Our blog is dedicated to seasonal living: cooking with local produce (sometimes our own), sewing for the home and searching out vintage bargains.

We believe that most of the pleasure is in the journey - in the making and creating, even if in a simple way.

Thursday 30 October 2014

Apple cake

8 oz self-raising flour
6oz butter
6oz brown sugar
Half teaspoon each of ground cinnamon & nutmeg
2 large eggs
I large cooking apple, chopped roughly
Grease and line (just line the bottom) an 8'' tin
Mix all the ingredients and fold in the apple.
Bake for 40-45 minutes in a moderate oven
5 minutes before the end remove from the oven, sprinkle with some brown sugar and return to oven.
Allow to cool in the tin

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Very jammy...


...and not just in the pan, unfortunately. 

I do love making jam and filling jars with all that sweet fruit, ready for jam on toast (especially if it's toast done by the fire), or to fill sponge cakes.  But such a messy job...or is that just me?  This is plum jam, one of my favourites, and not too many stones to skim!

Friday 17 October 2014

Bargain find


This is not exactly a collection (only a few pieces)...but I felt really chuffed to find the oval plate for the bargain price of two pounds.  The design is 'Blossom', and was made by a local pottery, Thomas Forrester and Sons. It's such a distinctive and cheerful pattern.

Tuesday 7 October 2014

Harvest

In churches and chapels throughout the country harvest is being celebrated around now. This is particularly resonant for me as I live on a farm - and we have had an exceptionally good harvest this year. This is one of the decorated windows in our church.