May at the Cottage

May brings a beautiful abundance of fresh green shoots & leaves to our cottage garden. Each month of the year has their own beauty but I love the month of May the best of all.

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The garden is scattered with cherry, apple & pear blossom. Each tree awaiting the lovely fruits which will hang from their branches. How truly blessed I feel when you see this blossom each year, nature is a marvelous thing.

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Blue Tits are all around the garden bringing their pretty gentle song. Baby rabbits are back hopping around again, they are so sweet to see but we need to make sure the fence around the vegetable garden is secure.

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Lilly of the Valley, Violets, Lilac & Cowslip are flowering in the garden, the smell of May is heavenly.

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Cottage days are filled once again with weeding & planting up the vegetable garden.

The children find such joy in planting seeds & seeing them grow.

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Ma's Plain Cake

This is a recipe I use again & again, it is a 6 egg mixture & makes a lovely large cake.

The recipe is in Ma Larkin Perfick Cooking.

This cook book is on of our family favourites.

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We have had so many special moments since my last post.

We became Grandparent's for the first time.

Meet sweet Charlotte, how wonderful it was so hold her.

This little girl brings such joy to our lives.

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Another tea cosy finished inspired by the colours of one I saw at the James Herriot Museum.

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The twins celebrated their 7th birthday at the end of March.

Time flies, they are turning in to little ladies.

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We had a new addition to the cottage last month, a 1947 Aga.

It cooks like a dream & keeps us beautifully warm too.

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Lambing is now over in our village farm.

There were so many beautiful little babies born.

We were so lucky to be asked to watch as some were being born & Mary was amazed to be asked to pull a lamb out.

Mary is the type of child to just get stuck in, maybe we have a little James Herriot in the making.

This is Mary's lamb.

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We love to walk the lanes & fields around our village.

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Some beautiful magazine's I found from the thirties & forties.

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A selection of cakes using these vintage pre war recipe booklet's.

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Beautiful Bluebells in our cottage garden.

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Early Spring morning at the cottage.

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The twins making Yorkshire Scones.

They love to get involved in the baking.

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I finally finished this 1930's Bow Scarf, it had been sitting at the bottom of my knitting bag for a while.

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Our scullery & sweet George.

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Making London Buns.

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Recipe.

Beat 3ozs of sugar & 2 ozs of butter to a cream. Then add 2 tea spoons of melted Golden Syrup. Add an egg & beat well. Then add 4 ozs flour, 2 tea spoons of ground ginger, 1/4 tea spoon of soda, 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar & 2 tablespoons of milk.

Half fill little patty tins & bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a moderate oven.

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Off to a 1940's event a few weeks ago.

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Blue & white Forget me Nots in the garden.

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Kitty is rarely without flower's.

Apple Blossom.

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Some vintage finds.

I can't wait to use the 1950's picnic hamper.

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A birthday cake for Danny who turned 15.

He asked for chocolate cake with fresh cream & chocolate treats on top.

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Spring blooms in the cottage garden.

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Making Maids of Honor.

These are little jam tarts with a sponge topping.

Line little tart tins with shortcrust pastry & put a small amount of jam in them  I used homemade rhubarb jam.

The beat 2 ozs of butter with 2 ozs of sugar, 1 egg, 2 ozs of self raising flour & 1 tsp of almond essence.

Put a small amount of this on the jam & bake in a moderate oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

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Homemade rhubarb jam.

Our rhubarb has grown so well, it has been going in to all sorts of recipes.

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Baking a sponge cake together.

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Here is the girl's cake all decorated for tea time.

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A country walk last weekend through the church yard next to the cottage.

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& then a ride out to a party in our 1930's car.

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Thank you to all my dear readers for all their comment's, I have read them & am very sorry I have not replied to them all.

There has been a few things going on these last few months regarding our sweet Kitty.

We have decided to full time home school from September as we feel that would be best for the girls.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful Springtime.

Fondly Michelle

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Cottage Days in the Garden & some Knitting.

The days are lengthening & we are spending beautiful days outside working in our garden.

The old fashioned perennials Delphinium, Foxglove & Hollyhocks are popping up all over the cottage garden & the joyous sound of bird song is all around us.

Forget me nots are in full bloom in the cottage beds & the beloved Bluebell is coming in to flower once again.

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Precious Bluebells.

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Spring flowers in the garden.

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Beautiful Aubrieta, this plant always reminds me of my grandfather, he had lots in his front garden.

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The Magnolia in full bloom.

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An old apple picking ladder in the garden.

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We have been looking for an Easiwork cabinet from the 1920's for a long time, it is the final piece we were after for the scullery & has wonderful storage which we really need.

Andy drove two hours away to pick this one up from Yorkshire & the following day we used a lot of elbow grease to clean her up.

She is wonderful, it is like a kitchen in a cupboard & is ideal for bread making & pastry.

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A wartime Gingerbread recipe using one egg.

We bake & cook from scratch & make the most out of our food budget. It is very pleasing to make frugal meals & realise how much you save.

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George & Bobby in their favourite spot, bless them they do sleep a lot.

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The twins helping with the enlargement of the vegetable garden.

They were picking up the last of the old tree root.

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Bobby enjoying the sunshine.

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Our vegetable garden.

We have been making the vegetable garden a lot bigger this past week.

There has been old tree roots to move & grass to take up. It is great to finally have it the size we want, we have just been here two years & everything takes time.

We would love a wooden greenhouse, maybe in a few years.

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I finished my first long sleeved jumper from a 1940's pattern.

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I used some vintage back buttons to finish it off & now it is tucked away for next Winter.

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A visit to the wool shop in a nearby town.

I bought some lovely 1940's green wool for a new jumper.

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Almond Loaf Cake.

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The two miniature's together in the hall.

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Cheese puffs from Ruth Mott's cookbook & a light fruit cake for Saturday tea.

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This Sunday I used three bags of fruit from the freezer, gooseberries, blackberries & tayberries to make a sponge pudding.

It was lovely warm served with cream.

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We found some vintage Laura Ashley curtains at a local antique shop for a bargain £12.50.

I have taken them up for our bedroom & the remainder I will use to cover two green 1930's Lloyd Loom chairs. This Summer we hope to decorate our bedroom as before moving in we just sanded the floor boards & fixed the walls ready for decorating.

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Ellie turned 21 last weekend, we celebrated with a lovely lunch with her family on Sunday.

Now Ellie & Dene are spending a lovely week in the Lake District, it will be their first visit to Hill Top.

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Thank you dear readers for your lovely comments.

Enjoy this beautiful Spring day.

Fondly Michelle

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I joined The Charm of Home Home Sweet 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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