The Larder. Home to our fridge freezer
There is a small larder in the cottage kitchen. It’s one of the rooms that I particularly liked when I looked round for the first time. Colin, the seller, was astonished and explained that if he had stayed it would have gone. They had plans to knock down walls, create more foot space in the kitchen. Thank goodness they moved away. The larder is the old fashioned kind. A real cold room. Built on the north east corner of the cottage it’s always cool as there is an airflow beneath the floor. It’s only five feet square but holds...
read moreKatey’s Rosehip Syrup recipe
All my life I’ve loved wading through fallen leaves. At their best they have settled in frothy, tempting drifts on dull pavements. Crisp, dry, and waiting to be ruffled by any passer by. Just remembering the swish and crunch gives me goose bumps. To get the best effect, keep your feet close to the ground and use a skiing motion. This has to be a solitary activity, unless you are under six. As a child this delight and a daily spoonful of rosehip syrup heralded the start of winter. At home we queued up, in order of age, as my mother doled...
read moreThe Dentist
Cleaning my teeth this morning I realised, with a sickening chill, that in under a month I will be visiting the dentist. Despite being frightened, I have gone every three months for the past two years. In the happier, dentist free days of past, I’d visit every seven or eight years. Just for a polish. Occasionally something went wrong and I’d rub on oil of cloves and go to bed very early, hoping for a miracle. But soon even a large slug of brandy wouldn’t dull the pain and I’d dial the dreaded number to book an emergency...
read moreItalian sweet chestnut liqueur recipe
We make a wide range of fruit liqueurs every year but have never made a nut one. I was delighted to find this recipe for Italian sweet chestnut liqueur when I was nosing about on the Internet last week. The promise of this had Danny sitting, knife and chestnut in hand, for a good hour and a half last night. Shelling chestnuts is a bore. It’s fiddly. It’s very frustrating if you have bought a batch with a few bad ones as you can’t tell the state of the kernel within from the external appearance of the nut. But if you can tempt...
read moreGuest Spot: Wood by Jane Greppi
If you look in our garden, you will see wood. Lots of it. When we had an open fire, nobody ever thought about giving us wood. Then we replaced it with a wood-burning stove. Something about that name seemed to prompt everyone we met. “You’ve got a wood-burning stove?” they’d enthuse. “Do you want some wood?” People everywhere seemed to be felling trees, and, it seemed, felling them with the sole intention of supplying fuel for our stove. We were given three former trees in as many months. When we were offered...
read morePlanting broad beans in November
This morning John Coe arrived to mow the lawn, clutching an old yellowing ice cream carton. He explained that he was going to set the seeds for the broad beans. My face must have been pretty blank, so he rattled the box temptingly before he kicked of his boots and sat down for coffee. He picked up his cup and described how he always sets his broad beans in November, on or around firework night. He went on to say that years ago an old boy had bothered to stop by his gate and give him this tip. Apparently the plants are far less likely to get...
read moreChristmas Pudding Recipe
Everyone wants to make the perfect Christmas pudding. The pressure is on from November 1st. Even if you make yours then, you are bound to hear of someone’s cousin’s friend who makes the pudding to die for, just after Easter. Don’t worry. We have the recipe for a perfect pud. We’ve made this the week before Christmas and it still tasted great. It is better if it has a few weeks to mature. Our recipe was initially inspired by Myrtle Allen’s recipe from The Ballymaloe Cookbook and we have tweaked it for the last...
read moreThe first lawnmower
When I arrived at the cottage I bought various essentials from the vendors. These included a gorgeous Mountfield lawn mower. Not a ride on affair but the punchy, self propelled, elbows out Mountfield Emperor. The previous owner had it parked on the lawn at a natty angle. I was seduced in an instant. The water table is high here. Within a few days the grass was shaggy. I had moved in with my mother on tow. She looked up from her breakfast and suggested that it could do with a trim. Desperate to show off my new acquisition, I sauntered out to...
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