Winter's Here

Autumn has now lost her bright colours,

bare boughs stand tall against the clear blue November skies.

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This time of year is spent inside the cottage where books, knitting and fires are so tempting.

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The quiet beauty of December awaits us, along with the joy and business of Christmas.

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This is becoming a family favourite.

Ruth Motts boiled fruit cake.

I really recommend her Recipe Book which you can find second hand on line.

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The twins have two new 1930's bow scarves.

I love this vintage pattern and it is quick & easy so I might be making a few more over the Winter months.

They chose the colours to match their Winter coats.

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Mary & Kitty concentrating.

They love doing crafts, here they are making a wind chime & trinket box.

There were some sticky fingers & many beads on the floor.

I love having them at the table with me while I bake.

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Last Sunday afternoon we took a walk over the village farm fields.

The sun was glorious.

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Beautiful sunlight through the trees that line the farm lane.

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The young wheat seedlings have been planted.

The fields look beautiful with a glow of fresh green.

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Getting Sunday tea ready.

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It's lovely what you find antiquing.

Mary has a new puzzle that is full of snow!!

She has been having lots of help from the family & is nearly finished.

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Rocks Cakes.

This is a old recipe that we have used since we were married.

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Put 8 ozs of self raising flour & 3 ozs of white sugar into a bowl.

Then rub in 3 ozs of butter.

To this add 3 ozs of currants or raisins & mixed spice if you wish.

Mix to a very stiff dough with one beaten egg & a drop of milk.

Place heaps of the mixture on to a grease baking tray & bake for 20 minutes at 425of.

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Serve spread with butter & a cup of tea.

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I finally finished the 1930's cardigan I was knitting.

It did take a while especially as I had to redo the sleeves.

I would like to make a bright felt 1940's flower brooch to go on it, I have some lovely patterns to do these.

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Things are starting to look a little Christmasy.

There is always a lot to wrap.

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The twins advent calender's for this December.

I have had these since Easter and was so pleased to find the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady calendar.

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Thank you dear readers for all your kind comments.

I just love this time of year with all the excitement & joy it brings.

Keep warm

Fondly Michelle

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Autumn Mellows into Winter

We have quietly slipped in to November, the misty magical mornings are upon us and beautiful low sunrises and sunsets surround the countryside.

All around the village the fields have fallen silent, leaving freshly ploughed fields with some having their tiny wheat seedlings planted. 

There is a quietness in the thickets and the tall spinney at the end of the garden.  Birds have flown leaving a stillness in the garden.

The grand old Oak tree's in the village are the last to see their leaves fall. While most have lost theirs, the oak stands tall with their covering of deep green. I watch them when I hang the laundry out waiting for signs that they will fall. Once that happens Winter will be truly upon us. The pheasants are back with their high sharp cry a true sign of the year coming to an end.

Life has been busy at the cottage with preserving as much as we can from the garden. The freezer is full with pies and crumbles, dessert cakes made from apples and pears. The pantry shelves are laden now, beauty is all around us.

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Apples have been going in too many different things, all my cook books have been well used finding new idea's.

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Getting ready for Christmas.

I have just finished this Christmas tea cosy, it was a fun knit and brightens the kitchen up on these dark days.

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We have had two birthdays lately, our two eldest Sons.

This is a Cherry and Almond cake baked for Dene's birthday.

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Fresh bread to go with homemade soup.

You can't beat it on these chilly days.

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It has become a tradition to read Pumpkin Moonshine every Halloween.

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Some of the books the postman has brought this month.

They will be well used.

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More ways of using apples.

Our trees have been truly abundant.

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The twins wearing their poppies to remember.

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The chickens have just got a new home.

It is lovely to watch them from the cottage walking up the little ladder.

The are happy hens.

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This is another new recipe given to me from a lady on Instagram.

Cherry and Oat Slice.

We have made it many times since.

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Changing colours in our village.

I love this time of year.

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The last of the gardens produce has been going in to chutney.

Green tomatoes, pears, apples and beetroot.

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Fruit Chutney Recipe.

2 to 3 onions.

3lb of mixed fruit.

1 teaspoon of salt.

1 teaspoon of dry mustard.

1lb of brown sugar.

1 pint of malt vinegar.

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Chop up onion small, then chop fruit. Peel and core the apples or pears and take stones out of plums.

Add everything to a jam pan and boil until mixture goes thick.

Boil roughly for an hour.

When you drag a wooden spoon over bottom of the pan and it separates it is done.

I idea is to boil of the vinegar.

Bottle up and don't eat for about 6 weeks.

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This is the recipe I use every year and it uses up so much fruit, I put green tomatoes in too.

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Cold Tea Cake is one of my favourite cakes.

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I started a new blanket for George, he does love to be cosy.

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This is an upside down pear cake that went in the freezer for Christmas.

The freezer is well stocked mostly with apple goodies.

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Pear Jam.

This is the first year I have made jam with pears and thought it was a nice way of preserving our pears.

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George is always somewhere cosy this time of year.

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Our hens are still laying wonderfully despite the misty mornings and shorter days.

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Beautiful berries on the holly bushes surrounding our cottage.

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Homemade Christmas Puddings.

The twins made their wish when stirring them.

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The colours are stunning this time of year.

Its lovely to walk through the countryside around our village.

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Chocolate Cake made for Harry's birthday.

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These are apple and mincemeat pies that were bound for the freezer for Christmas.

I put a layer of mincemeat in the bottom then layered cinnamon sugared apples over the top and then covered with a crumble mix with pastry stars to finish.

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Christmas is creeping up on us so we had a trip to an antique centre to hunt for vintage items for the twins, they love the out of print Enid Blyton stories.

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One of the pretty stalls at the antique centre.

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This is a pretty thatched cottage on our way to a lovely market town we go to quite often.

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I hope everyone is enjoying these beautiful Autumn colours.

This time of year is so beautiful.

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Fondly Michelle 

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Summer's End

Summer has come to an end once again & the kitchen garden is giving up it's wonderful delights. It is delightful to see how well the marrows, beetroot, tomatoes & potatoes have done.

The days are becoming shorter & have a faded deep glow to them. Hay & wheat is all harvested now & the fields all now have their earth all turned & ready to lay bare all Winter.
There has been an abundance of hedgerow fruits this year & the robins are back in the garden watching you work.
Holly berries are everywhere on our trees that line the front of our garden although at the present they are hard little green berries waiting to ripen into the pretty scarlet colour that we know so well.
The Hazel trees in the lanes & our garden are fruiting well, the squirrels & rabbits are making the most of the fallen nuts.
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Tomatoes from our garden.
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Harvesting beetroot.

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We have an abundance of raspberries so I made some muffins.

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The girls sunflowers have been blooming lovely.

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I made a honey cake from Beatrix Potters Country Cooking Book.

It was a lovely cake, I used honey from our village. We have a man who has bee's & just lives behind the church.

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Molly Cake.

A lovely lady on Instagram made this so I looked it up & used the Waitrose recipe online.

It turned out lovely & uses no fat or eggs.

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A lovely walk last week over the wheat fields, the weather was warm & breezy.

We have never seen cows before in this field, it was lovely to see them.

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The twins enjoying a ride on their scooters along the lane.

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The simple beauty of golden wheat.

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Daisies & wheat.

The wild flowers are beautiful in the fields around us.

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One of the wheat fields halfway through harvesting.

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We spot some blackberries on our way home almost ready for picking.

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Home grown Victoria plums, hedgerow blackberries & home grown raspberries make such a pretty colour for chutney.

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I have never used berries before in chutney. The colour was so pretty & it smelled wonderful when cooking. It is quite a runny chutney, we will see in a month or so when we try some if I will make it again.

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Daisy passed all her GCSE's, we are so proud of her.

She is now going on to study her A levels.

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Over the Summer we have been decorating our bedroom.

There were ten layers of old wallpaper over the beams so it took some work.

The quilt is very precious to me, I made it over a few pregnancies all by hand.

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I thought you would like to see our little 1930's electric cooker, we use this when it is to hot too light the wood fired cooker.

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Victoria Sponge.

I make this using the sponge recipe I have posted before.

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The apples are nearly ready for harvesting.

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The end of our garden is such a magical place.

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Sun shining through our hazelnut tree.

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Fresh eggs.

Thank you ladies.

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The twins enjoying the last week of Summer after we hung the wash out.

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Sweet George.

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Fresh raspberries for the twins breakfast.

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The marrows have done so well this year, I am trying to think of different ways to use them.

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Plum & greengage Crumble.

A few ladies on Facebook & Instagram have asked for the recipe.

This is the crumble recipe I use all the time, sometimes I add a few oz's of oats.

Rub 5 ozs of self raising flour & 3 ozs of butter together.

Then add 3 ozs of sugar, if using oats then mix them in now.

Sprinkle sugar over fruit & then crumble mix.

Bake in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes.

We had it served warm with cream.

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Ruth Mott's boiled fruit cake.

I make this often & would advise anyone to get her book.

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Victoria Plum Jam.

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I do love the sweet taste of this beautiful jam.

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All ready for the pantry shelved.

Both our eldest Son's gave me pretty Cath Kidston jam covers as gifts, they look to pretty on the jars.

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A few readers have asked for a selection of my favourite cookbooks so here they are.

I do have a cupboard full of cookbooks but these are the one's I use all the time, as you can see Ruth's book is in there.

Sorry it has taken me so long.

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I love this time of year when we harvest the fruits of our labour.

It has taken me a while to do this post sorry, the laptop lost it & I had to rewrite it.

Fondly Michelle

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