve.

(Please note The Rocks will be closed Thanksgiving Day.)

Each year The Rocks staff searches throughout our region to bring wonderful new items to our Gift Shop and Marketplace shelves, and we’re proud to offer myriad locally- and regionally-crafted goods, from pottery and preserves to handmade soaps and candies to festive ornaments and intricately decorated wreaths. And because variety is the spice of successful holiday shopping, we make sure to have something for everyone on your gift list: kids and grandparents, friends and neighbors, even your pets!

This season at the Rocks Marketplace, shoppers will find an array of offerings from local artisans. These include beautifully made, hand-painted pottery from Joan Hannah, a retired farmer and former Olympic skier from Sugar Hill; hand-made goat milk soap from Hillary Tuite McMahon of Wild Oaks Farm in Landaff; outdoors-inspired jewelry from Emily Mouchon of Hunt Fish Maine; old-fashion candy from Country Cupboard Candy of New Hampshire, and countless other regional items.

For that hard-to-find gift for the guy (or gal) who has everything, check out the Pocket Monkey, a 12-in-1 tool that fits in a wallet and can open a bottle or a letter, fix your eyeglasses, peel an orange and more. To add a little ambiance to someone’s home, pick up a Bottle Wick, which can turn an empty wine or ale bottle into a classic oil lamp – and is made in Hancock, N.H. For family fun, the Cider Time Press, skillfully made by Maine craftsmen, is a compact cider press for home use.

Holiday shoppers will find ornaments, Rocks Estate maple syrup, and a beautiful selection of holiday wreaths, in the Rocks Gift Shop. And remember, The Rocks opens for Christmas tree sales, including Cut-Your-Own, November 21^st.

Can’t make it to The Rocks this holiday season? Don’t fret… we’ll deliver the holidays right to your doorstep! Our online shop offers fantastic gifts, fresh-cut trees, wreaths, ornaments, and all the accessories you need to make your holiday happy and bright!

However you shop, The Rocks is ready to help you bring home the holidays!

Apple Cider Celebration at The Rocks ~ Columbus Day Weekend

There’s so much to celebrate this time of year at The Rocks – Tag-Your-Own tree season, the opening of our shops, the vibrant colors of fall foliage filling the landscape at the farm and on the surrounding hills.

This year we’re adding one more thing to celebrate: apples!

The Rocks will host our first-ever Apple Cider Celebration over the three days of Columbus Day Weekend, October 10-12, and it will be a delight for the senses! The kaleidoscopic colors of autumn, the taste of freshly pressed apple cider, horse-drawn wagon rides through the farm, and a program on pruning apple trees.

Beyond the myriad rows of Christmas trees growing through the fields at The Rocks, there are nearly 200 apple trees. These are all heirloom varieties and are pruned for the benefit of the many species of wildlife who live on the farm and rely on apples as a staple of their fall diet: deer, bear, coyote, turkey, moose, porcupine and others.

Both The Rocks Marketplace and the Gift Shop – chockfull of gifts, decorations, and the works of many local artisans – will be open during the Apple Cider Celebration, which will run each day of the long weekend from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Wagon rides will be offered Sunday and Monday. The apple tree pruning presentation will be Saturday at 11 a.m. Guests are invited to explore the network of trails at The Rocks, bring a picnic lunch to enjoy in the formal gardens or elsewhere on the Estate, visit the interactive New Hampshire Maple Experience museum, and even “tag” a Christmas tree in the field. (For more on The Rocks’ Tag-Your-Own tree season, check out our last Blog post!) 

For those who want to continue celebrating apple cider, we’ll also have small cider presses available for sale. Sip cider, shop for the holidays, take in the colors of fall…the Apple Cider Celebration has it all!

Holiday Shopping FUN at The Rocks – Shops Open Daily starting November 3!

The Rocks is THE place to visit for holiday shopping. Our two shops are a feast for the Christmas senses, with unique gift items, one-of-a-kind decorations, and plenty of tasty treats. (S’mores on a stick, anyone? Mmmmm!)

We get really excited about the holidays here, and we strive to fill our Rocks Marketplace and Farm Store shops with a festive combination of customer favorites and beautiful new items each year. We’re also dedicated to providing as many U.S.A.-made items in our shops, and lots of our great gift and holiday items are made right here in New England and the Northeast.

Our intricately whimsical Ginger Cottages are handcrafted in Virginia, and they’re simply radiating with holiday charm. From the snowflake-adorned Elf Academy and Hansel & Gretel’s Ginger Mint Company to the fantastic Cuckoo Clock featuring Santa’s sleigh, peppermints, and gingerbread people, each of these artful creations may be lit with a Christmas tree light to reveal the holiday secret inside!

The Rocks Marketplace also features jingle bells from New Hampshire-based New England Bells; hundreds of unique Christmas tree ornaments; handmade chocolate goodies (s’mores on a stick, bear and moose pops, and more) from RHD Candy just up the road in Lancaster, N.H.; books penned by local authors; handcrafted soaps from Wild Oak Farm in Landaff, N.H.;  Advent calendars from an artist in Maine featuring classic New England scenes; pottery from Sugar Hill; jewelry from Rhode Island… the list goes on and on.

And did we mention moose? Well, the Marketplace is swimming with New Hampshire’s favorite animal! We have moose magnets, moose candies, moose glasses, plush moose toys, moose bottle toppers. If you’re looking for moose, we can help!

In our Farm Store, we have locally-made maple syrup, available in traditional jugs or designer bottles, along with sweatshirts and Ts, more ornaments, and holiday decorations galore!

We really do get excited about the holidays here at The Rocks. Because we’re so eager to share our enthusiasm with holiday shoppers, we’ll open both shops Nov. 3, and they’ll be open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. DAILY through Christmas Eve (closed Thanksgiving Day). So, whether you want to get an early start to your holiday preparations or you’re a last-minute shopper, we’ll be here and ready to help!

Merry Christmas from The Rocks Estate

We’re thankful once again this year for all the folks who have visited The Rocks or ordered online during the Christmas tree season. Knowing there are trees from The Rocks emanating holiday cheer in homes throughout New England and beyond makes our holidays even brighter!

For the last minute shoppers and tree trimmers out there, The Rocks Estate will remain open right up to Christmas Eve. Our gift shop and the Rocks Marketplace are open daily from 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. through December 23^rd and filled with unique gifts and plenty of items for decking the halls. Christmas trees may be purchased at The Rocks as late as Christmas Eve, December 24^th.  

From all of us at The Rocks ~ Merry Christmas, everyone!

Holiday shopping made fun and easy at The Rocks Estate

Amid the considerable joy and festivity of the holidays comes the sometimes not-so-enjoyable task of finding gifts for all the good boys and girls on your list. Well, The Rocks Estate can help!

With two shops filled to brimming with holiday goodies and unique gifts (plus our super shopper-friendly online store), your holiday shopping at The Rocks will be fun and easy.

Our gift shop, located in the former electric plant building at The Rocks, is brimming with handmade wreaths, crafted right here at the farm and featuring a merry assortment of designs, from simple bows and ribbon to whimsical forest characters and adornments of berries and other seasonal flora. Shoppers will also find ornaments, fresh garland, birch deer, and Rocks Estate items in the gift shop.

The Rocks Marketplace, located in the red barn, is a showcase of goods from more than 30 regional artisans, from ornaments and pottery to homemade fudge and local books and music. Highlights include handmade Deeda’s Baskets, crafted by Vermont artist Linda Lomasney; jams, jellies, and soups from White Mountain Canning Company; and festive hand-poured chocolate pops from RHD Candy Company – perfect for stuffing stockings!

Both shops are open daily through the season from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. C’mon in and cross some names off your gift-giving list!

Of course, while you’re here, there’s lots of holiday fun happening, too. The Rocks is open daily through Christmas Eve for cut-your-own tree seekers, and we always have a fine selection of freshly cut Christmas trees in our retail lot as well. Weekends are chockfull of festive events. Check out our online calendar for more information.

Happy holidays – and we’ll see you soon at The Rocks!