Glimpes of Autumn at The Cottage.

I love this time of year, all the warm colours & a crisp feel to the air in the early morning's. I do love to walk into the garden early in the misty morning & just take in all the beauty that is around us. Our Old English Walnut tree has lost all it's leaves now & stand's tall in all it's bare beauty with squirrels running up & down it's branches. They are such fun to watch carrying on with their busy little lives.

 

A little rabbit hiding something in the ground.

Our garden is full of rabbits & squirrels this time of year hiding all the nuts from our tree's.

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Where I write.

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I love small old bibles & have them tucked away in the bureau.

The larger one on top of the bureau was sold in Horncastle our nearest small town & dates from 1838.

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Beautiful handwriting.

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Fresh wholemeal bread for tea just out of the oven.

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Gourds & wax corn sitting on Grandad's dresser.

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The mantle piece in the parlour with small touches of Autumn.

I found the little Georgian cup at an Antique shop in our small market town.

They have a big outside yard & a lot of items are 50p.

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This is the back of our garden with hazelnut tree & a small gate which leads to the side grave yard of the church.

It is such a pretty area with so much history.

There is a small pine spinney there were rooks nest.

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Our hydrangea's are late this year, I am watching them to see when they are ready for drying.

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The roses are still blooming, we have so many old varieties in our garden & I have planted some new one's. Oh I do love roses, the old one's smell so beautiful.

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We are overflowing with apples this year, this tree has done so well.

Luckily I have a small cook book with just apple recipes.

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I made a cinnamon apple pudding this week, it feels so good to use your own produce.

It is a simple recipe just sliced apples, sugar & cinnamon then topped with a sponge mixture which is 4 ozs self raising flour, 4 ozs of butter, 4 ozs of sugar & 2 eggs, a little milk if needed.

Bake for around 45 minutes at a medium heat.

We had this with custard as Kitty loves custard.

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Apple slices for tea.

I bought the little apple recipe book when we went to Woolsthorpe Manor last year which was Issac Newton's birthplace & home.

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Apple slices with a lemon glaze.

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I found some check fabric the other week the same as the other two curtains in the sitting room.

We had the fabric in our old house for the hall window so I had cut them in half when we moved to the cottage to make curtains for two windows.

I was so pleased to have found the same fabric & this week made curtains for the long window by the hearth. It gives that corner a much warmer feel.

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I finished reading all the Nella Last book's & found them truly wonderful, I got a kindred spirit feeling from them, in so many places in the book I felt we were so much alike.

My new book to read is The Garden Cottage Diaries 'My Year in the Eighteenth Century' which is full of wonderful photo's.

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The book is by Fiona J Houston.

For a full year she took herself back to the 1790's lifestyle of her rural ancestors.

She wore home made clothes, learned crafts, ate from her garden & cooked on a fire.

This book is full of history, folklore & practical tips.

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I am really enjoying this book, it has some simple recipes in it too.

When this book arrived Kitty could not put it down, she was fascinated with the photo's.

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Thank you dear friends for all your beautiful comments.

 

Fondly Michelle

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Harvest Time

Last Sunday we had our Harvest celebrations at our little church. All Saints Church opens for a service every eight weeks, we have so many small churches in our area so they take it in turn to hold a service. I do wish ours opened more as we have such a special time there & it brings the village together.
The twins made Harvest boxes filled with produce from our garden. They planted the beetroot & tomatoes & were so proud of their boxes.

 

We have a wonderful service involving the children which is such fun.

Once the service is over we all go down to our village hall for a Harvest meal.

I made an Eve's pudding to bring, another apple dish.

The meal was beautiful & everyone brings something.

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Front side of All Saints Church.

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This week I made the apron I mentioned.

I did buy the pattern a while ago but it took me a while to find some fabric I liked.

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I made apron E but it ended up too big, so I decided to remove the ties at the back & add two hooks & eyes.

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I do love how it turned out & will make it again but next time I will adjust the pattern size.

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The weather has been beautiful all week so we went for a walk around our local fields on Friday.

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Over the road & down the lane to a field full of potatoes ready to be harvested.

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They burn the tops & then get the machinery in to dig up the potatoes.

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We have two lovely little streams near us, both lead to our local market town when they become rivers.

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On top of the fields, the girls think they are on top of the world here.

We feel so blessed to live here & have such beauty around us.

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Blowing dandelion's in the wind.

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Looking back over the fields to our small village.

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Our local farmers haystack, the girls look so small.

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Our local farmers pond, such a beautiful place to spend time at & a lot of wildlife around.

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This is traditional English coppicing.

They cut the trees & bushes & lay them over to one side, new growth comes & makes a beautiful country hedge.

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Our friend's thatched cottage just before we arrive back home, dating to pre 1600.

It is said that Guy Fawkes stayed the night here on the way to London to blow up the houses of parliament in 1605.

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I made some savoury pinwheels for tea on Saturday.

Dene & Ellie make these often.

These one's are filled with cheese & ham & cheese & tomato.

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These are a simple & quick recipe to do.

Just roll out some puff pastry in to two long rectangles then spread filling over the top & roll then cut in to 1 inches pieces.

Cook for around 10 ~ 15 minutes.

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Dene & Ellie made these at Christmas with turkey & cranberry sauce.

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Thank you to all my readers for all their beautiful comments, I am really enjoying making new friends.

Fondly Michelle