Thursday Cottage Brandy Butter - 110g

Named after the house

Thursday Cottage was founded in 1963 in a cottage of that name outside Spaxton, Somerset. No branding agency required. For many years the business was owned and run by Hugh and Pam Corbin of Lyme Regis, who sold it in 2002. It is the sort of name you read once and never quite shake, which helps when you are describing it to someone at Christmas in Canada who has never seen one.

Moved to Essex, kept the habits

Thursday Cottage is now an independent part of the Tiptree group. Production today is based at Trewlands Farm in Tiptree, Essex, where the range is still handmade. The parent, Wilkin & Sons Ltd, was established in Tiptree, Essex, in 1885 and has held a Royal Warrant for preserves and marmalades continuously since 1911. It currently holds the Royal Warrant as Purveyors of Tiptree Products to King Charles III. Rather good connections, then. Nobody at the table needs to be told.

A hundred jars at a time

Thursday Cottage specialises in luxury handmade jams, marmalades and curds for the independent trade, and each boil still produces only about 100 jars. Small enough that someone is clearly paying attention. The range runs to a Fine Cut Orange Marmalade with Whisky and a Strawberry Jam with Champagne, so somebody there likes a celebration. There is even an Amaretto Butter, sold as a twist on traditional brandy butter, for the relative who insists on doing things differently. And a Christmas Pudding, so the whole end of dinner can share a name.