Seasonal Living in Middle England – with a family of seven
It takes a lot to keep our youngest out of the garden. This morning she could not understand why the rest of us were not keen to play out in the biggest storm to hit Britain so far this year: Storm Dennis is arriving today. Our garden is quite sheltered and I find the gales […]
Pineapple Sunshine Cake This is the recipe from The February Garden, after receiving quite a few requests for the details of how to make our “little bit of sunshine” cake. It was inspired by Good Food Magazine’s instructions for a Retro Upside Down Cake, but altered for what was in our pantry at the time, […]
As we set out towards Durness the next morning, the mountains are still cloaked in the smoke of yesterday evening’s heather burnings. Smoo Cave is found just a little east of Durness. It is the clearest of days, yet the breeze over the cliff tops is enough to send our smaller children scattering and we […]
A frosty cold morning, one Sunday in January. On days like this it is best to get outside quickly, before the sun has a chance to melt the crispness away. The frost creates beauty wherever it falls. We encourage the children to listen to the crunch underfoot. This is rare and a special part of […]
Today in the garden, whilst I have been working on the veg plot and sweeping the paths, my little daughter has had some lucky finds. She has gathered them in her wheelbarrow, and is now laying them out neatly. We use them to practise her counting, one to ten. She pauses and concentrates after “123” […]
We left our little holiday cottage near Scourie as dusk fell, taking the road north to watch the sun setting over Durness beach. Driving very carefully, due to livestock not hearing our car’s electric engine, we roll over a road marking that makes me smile. Slow is an instruction not just for the vehicle but […]
My little helper, who pulls on her boots the moment she sees me fetch the kitchen door key, joins me in the garden today. I’m so pleased to see tiny crocuses popping up in the old terracotta pots I bought from the library plant sale last year. I like the look of these old frost-hardened […]
We arrive at our holiday cottage, a little north of Scourie, in the late afternoon. It is early April and spring has sprung in the mountains. The little garden is carpeted with daffodils and, just beyond, a small wooden gate leads out to the river bank. The skies are still blue, and the trees are […]
Our visit to Bradgate today is a special one. It is a welcome return to tree climbing. Our second eldest son has spent the last six months recovering from a broken arm, caused by a painful cyst in the bone. To our immense relief, he has had an all-clear that everything has healed and he […]
It is very cold today, but the bright sunshine and clear skies make the garden irresistable. Warmed by cups of hot tomato soup, we check the vegetable plot’s progress. All of our onion sets are now sprouting. The seed company have just sent through a delayed order of giant garlic bulbs and, as I usually […]
We take the scenic route from Aviemore through Bonor Bridge and into the mountains. We wonder if anything can match the sheer splendour of the snowcapped Cairngorms in the early spring sunshine, and I feel a reluctance at having to leave so soon. We drive due west, straight across the country to the bustling port […]
When driving through the countryside in Charnwood we watch out for a line of steam trailing through the fields and up beyond the hedgerows. If we spot it, we will make a diversion for the heritage railway station and watch the train pull into the station. We had a lucky day, this January, and managed […]
Our first full day in Scotland, early April 2019. We spend the morning in Aviemore, enjoying a hearty cooked breakfast of veggie sausages, mushrooms and potato scones before browsing the outdoor pursuits stores. With newly purchased OS maps of the North West Coastal footpaths and a lovely waterproof map holder for all-weather hiking, we are […]
When the sky is a near-cloudless blue, we feel the urge to climb and see rolling green fields stretching out for miles. It does not always have to be a mountain … an ancient tower will do just fine. Kenilworth has undertaken a huge renovation since our last visit a few years before. A vast […]
It had rained for days, weeks, it seemed like endless months and then, one Sunday, it suddenly stopped. The ground would be water-logged and our boots would likely sink in to the mud to a depth of a foot – but it felt so good to finally get out and hike. It was at this […]
It started on Burns Night 2019 – a family promise that we would definitely tour Scotland this year. My husband was raised in England though is actually Scottish, our children are therefore half-Scottish and in the late 1800s my ancestors on my father’s side lived in Scotland too. We definitely felt the mountains calling. In […]
There was a countrywide storm on its way to us today, with predictions of driving rain and thirty mile an hour winds, so we had to quickly sneak some garden time before the gales blew in. One pastime I love in the winter months, when flowers are in short supply, is to start looking for […]
Scottish Raspberry Shortbread (Original recipe by Sue Lawrence in Scottish Baking) I’m going to file this recipe under “Autumn” as raspberries are in season from August-October here in England. However, they do make a delicious treat for Burns Night. I’ve reduced the number of raspberries from the original recipe, as my children find the shortbread very crumbly […]
It has been a long time since I have written for the blog and we would first like to introduce our newest addition to our potager garden – our little girl, born in the heatwave summer of 2018 🙂 In 2019, baby in tow, we toured Scotland – from the Cairngorms, to the North Western […]
