A Week of Special Days

Spring has been showing its pretty face here in our small English village.

Little green shoots are popping up all over the garden bringing hopes of warm days full of sunshine.

All the fields around us are either filled with wheat or ploughed ready for this years sowing. 

Soon the two grass meadows next to our garden will be busy with Spring lambs & their mothers.

Our hazel trees are so pretty with their catkins all golden in the first real sunshine of the year.

Hazel nuts are said to be the nuts of knowledge, wisdom & inspiration.

This I read in The Country Calender by Flora Thompson.

~

The sacred hazel's bloom is shed,

The nuts of knowledge harvested.

~

A Country Calender & other writings was a lovely book about the changing seasons which included the book Heatherly about Flora's {Laura's'} life after she left Candleford.

~

This past week has been filled with some special celebrations, knitting, baking, reading & special family times. Soon those days inside will become days outside, filled with planting & digging.

The book I am reading now is Betty's Wartime Diary 1939 ~ 1945.

The name Betty drew me to this book as it was my grandmother's name, she was such a special lady who has inspired my life so much.

Betty lived in Norfolk & had a wonderful cat called Albert that she adored.

~

Wartime Chocolate Pudding.

~

We watched the Wartime Kitchen Garden last week after Melanie from Cosy Living told me it was available again.

After watching Ruth Mott making this wartime pudding I thought I would make it, we do love a good old fashioned steamed pudding.

~

This recipe is low in sugar, the carrot replaces some of the sweetness.

Recipe from my Wartime Kitchen Garden book.

~

The finished pudding with custard.

~

I was a little nervous at how it would go down with the children, I should not have been.

It all went, with calls for can you make it again Mum please.

~

I made the seed cake again this time with lemon zest in the cake mixture.

Then I drizzled it with a glaze made with lemon juice.

We preferred it with the glaze.

Thank you Deborah from A garden in the Shire for your lovely memory of seed cake & telling me about the icing. I didn't have any orange water in like Deborah remembered but had some lemons left from Pancake Day.

~

A few treats for a family Valentines Day.

~

The twins made small heart shaped chocolates with fudge inside.

~

A little Valentines Day tea.

The girls made little decorated hearts for a lovely table decoration.

~

Mary's tea cosy.

~

Bless her she was so excited when this one was finished, it makes a cheery note to the kitchen table.

~

Wholemeal Cherry Cake.

~

I had the last of the beautiful ground flour from our trip to Lode Mill to use by the end of this month so made a cherry cake.

I always use white flour for this cake but after using wholemeal flour this is the way I will always make it.

It was so moist with a lovely flavour.

~

Another church family fun day, this one was for Shrove Tuesday.

Daisy & Mary decorating pancakes.

~

The children made their own pancake batter.

~

Kitty loves pancakes.

She enjoyed orange juice & sugar on hers.

~

Making some pretty masks using ribbons, glitter & jewels.

~

Kitty wearing the mask Daisy made.

~

A fun pancake game.

~

It is just around the corner, Spring time & warm sunshine.

We popped to our little garden centre & got a few supplies for the garden.

It is such fun to choose with the children what we will grow in the garden this year.

We still need to get some beetroot & tomato seeds & when it is warmer strawberry plants for our new bed.

I can't wait to get outside.

~

Thank you dear readers for all your lovely comments & kind words.

Fondly Michelle

~

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.
~

Sweet Snowdrops from the garden.
~

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.

~

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.

~

Seed Cake ~ Miss Marple's favourite cake.

~

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.

~

Seed Cake Recipe.

~

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.

~

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.

~

My first vintage tea cosy.

~

 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.

~

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

~

Stone ground bread rising.

~

All ready for tea.

~

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.

~

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

~

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.

~

Beautiful sunlight.

~

I love these old  wagons used for harvesting wheat.

~

The old co op shop.

Old packaging has such pretty muted colours.

~

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.

~

Half way down Steep Hill, it is very steep.

~

Time for afternoon tea at Bunty's Tearooms.

They use vintage china & pretty old tablecloths.

~

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.

~

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

~

Thank you dear readers for all your kind words,

 I love hearing from you all & about your lives.

Fondly Michelle

~

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.

~

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.

~

These are the girls favourite biscuits.

~

George wanting to come with us shopping.

~

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.

~

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.

~

Six lovely jars for the pantry shelves.

~

Making a birthday card for someone special.

~

The pans in there new home.

~

The girls love making & decorating cakes.

~

Making Date Bread.

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

~

Studying The Diary of an Edwardian Lady for home school.

The month of January.

Kitty painting Blue Tits & Great Tits.

~

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.

~

The sun was so beautiful.

~

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

~

Snowdrops on the edge of the church yard.

The church & our garden are full of them.

~

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.

~

Another pretty Spring flower.

~

The first crocus we have seen.

~

An old cast drain pipe added t the church in 1876

The church has so many beautiful features.

~

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

~

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

~

More early flowers.

~

Catkins in our garden.

They are so pretty with a silvery sheen.

~

Some of the hens enjoying the sunny day.

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

~

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.

~

Victoria Sponge Cake for tea.

A family favourite.

~

Thank you dear readers for all your lovely comments.

I really enjoy reading them & hearing from you.

Fondly Michelle

~