Enjoying Summer Days

The Summer days here are full & we are all as busy as bee's.
The vegetable patch is doing so very well apart from an abundance of little visitors which we have had to pop up a temporary fence for this Summer & will surround it with a picket fence hopefully over the Winter months. The rabbits are beautiful to watch playing in the garden but not watching them eating the leaves of your lovely vegetables.
I am a little late doing a new post, Summer is such a busy time & there is not a lot of time for writing.
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To celebrate Father's Day this year we took a picnic to Tattershall Castle, a National Trust property.

This is a lovely 15th century red brick castle set  in the Lincolnshire Countryside.

The castle was built between 1434 & 1447, you can picnic inside the moat where they have lawn toys for the children to enjoy.

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This is the end of a row of cottages as you walk up to the castle.

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One of the fireplaces in the castle.

This one is on the ground floor.

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While the boys climbed the stairs up to the top of the castle {it has 6 floors of stone steps}, the girls stayed on the ground floor & did some spinning.

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The lady was so good with them & they brought a piece of wool that they spun home.

She taught them how to card their wool too.

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Walking out of the castle over the moat to the gate house were they have a small shop.

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Kitty in her pearls making some fairy cakes for Father's Day tea.

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The first Tomatoes of the year.
They tasted beautiful in a fresh Couscous salad.

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The rhubarb is coming to an end now in the garden, we shall miss it but then enjoy the first of next year.

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The girls working in the scrap books, they are writing about their day at Tattershall Castle.

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Daisy all ready to go to her Prom.

She had a lovely evening with her friends.

She turned sweet 16 last week, it does not seem that long ago since she was a toddler, busy & in to everything.

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Mary had an appointment to see the eye doctor at our local hospital. She needs glasses & here are the pretty red one's she chose. She is getting on with them so well, Kitty would have liked some too.

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Cherry & Chocolate Brownies for our Edwardian picnic on Saturday.

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We went to an Edwardian Fayre at Belton House.

They used to hold fayre's during the first world war to raise funds for the troops.

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Soldiers on horseback dressed in first world war uniforms.

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Mary & Kitty enjoying the fun & sunshine.

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Games on the green in front of the house.

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The more cottagey back of Belton House.

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The Lavender has now bloomed since our visit two weeks ago.

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There was a stall selling plants & flowers.

We bought these little Alpine Strawberries for 50p each.

They give little strawberries that are strong in flavour.

The plants will be a  sweet addition to our Strawberry bed.

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Mary skipping on the green.

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Kitty really enjoyed the entertainment.

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Before we left we went to the second hand bookshop run by The National Trust & came home with a bag full of 50p & £1 books.

More recipes & reading.

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I wish everyone a wonderful Summer, I love to read your comments & hear what you have been doing.

Fondly Michelle

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Linked with http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.co.uk/

http://theenchantingrose.blogspot.co.uk/

Country Days in May

I always think May is the loveliest of all months.

Here at the cottage all those beautiful May flowers are in full bloom with all their perfume, the beautiful Lilac scents the garden.

We have many bushes of white & lilac.

Butterflies have gathered & this time of year are laying their eggs.

There is much to do outside, the sunflowers, marrow & bean seeds that the twins have planted are now popping their little heads out of the soil in the greenhouse.

Sweetcorn is ready to be planted & the tomatoes are growing well.

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The cottage garden is an abundance of blue's at the moment.

Bluebells & sweet Forget me Nots.

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A light fruit cake from a wartime leaflet.

This recipe used very little sugar.

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Coconut Buns for Saturday tea.

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We had a lovely few days when Andy's parents visited from Scotland.

I made a wartime dinner of potato & cheese pie.

This was found in a new wartime leaflet that I found a month ago.

We were given a huge bag of potatoes by the local farmer so this was an ideal recipe to try. lots of mash potato.

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Mash some potatoes, mix grated cheese, salt & pepper in to it.

Then layer potato, slices of tomato, potato again then top with more grated cheese.

I did use more cheese than the recipe called for with it being a wartime recipe.

It was very tasty, Kitty who is not a great meat eater loved it so I will be making it again.

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Planting cress .

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They chose some antique tea cups to sow them in.

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The girls cress in egg sandwiches for Saturday tea.

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I received some lovely old magazine's from the 1930's & 1940's in the post, also a new knitting book.

The knitting book is full of vintage patterns & some useful information on using vintage patterns.

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More rhubarb & more jam.

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Another batch ready for the pantry.

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Another tea cosy, this time I chose Spring colours from some left over wool.

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A quick chocolate cake for tea.

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An afternoon spent making pretty dresses.

They love cutting & glueing.

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A little early morning visitor in the rhubarb patch.

The baby rabbits are so sweet but they do like the beetroot seedlings, so Andy has been making arches from chicken wire to protect them.

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Danny turned fourteen on the 12th of May.

He chose a chocolate cake with butter icing & sweets on top.

We had a lovely evening celebrating with family.

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Trying out different ways of using my basic bread dough.

I used cinnamon, sugar & butter to make a cinnamon swirl loaf, we toasted it for Sunday tea.

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Freshly cut Lilac from the garden.

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Wellington Cake.

This is a cake I have never baked before, it is an old 1950's recipe.

It was as light as a feather, I will make it many times as Mary loved it.

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Recipe for Wellington Cake.

8 ozs self raising flour.

pinch of salt.

4 ozs margarine.

8 ozs sugar.

1/4 pint of milk.

2 eggs.

Cream the margarine & sugar together. Then gradually beat in the beaten eggs. Fold in the flour & salt & then add milk to give a soft dropping consistency.

Bake for 30 ~ 35 minutes in two lined 8 inch cake tins at 375 degrees F

Sandwich together when cooled with jam or other filling.

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More experimenting with my basic bread dough.

This time I added sultana's, cinnamon & honey.

The girls do not like mixed peel so this recipe worked out well for them.

They made a lovely breakfast treat.

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Learning to crochet.

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I made a couple of dish cloths, I am hooked & find it so much quicker than knitting especially for things like dish cloths. I have bought the girls some crocheting hooks & they can't wait to get started on some more dish cloths.

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Thank you my dear readers for all your lovely comments, I do love to hear from you.

Enjoy this beautiful Springtime day.

Fondly Michelle

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I joined The Charm of Home Link Party

Spring Lambs & the Cottage at Easter Time.

Spring has come to the cottage garden in it's loveliness.
Winter has departed & now the garden is softened with young green buds & leaves just about to open. It will not be long until the wild cherry trees in the grave yard behind the cottage garden are full of their beautiful dark pink blossom.
In the nuttery near the farm it is Primrose time & in the garden too. This delicate pale yellow flower smells so fresh & brings back fond memories of Springtime as a child.
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The Spring lambs are being born at the farm in the village, it is such an amazing sight to see these little bundles an hour after their birth.
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Mary doing her vintage puzzle from the 1940's, this was one of her gifts from us for her birthday.

Both of the girls do love vintage toys & games.

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A touch of Easter on the kitchen dresser.

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Easter touches on the Parlour mantle.

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I finished the little patchwork knitting bags for the twins for Easter.

I remember having this book as a child, the girls are so excited to get started.

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Making Easter fairy cakes for Easter Sunday & some for the villagers.

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The girls made five pretty plates to take to our friends from church who live in the village.

It brings such joy to my heart to see how full of life & happiness these little girls are & how much they want to give to other's.

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The village farmer rung us up so we could come & see the first Spring lambs & watch how the new mother's tend to these little lambs in the first few hours of life.

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There were lots of smiles.

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The sheep in the back ground are waiting for their lambs to be born.

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The twins making Easter cards.

Our dear friend Maggie from Ireland sent these craft kits for the girls to make.

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Easter Morning.

The air was damp for the egg hunt but it did not dampen the girls enjoyment.

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Soon this apple tree will be full of blossom.

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The Easter Lunch Table.

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Dene & Ellie made this pretty Easter cake.

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We had such a special Easter Sunday shared with Dene & Ellie & Harry & Kate.

After lunch we went again to the farm to see even more new born lambs.

These are Lincolnshire Longwool sheep, their babies are so beautiful.

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The sun came out & Daisy took this photo of us having a lovely walk around the farm's little lake.

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Empire Cake for Sunday Tea on a new cake stand I found at an antique shop.

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8 oz self raising flour.

4 oz margarine.

4 oz sugar.

4 oz sultana's & 2 oz's glace cherries.

1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice.

1 egg 

1/8 pint of milk.

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Rub the margarine into the flour.

add all the other ingredients 7 mix with milk & beaten egg.

Grease a 6 inch tin & line.

Bake at 350 o for 1 1/2 hours.

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I finished reading a set of Amish novels by Beth Wiseman & enjoyed them so much.

Now I am reading another Nella Last diary. As soon as I started I was back in Nella's life, she has such a beautiful way of talking about nature & her beautiful day trips to her beloved Lake District.

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Two beautiful books that I found for the twins.

They are about how we used to live one hundred years ago in a town house & in a country cottage, of course the cottage book was our favourite.

The illustrations are beautiful, there is so much to talk about in these books.

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Apple Crisp.

I had some apples to use up so I did a family favourite.

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Thank you dear readers for your lovely comments, each one is read & loved.

Enjoy the beautiful Springtime.

Fondly Michelle 

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