A Week Full of Blessings.

I would like you all to meet George our little Kitten.

He is full of fun & keeps everyone on their toes.

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Little George is just eight weeks old.

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His name came from a vintage book that the girls have called Naughty George.

I do hope we don't have to use the naughty word though!

The twins love the Blackberry Farm series from the 40's & 50's.

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It was our eldest daughter Amy's 21st birthday this week.

She came & spent a beautiful day with us & we had a birthday tea.

Here are a few of the things I made for tea.

Strawberry & Vanilla cake, butterfly cakes, fairy cakes & cheese straws.

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The cheese straws are one of the twins favourite tea time treats.

 

Cheese Straws.

 

4 ozs self raising flour

pinch of salt

Cayenne pepper or Mustard powder

The twins only like mild foods so I use the mustard powder.

2 ozs margarine

3 ozs grated strong cheddar cheese

1 egg beaten

 

Rub the fat in to all the dry ingredients, then add the grated cheese & combine with a beaten egg.

Use your hands to combine like making pastry.

Roll out on a floured board & cut in to preferred shape, at Christmas we use little cutters.

Bake 400f for about 10 minutes.

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We had a trip to Anglesey Abbey on the Sunday after we went to Wimpole Hall.

This is another Estate owned now by the National Trust.

It has beautiful park land, a working water mill & house.

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A beautiful old gate in the estate.

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Lode Mill.

This is a lovely working water mill in the grounds.

We bought some flour that had just been ground.

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The miller bagging up our flour.

I bought a little recipe book from the mill, I can't wait to use our lovely fresh flour.

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Walls inside the mill.

Simple bunches of wheat.

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Walking though parkland towards the Abbey.

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Walking up the drive to Anglesey Abbey.

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The parlour.

This room had wonderful rich panelling all the way round it.

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The flower room.

They get all the flowers ready here for arranging.

The estate grows so many flowers, it was lovely seeing how they use them in the displays throughout the house.

The parkland was beautiful, the children learn so much from these days out with out even knowing they are learning.

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This is a fruit cake recipe I use but this time instead of fruit I added chocolate chips in the round cake & dried cut dates in the loaf cake.

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Corgi Cottage Soup from Tasha Tudor's cookbook.

This was the first time I have made this soup & everyone liked it.

Perfect with fresh bread.

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George had spotted a butterfly that had flown in, he does remind me of Tom Kitten.

 Perhaps we will have to stuff newspaper in the old range in the hall, we have a hole that goes right to the chimney pot!

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Little George has been sleeping on my lap while I have been writing this post, he loves to be loved & is such a funny little thing.

Enjoy your day.

Fondly Michelle

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Special Day's.

                                       This past week we had a very special day,
                                               our eldest son graduated from
                                                         Lincoln University.

                               Lincoln is a beautiful city with lovely old buildings,
                                           the cathedral is a very special place.
                 This is the area outside the cathedral with it's Georgian Terrace.
                                                                          ~                                         

 

Dene & Ellie walking through the arch

to the cathedral

Up the hill is the oldest part of Lincoln,

it feels like you are stepping back in time.

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Inside the cathedral waiting for the service to start.

Such beautiful stained glass windows.

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Dene collecting his Master of Computer Science.

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A happy boy.

I can't believe where those years have gone,

it doesn't seem that long ago when he was a little boy.

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Myself, Dene & Ellie in the castle grounds.

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A proud Dad with Dene.

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                                                       Afterwards in the castle grounds.
                                       This was a very special day & one we will treasure.
                                                              We are so proud of him.
                                                                                  ~

                                         

                                             Last weekend we went to a 1940's weekend at 
                                                      Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire.
                                          Wimpole is a beautiful stately home, farm & estate 
                                               owned & preserved by the National Trust.
                                             We brought a picnic & had a wonderful day.
                                                                                ~
                                      Mary chatting away to a lady wearing a 1940's outfit.
                                           This was inside the flower & vegetable garden.
                                                                                ~
                                           

A beautiful display of pumpkins

& gourds in the Victorian greenhouse.

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Simple white pumpkins.

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Kitty admiring the flowers.

She enjoys smelling so many of them,

quite often we will see a head disappearing in to flower beds.

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They have a large amount of apple trees at Wimpole,

so many of them have been trained 

to fan the old Georgian walls.

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The flower garden, so many beautiful blooms.

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Climbing pumpkins.

Such a pretty idea for our garden next year.

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The twins playing in the orchard.

There were so many different varieties of apples 

& plums.

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Daisy smelling the beautiful old roses.

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A beautiful vintage car & caravan.

The owner said he could not find a caravan 

to go with his car so he made this one.

It was so pretty inside.

I could imagine it as a wonderful little house

for the twins in the garden.

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A traditional Olde English Punch & Judy Show.

These date back to 1640 but this one had a 

2nd world War twist.

Sidney, Mary & Kitty had such fun watching it.

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The home guard meeting Winston Churchill at the Coach House

& stables building.

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Home Farm.

This farm is part of the Wimpole Estate,

 it has some wonderful old thatched barns.

Kitty & Mary are dressed up as milk maids 

& are playing in the old dairy which is 200 years old.

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We were watching a 1940's fashion show,

can you see the couple all dressed up for the day.

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Mary brushing a donkey, she did enjoy it.

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The grand front of Wimpole Hall.

The house was used for filming a Colin Firth film called Easy Vertue not so long ago.

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Such a pretty bureau.

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They had set the house out with glimpses

of the 1940's.

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This is the library, there were so many books in here.

This room & the dinning room were used in filming.

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A beautiful little corner of the study complete

with 40's radio & knitting.

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They had a beautiful chapel inside

Wimpole Hall.

It was all laid out ready for the Harvest festival.

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This was the butler's room & one of the last rooms

to view.

We had such a wonderful day & the weather was glorious.

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 I thought some of my beautiful readers would like my

recipe for Tea Bread.

I have made this for 24 years now, it was one of the first

recipes I did as a married lady & so easy.

 

Soak in a bowl overnight

12 oz's of dried fruit ~ raisins & sultana's.

1/2 pint of strong cold tea.

4 oz's of soft dark brown sugar.

Last time I made it I chopped up some dried apple rings,

they worked well.

 

In the morning add one egg & 8 oz's self raising flour.

Mix until combined & place in a greased & floured loaf tin.

Bake for one hour at 170 c

I double this recipe most of the time,

they last for a week in a tin & I also freeze them.

Serve with butter.

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We are enjoying our new kitten named George,

he came to live with us on Sunday evening & is adorable.

I will post some photo's of him soon.

 

Fondly Michelle

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The Comfort's of Home

What a lovely few days we have had, the sun has been shining & all in our little corner of the world is happy & contented.

This week has been full of so many beautiful moment's.

I do love being at home just doing simple pleasures like baking, gardening, knitting & just living our simple life.

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 A traditional corn dolly made at harvest time for a sweet heart.

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Glimpses of home.

 

We live in a mud & stud cottage built before 1741, it is a timber framed building with thatched roof & tiles.

This is our hall with original brick flooring.

Some of the timbers are older than the cottage, I never stop looking at the beauty of these old beams.

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A corner of the kitchen.

The brick floors run through the cottage.

They were covered up when we bought the cottage, what a surprise they were.

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Old cast iron range in the hall.

This is one of Bobby's places to lay down, sunshine in the morning & a soft rug.

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Old timber leading in to the kitchen.

Some are still stuffed with Georgian & Victorian newspaper's, I haven't the heart to remove them or the old paint.

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Old lime paint.

With our solid fuel cooker it is a great area for drying flowers & herbs.

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I found a beautiful old cookbook in an antique book shop the other day & baked Fat Rascal's from it. Each recipe gives the history of the food & it said Fat Rascal's were handed out in Yorkshire Inns.
                                                                             ~

 

 

They were enjoyed for Sunday tea.

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A beautiful old book by Louisa May Alcott that I found in the same book shop as the cookery book.

I love old books & love to read them.

I found the Georgian china teacup & saucer in our small market too.

Our town is full of antique shop's, the cup cost an amazing 50p & the cup & saucer £1, how could I not bring them home to add to my other one's.

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Hanging out the laundry this beautiful morning I spotted this butterfly enjoying the sun.

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It stayed so still for me & was still there when I got the wash in.

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This is our scullery with old sink.

We have a very simple kitchen & do most things by hand.

The little window would have been an outside wall many years ago. In the Victorian period they put a little pantry extension on, I am so pleased they did.

The glass & lead in the window is so old, all hand blown & one piece has been signed with initial's & our village's name.

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We found this beautiful old baker's cabinet a long time ago.

At some point someone brought it over the sea from America.

The large square timber in the wall is one end of the huge beam that is above in the inglenook fireplace in the kitchen.

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Apple butter being made.

This is a recipe a dear friend Suze from Maine gave me a few years back & I do it every year with our own apples. It sits all day in the bottom oven cooking so slowly, the smell is wonderful.

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Plenty of jars for the pantry shelves.

Pumpkin & pear butter's are next on our list.

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The pears in the garden are nearly ready for the pear butter.

I am trying to think of another way of preserving them, maybe a spiced jam.

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Dried fruit soaking overnight for tea bread. This time I decided to add some dried apple pieces.

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We are out for a picnic at the weekend to a 1940's event at a National Trust house.

Tea bread is always a favourite to take out with us.

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The Sweet Pea's just keep blooming, such a heavenly smell.

I think next year I will make a large twig frame for them.

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Victoria Sponge Cake for tea. I still have so much of last's year jam so it is a good way of using it up.

The hens are laying so many eggs at the moment, they must know I love to bake.

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This will not last long, it will all go at tea.

I have some of my Grandmother's china & glass plates, one was my Great Grandmother's, we use them all the time & her cake knife.

Treasured memories off her come to my mind when we use them & even though the twins never knew her they talk about her as if she has just popped round for tea.

Grandma was a very talented lady, in her early life she was a milliner to the royal family. She loved to sew clothes & later in life painted.

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I am really enjoying doing this 1940's pattern, I have to finish the neck & then just the sleeves & ties to do. I found some lovely fabric at a local market last week so plan to make a historical apron with it. I have a lovely pattern that I have not used yet, I was waiting for the right fabric. I might have enough left to make the twins matching aprons for Christmas but don't tell.

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As part of home school the girls made pizza for tea.

We have had an abundance of tomatoes this year in the green house, everyone loves these little ones & perfect for pizza.

Green tomatoe chutney will be made in October, we have so many green tomatoes.

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They are so happy when we all sit round the table & tell them how yummy their pizza's were.

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Have a blessed weekend.

Fondly

Michelle