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

 

 

 

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.
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                                             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.
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                                      Mary chatting away to a lady wearing a 1940's outfit.
                                           This was inside the flower & vegetable garden.
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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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