On Tuesday, it’s Shrove Tuesday, better known as Pancake Day – or the day before Ash Wednesday. In keeping with the tradition, many of us will be serving up a few pancakes – apparently because we need to consume as much sugar, fat, flour and eggs as we can before we begin our Lent fasting. [...]
I have been putting manure onto my raspberries, asparagus and in my vegetable patch and when I get time I will put it on my flower beds, roses and fruit trees. Manure is a wonderful thing – feeding the plants and keeping them healthy and warm. Horseradishes: I planted them in a patio planter as [...]
I have to be honest – we are not a family of pork eaters. Gammon, bacon, ham, sausages – yes. But a joint of pork? Absolutely not. This is all to do with the Daddy of the family whose memories of slimy (or dry) roasts from his youth have scarred him into adulthood. Bearing in [...]
There has certainly been a bit of a buzz around the opening of the newly revamped Fontmell pub. The pub which was originally The Crown is well situated in Fontmell Magna just 10 minutes drive from Shaftesbury. What strikes you when you walk through the door is that it is more intimate than its [...]
The apples are dropping all over the garden, weighing on both my lawn and my conscience. This year I will not let them rot but am doubtful that my family is up for an apple pie eating marathon. Turning them to juice seems the obvious option. After an exhaustive search my neighbour finds a Community [...]
I love the Autumn when fruit fills the trees. However, as the fruit just keeps on growing I do feel under a bit of pressure. Once I’ve served a few rounds of ‘apple mush’ (stewed apple) with custard, a couple of apple pies and a number of crumbles, the children swiftly go ‘anti-apple’. Yesterday my [...]
Last week, I met up with a whole load of school friends. It was great fun and the last 20 years (oh my goodness!) hadn’t seemed to have changed anyone – the only difference being the amount of children surrounding us all. One of the things we talked a lot about, whilst reminiscing about school, [...]
After its fire 12 months ago, The Beckford Arms near Tisbury is now open for business and I’m told it’s better than ever. This is a child-friendly pub through and through. The management team are all parents themselves and know very well that if kids are happy, parents will be too. The children’s menu has [...]
How many of our children eat cheese over and above the usual mild cheddar or Babybel? Perhaps we should join the French and introduce our children to more exciting cheese. Whilst we would all love our children to be little gourmands they rarely are and we all do our best to keep their diets as varied [...]
This is a timeless chocolate recipe which children just love making. I’m sorry but not even the addition of raisins brings these into the healthy category but they are extremely yummy and easy and will not last two minutes so make double the quantity if you want to get a look in. It may be [...]
