Cozy February Days & A Day in Lincoln.

With snow on the ground we have just enjoyed being at home this past week. 
There has been a lot of baking, knitting & reading going on.
We have been discussing all that we are going to plant this year in the vegetable garden, a strawberry bed is something we would love to add.
Flowers are popping their little heads up all over the garden, you can see the garden coming back to life.
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Sweet Snowdrops from the garden.
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The postman brought me a couple of lovely parcels, one with three 1940's Woman's Weekly magazines.

They are full of knitting, stories & baking, so many ideas & inspiration.

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The second parcel was a huge batch of early 1950's Stitchcraft magazines.

So many lovely cardigans to knit & some pretty things for the twins too plus a few recipes.

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Seed Cake ~ Miss Marple's favourite cake.

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I have been wanting to bake seed cake for quite a while, so at the weekend I made one for Saturday tea.

It was a simple cake to bake, it turned out very soft with a mild caraway flavour.

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Seed Cake Recipe.

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Cream together 4 ozs of margarine with 4 ozs of sugar.

Add two beaten eggs a little bit at a time beating all the time.

Stir in 6 ozs of self raising flour, 1 full teaspoon of caraway seeds, 1 oz of mixed peel & one tablespoon of tepid water.

Spoon into a lined 7 inch cake tin, sprinkle sugar on top & bake for one hour.

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Boiled fruit cake made using dates & prunes. 

This is a cake out of Ruth Mott's cook book that I have changed slightly from sultanas to dates & prunes. I still make it the same as Ruth did but it is nice with the different dried fruit for a change.

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My first vintage tea cosy.

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 I have only crocheted granny squares before so I bought a little book on crocheting & worked out how to make leaves & flowers using the pattern.

Kitty chose the flower tea cosy pattern, now I am on a cherry one that Mary has chosen, they are both from 1940's patterns.

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It has been nice to make some smaller items & fun for the girls to look through the vintage patterns we have.

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Stone ground bread rising.

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All ready for tea.

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Dene & Ellie came to visit us on Sunday & spent the night. So on Monday we all took the girls to The Museum of Lincolnshire Life in Lincoln.

It was cold at first then the sun came out & it was a beautiful day.

It was lovely to be outside after a cold week inside.

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The museum takes you through many era's of life in Lincolnshire which is a farming county.

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Lovely old shelves in the Victorian kitchen next to the range.

The girls found it fun to find so many items that we have at home.

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Beautiful sunlight.

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I love these old  wagons used for harvesting wheat.

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The old co op shop.

Old packaging has such pretty muted colours.

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The view at the top of Steep Hill in Lincoln.

This is called the cathedral quarter.

All the shops and tea rooms are so pretty.

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Half way down Steep Hill, it is very steep.

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Time for afternoon tea at Bunty's Tearooms.

They use vintage china & pretty old tablecloths.

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Can you see how steep the pavement is outside the tearoom.

We all had a lovely day, it was so nice to get out with the sun shining.

After our afternoon tea we went to a few vintage shops, I found a sweet old knitting bag with wooden handles & Ellie found a beautiful vintage pearl necklace.

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It is back to being cold & damp now in our small part of the world, we were truly blessed on Monday with the weather.

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Thank you dear readers for all your kind words,

 I love hearing from you all & about your lives.

Fondly Michelle

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Early February

Rooks are back in the rookery at the end of our cottage garden.

We have a lovely little spinney of fir trees where they nest each year, I love the noise & business of the birds making their nests.

They are such a chatty bunch, it is almost like they are having a good gossip while doing their work.

The garden is slowly coming back to life, the little blue tits are hopping about giving much amusement to George through the window.

One little animal has disappeared from the garden, all the squirrels must be nestled down somewhere warm.

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Ginger Snap Biscuits to take with us to a friend for afternoon tea.

Kitty & I had a lovely morning making them, she does like to bake.

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These are the girls favourite biscuits.

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George wanting to come with us shopping.

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Some fabric for patchwork.

I am working on some little Easter gifts for the twins.

We have bought the girls their first little set of knitting needles, some pretty rainbow wool & a learn to knit Ladybird book so I am making little knitting bags for them.

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Tomato Relish.

I made the relish that Rhonda made on Down to Earth , the recipe was simple to make & smelt wonderful.

Instead of the curry powder & chilli I added paprika & mustard powder, the little ones do not like strong flavours. This way we will use it instead of Tomato Sauce, it has so much less sugar.

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Six lovely jars for the pantry shelves.

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Making a birthday card for someone special.

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The pans in there new home.

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The girls love making & decorating cakes.

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Making Date Bread.

This is just a variation to the Tea Bread  recipe but with all dates.

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Studying The Diary of an Edwardian Lady for home school.

The month of January.

Kitty painting Blue Tits & Great Tits.

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Tuesday was a beautiful crisp day.

We took a short walk around the church yard, it was so sunny & warm on the face.

These are the graves that back on to our garden. They are very old graves so not visited which makes it a wonderful place for wildlife, we can often hear the pheasants calling.

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The sun was so beautiful.

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Flowers appearing, there are so many signs that Spring is on it's way.

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Snowdrops on the edge of the church yard.

The church & our garden are full of them.

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This is the old vicarage next to the church which you can see peeping out from behind the tall fir tree.

I do feel a little like Miss Marple some days with our garden hedge next to the church & the Vicarage next door.

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Another pretty Spring flower.

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The first crocus we have seen.

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An old cast drain pipe added t the church in 1876

The church has so many beautiful features.

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The side gate from the church in to the old vicarage.

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This is the side door to the church which faces our cottage.

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More early flowers.

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Catkins in our garden.

They are so pretty with a silvery sheen.

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Some of the hens enjoying the sunny day.

They have started laying a couple more eggs a day, sunshine is a wonderful thing.

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The girls with their finished bow scarves.

I made myself one in a lovely teal colour which was slightly larger than the pattern. The pattern came up small around the neck so I made another navy blue one.

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Victoria Sponge Cake for tea.

A family favourite.

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Thank you dear readers for all your lovely comments.

I really enjoy reading them & hearing from you.

Fondly Michelle

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Early Flowers & a Few Finds

The garden is starting to be awakened here at the cottage, the earth no longer seems asleep & young shoots are pushing their way through the hard ground. Winter has been kind to us so far & the first flowers are starting to bloom. Tiny little delicate flowers, white & pure like snow. 

All along our garden hedge next to the church the snowdrops hang their pure little heads, daring the damp, cold, wintery weather. They bring such joy to watch them flower in the cold days of late Winter. This little flower is the first sign that Spring will soon be upon us & it will not be long before we hear the birds singing & the garden will be an abundance of tulips, hyacinths, daffodils & crocus's.

I love watching the garden come back to life after it's long sleep with the promise of all the good things our Mother earth gives to us.

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A close up of the Early Snowflakes.

I do love these delicate little flowers, they always look like fairy skirts to me.

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We found this lovely set of antique copper pans in a antique centre not far away. They need a polish & then I think I will add more hooks to the scullery shelves to hang them.

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A Georgian miniature I bought with some Christmas money from my parent's.

I saw her before Christmas & fell in love with her painted blue bonnet, so we popped back to the Antique Centre near us after Christmas.

Mary thinks she needs a husband so we are on the hunt for one for her.

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Snowdrops appearing in the garden.

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The rhubarb is popping up it's head,

I can't wait to pick the first stems of the year.

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Snow is in the air.

The old Walnut tree stands stark against the wintery sky.

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Butterfly cakes with home made apple & blackcurrant jam for Saturday tea.

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& chocolate cake.

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I love to collect vintage recipe booklet & have a whole drawer full of them.

Kitty & I chose a cherry cake recipe from a 1930's Brown & Polson recipe booklet & spent Sunday afternoon baking.

The recipe called for an ingredient called raisley powder which I have never heard of before & would love to hear if anyone has heard of it.

At the back of the book there is an advert for Raisley that calls it a raising powder so I used baking powder.

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All ready for Sunday tea & it was very nice, very similar to a Madeira Cake.

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Olde Fashioned Pumpkin Preserves.

I had a small pumpkin stored away in our pantry so when Faye from The Blessed Hearth made some pumpkin preserves I thought that is what the little pumpkin was waiting for.

I replaced the ginger with cinnamon & halved the recipe as the pumpkin was only little. Next year I will make a big batch.

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We found these DVDs in a charity shop in our small town.

We loved the early River Cottage programmes when they were all filmed in the small cottage in Dorset.

I think my eldest Son might be borrowing these.

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This is where you will find sweet George when I am knitting.

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A visit to the wool shop.

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Some finds from our lovely second hand book shop.

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The cottage book is full of inspiration with old cottages all over England.

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So many idea's

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Just settling down now for an evening of knitting & a cuddle from George.

Thank you my dear readers for all your kind words, they all are read & appreciated.

Fondly Michelle

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Early Flowers at the Cottage