The River in Summer First Swim- Otters on the River Dart Beautiful, lithe,swift these creatures can be elusive and many people will never see them in the wild. A voraicious fish eater, but also a great one for play and fun. These delightful creatures can be found in Rivers and the Sea. Many rivers are now being colonised as water returns to being cleaner in many areas. We at Grovely make several Otter puzzles, two of which are shown here. A 500 piece round puzzle and a 1000 p

Harbour View, Polperro Polperro Harbour This week is Mental Health Awareness week and much is made these days about our mental health. During the Covid lockdown many people turned to puzzles as a way of filling time, keeping minds and hands occupied. Much was made of puzzles for good mental health but for many a puzzle is an absolute nightmare! They are a bit "love them, or hate them" "Do them or Don't". We here at Grovely Puzzles hope, of course, that you love them! 500 or

Donkey- Alberto Lago Gonzalez Four Curious Donkeys - Sue Podbery Today is International Donkey Day. These wonderful hardworking creatures have been around for centuaries. They have been serving man as a beast of burden and transport all over the world and still in some places are much better than mechanised transport over rough, untamed terrain. Often much mistreated, there are now many sanctauries where they can find safety and peace from their labours. Grovely is pleased to

Almond blossom Today is May day. Or Labour Day ie International Workers Day. Or just the first of May. I did not have a picture of May Blossom so I had to make do with one that we make of Almond trees from the Mallorcan Collection. Celebrated as a bank holiday in many countries we here at Grovely Puzzles work on May day as do most UK businesses but we will have a day of for the Early May Bank Holiday on Monday 4th. A day of leisure and traffic jams! Mayday however is a comple

Some days are just another day. Nothing special about them. Ordinary days when many of us do the usual things. Go to work, walk the dog, do a bit of shopping, maybe do a bit of a puzzle! After all not everyday can be special. However today is a little bit special for us here at Grovely Wooden Puzzles because we have come up with a new idea (well new to us) for boxes for our wooden puzzles. With the help of a very nice designer we have designed a simple wooden box with a push

Today 23rd April is St. George's Day. The Patron Saint of England, St. George was an early Christian Martyr from the 3rd century A.D. The myth about fighting a dragon was added much later and may represent the fight between Good and Evil. Grovely is an English company based deep in the heart of the english countryside, in a converted cow barn in Dorset. From just down the road we have 60 mile panoramic views across the south coast. On a good day we can see from Portsmouth on

It has been a busy week this week for Special Days. Tuesday was the last day of the month aka Pay Day for many (We have spoken about that before!) Wednesday was the First of April- April Fools Day. I hope that you did not get caught out by too many pranks! Today is Maundy Thursday the start of Easter for Christians and commerorates the last Supper and the washing of the feet of the disciples by Jesus. Also every year the reigning monarch distributes silver coins at a special

This weekend the clocks will go forward by one hour to British Summer Time. It gets lighter in the mornings and stays light longer in the evenings. So as a dedicated puzzler does this give you more time to puzzle or less? Maybe more as many people prefer to do their puzzles in natural light rather than under artificial lights as you can sometimes get glare, making the colours and design on each piece difficult to see. Maybe less as other jobs and hobbies call on our time- gar

Apparently today is Happiness Day. It seems that every day now celebrates something. It is also the spring equinox when the daylight and night time hours and nearly identical. Lighter days are coming. Well one thing that makes me happy is a good jigsaw puzzle with an interesting and engaging picture, 1000 pieces or 500, and the time to do it! At Grovely puzzles we make lots of different styles and types of puzzles, Photographs, Artist Puzzles even a bit of AI and some cartoon

Patron Saint of Ireland and all things Irish, St Patrick was Born in Roman Britain and was a Christian Missionary and Bishop. He is also known as "The Apostle of Ireland. Irish Marauder Niall of the Nine Hostages took the boy from his family estate and sold him as a slave to the druid landowner Meliuc in County Antrim. A few Random Facts or Myths. The first St. Patrick’s Day celebration was in Boston in 1737 when Irish immigrants began recognising the sacred day. This was fo

I know you are going to say to me that this is a little bit late! St David's Day, traditionally celebrated on the First of March, celebrates the life and work of St. David. Born around the year 500 he was a renowned preacher and founder of monastic sites, possibly founding the Abbey at Glastonbury. He is reputed to have made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and brought back a stone which sits in St. David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire. We don't make a puzzle of St David but we do ma

Well its the last working day of the month. For many people this is payday. Its also a Friday and for those who may be paid weekly it too is Payday. I started my working life in a Bank. Wednesday and/orThursday was the day that the bigger companys and firms rang in with their order for the wages, which were paid in cash. We would have to put together the required amount, in the specified breakdown, so that the companies could make up the wage packets for handing out to their

I was born in the 1950's and was a child in the 1960's when it was almost compulsory to joining the Brownies for girls and the Cub Scouts for boys. Consequently we always celebrated the birthday of Robert Baden-Powell on 22nd February, the day being known as Thinking Day. As Brownies and Cubs we were encouraged to think of others and help others not just on this day but throughout the year. This year was the 100th Anniversary of Thinking Day and it was commemorated across the