Sunshine at last

At last we have a bit of sunshine and its beginning to melt the snow. It was lovely at first but now after a week of freezing temperatures I'm fed up and just want it to go. On Wednesday morning 2nd December the temp at the airport across the road was -13 at 8am, we have never ever had it this cold. At the start of the week you copuld only just make out the garden bench on the left, as you can see the snow has slumped and the bench now has legs lol

I popped out and measured the lowest point on the garden and its still 10" deep!!

At least we have nice clear drive and path, the bargain of the year has to go to the new snow shovel we bought before the snow, just incase!!

Thankyou for looking xxx

November Veg Plot

Just a quick post to update the piccies of the veg plot. We are now well into November and I am still picking lettuce, they are not very big but the taste is lovely, far nicer than the stuff in the supermarket. This one was lovely and crispy but we have assorted leaves too

These are the over winter cabbages, a bit of trial and error here. They look healthy enough and are just starting to heart up. If the do survive until Christmas I shall cook one for the dinner.

These are the leeks, not too good this year, a bit small but still very tasty.

As you can see its not a very big plot (the cabbages are behind me) but we have had loads of lovely veg from it this year and have managed to keep it going. Next year the plan is to make another bed the same size. We have had to fence it round this year as we are having mega rabbit problems, at the moment they are digging up the lawn!!

Thankyou for looking xxx

Lucious Lemon Curd

Last week when it was my birthday, my lovely friend Lesley called to see me and to invite us to tea this Sunday. When we have our get togethers we always give each other something we have made or grown in the garden, it doesn't have to be a huge gift, it might only be a pepper or a few scones or a jar of pickles. So, winding the clock back a few weeks we were talking about food and she happened to say have you made any Lemon Curd lately. When I thought about it its been ages since I made some, so today being a cold wet miserable day I set too and made these two jars. One for us and one to take on Sunday.
I only make this Lemon Curd in small amounts because its a fresh curd and only keeps a couple of weeks at the most in the fridge. To be honest its worth the faff because the taste is just divine. I used to make it for the WI competitions and the last time I got top marks 19.5 out of 20 :)
To make 2 small jars you need
3 Lemons juice and finely grated zest
4 well beaten fresh eggs
150gm Caster Sugar
100gm Unsalted Butter

In one bowl beat the eggs and put the rest of the ingredients into a large pyrex bowl, pour the eggs ontop of the lemon mix and whisk together. You will need a pan of gently simmering water, place the bowl on top of the pan making sure the bottom of the bowl is NOT in contact with the water (it needs very gentle cooking) Using your whisk keep stirring the mixture, it will look like its curddled at first but don't panic once everything has dissolved it will all come together. Keep stirring until it gets thick, for this amount it takes about 10 minutes so be patient.

Once its thickened it looks a bit like gloopy custard, remove from the heat and spoon into clean warm jars and I pop a wax jam pot disc on the top. Leave until cool, you will find the curd shrinks back a bit as its cooling. When cold pop on the lid and keep in the fridge.

Its delicious on cakes, scones, thined down for a sauce on a steamed pudding or Ice-cream. But tonight we will be having some on homemade crusty bread.

My lovely DH had put the breadmaker on timer last night and the smell of this loaf greeted me as I opened the kitchen door this morning. It will probably be crustless at both ends by teatime :)

I did lick the spoon from the curd and it is as the title says, Lucious Lemon Curd!!!

Thankyou for looking xxx

My Birthday Flowers

I thought I would blog my photographs of the gorgeous flowers I got for my birthday last week.
The carnations are from my lovely son Daniel, my grandaughter and his partner and family down in Plymouth. They are absolutely beautiful, and still look this fresh 1 week on. They were delivered from Bunches by Post along with a small box of choccies and a handcrafted card. I can thoroughly recommend this company as I have used then a few times myself.


These fabulous roses are from my other son David, his wife and my grandaughter. Again they are beautiful, there are 15 in the bunch and are from ASDA. They have opened up now and are looking gorgeous.

This is just one of roses close up, I loved the phot so much I have used it as my avitar on the MSE forum.

I absolutely adore flowers and after the gloomy dark cold days we have had just lately they have cheered me up no end. Thankyou to my lovely familyxxxxxxxx

Thankyou for looking xxx

Freebie Tea

For the past couple of weeks we have been eating bits from the garden but over the last couple of days the tomatoes have started to ripen in the greenhouse. Today we have had a free healthy tea all from the garden.

From this

To This

It was absoloutely delicious, the cabbage in the coleslaw was from my DILs garden and the dressing was made with equal parts low fat mayo and 0% greek yogurt. We also had a slice of roast ham and it was followed with a wholemeal scone. mmmm Yummy.

Thankyou for looking xx

My 2 gardeners, the crab and the gnomes

Philip and Willow, my 2 gardeners with a banana for the birds!

Willow, watering the plants she is taking home for her garden.

The Crab. Practicing gymnastics on the lawn. I love her teashirt, it says "You are my sunshine" perfect for a sunny June day.

Lastly the 2 old garden gnomes having a well earned cuppa sat in the shade of the apple tree. "Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me...........

Thankyou for looking xx

June Garden

Just a quick update on how things are growing in the garden

Willows strawberry patch is full of flowers and just starting to get its first signs of fruit, she loves to go and pick them when they are ripe. They never make it to the house to be washed first though!! Munched while they are warm and sweet.

Lucious Lettuce, these have come on a treat in the last couple of weeks and we have already had a couple, very tasty they are too. We should eat some before bedtime as they contain chemicals which make you feel sleepy :)

Peas and French beans, first time we have grown peas, I can't wait until they are ready , I love both!!

Philips Potatoes, we thought they were finnished, they went black when we had that frost a couple of weeks ago, but they survived and now look really healthy, just hope its a good crop.

Thankyou for looking xx

Garden "B's"

Beans--Pots of runner beans waiting to go in the veg garden. Gorgeous when they are young and tender, served with minted new potatoes and gammon steak.... mmm yummy!!

Bluebells, so pretty, shame they don't last long.

Birds-- The feeders on the side of the garage are in constant use at the moment, these are tiny Goldfinches, they absoloutely love sunflower hearts. I can fill this end feeder up nearly every day. The most Goldfinches I have counted at one time is 15, they are so pretty especially when the sun is shining on them. We are very lucky at the amount of different birds we get in the garden to say we are only yards away from the Airport runway.

Blossom- We are hoping for another bumper crop of apples this year, the tree even though it is small is covered in gorgeous blossom.

Thankyou for looking xx

Greenhouse gardening

After what seemed like a really lonnnggg winter, finally things are starting to grow and the greenhouse is producing lots of lovely veg plants as well as tomatoes and flowers.

This year we are growing the same as last year when we had bumper crops of everything. We have Green and Red lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, chillies, leeks and courgettes.

Sunflowers, Delphiniums, Foxgloves,, ornamental poppies, Aqualiegia, nastertions and bedding plants

Wallflowers for flowering next year. Mint ready for the new potatoes....yum!!

And of course tomatoes Plum, Beefsteak, Cherry and normal salad ones, only half the plants this year.
In the garden we already have potatoes, peas, carrots, spring onions raddish and strawberries. We will never be self sufficient but its great fun!!

Trip to Lancashire

Last weekend my hubby and I had a two day trip to Lancashire, we have been wanting to go there for a while. The area around Pendle Hill has been associated with Witchcraft since the 1600's you can read the full story of the Pendle Witches here

It is an area of outstanding beauty with some fabulous views, albeit a little bleak in places. It was cold and windy while we were there so most of it was seen from the car. We had a nice couple of days and look forward to going back some day.

You can see photographs in the posts below.

Newchurch - St Mary's Church

This is the Church in the village of Newchurch

Newchurch village was home to one of the Pendle Witches - Chattox, she is alleged to have stolen teeth and bones from the graveyard in the 1600's. Good job the cat that came to meet us at the gate was a ginger one and not black!!

This carving in the wall of the church is known as the Eye of God.

This is the Church from the graveyard, the windows look as if they are boarded up but they aren't, they are beautiful stained glass and have been protected from the elements with sheets of perspex. Its a really quiet place and quite spooky, one of those places where you wouldn't want to be when it gets dark. We had a walk around the gravestones and there were a lot with the name Nutter so probably related in some way to the Pendle Witch Alice Nutter. In fact the lady that does The Witch Walk was called Nutter...... too spooky for me!!

St Mary's Church

View of the church from the graveyard

This is the grave of Ellin Nutter who died in 1658, and was one of the relations of the notorius Alice Nutter one of the witches of Pendle,. Alice was found guilty of witchcraft and was hung at Lancaster Castle in 1612.

My lovely husband said this is a more recent nutter!! Cheeky devil :)

View of Pendle Hill from the Church