Happy Easter

It has been a busy March. Getting ready for lockdown lifting and welcoming guests again. And moving furniture about.Glad I have had a strong man to carry things about to do most of this. But not one to be stuck and wanting it done now rather than later, I sometimes did as a carthorse would do when I was small when backing a cart... put my behind on it and pushed. .I havent mastered carrying a fridge yet but had help. So now can revel that when you come to stay with us we can offer you a room with its fridge,microwave, toaster and enough bits and bobs to make snacks and small meals. During lockdown we have realised it is not altogether about going out to eat, but to be able to get a take away, some nice deli food and enjoy local bits and bobs suffices. I know when we have had holidays abroad in the past how much I enjoy shopping and eating local produce. Live like the locals so to say. So true is the saying a change is as good as a rest. And if you want a delivery just say, you order what you want and I will stack it inthe fridge for you ready for your arrival. I have also been busy getting plants growing ready to put in the garden as it warms up . It has been over 20 degrees here for the last 3 days but as it probably wont last for too long I have commondered my Dads passage way to grown my seedlings on as I have run out of windowledges here. Also it helps he has far more green fingers than me and they stand a better chance of surviving . My first planting was rhubarb seeds,they have grown really well.They say when you become a gardener you dont say rhubarb for example you would say Champagne or Victoria. Potatoes are not potatoes, but Maris Piper, Charlottes and Kind Edwards. I have even bought a white peach tree and it is treated much as a baby in a pram, take it out on a nice day, bring it in as the day gets colder just incase there is a frost. A white peach but with lovely pink blossom I am tempted

to buy another one. Tom has been busy digging up some of our most robust bushes as I want to create a framework of greenery around a very sparse looking covered over sitting areawhich looks more like a bus shelter at the moment. I have some hops which are very delicate at the moment. Again they have gone to my Dads for that extra bit of care and it didnt help that Dorothy - the young cat, like to sleep in the same plant pot as them here. It is nice to see that there is some grass now for the deer to eat, as they had a very lean time over winter. They are regualr visitors although we can't guarentee them coming every day. They do come more late afternoons onwards and come within 20 to 30 foot of the house. Just dont eat my magnolia bush. It will be nice to see the grandchildren over the Easter holidays as they are around just before they go back to school. No doubt it will be hectic as the sugar rush of chocolate will be rocketing. There is something about Easter eggs that taste different to a bar of chocolate. It is ok this on line shopping lark, but to me nothing beats going into the shop and seeing and sme ling what is on offer. Oh and just incase you have forgotten, I prefer milk chocolate -thank you Well I must crack on ,the birds are beginning to sing and the sun is just getting up .Jack is in for his breakfast as he has been out with dogs and ready for something to eat and it isnt 7am yet. I dont know about you, but lockdown I hardly known what day of the week it is, and clocks well my body clock is all out of sync. I look back on the year and think where has it gone. Nicholas is busy on the farm with lambing and hatching as eggs are coming by post for him to put in his incubators. And he has just hatched out a pair of alligators Happy Easter, and sorry no alligators just Aprils Fools Day

Sunday Update ,getting ready to come out of Lockdown in North YORKSHIRE

Can't believe it is 10 days since I wrote a blog. After writing one every day throughout lockdown I felt it was time to open out a little more. For you to go out and about as you felt fit and for me to focus on how we can think to reopen and what we need to do to make you feel safe and happy in your holiday surroundings.

So this is what I have come up with ..

I have bought enough hand sanitiser, disinfectants ,wipes and the like to sink a ship. Well maybe not a ship but it certainly weighed my car down at the back end. 

I already use a steam cleaner in bathrooms and will continue to do so and use it in the bedroom were possible .

Our laundry is professionally cleaned offsite in any case and the laundry services has had over 100 years experience and we have every confidence in them.

Booking will be for 3 days or longer as we intend to not have straight turn around .So there will be 3 days before you come into a room no one will have been before you and for the two days after you leave to safeguard me as well .

Any booking in 2019  we will take no deposits. Leaving you free to cancel ...but please let us now if you are not going to be coming to stay.

Our rooms have their own front doors so that if you prefer you do not have to have any contact with others you don't need to have. 

We are still thinking about breakfasts which we know are an important feature of why you come to stay with us. As we get more guidelines from the government we can put things in place.

Unless you are part of the same party, guests will sit at separate tables and if prefered seperate rooms. Or if the weather is nice maybe you would even like to enjoy it outside as we have done so many times over the last few months.

We are opening up more and more garden,field and forest space for you to enjoy. So if you just need to get away and not venture far but just come for a change of scenery and air we are hoping you will be pleased at what we can offer you.

We would like you to ring us 

to discuss your needs, your preferences and your worries too on 01347 868526.

In the meantime I will leave you with a few photos of life with us. I am still keeping my hand in cooking breakfast as Jack doesn't say no

Cooking with Rosemary Shrager on Wednesday

I have always had great admiration for Rosemary Shrager, not just as a chef she is one of lifes' genuines . Down to earth and a great chef even though she never was college or cookery school trained and as she says learnt "on the hoof" and with a lot of hard work. She is happy in her "own skin" and I think that is why I admire her so much as I think I am a bit like her too .

.Wasn't Rosemary great , she was in the jungle ... her attitude lets get on with it and make the best of what we have. She makes things look easy and so even the most untalented cook will not feel over fazed 

Rosemary used to run a cookery school on the Isle of Harris and on Wednesday night you can cook along with her too. I wish I had been able to experience that. One day we will get to Harris if they will let us in.

Rosemary posted on her facebook page -La Voix and Rosemary are back on Wednesday at 6pm for another 'Queens of the Kitchen' cook along. She says  if you are joining us you will need to prep these ingredients (make sure the butternut squash is cooked in advance). Even if you don't fancy cooking along, join us anyway for a giggle!

I would have preferred her to be doing something with seafood ..she is a dab hand with lobster, but as we are still in lock down, we will have to be glad to be able to cook along together making risotto instead . I am sure it will be fun and if you open a bottle of wine and drink half of it before hand will be even more enjoyable. .Remember to dice the squash before you drink the wine .We dont need any accidents ...Happy Cooking,Happy Eating 

 

Walking from Our Doorstep through the countryside

As we are having our road mended in a big way... I took to walking to the farm today with my basket on my arm. I tend to take food over for my Dad even though he is able to cook his own .It is always nice to eat what someone else has cooked or baked too. Apparently the cake I made him this week needed"a bit more oven" and wasn't as good as last weeks. So if anyone feels they want to make him one, I wont feel offended and just leave it on top of the post box near the back door and all efforts will be gratefully received.

We like to go out and eat and I think this is the thing I miss most about the Lockdown. So there I go I bake another chocolate cake to compensate for this small inconvenience.  So what better way to burn off the calories than to do a bit of walking.
It is lovely to see the animals in the fields. The grass is so green and the trees are bursting into leaf now. Despite the frost we had last night all is good in the countryside.   The frost nipped off the top of 3 rows of potatoes my Dad had got in his garden. One row was what Rubi and her Daddy had planted and were well up .

The elderflowers, give it another couple of weeks will soon be out as I am running my supply short on elderflower cordial. I am  ready with washed out milk containers to put it in for this years harvest.  It has kept remarkably well and as well as being delicious it also has health benefits too. I will come back in a later blog with the recipe and you can see how I go along with making it .

So I hope you like the little video of the cattle in the field . The bull with his harem of wives and their offspring.

And remember if you are coming to stay with us and would like to take one of our dogs with you for company on a local walk you are very welcome.

Walking ,exercise in our beautiful valley

We are situated 1 mile west out of Ampleforth. Locals always say if they are heading to Gilling East or the Ampleforth fish ponds which are given the posh name now of Ampleforth lakes to go across the valley . A fertile valley where the Benedictine Monks settled to the North in the C18th . Where ever you find a castle or abbey you will find it a sheltered area surrounded by fertile land. These places were not built on a whim but however many centuries ago they were very wise.

This village in Ryedale is a delightful place for a walk being situated on the edge of the North York Moors and near the Howardian Hills. Highlights include the nearby Yearsley Woods and the beautiful grounds of Ampleforth Abbey.
This circular walk explores the countryside and woodland to the south of the village. visiting Ampleforth Abbey, Gilling East and Yearsley Woods. The route runs for a distance of just over 6 miles with some small climbs on the way.
The walk starts in the village and heads south through the countryside to Yearsley Woods. Here you'll find miles of woodland trails, several ponds and lots of woodland birds.
After rounding the large pond the trail heads east towards Gilling.
From Gilling you head north west to Ampleforth Abbey and College. Founded in 1802, Ampleforth Abbey is home to a community of more than 55 monks. Visitors are welcome to explore the expansive grounds which include a Tea Room, Abbey Shop, Visitor and Sports Centre. It's a lovely place for a stroll with good footpaths, wide lawns and fine views of the valley.
From the abbey the route then heads west to take you back into Ampleforth.

So we hope you will try this walk when you come to stay with us . Enjoy the food at the Abbey Tea Rooms and the atmosphere too .

  And then make your way back "home" to stay with  us

VE Day ..with Gillies Jones

 A beautiful bowl created by Gillies Jones in the studio in Rosedale on the North York Moors. It is #ForgetMeNotBlue and I felt very apt to be part of my blog today as we look back on VE Day . We should never forget the men, women ,horses and dogs who gave so much for us all to have enjoyed life since then. Today in splendid sunshine ,as the birds sing and the skies are quiet we cannot begin to image how much they gave for us. Brave boys wanting to go to help fight the enemy ,under age some of them only 14 years old. Horses that had been working in the field..maybe the famers' favourite been taken out of the rural fields it had been born and bred in to then gone to war. So after all the flag waving and tea parties and celebrations today, we should remember them ..the ones who never grew old and the old that have the sad and haunting memories etched so deeply inside. My Dads cousins went to war , they could never talk about their days in the trenches and the terrible times they lived through it was too painful... Too painful to talk about ... So this blue bowl sums it up for me .. The serenity of the blue.. I truly hope they are all now in Peace those who fought to give us peace. We didn't celebrate but I sat in the sunshine on my Dad's lawn while he told me of how hard those days were. So anyone whinging about the lockdown needs to get some backbone just like those had years ago .They had it, they didn't need to get it. From this we should take example.

Birthday in Lockdown

Maybe it is a good job Jack is as old as he is as if it had happened twenty years ago I don't know how he would have coped with the lockdown and not being able to go to the pub. Coronavirus, he would have said bring it on and I will show it what a fight is, but that was when he was younger. I dont think it would have existed long in all the dirt his landrovers accumulated over the years in those days.

With his birthday today falling on a Sunday today the 3rd May. He was born 68 years ago in Westow Croft  near Malton at 3.20pm .  I had planned a party as I plan a party most year ...any excuse but I would have done a proper Roast beef dinner with hundreds of Yorkshire puddings... dont worry we will have a belated one when we can.
And a big birthday cake,  well really they are just as easy to make as a small one the same sort of mess in the quantity of bowls just bigger bowls and more eggs. I usually use 24 eggs and cook it in my tin I use for cooking the turkey in at Christmas.
My Dad likes a party too and his friend who is well in his 90s too has rung him and mentioned quite a few times since lockdown that he hopes it is lifted by the time it is September in time for my Dads birthday so they can eat on the long table again in the garden. ...And they say parties are for the young ones. Better a party than a funeral tea.
A nice number is 25-28 people to sit round the table. After that it gets a bit harder to seat everyone and then my pans would have to be replaced with jam pans to cook the amount of food in and so like to  keep it simple.
Today Jack had a very quiet birthday and I didn't cook a big cake, but I made him some chocolate biscuity stuff instead.When I was small they called it Scotch Treat due to using Scotbloc baking chocolate I think . This photo is the recipe I wrote down when I guess I would have been about 7 years old. so you can see how as other people say declutter I say re-hoard . It was made once a year for my birthday, as in those days we didn't have treats like children have today. Chocolate was one piece from a bar and that was only when my Granny would treat us to a bar occasionally or if one of her sisters came form Barnard Castle .

To give it a bit more of a luxury 2020 birthday feel I added glace cherries and sultanas to the mixture before I put the top coat of chocolate on . So until the time comes when we can sit round the long table we count our blessings we are safe and well ....

and the extra time did give me chance to get another rows and a half of onions planted 

Zoom...ing along in the Coronavirus Lockdown

Meetings in your own living room or office at home. This is great .No chance of a speeding fine as I would rush along to get to a meeting.Nothing worse than being late . I am known for being early and I have known a couple of people take bets on that I would be first there. There is nothing more disruptive and annoying than a late arrival whatever their excuse. And also if you arrive late there is the chance you have to sit on the front row and all the chocolate digestives have gone and there are only bourbons left.

Fast forward to the life of Zoom...
more and more people are turning to Zoom and similar platforms in the Coronavirus lockdown. And for people who have to travel a long way to meetings I hope they will agree with me this is the way forward. The minus is been able to go out for lunch afterwards and a look around the town.

Susan Briggs has been working really hard at keeping our spirits up, giving us great ideas on how to beat the Lockdown blues and tips on how we should use this time to enthuse guests and to get all ready at the starting line to tempt people to come and spend their leisure time with us when lockdown is lifted.

Susan organised the Zoom meeting and at her virtual side was Catriona McLees from the North Yorks Moors National Park . Other heavy weights from the tourism industry were also in/at  the meeting including Craig Nattress from Ryedale Council. Michelle Brown from VisitYork and Janet Deacon from Scarborough Council all adding valuable points and insights to the meeting.  Think Janet has been out in the sun her hair was a lovely colour or maybe it was she had tried out a new colour which ever I thought she looked well. And not forgetting Amanda Brown from A2BPR.

I rang Pascal afterwards as he like myself not only look to safeguarding guests but how we safe guard our families in all of this . My thoughts are that as guest have their own front doors to the bedrooms there is enough room is 2 bedrooms to put a table and chairs so they dont have to meet other guests at all and can take their breakfast in their own room if they prefer. if not they can always sit at individual tables in the dining room or in the guests lounge. That time isn't imminent yet but worth a thought.

I apologised for wearing my shirt inside out ...the beauty of being at home... as the label tickled before any one had chance to zoom in and think I had got dressed in a  hurry and accidentally put my shirt on inside out. I really should have cut the label out but I was very pleased with my charity shop posh label top that vanity stopped me from cutting it out.

The R in ideas

They talk about the Coronavirus R how it spreads . Well I think R happens in a lot of forms. And today for me it was thanks to Rosemary Shrager.
I saw a post she had on Facebook .. of some very scrumptious looking almond palmier biscuits which Rosemary makes with left over pastry bits.
So I thought as there was no recipe for them that I would have to google them..well you know how one page leads to another so I ended up with ... well I needed 350 grams of ground almonds ,200 g of icing sugar ,the zest of 2 lemons and 2 eggs ..What could be easier. As some whole almonds were nearer to their use by dates I ended up putting them in the food mixer ...and milling them down.  It was a doddle as I was only half concentrating as I was talking to my cousin at the same time on the phone.I didn't read the end of the recipe as when you have made the dough you then get each ball and roll it in some more icing sugar.
As it was they tasted very good maybe didn't visual appeal have the  and you can see by one empty oven tray they are very addictive they are. Maybe this could be classed as a R too . The bottom ones are Rosemarys the top  ones Carr House Specials.

How does your garden grow... dedicated to Libby who makes the best shortbread biscuits around

Have been chatting tonight with an old school friend . We sat next to each other on the back of Perrys' school bus for 5 years. And talking about a host of things, we spoke of Bonnie and Clyde [a photo we had both seen recently on Facebook made us speak of them as the one of the other girls who sat near us on the bus was a real life Bonnie ].Whether she had a shooter ,I cant remember or whether she died or survived was any other question..And it was a Grammar school we went to too !! ... to what is happening today .

 A nursery rhyme that was one of my favourite .

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row

We do not have silver bells ,but do have a few shells and hag stones that I have brought back on a trip to the seaside.  The words leads your imaginations  to a  magical garden which you could tiptoe through. 

Well our garden grows more weeds than plants or at least the weeds grow faster.

And Lemon Balm also grows like a weed probably as it is one of the mint family . If you look carefully at the photo you will see a piece of mint ...the sort you make mint sauce with or add to your new potatoes when you cook them.

At this time of year when the herb is young and fresh and rampant I use it by the handful.  No need to dry it until later into the Summer. A handful stuff up a chicken bum just before you put it into the oven makes for a very tasty chicken a couple of hours later.

Lemon Balm is also what I use when guests choose to fresh herb tea .Infused along with a spoonful of marmalade has had many a guest asking for more. Whether it is drunk as a hot drink or a cold one it is very refreshing. As well as been made into a herbal tea it can be added to salads, vinaigrettes and to sauces and soups . Maybe you want to put it in a cake with a plain lemon icing ..it certainly goes down well here. 

A native of the Mediterranean is used not only as a culinary addition but in herbal remedies too .

So next time you come and visit us remind me to give you a few sprigs with some roots on and in no time you will have your own bed of lemon balm. This photo is one of the many small beds we have dotted around the garden. And that is not because I am a garden design freak it has a mind

of its own ,grows rapidly and plonks itself wherever it feels fit .

The beauty of living in the countryside...

The beauty of living where we do or staying here as guests you are surrounded by flora and fauna whatever time of year. We have had some brilliant sunny weather so everything is forward this year. And as the trees burst into bud and the fruit trees into blossom ,the lilac is just coming out and the birds sing as long as the day is light. Nothing seems to have changed here as far as nature is concerned . Always have your camera with you, as you never know when you will see one or more of theses beautiful creatures.  You will have seen for earlier posts that the deer come right up to the back of the house I was quite taken aback today when I was coming on the road from the farm up towards the house. A young deer was walking down the middle of the road without a care in the world. It was quite unreal as if he had taken charge of traffic controls . He turned round and looked at me as if to say he was looking for directions. he looked at the house sign turned his head and then with a jump and a skip went up with drive in front of me . He went up about 50 yards in front of me and then decide to take a right and jump the fence and into the field .He wasn't really in a hurry and as I puffed up the hill and caught sight of him he just looked round ,stretched is legs and he was off.

So when lockdown is over and you think to venture to come to stay with us you must remember to  bring your camera  too

In another life...

Jack of all trades ...that's me .....well in these times it comes in handy.

I have had experience in a lot of different things and more hobbies than you could think of . Hobbies from fishing to metal detecting to keeping bees.

But many moons ago I trained to do hairdressing  as well as training in wig making and perfumery. How good does that sound . I accidentally got into hairdressing when I had to see the man who can to school in our last year to ask what I wanted to do . I had always wanted to be a farmer ... a proper job with proper people and it is in my blood.  Genes that have drip fed into me from many generations before me.

It was that fateful day at school when I met Mr Alan Pickering the careers officer that set me on the road to being a hairdresser... but you never when your skills come in useful. I put on my form I wanted to be a theatrical hairdresser rather than stuck in a saloon and ended up being one of the first mobile hairdresser in Ryedale. The advantages of been a mobile hairdresser is that people feed you and here I must mention the late Mrs Doris Rolph from Nunnington who was kindness itself. Thursdays was my favourite day when I got a bacon sandwiches too and she made the best butterfly buns.

I tell Jack how lucky he is, of how I am so low maintenance. Well I am when it comes to my hair. I have proper hairdressing scissors but to be truthful you dont need them. A good sharp pair of kitchen scissors is all you need and I more times than not use them .  The only drawback of using kitchen scissors are they are a lot heavier and can make your fingers ache.
I have cut my hair for years as when I have venture into a saloon I have more often than not been disappointed when I have come out. And end up in front of the mirror as soon as I get home and hack a bit more off.

So dont worry or freak out when you read hairdressers could be shut for 6 months.

If you have curly hair you have an advantage over people who have straight hair as if you slip with the scissors it isn't as noticeable.

I was telling a friend the other day it is always better to cut it when you hair is wet ..it doesn't fly about as much and to take very narrow layers starting from the underneath hair at the back of your neck gradually bring it down to the required left.Then do a cut up  pulling your hair out between your first and second finger and snipping it to the contour.  Maybe cut it a little longer than you need you can always take a bit more off as you go along but you cant stick it back on.

I used to love colouring hair when I was working and even got a distinction in my exams .
This is what I told her......
 I used to put my colour on with an old toothbrush as with the rough bristles it give it a more natural look rather than been to matt and dense. To  only colour the bits that need doing and then pull it through to the ends for the last few minutes as Colour on colour adds colour . To dry it for you bend you head down towards the floor Not quite upside down but you know what I mean .Drying it at this angle will bring a bit of lift to it too


Hope this helps and gets you through lock down 

  

We escaped and it was allowed....

Jack is self employed and part of his job description is dog handler .He breeds and training Labradors and cocker spaniels. And I am not the kennel maid as much as he would like to put that label to me I do the book work ,administrating and general paperwork for him .

So today our last Labrador pup was due to go to its new home. The problem lay that the puppies new home was over 800 mile round trip . 

So armed with an incident number issued by the obliging North Yorkshire Police , an email from our MP and asking 3 different police officers to just make sure we were granted permission to take this puppy as it was classed as Jacks work. We travelled with all our legal papers and accountants certifications etc . As well as face masks, gloves, disinfectant, tea tree oil and wipes we felt ready for any eventuality. Fortunately we got there and back without incidents meeting the new owner near Peebles. 

We were blessed with wonderful views of the Pennines as we went over the A66. Certainly earning its name as the back bone of England on such a clear day. The mountains forming the spine with its ups and downs just like you can feel the vertebrae in your back

We turned off the A74, I think we maybe took a wrong road at Junction 15 and ended up going a very very scenic route ! It was what they called the scenic route to Edinburgh. Notices at the side of the road RED SQUIRRELS , we past a man with binoculars before we saw the sign and hope he was lucky and saw one but it wasn't a joy ride and would have felt very bad as we were only out due to Jack's work and grateful we could fulfil the journey to meet half way . We both thought how special it would be to see one . Neither of us had seen one since we were young. 

Surrounded by mountains fit only for logging and  some very nice Cheviot sheep with their lambs and a few hornies basking in the sunshine.

We did our handover of the puppy with proper social distancing  over the garden wall and soon were on our way home.

I had packed up egg sandwiches and some ham and mustard ones and of course some chocolate. I had forgotten to make Jack a flask of tea well I only drink water so thought that was enough, hey ho it was wet so he had to wait until he got home .

It isn't every day you can enjoy your lunch at the side of the River Tweed. It wasn't with a picnic table and tartan rug to sit on . It was a quick bite to eat sat on the tail gate of a dusty pickup  and then we were on our way. I  couldn't resist and did venture down to look for a salmon ..wishing I had taken my rod..  The water was crystal clear. Then we were on the road again as I scanned the water as we travelled I thought I saw bubbles and one jumping in the water. Jack deflated me as he was nearer the water and could see it wasn't a very large salmon but a duck having a good old splash in the river.

Jack always says he is only happy when he can see the White Horse of Kilburn on the hillside and today we were both relieved to see it and get back into the safety of our own surroundings. 

St George's Day post dedicated to the late Peter Caselli

With love and  thanks to the late Peter Caselli's wife Margaret.

This day 23rd April 2020 ... marks again St George's Day ..the 2nd birthday of a little Prince Louis of Cambridge - a distance relative, the birth of George Gray grandson of dear friends Katrina and Derek Gray of The Wold Cottage and the day when you go hunting for St George's Mushrooms.

St George's Mushroom were brought to our notice many years ago ,probably 50 plus years ago by our dear Italian butcher Friend, Peter Caselli.  My Dad's friendship begin with Peter in their mutual love for ornamental pheasants when they used to go to meetings at Harewood House.
Peter and his family soon became friends with our family and so it has continued even 25 years after Peter's  far to early passing. We can only hope he has joined forces with with his fore elders  up there in Heaven and they go mushroom hunting together.

Peter made flavoured sausages before anyone else had even thought of them in England flavouring them with the wild herbs. He foraged from the hillsides of his beloved Italy where his family still live in mountains filled with flowers and herbs. His brothers making the famous cheeses.

Peter taught me ...no need to buy lettuce, Princess ...use dandelion leaves. His meat was the best. Hanging it for weeks rather than days and always cooking it with extra bones to act as a rack underneath. His dressings sublime. It was Peter who taught me the Bella Vita in cooking ...to make me love to cook for others , to have tables laden with food, to tempt people to rub their bellies to make room, to  be able to eat just un altro boccone - another mouthful . So even though I knew the land was too dry  to find the mushrooms today where we had first found them together when I was very young I went on my yearly pilgrimage. Margaret telephoned my Dad and that was our day . And now Margaret will correct my spelling

ti salutiamo dalla nostra famiglia alla tua con tanto amore viva l'amicizia Lupton / Caselli

Tree down

This morning we woke to find a tree down in our garden. Now this is no ordinary tree not even an ordinary pear tree. We have lost bits of it over the years and understood it to be around 300 years old. Some kind people who were related to the people who owned this house in the 1700 showed us the deeds  and also some more paperwork which had written down they had planted a pear tree here at that time .

It never did have nice juicy pears on like the one my dad has at the farm, but little round bullet objects

and not many of those too.
However it always had some nice blossom on each year and like the Aga was part of the family .. well the garden.
 Sadly this morning Jack found it had tumbled over.  And on to one of our garden tables which is looking very sad at the moment. As Jack is no joiner I think I will have to try to mend it myself or find someone who will repair it for me as I am sure it is repairable and to be honest I dont think it needs to be put on the bonfire just bodged a bit and we can always say well it was the pear tree that did that.....
So as much as we have space and garden and sunshine somedays it was a sad day . Here are two photos one of the last time we will take photo of the tree and another when it stood above the resting the garden.
I dont think I want to burn it ,I think we will find a place for it somewhere so it can rest in peace and even this morning a blackbird was sat on it and I think it felt it had found a new perch.
It has watched over many parties including Nicholas' christening, my 40th, Jacks Heinz [57] and latterly my Dads 97th. It has seen everyone who has come and gone over the centuries . Seen the grandchildren and  4 generations of us together. Guarded the house. Heard us laugh and watched us eat.  If only that tree could have talked. RIP dear Dear Tree

Adding bee keeping to my skills

What a B day .... I started off enjoying my bees .Looked after them like children, tucked them up in bed ...well their hive in Autumn. Fought off the wasps and vermin that tried to eat their supply. In Winter fed them and even on Boxing Day would go with candy to feed them . Dont laugh it was true. I have gone up trees and into some of the most precarious places to retrieve a swarm.
Then I got stung and again and again and 3 years ago ended up at the hospital with sepsis  . It was getting too regularly an occurrence. For some reason they like me or not .
So as it is Jack who eats the honey and I dont really like the taste of it he said he would help cant be too much to do ... He has soon got fed up with these time consuming little creatures and what really did it for him he got stung on the chin and what a mess he was.
So it was a joint effort . In my bee hey days not too long ago I had over a dozen hives .The trouble is you have to go into the hives on a hot day when they are all flying to see what is going on and even though I wear a full suit I wear extra clothes underneath as the suits these days are so thin they can sting straight through.Wellington so they dont get up my trouser legs and long thick leather gloves . So I feel I am in a walking sauna and when you lift a box full of honey at a back breaking angle you are looking at probably 3 stone in weight.
Anyway we have 2 hives now .And here you will see them busy and buzzing and there is Jack walking down the path he has had enough of them .So when you dip your knife or spoon  into that honey jar just think of how labour intensive it is .

Honey bees must gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey. One bee would therefore have to fly around 90,000 miles - three times around the globe - to make one pound of honey. The average honey bee will actually make only one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

Sunday would be Sunday without ..

Yorkshire Puddings.
The original purpose of serving the batter pudding was not as part of a main meal, in the way that it’s served with traditional roast dinners now, but instead served before, with gravy, as an appetiser course. This is because, when meat was expensive the Yorkshire pudding could act to fill the consumer, meeting the appetites of working men and allowing the meat to stretch further: “Them ‘at eats t’most pudding gets t’most meat”, as the saying goes.

For those of you who are not familiar with Yorkshire Puddings Elaine Lemm, a local lass and columnist, has written a book  just on Yorkshire `Puddings. I have often bought it to give it to friends in different parts of the world.  

My granddaughters have had Yorkshire pudding matches to see who can eat the most . We used to have fun as I would let them have another and another when their Daddy wasn't looking   as he felt they should fill up with meat and vegetables. We always have Yorkshire Puddings as a starter course. 
One of my little treasures say GranAnna =that is me , makes the best Yorkshire puddings in the world.
I think Marthas record is seven but she will probably say eight  . .They are all good little trenchers but have their own ideas of what they like best. Martha likes raw carrot and prefers fruit to sweets, Rubi when she was very small amazed us by loving olives and Emmy likes quite plain things .Her potatoes left in pieces with butter rather than mashed.

Jack likes gravy with his Yorkshire puddings while I dont really like gravy and when my uncle was living we both used to have our Yorkshire puddings with treacle..well golden syrup .Yes and that was to begin with and we never washed our plates before stacking it up with roast beef and vegetables .Maybe this was the sweet and savoury which is a Yorkshire things.

We have Christmas cake with cheese, apple pie with cheese . And Jacks Dad would say either of these was like a kiss without a squeeze if there was no cheese served . And it needs to be Wensleydale for the ultimate effect.
When Lockdown is lifted and guests are coming again ,a nice ride into the Dales to Wensleydale Creamery is recommended. It would be classed as Micky Mouses's favourite destination with eye watering displays.

of cheeses and to suit all palates as long as you like cheese even Cheese with Champagne