The Cottage Smallholder

Somehow I missed the elderflowers last year. One moment they were nodding down at me but when I went out with a basket the next weekend the flowers had turned brown. Elderflowers need to be white and fresh for cordial, wine or anything else. Once the brown tinge appears on the flowers they have gone Read More »

I’ve always liked pigeons. When I was at university at Hull in the seventies, I lived next door to a pigeon fancier. Northern England is the mecca of pigeon breeding and racing, although there are pigeon fanciers all over the UK. Each evening my neighbour would let his pigeons out for exercise. As one they would Read More »

When I was a teenager, my mother took watercolour lessons from Gilbert Adams . His father was Marcus Adams – the celebrated society photographer. Gilbert trained in his father’s studio and has quite a few well known portraits in The National Portrait Gallery. He also was a successful artist (easel rather than camera). He died Read More »

Sometimes we pick up great bargains at Tesco. These are not in the CFC (Condemned Food Counter- our fun name for the soon to be out of date/ reduced item shelf) rather in baskets or on the shelves. These are deluxe items that are just not selling in our branch. A few months ago we discovered the Read More »

This year we are going all out for rearing tomatoes. Growing them on the sunny wall in front of the cottage and in the greenhouse. We are nurturing fifty plants and if all goes well we’d love to be able to bottle some fruit for use during the winter months. Danny is a tomato as Read More »

Next month I will be celebrating the challenge of not buying flowers for two and a half years. Apart from saving approximately £500 a year, this challenge has forced me to overhaul the herbaceous borders and become much more inventive with the flowers that grow in our garden. The arrangements are surprisingly soft compared to Read More »

I woke early, with a semi conscious sense that something special was happening today. Apart from being a Bank Holiday Monday we were going to meet Caroline and husband Kevin to visit our new leghorn chicks for the very first time. These chicks are being raised by Rusty, one of C’s hens. Rusty is a Read More »

Danny found some rice noodles on the condemned food counter at Tesco and we decided to try making a stir fry with some of the leftover St Clements chicken and gravy. This was really quick and easy to make and quite delicious. Packed with lots of subtle, summery flavours, the sweet Romano peppers balancing the Read More »

The main herbaceous borders are planted in a haphazard cottage style. The borders either side of the bower are about 10 feet deep. Many of the new plants come from the secret garden stand . At three for just £1.00 they are a bargain as they are always good strong plants. This past couple of Read More »

I think that a really good roast chicken with all the trimmings is my favourite Sunday roast. Last weekend I decided to firm up the idea that we had for St Clement’s chicken – stuffing the bird with oranges and lemons. It was delicious. Delicate, fragrant, summery and so easy. And it tasted wonderful – Read More »