Old Fashioned Living

The month of May has brought blossom to our garden, with cherry, pear & apple tree's we have many pretty shades.

The bluebells are blooming in their loveliness & the little glades around us are full of them in this season.

Baby rabbits are all over the garden nibbling the grass & playing, Spring has really sprung.

Blue Tits, Robins, Wrens & Blackbirds are singing heartily in the garden as I write, we have had a heavy shower of rain & the little birds are hunting for food. Darting in & out of the hedgerows which line our garden on the church side, they are such a joyful site. The rain has brought the blossom showering down like snow in little drifts all over the garden, it such a pretty site when the sun shines after rainfall.

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Pear blossom.

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Picking the first rhubarb of the year to make some puddings.

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Rhubarb crumble, this caused such delight as we all love rhubarb.

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Painting in the garden.

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The girls love to paint & as it was a glorious day we decided to work outside. They do their studies in the morning & then choose an activity to do in the afternoon, it was painting on this day.

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Kitty concentrating.

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They do love to work in water colours as do I.

I brought my jumper outside to do some work on it as they painted.

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Mary making a flower out of the fallen Magnolia petals & some Daisy's.

Simple things are so much enjoyed when you are small. To watch the children playing & enjoying life brings so much joy to my heart.

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The first jam making of the year, the smell of the rhubarb was wonderful.

This recipe I have made for many years, it is adapted from a Rhubarb & Ginger recipe, we omit the ginger as the little one's would not like it even though they love gingerbread.

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All potted up & ready for the pantry shelves.

I love when the fruit starts to come & jam making season begins.

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My new Bleeding Heart with Forget me Nots in the back ground.

I do love cottage garden plants & found this in our little market in the town a couple of miles away from the village.

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Apple blossom.

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Their first knitting lesson.

Such excitement, they are making little blankets for their dolls house.

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I am knitting a jumper for myself in such a lovely shade of green.

Lucy from 1940's Style for You posted this free knitting pattern, she is such a talented lady & does some beautiful knitting from 1930's & 1940's patterns.

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More rhubarb with some frozen blackcurrants for some more puddings.

I made a cherry cake out of a wartime cookery leaflet as well.

While the children do their studies in the morning I bake, it works out well as I am around them.

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It was a lovely cake very much like a Madeira as there was lemon zest in it.

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The recipe.

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George loves to play in the inglenook fireplace, it is so warm in that corner with the cooker going plus there is the kindling basket which makes for hours of fun for him.

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Five O'clock Tea Cakes quickly made for the Sunday tea table.

This recipe came from a 1920's Borwicks Baking Powder book, the recipe called for a quick oven so I presumed that was hot. They turned out well anyway & the plate was soon empty.

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Enjoy this beautiful month of May.

It is my birthday month so I do love it so.

Thank you my dear readers for all your kind words.

Fondly Michelle 

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Cottage Days in the Garden & some Knitting.

The days are lengthening & we are spending beautiful days outside working in our garden.

The old fashioned perennials Delphinium, Foxglove & Hollyhocks are popping up all over the cottage garden & the joyous sound of bird song is all around us.

Forget me nots are in full bloom in the cottage beds & the beloved Bluebell is coming in to flower once again.

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Precious Bluebells.

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Spring flowers in the garden.

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Beautiful Aubrieta, this plant always reminds me of my grandfather, he had lots in his front garden.

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The Magnolia in full bloom.

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An old apple picking ladder in the garden.

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We have been looking for an Easiwork cabinet from the 1920's for a long time, it is the final piece we were after for the scullery & has wonderful storage which we really need.

Andy drove two hours away to pick this one up from Yorkshire & the following day we used a lot of elbow grease to clean her up.

She is wonderful, it is like a kitchen in a cupboard & is ideal for bread making & pastry.

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A wartime Gingerbread recipe using one egg.

We bake & cook from scratch & make the most out of our food budget. It is very pleasing to make frugal meals & realise how much you save.

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George & Bobby in their favourite spot, bless them they do sleep a lot.

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The twins helping with the enlargement of the vegetable garden.

They were picking up the last of the old tree root.

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Bobby enjoying the sunshine.

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Our vegetable garden.

We have been making the vegetable garden a lot bigger this past week.

There has been old tree roots to move & grass to take up. It is great to finally have it the size we want, we have just been here two years & everything takes time.

We would love a wooden greenhouse, maybe in a few years.

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I finished my first long sleeved jumper from a 1940's pattern.

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I used some vintage back buttons to finish it off & now it is tucked away for next Winter.

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A visit to the wool shop in a nearby town.

I bought some lovely 1940's green wool for a new jumper.

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Almond Loaf Cake.

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The two miniature's together in the hall.

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Cheese puffs from Ruth Mott's cookbook & a light fruit cake for Saturday tea.

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This Sunday I used three bags of fruit from the freezer, gooseberries, blackberries & tayberries to make a sponge pudding.

It was lovely warm served with cream.

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We found some vintage Laura Ashley curtains at a local antique shop for a bargain £12.50.

I have taken them up for our bedroom & the remainder I will use to cover two green 1930's Lloyd Loom chairs. This Summer we hope to decorate our bedroom as before moving in we just sanded the floor boards & fixed the walls ready for decorating.

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Ellie turned 21 last weekend, we celebrated with a lovely lunch with her family on Sunday.

Now Ellie & Dene are spending a lovely week in the Lake District, it will be their first visit to Hill Top.

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Thank you dear readers for your lovely comments.

Enjoy this beautiful Spring day.

Fondly Michelle

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I joined The Charm of Home Home Sweet Link Party

Spring Days at the Cottage & Mothering Sunday

This has been a beautiful week at the cottage, a week full of sunshine & all those jobs that need doing after the Winter. 
The tree's although leafless are full with buds just waiting to open. Our magnolia tree is full of large buds, how pretty that looks when it is in full bloom. Hedges around the village are springing to life & the cow parsley is coming back on the sides of the lanes around us. 
March carries all the hope for the year ahead with a lovely fresh smell of all things new in the air.

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Some more sweet delicate flowers found popping up near the old pear tree.

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A little baking for the weekend.

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Hearty soup made with the Sunday chicken bones, we quite often have soup on Mondays. This one is a favourite with vegetables, rice & pasta.

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Banana & Chocolate Chip Muffins.

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I sometimes make these smaller as they last a little longer & the larger size is a little too much for the twins sometimes.

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10 ozs self raising flour

1 tsp baking soda

3 large banana's

4 ozs sugar

1 egg

3 flozs oil

2 flozs milk

Add flour to bowl with baking soda & mix with a fork.

In another bowl mash banana's & add sugar.

Mix oil, egg & milk together then add it to the banana's & sugar.

Pour wet into dry mix & stir gently until combined, do not beat.

Pour in to muffin cases & bake for around 20 minutes at 200 c / 375 f.

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We have wonderfully happy hens, these are a few of them.

There are so many eggs at the moment that we are giving a lot away.

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The mother sheep are in the field just waiting for the babies to be born.

Lambing is due to start on around the 1st of April at the farm over the road.

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Amish Spiced Honey Cookies for the Mothering Sunday church service.

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This is one of our favourite cookie recipes, the children love them.

I have all the Amish Cook recipe books & love them, every recipe I have tried has turned out beautiful.

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George loves Geraniums & sunshine.

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The girls love to bake, on Saturday they made some plain cupcakes from a Mennonite cookbook we have.

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Choosing the one they would like.

These are a lovely soft plain cake & great to fill a tin.

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Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

After our studies in the morning the girls choose what they would like to do in the afternoon.

Painting is one of their favourite things to choose & also crafting.

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I have not picked up an artist brush for fifteen years, there has been plenty of other sorts of paint brushes though. I used to love to paint & did so much of it when I was at art college.

Seeing as I was sitting with the girls I thought I would do a little painting too.

I had such fun painting with them & Kitty even gave me a few flicks of paint to add to my work.

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We had a special service at our little church for Mothering Sunday.

During the service all the children went to the back of the church to make cards & little bunches of flowers for their Mother's.

I put my bunches all in an old jug & have them in the parlour, they are full of Spring.

I received some beautiful handmade cards from the children. more memories for my keepsake chest upstairs.

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I was really spoilt on Mother's Day & received some special gifts.

My wonderful husband gave me a beautiful old miniature of an old gentleman, now my lady is not on her own.

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I hope all the English Mother's that follow me had a beautiful Mothering Sunday. We celebrate it at a different time of the year to the rest of the world, it is always in between Shrove Tuesday & Easter Sunday.

Thank you all for your lovely comments, I love hearing & learning from you all.

Fondly Michelle

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