FILMING AT THE MANOR HOUSE - BARCLAY'S INSURANCE

Last week, we had a very exciting day here when advertising agency Mccann Erikson

came to film a 'mannequin challenge' for Barclay's home insurance.

For those of you who are not familiar with a mannequin challenge, it's a viral video

craze that is sweeping the world featuring people freezing for the camera imitating mannequins whilst music plays in the background.

This is the result....

 

WINDFALLS FROM THE ORCHARD

It's still very Autumnal here. 

Leaves are slowly leaving their branches

and we're collecting numerous 'windfalls' from the orchard.

 

 

One particular tree has some lovely juicy red cooking apples.

We can't eat them quick enough before more fall. It's difficult to decide what to make with them as we have apples 'coming out of our ears', 

 but today I made three small upside-down toffee apple puddings.

They are perfect for a Autumn pudding and delicious with a dollop of crème fraîche.

Here's the gorgeous recipe -

 Instead of making three little cakes as I did, 

you can combine all the ingredients to make one larger size which shows off 

the pretty fan shaped apples.

Serves 6- 8

topping

75g (3oz) light muscovado sugar

50g (20z) butter

 
3 red dessert or cooking apples, core removed and thinly sliced

sponge 

100g (4oz) butter

100g (4oz) caster sugar

2 eggs

175g (6oz) self-raising flour plus 1tsp baking powder

zest of 1 small lemon

Grease a 20cm (8") deep cake tin and line the base. 

Measure the ingredients for the topping into a pan.  

Place on low heat, stir until just melted and pour into the prepared tin.  

Lay apple slices in a spiral on top.

Measure the ingredients for the sponge together into a bowl, beat until smooth.  

Spoon over the apple (the mixture is fairly stiff) and spread out evenly to cover.

Bake in a preheated oven 180C/160CFan/Gas 4 for about 40 - 45 minutes.

Leave to cool for a couple of minutes in the tin.

 Invert onto a serving plate, 

remove the paper and serve warm with custard, cream or crème fraîche.

Taken from Lucy Young - Aga Easy

AUTUMN IS HERE

 Autumn has definitely arrived.

 

  

The nights are getting darker, 

we're noticing colder weather and the leaves are changing colour

from green to rusts, to yellows, and oranges.

 

 The leaves are beginning to drop in the orchard,

 

and in the garden by the house. 

 

 

Autumn evidence from the kitchen window.

 

 

 

We've harvested herbs that grow in the vegetable garden.....

rosemary, sage, thyme and marjoram.

They're hung upside down to dry, afterwards stored for use throughout the winter season. 

 

And look there's two pumpkins!

Undecided yet, they'll either be put outside for Halloween night 

or made into a pumpkin pie.

A HELP WITH SNOWDROPS

Yesterday, there was a knock at the door.  It was a lady I'd never met before.  

She wanted a 'cheeky favour' (her words, not mine)....."could she have some snowdrops from our orchard"?

 She had struggled to find any snowdrops at the garden nurseries or shops near to us to buy.  

Her sister had recently died and seeing her sister's favourite flower were snowdrops, she wanted some to put on her grave.

Eager to help out, I suggested she dig up a few to take to the funeral today.

It's a lovely thought, that some of our Snowdrops (Galanthus) have found a new place to rest and grow each year. 

All around the UK, gardens are open to show off their beautiful Snowdrops. 

Click on the link and you'll find recommended gardens open by the National Garden Scheme, to walk through.

FRESH RASPBERRIES

 We're missing the Summer months and all that grows in the garden. 
 Summer favourites are fresh, juicy organic raspberries.

There is something lovely about taking a bowl from the kitchen, 
walking into the garden and picking homegrown raspberries straight off the shrubs they've grown on.

Simply gorgeous and so healthy. 

They couldn't grow fast enough for us. We ate them added to our breakfast cereal with yoghurt, or mixed into a smoothie. 

This recipe uses fresh raspberries and makes the most delicious cookies.  Very quick to make in less than 7 minutes - great for an afternoon 'pick me up'....

Ingredients (serves 6)

1 cup of cashew flour (cashew nuts powdered in a blender)

1/4 of a cup maples syrup

1/4 of a cup raw cacao butter, melted

1/2 cup of fresh raspberries

Method

In a bowl mix the cashew flour with the maple syrup and the melted cacao butter.  Then add the fruits and mix evenly.

Take a tray lined with greaseproof paper and drop spoonfuls of the mixture and shape it to desired cookie size with a spoon.  Place the tray in the freezer to set and when the cookies are firm enough, remove them from the paper and place on a plate to serve.

Inspired by a Nama recipe.

HARVESTING THE GARDEN

October is here and with that Autumn has arrived, luckily nice and slowly this year as we're still enjoying sunny days. 

It seems a time to reflect on what we've received from the garden and I'm amazed at how much we actually gain from it.  

There's always so many different varieties of apples...

gorgeous juicy eating apples,

 

to cooking apples (above), 

great for crumbles or stewed and used with muesli at breakfast.

Pears (above).  

Not the best crop this year but we still managed a few to eat.

Lots of tomatoes, grown in the vegetable plot.

even the odd blackberry or two.

In the greenhouse, there's a grape vine. 

 So many Mirabelle plums...

and an abundance of Victoria plums. 

Gorgeous, also stewed and used at breakfast.

The sweetest raspberries.  No need for sugar to be added! 

Walnuts. 

(if we're quick to get them before the squirrels do!!)

and lastly, a pumpkin which we'll pick for Halloween.

When everything is listed like this, I realise what lucky people we are to have all these free and organic harvests each year.

ALLIUMS

 Adding a bit of colour to the main bedroom, in the form of a drying-out Allium. 

Grown in the garden this year and thinking it's far to beautiful to throw away, 

it now sits on the mantle piece in our bedroom. 

THE COMMON FOXGLOVE

The common foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is one of my favourite flowers and suits an English country garden so well with it's grace and elegance.  It's stems are tall and stately, thrive in light shade and are known to attract bumblebees to the garden.

  

It's immaculate tubular flowers hang either side of the green stem, inside are tinged with speckled dots. They come in a variety of colours from purple, pinks through to white.

The foxglove's in our garden are in abundance this year. Conditions under an apple tree are favourable. There is adequate light and moisture. Foxgloves are biennial, producing flowers its second year. We have planted them two years running to have them next year as well, in the meantime, we must enjoy these ones this year.

 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE

It always surprises me when I come across a photo of the house as we originally saw it...

above is the garden beside the conservatory as it looks now and below is a photo taken on the day we moved into the house.

Quite a few changes have been made since that day!

The original porch (built in the 70's) has been demolished and a new one rebuilt with the door positioned in the middle and windows at the side. 

The trellis has been taken down. Luckily, the honeysuckle growing up it survived its move and is happy in its new position. 

Patio and steps up to the conservatory have been replaced with York stone.  

The horrible crumbly brick path that went around the conservatory, has been turfed with grass. 

The conservatory has had a complete re-vamp (you can read about it here). 

All windows have been replaced and updated. 

One of the main improvements to the look of the garden, is the very tired, worn concrete paths have had gravel added.  It helps soften the area plus neatens everything up.

APPLES, APPLES AND MORE APPLES

Apples galore........we've so many falling in the orchard.

There's more than we need unfortunately.  Some we use for stewed apples to add with our breakfast cereal. 

Some are made into simple Crumbles or delicious apple cakes and lots are collected in a basket for neighbours to use.

 The rest are left under the trees to be recycled by the insects and birds.

TEXTURES IN THE HERB GARDEN

Above - Thyme

The herbs are nearing the end of their growth this year. Autumn is on its way. Cooler weather and less sunlight is not necessary the best conditions for growing but despite this, they still have a beauty.  

Above - Wild Marjoram

We grow sage, thyme, fennel, rosemary, marjoram, parsley, mint and few others in the Summer months.  With the aid of Photoshop, these images show what we are growing at the moment.

 Above - Fennel

Above - Sage

 Above - Oregano

A REMINDER OF SUMMER

 

Just remembering the lovely warm summer we've had this year.  One of my favourite times of the day - dusk.  The sun is just about to disappear but there is still enough natural light to read.

Taken from the upstairs hall landing window, looking over to our neighbours field, where that day they harvested the grass into hay bales. 

Happy memories of Summer 2014.

SUMMER SOLSTICE

 21st of June......The longest day, brightest and shortest night.

Hope you have a great weekend too!  Happy midsummer!