Springtime is Nearly Here.

New life is shooting up all around us here in the English Countryside this time of year.

It's beautiful to see all those little strong bulbs pushing through the frosty earth wanting to put on their show of colour to welcome in the Spring. 
I always know when the warmer weather is on it's way as the Rooks return to the rookery in the spindly pines at the end of our garden. They are busy building their nest's, I have never seen a more busier bird at the task of nest building.

The villages hedgerow are filled with an abundance of things if you take a while & look closely. The girl's have been doing a weekly nature journal which is not only teaching them but me too. 

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Mary studying the Lesser Colendine which we discovered on one of our nature walk's.

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Birds have come back to the cottage garden to sing their sweet morning song, warm day's do not seem that far away. These day's hold many thought's of flower's & our vegetable garden. The girl's have their own idea's of what they would like to do & grow in the garden, I love to watch them blossom with their imagination & thought's.

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Cottage days are filled with nature walk's, baking, gardening & learning.
Each day holds a new experience.
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Kitty on one of our weekly nature walks, that week was looking for signs of nesting bird's.
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We follow Lynn Seddon's Exploring Nature with Children.
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www.raisinglittleshoots.com
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It's a perfect balance between outside work & written work.
The girl's are doing their journal's in the style of Edith Holden.
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Sidney turned fourteen at the end of February.

He chose Chocolate Cake with as many treat's as I could get on the cake, he always chooses Chocolate Cake.

I rarely get a photo of these two boy's, Danny will be 16 in May I can't believe how the time has flown.

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I finished another 1930's Bow Scarf for the twin's beautiful pen friend in America.

This little girl love the 1930's.

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Custard Pie & two Apple Crumb Pie's.

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Now that the hen's are starting to lay more egg's Custard Pie is ideal to use them up in.

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Recipe for the Custard Pie I make.

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Combine 1/2 cup of sugar

3 egg's

2 cups of milk

Mix these ingredient's with a hand whisk for a few minute's.

Then pour in to a pie case.

Sprinkle top with nutmeg & bake for around 40 minutes at 350 o

I find this recipe quick to mix up.

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I helped the twins make themselves a skirt each out of an old skirt of mine.

They are so happy with the end result & they love practicing their sewing skills.

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Spring flowers are popping up all around our village.

These were blooming on our nature walk last week.

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Apricot cake for tea & one for the freezer.

I like to have a few cakes in the freezer in case of emergencies.

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Hand crocheted dishcloths.

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Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip Brownies.

I used The Amish Cook's recipe from The Amish Cook's Baking Book.

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My love of antique linen's.

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An empty farm worker's cottage on one of our walks around our village.

I love to look inside & see glimpses of the former occupant's.

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It has the same window's as our cottage.

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Beautiful fireplace.

Each room has a faded glory to it.

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Old coat hooks in the round porch.

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Entrance way.

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Another old fireplace with Art Deco tiles.

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Beauty found in old age.

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The front of the cottage with round porch.

Around the property are beautiful old apple tree's.

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I love to make pie's from the many Amish cook book's I have.

One of our favourite's is Lemon Sponge Pie from The Amish Cook Baking Book. This is one of my favourite cook book's.

The twin's made some little jam tart's with the left over pastry.

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Pumpkin & Chocolate Chip Cookies.

These were very healthy, the children loved them so we will be making them again.

The recipe is from Thy Hand has Provided Cook Book.

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http://www.thyhandhathprovided.com/

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Barm Cakes.

These are a very soft roll popular in the North of England.

We ate them with homemade Leek & Potato Soup.

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The girl's love to bake & quite often take over from me.

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I hope you all have a beautiful early Spring.

Thank you dear reader's for all kind comment's, I feel so blessed to have you all following me.

Fondly Michelle

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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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Glimpes of Autumn at The Cottage.

I love this time of year, all the warm colours & a crisp feel to the air in the early morning's. I do love to walk into the garden early in the misty morning & just take in all the beauty that is around us. Our Old English Walnut tree has lost all it's leaves now & stand's tall in all it's bare beauty with squirrels running up & down it's branches. They are such fun to watch carrying on with their busy little lives.

 

A little rabbit hiding something in the ground.

Our garden is full of rabbits & squirrels this time of year hiding all the nuts from our tree's.

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Where I write.

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I love small old bibles & have them tucked away in the bureau.

The larger one on top of the bureau was sold in Horncastle our nearest small town & dates from 1838.

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Beautiful handwriting.

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Fresh wholemeal bread for tea just out of the oven.

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Gourds & wax corn sitting on Grandad's dresser.

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The mantle piece in the parlour with small touches of Autumn.

I found the little Georgian cup at an Antique shop in our small market town.

They have a big outside yard & a lot of items are 50p.

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This is the back of our garden with hazelnut tree & a small gate which leads to the side grave yard of the church.

It is such a pretty area with so much history.

There is a small pine spinney there were rooks nest.

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Our hydrangea's are late this year, I am watching them to see when they are ready for drying.

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The roses are still blooming, we have so many old varieties in our garden & I have planted some new one's. Oh I do love roses, the old one's smell so beautiful.

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We are overflowing with apples this year, this tree has done so well.

Luckily I have a small cook book with just apple recipes.

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I made a cinnamon apple pudding this week, it feels so good to use your own produce.

It is a simple recipe just sliced apples, sugar & cinnamon then topped with a sponge mixture which is 4 ozs self raising flour, 4 ozs of butter, 4 ozs of sugar & 2 eggs, a little milk if needed.

Bake for around 45 minutes at a medium heat.

We had this with custard as Kitty loves custard.

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Apple slices for tea.

I bought the little apple recipe book when we went to Woolsthorpe Manor last year which was Issac Newton's birthplace & home.

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Apple slices with a lemon glaze.

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I found some check fabric the other week the same as the other two curtains in the sitting room.

We had the fabric in our old house for the hall window so I had cut them in half when we moved to the cottage to make curtains for two windows.

I was so pleased to have found the same fabric & this week made curtains for the long window by the hearth. It gives that corner a much warmer feel.

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I finished reading all the Nella Last book's & found them truly wonderful, I got a kindred spirit feeling from them, in so many places in the book I felt we were so much alike.

My new book to read is The Garden Cottage Diaries 'My Year in the Eighteenth Century' which is full of wonderful photo's.

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The book is by Fiona J Houston.

For a full year she took herself back to the 1790's lifestyle of her rural ancestors.

She wore home made clothes, learned crafts, ate from her garden & cooked on a fire.

This book is full of history, folklore & practical tips.

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I am really enjoying this book, it has some simple recipes in it too.

When this book arrived Kitty could not put it down, she was fascinated with the photo's.

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Thank you dear friends for all your beautiful comments.

 

Fondly Michelle

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