It has been a rather unusual weather week. Most mornings started with frost, icy water buckets, and gloved windscreen scraping. Then fierce daytime sunshine took over and our winter coats were swiftly replaced with t-shirts and sunglasses. As night descended, so did the temperature, which meant lighting the log burners remained essential in our stone…
Winter
Pine Needle Vinegar
There has been a lot of rain here over the last couple of weeks. The ground is saturated with water. The stream is swollen and lapping at the edges of the daffodils. And the geese have found themselves inundated with muddy, pond-sized puddles to dabble in. But, in the moments of sunshine between heavy showers,…
Blackcurrant and Bay Leaf Jam
Jam making is very much an activity we reserve for the colder months of the year. Rainy days especially. There is something very cheering about having a huge pan of brightly coloured fruit and sugar bubbling away on the stove, while rain patters against the window panes. This weekend though, it was not only rain…
Coriander Pancakes with Lemon Curd and Primroses
We awoke to a grumpy sky of grey fog and drizzle, pulled on our wellies and coats over our pyjamas, and headed out into the feathery rain. The ground was wet and muddy, and there was a bitter chill in the air, but a closer look at the garden revealed some cheering signs of spring…
Planning the Vegetable Garden
With the February days slowly starting to lengthen and the garden beginning to show signs of creeping out of its winter slumber, we decide what to grow in the vegetable patch during the year ahead. We start by trawling through the huge metal cake tin we use to store seed packets and envelopes of hand-collected…
Onion, Leek and Bay Soup
It seems that winter is well on the way. The orchard sparkles with early morning frost; the very last of the russetted autumn leaves are clinging onto the branches; and there’s hardly a honeybee to be seen (they are mostly staying put in the warmth of the hive). The garden birds know it too. They…