Old Fashioned Living

The month of May has brought blossom to our garden, with cherry, pear & apple tree's we have many pretty shades.

The bluebells are blooming in their loveliness & the little glades around us are full of them in this season.

Baby rabbits are all over the garden nibbling the grass & playing, Spring has really sprung.

Blue Tits, Robins, Wrens & Blackbirds are singing heartily in the garden as I write, we have had a heavy shower of rain & the little birds are hunting for food. Darting in & out of the hedgerows which line our garden on the church side, they are such a joyful site. The rain has brought the blossom showering down like snow in little drifts all over the garden, it such a pretty site when the sun shines after rainfall.

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Pear blossom.

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Picking the first rhubarb of the year to make some puddings.

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Rhubarb crumble, this caused such delight as we all love rhubarb.

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Painting in the garden.

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The girls love to paint & as it was a glorious day we decided to work outside. They do their studies in the morning & then choose an activity to do in the afternoon, it was painting on this day.

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Kitty concentrating.

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They do love to work in water colours as do I.

I brought my jumper outside to do some work on it as they painted.

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Mary making a flower out of the fallen Magnolia petals & some Daisy's.

Simple things are so much enjoyed when you are small. To watch the children playing & enjoying life brings so much joy to my heart.

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The first jam making of the year, the smell of the rhubarb was wonderful.

This recipe I have made for many years, it is adapted from a Rhubarb & Ginger recipe, we omit the ginger as the little one's would not like it even though they love gingerbread.

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All potted up & ready for the pantry shelves.

I love when the fruit starts to come & jam making season begins.

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My new Bleeding Heart with Forget me Nots in the back ground.

I do love cottage garden plants & found this in our little market in the town a couple of miles away from the village.

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Apple blossom.

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Their first knitting lesson.

Such excitement, they are making little blankets for their dolls house.

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I am knitting a jumper for myself in such a lovely shade of green.

Lucy from 1940's Style for You posted this free knitting pattern, she is such a talented lady & does some beautiful knitting from 1930's & 1940's patterns.

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More rhubarb with some frozen blackcurrants for some more puddings.

I made a cherry cake out of a wartime cookery leaflet as well.

While the children do their studies in the morning I bake, it works out well as I am around them.

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It was a lovely cake very much like a Madeira as there was lemon zest in it.

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The recipe.

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George loves to play in the inglenook fireplace, it is so warm in that corner with the cooker going plus there is the kindling basket which makes for hours of fun for him.

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Five O'clock Tea Cakes quickly made for the Sunday tea table.

This recipe came from a 1920's Borwicks Baking Powder book, the recipe called for a quick oven so I presumed that was hot. They turned out well anyway & the plate was soon empty.

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Enjoy this beautiful month of May.

It is my birthday month so I do love it so.

Thank you my dear readers for all your kind words.

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

Cozy Days, Cranford & The Coast.

The Winter in our small corner of the world is a little late in coming this year. 

Outside all is settling down for the Winter & quietly going to sleep. The branches are mostly all bare apart from our beautiful yew & holly trees which line our garden.

Even though there is a nip in the air the cold weather has not settled in yet & we have had some lovely days full of wonderful clear skies.

Inside the cottage Christmas is in the air, our minds are full of idea's of what to make & bake for the special day.

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Lemon Drizzle Cake.

This recipe I have had since our first holiday to Yorkshire as a family. We had three children then & stayed in a beautiful stone cottage in the Yorkshire Moors.

The lady who owned the farm where the cottage was, baked this cake for our arrival & she kindly gave me the recipe. It has become a family favourite & has been baked many times.

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Cream together 5 oz margarine, 6 oz sugar & the grated rind of a lemon.

Then beat in 8 oz self raising flour, 2 eggs & 2 fl oz milk.

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

Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the hot cake, then sprinkle 3 tablespoons of sugar on top.

Remove from tin when cold.

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Lemon Drizzle Cake ready for tea served on Andy's Grandparent's plate that they received on their wedding day.

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Sadly I have finished Larkrise to Candleford.

 I found myself transported to a gentler & slower time reading this book but now I would like to find out what happened to Flora in adulthood.

Now I am reading Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell.

My husband bought me a set of c1880 Elizabeth Gaskell books for my birthday this year.

The BBC production is one of my favourite drama's to watch. Cranford covers every emotion & is so amusing, added to this is that it is filmed at the wonderful National Trust village of Lacock. 

All the wonderful period costumes are so simple & beautiful & the sets stunning.

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We decided to take a trip out to the Lincolnshire coast & collect some shells.

There was a crisp chill to the air & we needed to wrap up warm.

We were the only one's there, it was a beautiful time to take in all the beauty of the coast.

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The girls with their Peter Rabbit & Jemima Puddle Duck bags.

These bags go everywhere with them to collect from hedgerows & days out.

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We found some beautiful shells to make some Christmas crafts with.

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Such clear & simple beauty.

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We made some little Christmas mice with pine cones & shells.

All with a little bit of sparkle for Christmas.

The twins love to make gifts & take such joy in giving them.

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Christmas Cake

This year I thought I would bake a different recipe for our Christmas cake & decided upon Delia Smith's Classic Christmas cake.

I have used many recipes over the years & found this one easy & simple to follow.

You can find the recipe at Delia on line.

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All the dried fruit & cherry brandy socking overnight.

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Ready to go in to the oven.

Christmas cakes are baked for a long time at a very low temperature.

 I had to find things to do in the kitchen during that time so I could keep watching the oven as we cook with solid fuel & the temperature goes up & down. I find the best way to keep a steady low temperature is to get it banked up with coal & then shut the damper.

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All baked & now stored away ready to be iced a few days before Christmas.

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Some little knitted bonbon sweets I have made using scraps of wool & ribbon for Kitty & Mary for Christmas.

I do enjoy making gifts, we try to stay away from the crowded shops as much as possible.

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Thank you my dear readers for all your kind words, every one is read & appreciated.

Keep warm.

Fondly Michelle