I am in a baking frenzy. There is a flour tornado in my kitchen as I open up self-raising, plain and gluten free flour and bag after bag of sugar. The KitchenAid mixer is maxed out and I am juggling four recipes whilst desperately channeling Bree Van de Kamp and trying to remind myself that I … Continue reading
“Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with complete abandon or not at all.” Harriet Van Horne
“It’s a pop-up cake club on Dartmoor and the sweetest place to be” I used to own and run a restaurant and inn. So I know a bit about how to make a place look nice and how to make people feel welcome. I can cook, write a menu, lay a table, clear it and … Continue reading
When other artists were painting landscapes, portraits and flowers, I was painting vegetables. Big blowsy bunches of Beetroot and gentle bunches of Carrots with feathery fronds. The buyers at my exhibitions bought paintings of strings of garlic, onions and the like and for my private views I wore silver earrings in the shape of carrots. … Continue reading
My pre-breakfast morning walk is a push for power; for a fast-paced, heart-pumping, energizing surge where battling against the wind and weather helps me to reclaim some of the adrenalin driven lifestyle I once had. Yes, I rise when the bats are still following their flight paths home to roost and with a torch strapped … Continue reading
The meadow and moors beyond the Cottage Garden are damp and hazy with mist, as the Blackbirds swoop down to peck at fallen apples amongst the piles of rustling autumn leaves. A sudden blustery wind swirls around the house, making the cockerel weather-vane spin, and tugs at the branches of the oak tree, helping it … Continue reading
Seduced by the beauty of their ghostly, pale, grey-green skins and the plump rounded curves concealing burnt orange flesh beneath, I have left several of my ‘Invincible’ Pumpkins untouched because they are simply too beautiful to eat! But this season’s crop is starting to plump up in the Kitchen Garden and it really is time to … Continue reading
Freshly picked from the Kitchen Garden~ supper ingredients just never looked so good!
Many, many days from now, when the spiteful rain beats sharply on the window panes, the cold wind rattles all the sash windows and when someone you love has a cold, you will be so pleased that you have a bottle of this magical, pure and natural potion in your store cupboard. Raspberry Vinegar and … Continue reading
Capture a fragrant memory of this evocative, heady perfume by tossing some dry Lilac blossoms between layer upon layer of fine sugar crystals. This scented time- capsule containing the essence of spring will be there for you until long after the Lilac in your garden has faded and died. Then later, sprinkle a little romance … Continue reading
Dartmoor Flower Shed 