Springtime & Celebration's

Spring has come to England & not more so than in the country

 with the different greens emerging all around us.

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Our garden is filled with birdsong & the delicate Chaffinch's

 are gently building their nest's of moss, old sheep's wool

 & wood. They weave all this softness to once again

 build their homes to raise their young.

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The Wild Cherry Tree's in the old graveyard next door will soon be in bloom & then once again making a sweet smelling carpet, these blossom's bring such joy to Kitty as she is at her happiest playing amongst the flower's.

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The field's are full of lamb's with their mother's grazing on the green grass. 

How I love England at this time of year.

Springtime bring's many celebration's for our family with our oldest Grand Daughter Charlotte's first birthday & the twin's turning eight year's old.

A couple of week's ago we had our first day of lovely sunshine 

so we packed up our lunch after our morning lesson's

& ate up on the Lincolnshire Wolds. This spot is just 1/2 mile

from us.

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Our beautiful Grand Daughter Charlotte turned one at the end of March,

how this past year has flown.

She bring's us so much joy & is such a sweet child.

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For the twin's eigth birthday we spent the day before 

 at Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

We all loved looking at the beautiful display's in the famous Betty's Tearoom

& came home with a few treat's.

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We had a rare meal out to celebrate in a lovely Yorkshire pub,

I wish I had captured Mary's face when her Ice Cream was brought to the table.

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Apricot Fruit Cake & the Twin's Birthday Cake.

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Apricot Fruit Cake

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We make this recipe often & with out icing freezes well.

Put all ingredient's into a bowl & beat well.

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3 eggs

4 ozs of margarine

6 ozs of self raising flour

3 ozs of light brown sugar

5 ozs of sultanas or raisins

3 ozs of glace cherries

4 ozs of dried apricots chopped

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Pour into a greased & lined loaf tin & bake for just over an hour in a moderate oven.

Once cooled ice with icing sugar mixed with water & decorate with chopped apricot's.

I have adapted this from a Mary Berry recipe.

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Preparing the plates ready for their birthday tea.

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Blowing out their candles.

Eight year's has flown & now these little girl's are turning into young ladies.

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I found this lovely vintage fabric the other day & the twin's

found another Ladybird book for their collection.

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Cauliflower & Broccoli Cheese.

A family favourite.

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Dene, Ellie & Baby Tilly came to visit us last week.

She is such a good baby & we were blessed with lot's of cuddle's.

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The daffodil's are coming to an end now but that mean's new thing's will now be

in bloom, the Magnolia is just beginning to flower. 

This is a spot at the back of our garden where we over look

a field that is full of sheep & lamb's at the moment.

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I made Gingerbread Muffin's for an on the road breakfast.

They were so soft the next day.

I hope you enjoy the recipe, we loved them.

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Fork together 

10 ozs of plain flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of soda

1 teaspoon of dried ginger

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

in a large bowl.

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Mix in another bowl

1 egg

3 ozs of sugar

3 flozs of oil

3 flozs of black treacle

2 tablespoons of honey

6 flozs of water

Blend well

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Pour wet ingredient's in to the dry & stir.

Spoon into 12 muffin cases & bake for about 20 minutes.

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I found this recipe in an old book on muffins by Susan Reimer.

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Last week we returned to The Black Country Living Museum 

& had a beautiful sunny day.

There is always so much for the children to learn at this type of museum.

We decided to go because we had just finished our Geography Topic on Canal's 

& this museum is on a canal.

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I am always drawn to the kitchen's, Kitty was drawn to the shelf of book's.

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So much to look at there.

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Kitty's favourite corner.

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A sweet tin picture in one of the cottage's bedroom.

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Preserves in the scullery.

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We were not disappointed with the canal & the boat's.

The girl's were able to step inside the living quarter's of a boat.

There was not a lot of room in there & to think large families lived on these boat's.

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Stepping on to a boat.

The boat man was born on a Canal Boat & has lived all his life on them.

He told us so much & brought all our learning together.

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Stepping into a small street house at the museum.

This felt very much like home.

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Another Victorian Cast Iron Range.

These were used for so much,

cooking, heating, hot water, ironing & toasting to name a few.

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The Grocer's Shop in the small town.

The shelves look so much prettier than they do now.

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I loved the butter dish.

How I would love to still be able to shop like this.

I use an old basket for shopping, even though we still use the butcher's & greengrocer's the shop's just are not the same as they use to be.

Although we are very lucky to have two beautiful market town's near us with weekly market's.

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The Toll House's table.

This is such a pretty cottage with a beautiful cottage garden.

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Sleeping pig's at another cottage.

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& lastly the 1920's house.

I could have started cooking straight away as this room did feel like home.

The oven is the same age as the electric one we have in our cottage.

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Thank you dear reader's for your kind comment's.

I love reading each & everyone of them.

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I hope everyone is having a beautiful Springtime

& that the snow has finally gone in Canada & North America

so you can enjoy the new Spring flower's.

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Fondly Michelle

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Early Autumn Days

We have been enjoying some beautiful sunny days here in the Lincolnshire countryside.

Autumn has come upon us with warm days and gentle turning leaves.

Our garden is still giving us such delights to place upon our table, it has been an abundant year.

Apples are ripening into a beautiful deep red and I have been busy putting them in to crumbles for the freezer. Chutneys are next with apples, pears and green tomatoes.

Our garden has blessed us once again.

This is such a busy time of year with preserving what we have grown and tidying the garden ready for the Winter.

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I made this boiled fruit cake, it is becoming a family favourite.

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We have been using our old 1930's car quite a lot, taking it to a few nearby towns. It is such a fun car to travel in and brings a smile to folks on the way.

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We have apples in abundance so many different types of apple puddings have been made.

This is a sponge pudding with apples and some gifted Victoria Plums.

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4oz's of margarine beaten with 4 oz's of white sugar, then add 4 oz's of wholemeal self raising flour, 2 eggs and a drop of almond essence. Beat well with a little milk and pour batter over fruit that has sugar on. Bake for around 40 minutes in a moderate oven.

We enjoy this with cream.

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We took our old car to a classic car show in our village. The day was glorious and the girls enjoyed it down by the lake, it was a lovely event with some wonderful old cars and a lovely cake stall.

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The twins love the suitcase shelf in the car.

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We had a beautiful day in Lincoln and had a very English afternoon tea up on Steep Hill.

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While putting in a new fence on one side of our garden we found a few treasures. We hired a mini digger for a couple of days as so much land needed levelling. We found the old rubbish dump, whole bottles kept coming out of the earth, it was amazing.

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We also found this old metal sign buried, it took quite a bit of work getting it out whole, we could not believe what we had found.

After a little research we found the shop it had come from 5 miles away.

I love this old photo.

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Some of the many bottles and pots we found all washed up.

They have now found homes all around the cottage.

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A marble cake for Saturday tea with a chocolate topping.

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The beetroot has done so well once again.

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Scones for Sunday tea.

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We purchased a new dresser a few months ago.

The back boards are so wide, it is an early Georgian one.

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The girls helping to make lemon drizzle cake.

They love to bake.

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It was delicious.

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This is a recipe we were given years ago, it makes such a soft cake.

Cream together 5ozs margarine, 6 ozs sugar and grated rind of a lemon.

Add 8 ozs self raising flour, 2 eggs and 2 floz of whole milk.

Bake in a round cake tin for 45 minutes at 160.

Squeeze lemon juice over cake whilst still hot then sprinkle with three tablespoons of sugar over the top.

Leave to cool before removing it from the tin.

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I found these beautiful early 1930's Good Housekeeping magazines the other day.

They are full of beautiful fashions and baking.

I love the old adverts.

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A mountain of apples.

The weather has been glorious these last few weeks.

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I found Delia's Book of Cakes in a charity shop, I was so pleased as I had been looking for it for a while.

I decided to bake the wholemeal Madeira cake with lemon icing.

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All ready for Saturday tea.

It was so beautiful and soft.

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Kitty enjoying this beautiful weather we have been having all dressed up in her flower fairy costume in the garden.

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Apples picked for some crumbles to put in the freezer.

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Harvest Festival in our little church.

The twins made these little decorations to put around the font for the service.

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On the day before the service we went to decorate the church.

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Home picked produce for the Harvest Festival.

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Every year we have a Harvest Meal after the service in the village hall.

I made Eve's pudding to bring.

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My husband bought me these lovely old Miss Read books, some are first editions. 

I am really enjoying reading the Miss Read books and can't wait for my evening read and to get back in to Miss Read's world. Along with H E Bates and Nella Last these are my favourites.

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Sweet George loves to sit on these old flour buckets.

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A fresh bloomer loaf for tea.

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The leaves are starting to turn all around us.

This is the first tree to change colour in our garden, it is such a pretty colour.

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A little hooked pumpkin mat I hooked a few years ago comes out for another year.

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I am on the last section of this 1930's cardigan finally. It has been a long pattern to do, maybe something smaller next.

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Thank you dear reader's for your lovely comment's and welcome to my new followers that have found me through Instagram.

Happy Autumn to everyone.

Fondly Michelle

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