Wednesday 3 October 2012

A walk around Charlecote and Wellsborough


This Saturday Mike and I enjoyed a walk around the Warwickshire countryside. We never normally drive to a walk but we were planning on going onto Stratford upon Avon afterwards for some cake and a coffee and a wander. We were also scouting a potential village for house buying.

The walk started from Charlecote house. We didn't go to the actual house so I have no idea how good it is but it looked very grand from the outside!

the map!
 The maps in this little set are useful, but nowhere near as easy to follow as an ordinance survey so we ended up slightly offtrack. But nevertheless it was a lovely 6 miles of woods, open fields and skies and a bit of river.

These are some of the photos from the walk. The ladder was supposed to be a bridge! Also, the written directions told us to go underneath the road and so upon seeing this (very low) path we thought we were supposed to crawl through. Turns out there was a proper bridge around the corner. 

We also happened upon a fence post that we had to climb over. I stepped on it and the whole thing collapsed! It was actually a tumble-style which I've never seen before (I thought I'd broken a fence).

husband successfully navigating the tumble-style


This time last year we did long walks every weekend. The summer tends to get busy and this one was particularly damp so we're going to try to take advantage of these crisp and dry days to explore until we fill our weekends with looking for houses properly.

Upon getting back to the carpark we decided to go and buy a cup of coffee and a cake from the house since we'd used the car-park. Instead though we (I) got completely sidetracked by the amazing flower and vegetable shop. There were about 45 varieties of squash (pumpkins, courgettes etc) both edible and inedible as well as large bunches of the last of the season's dahlias. The colours in the whole place were amazing.
so many varieties


Mike allowed me to buy 3 different sorts of squash and he also sneaked in a bunch of the Dhalias for me :)


 After a 2.5 hour walk and a long time choosing squash, we didn't go on to stratford upon avon and instead returned home. This will be saved for another weekend!

Claire
x

Monday 1 October 2012

Green tomato chutney


I gave up waiting for our tomatoes to turn red. Secretly I was pretty happy about this 'cos it meant I could make green tomato chutney. 

before and after


The recipe is very simple and comes from a neighbour. She gave the recipe to my mum. It's pretty old school- if you like chutney with a kick then this isn't for you and it's very sweet. However it's so easy and tasty that it's worth making. It goes very well on a cheese scone instead of pickle. 

The recipe:
1lb green tomatoes
1lb white onion
1lb raisins
1lb sugar
1 bottle HP fruity sauce

Simply chop everything and stir together resisting the temptation to add liquid (plenty will come out of the tomatoes). It is ready when you scrape a spatula across the bottom of the pan and it leaves a gap. 

scrape and it's done

Now I've made my first chutney of the year it may be time to start on Christmas chutney and marmalade for Christmas presents. 

Claire