Summer Time in the Country

As Summer draws to a close I reflect on how quickly it passes, soon it will be Autumn & we will be enjoying the warmth of our hearths.

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It is now harvest time here in the country & the fields & lanes are busy with activity.

The last of the Summer flowers are fading & have an aged & worn look to them but one still stands tall & is in full bloom, the elegant Hollyhock peeping through all the other flowers in the garden as it sways gently in the wind.

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Soon it will be our villages Harvest Festival & we can give thanks for the fruits of the fields, our gardens & the hedgerows.

Our own garden has an abundance of apples just waiting to be made into chutneys which will sit on the pantry shelves waiting for Christmas to accompany cold meats & cheeses. Apple Butter will also be made from our apples, it is a favourite with us on hot buttered English Muffins.

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The Summer has flown by, with family celebrations, baking, gardening, preserving, decorating, dress making & lovely days out.

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I have added some recipes as promised, I hope you all enjoy them.

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We had a beautiful family picnic at Gunby Hall in Lincolnshire.

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Some of the children playing croquet on the green in front of the hall.

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Kitty & I loved exploring the beautiful blooms in the gardens.

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Gunby has many different types of Roses.

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The gardens are beautiful, with so many flowers, fruit trees & vegetables.

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Marmalade Cake.

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This is a lovely cake for teatime.

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Mix together in a bowl

6ozs soft dark brown sugar

6 ozs margarine

3 eggs

9 ozs Self Raising Flour

14 ozs of dried fruit {Sultanas, Raisins, Currants, Apricots & Cherries} You do not have to use them all, just a selection.

2 tablespoons of marmalade

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Grease & flour a deep cake tin & bake for over two hours in a low oven 160.

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We have had a few beautiful days in our special Yorkshire Dales exploring all the pretty Dales Villages.

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Beautiful Richmond. The river & castle are stunning, there is so much history there.

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We travelled up to the Beamish open Air Museum Georgian Fair, it was a wonderful way of finishing our history topic ~ The Georgians.

The twins dressed in Georgian Empire Line dresses for the day, here is Kitty having her silhouette done.

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Mary making a Corn Dolly.

There are so many different designs of Corn Dollies, each one having a different meaning.

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Kitty listening to this lovely lady about Corn Dollies.

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This is a recipe for Georgian Gingerbread.

We could taste it in Pockley Manor the Georgian Farmhouse at Beamish.

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Beautiful pantry shelves at Pockley Manor.

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The girls in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

I love how Beamish encourages you to explore & nothing is roped off.

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Outside Pockley Manor.

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In the gardens there. 

We bought a beautiful handmade basket from one of the traditional craft stalls that were selling their wares at The Georgian Fair.

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Georgian Music.

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Home Farm at Beamish Open Air Museum is set in the 1940's.

This cupboard makes me feel right at home, I am always drawn to the kitchens in museums.

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Yorkshire Buns

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I have been making these for many years, they have a buttery crumbly texture.

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Mix 8 ozs of Plain Flour & 2 1/2 tsp of baking powder together.

Add 4ozs of demerara sugar & 2 ozs of sultanas & stir gently.

Add 4 ozs of butter & one well beaten egg.

Work together with your hands to form a dough then cut out using a cutter.

Bake for 10 mins at 180.

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The twins enjoy baking so much, here they are making Fairy Cakes.

All I have to do now is put them in the oven for them.

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Another day in North Yorkshire, this time to Thirsk the home of James Herriot.

It was market day so I took my shopping basket.

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Beautiful poppies on one of our nature walks across the village fields.

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A special treat.

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We very rarely go to the pictures, probably once every two years & always to this little Picture House in Woodhall Spa. It's an old Picture House that has an organ that plays during the intermission.

We went to see Churchill.

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Mincemeat Slice.

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This is another recipe I make regularly.

It is very moist with the mincemeat but sometimes I do it sometimes with chocolate chips.

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Grease & flour a round cake tin.

Mix together 5 ozs of Self Raising Flour or wholemeal Self Raising Flour

3 ozs oats

3 ozs light soft brown sugar

Then rub in 4 ozs of butter

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Put half of the mixture in the cake tin & press down with the back of a spoon, I find a metal spoon best for this.

Spoon on a small jar of mincemeat.

Then cover with other half of oat mixture & press down.

Bake at 180 for 20 minutes. Do not over bake, it should be a pale golden colour.

Whilst hot sprinkle with sugar.

Leave to cool in tin & then slice into wedges.

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I double this recipe up as it lasts well.

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Our Daisy turned 18.

All of the family came & we had a lovely birthday lunch.

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In the garden on Daisy's birthday with one of our darling Granddaughters Matilda Florence.

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Jam Making.

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I used Elderflowers with the homegrown Gooseberries this year, the smell was wonderful.

We have quite a few Elderberry Bushes at the bottom of the garden.

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This is my Gooseberry Jam recipe I made every year.

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4 1/2 lbs of Gooseberries

1 1/2 pints of water

6lbs of sugar

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Top & tail the Gooseberries, then wash & drain them.

Place them into the preserving pan with the water & simmer gently until the skins have burst & the fruit has reduced a little.

Add the sugar while stirring until it is dissolved.

Then boil until setting point is reached.

Pot up into sterilized jars.

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Some of the children getting involved.

Topping & tailing the Gooseberries takes a while.

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All finished & topped off with pretty calico covers.

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I finished a bolero for Mary.

It knitted up quite small so Kitty has chosen another pattern for me to knit for her.

The bolero is an original 1940's pattern.

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A day out at Belton House.

We love to visit this house & gardens & the second hand book shop they have there.

Kitty is enchanted with anything Jane Austen & as Belton House was used in the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice she was very excited to go.

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Sweet Peas in the garden.

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Beautiful dark Hollyhocks, one of my favourite cottage garden flowers.

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Lovely Lavender at Belton House.

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There was an abundance of Butterflies on the Lavender.

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Walking in the footsteps of Elizabeth Bennet.

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The desk where Mr Darcy {Colin Firth} wrote to Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

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This is my recipe for Victoria Sponge Cake, I do hope you like it.

Sometimes we have jam & cream in the middle, it is also nice with some sliced Strawberries for a treat. I also make a thick custard for the filling which is very much enjoyed.

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Mix all together 

3/4 lb of Butter

3/4 lb of Sugar

6 eggs

3/4 lb of Self Raising Flour

& a little milk if needed.

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Grease & flour two sandwich tins, this makes a big cake so the tins need to be quite deep.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 170.

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Leave to cool before spreading jam & cream in the middle & then dust with a little sugar.

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Thank you dear readers for all your beautiful comments.

I hope you all enjoy the recipes & the last few weeks of Summer.

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Fondly Michelle

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Autumn & Winter Days

Sitting here looking out of the window signs of Spring are everywhere, it has been a mild Winter here in England but I am still so glad & happy to see the delicate Snowdrops & Crocus's popping their jolly little head's out.

Most of these photo's seem so long ago. I have picked some of things we have been up to since August to give you all a little catch up & a few recipes too.

 Daily life is very busy but I am determined to keep up with the blog.

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Rocks Cakes are a firm family favourite so I am always trying out different recipes for them. This is a 1950s recipe.

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Cinnamon Rolls just before going in the oven.

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We visited a few places just before my operation one was Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire.

It is such a magnificent Elizabeth Mansion.

Bess of Hardwick lived there, a friend of Elizabeth the First.

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Sidney took a photo of Andy & myself with the twins.

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There is a mill at Hardwick were you could go on a tour & buy beautiful bread flour.

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Hardwick's great kitchen.

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Victoria Sponge Cake ready for tea.

Named after our Queen Victoria, it was her favourite cake.

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One of our many Home School Crafts.

Autumn has so many beautiful colours.

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In the Autumn we had a visit to Beamish.

This is such a magical museum that we visit time & time again.

Our history topic then was The Victorian's so this museum was ideal.

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Cottage shots at The Miners Village at Beamish.

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These are cottage's at Home Farm at Beamish.

The farm is set during the Second World War where land girls stayed.

I can see us having a trip back there after September as that is when we start our Second World War Topic.

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The twins making a Church Window Tart.

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Embroidering a Victorian Sampler was part of our Victorian History Topic.

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Christmas Crafts.

The girls painted holly for their Christmas cards this year.

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Homemade Mincemeat.

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Sunday Teatime.

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As we were studying The Victorians we decided to make a Mrs Beeton's Mincement.

I have a Victorian copy of Mrs Beeton's book so we chose a recipe from there.

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A little stroll around the church yard.

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Snickerdoodles all lined up ready for the freezer to eat over Christmas.

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We took the children to a Christmas Tree Festival at St Mary's Church which is the church in our nearest market town two miles away.

The twins rolled their own candles there, the church was beautiful all lit up for Christmas.

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A trip out to National Trust Belton House on a cold Winter's day to do the under stairs  Christmas tour.

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Look how big Charlotte has got, she will be one next month.

The twins are captivated by her, she's such a happy little girl.

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Mary reading Charlotte a story.

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More of the twins handmade Christmas decorations which were all Victorian inspired to go with our history topic.

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The girls all dressed up for our Home School Christmas Party.

We took them to The Petwood Hotel for lunch. This hotel is where the Dambuster Squadron met up during the Second World War.

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We managed to get a table in the squadron room were the squadron met.

This room is filled with so much history.

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Our Christmas Cake this year.

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A few days before Christmas we had a special tea as Dene & Ellie came to visit.

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Homemade Mincepie's.

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Kitty hanging her stocking up on Christmas Eve.

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Christmas Day, Kitty loved her book on Enid Blyton.

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Boxing Day Tea.

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This is how much snow we have had this Winter.

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Christmas Muffins.

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Gingerbread.

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Our Geography topic at the moment is canals.

We took a trip to Bardney Canal which is about 15 minutes away from us.

Water is always so peaceful, we had a gentle stroll & saw lots of wildlife.

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Ma Larkins Iced Buns.

This recipe is from Ma Larkin's (Darling Buds of May) Cook Book.

They were so good.

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Our history topic since January has been The Tudors.

We went down the road to Tupholme Abbey during the week we learned about the dissolution of the monasteries.

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Swiss Roll for tea.

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Last weekend we visited beautiful Thirsk in Yorkshire & revisted The James Herriot Museum.

This is such an interesting little museum.

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I'm always drawn to the kitchen's in museum's & this one is a lovely one.

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& the last thing I have to tell you is we have been blessed with another Granddaughter.

Matilda (Tilly) Florence was born on the 13th of February to Dene & Ellie.

Now we have two beautiful little Granddaughter's.

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The twins just love her to bits, Charlotte & Tilly is what they talk about all the time.

Dene & Ellie are wonderful parent's to this little girl.

Our family is growing & I'm so happy.

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I'm sorry it's been far too long since I did a post.

I hope you enjoy this catch up.

Fondly Michelle