Norfolk 2015

I may not have mentioned it before but my husband is a birdwatcher and now also works for the RSPB resulting in many of our family days being outdoors with his binoculars making an appearance.  I love being outdoors and so it's a happy day all round especially if it's a national trust site which often involves a nature trail or treasure hunt and play area for the kiddies.

On our way to Norfolk, we took a slight detour and went to Wicken Fen which is a marshlands site with beautiful yellow tall grass and easy paths for the pram. (They also have rare hen harriers so happy hubby too).  We had a few hours walking round the site, pausing for photo's by the wind turbines and then visiting the visitor centre where there was colouring in and crafts for children.

On the Sunday we visited Sherringham park which boasts tall beautiful trees creating a tranquil backdrop for a nature trail.

I also saw the first snowdrops of the season here which blanketed the undergrowth reminiscent of the winter scenes of Narnia.

We visited the grand Blickling Estate on a grey day with drizzle and an out of bounds play area. There was, however, plenty to see indoors with many rooms open to the public which transported me to a typical Downton scene.

There were also trees to climb outdoors and nooks and crannies to explore and I kindly let the children accompany me on my ventures.

Kings Lynn museum had a 'carousel and candyfloss' exhibition on so I left my husband to his feathery friends and ventured very early to this little town. Close to the tourist office were these old buoys and compass.

Later we returned to this spot and watched the sun set.

I read a good review about a farm close to where we staying called church farm and we were certainly not disappointed. There was a good selection of animals for the children to see, pet, and feed.

I personally loved the pigs and piglets! 

There was also loads of areas for the children to play outdoors with tractors, embedded trampolines and play apparatus. Outdoors had a covered picnic area although there was also an indoor cafe with an indoor play barn.

Towards the end of our week we also visited Hunstanton beach for a windy picnic and some kite flying. 

Thus endeth our Norfolk holiday!

Things to do near Malvern

I did a list of things to do when I lived in Cheshire but haven't done one since living in the West Midlands so here it is. I will transfer this post onto the 'what's going on' tab and update it as I hear about upcoming things. It isn't comprehensive but covers the places I gravitate towards so family friendly and or a lil bit crafty. These are one off events but I'll also compile a list of the regular activities taking place at a later date.

Friday 22 May: Avon Meadows Pershore Wildlife Extravaganza. 5am - midnight

Saturday 23 May: Vintage & retro fair - Abbey Road 10-4.

Saturday 23 May: Croome Estate- bugs trail.

Sunday 24 May: Croome Estate- Birds of prey

Sunday 24 May: Malvern munch food walk; 7 mile walk with local food and drink served along the way with live music at stops along the walk. £20 per adult.

      

Sunday 24-Monday 25 May: Vintage Family fun at Eastnor Castle 11- 5:30. £26.50 family ticket

Monday 25 May: Croome Estate - Bushcraft

Monday 25 May: Gorgeous Georgians at Hartlebury Museum 11-5pm

Monday 25 May: Malvern food festival- Great Malvern church street and Littleton wells.

Tuesday 26 May: Wildlife of Spetchley Gardens. 2-4pm £5 per child

Tuesday 26- Friday 29 May: Georgian themed craft activities £2 per child (additional fee to entry).

Wednesday 27 May: Wild about Mammals, Lower Smite Farm. 2-4 pm, £3.50 per child ( run through Worcestershire wildlife trust).

Thursday 28 May: Elgar Birthplace Museum-Worcestershire wildlife trust are hosting a creature hunt, games and activities.

Thursday 28 May: 11-1pm Messy Church at Somers Park.

Friday 29-Sunday 31 May: Jinney ring blues and beer festival.

Friday 29- Saturday 30 May: Spring Festival Market 10- 5

Friday 29 May: Sheelanagig at the Cube, Malvern. 8pm doors open £10

Saturday 30 May: 1940's weekend at Banbury 

Sunday 31 May: Family fun day at the Cube.

Monday 1June: Medieval herbs display at Brockhampton Estate 11-4pm.

Saturday 6 June: Madresfield court fete. £5 entry for adults, children are free.

Saturday 6 June: Book fair at Christ Church Avenue Rd, Malvern. 10-2pm.

Sunday 7 June: Croome' s Summer market 10-5

This was originally a longer post but I have removed the events after this point but they are still on the 'Upcoming crafty and family event in Worcestershire' page.  I have attached links below to some of my favourite places to go to that have regular events on all the time.

Worcester-Woods-Country-Park

The Cob House, Martley

National Trust events 

1st attempt at paella

I was recently out with some lovely ladies celebrating a friend's birthday and I ordered a risotto. My friend remarked how she never orders it as it's so easy to do at home. I am a bit like that with meatballs and cottage pie but admitted I had never attempted risotto or paella. She encouraged me to try since it's so easy so I did! 

This is the link to the recipe I adapted.

mongoliankitchen.com/salmon-paella

Ingredients

1 white onion

1 red pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1 knob of butter

2 salmon steaks

100g paella rice

Sliced salami

50g bacon lardons

Turmeric

Paprika

Garlic

1/2 pint chicken stock

Dash Limoncello

Handful of Peas

Handful of sweet corn

2 tbsp pureed tomatoes

Method

1. Add oil to frying pan and add chopped onions. Fry until soft and then add chopped red pepper. Add garlic and heat for 5 mins.

2. Make up 1/2 pint of chicken stock and stir in paprika, turmeric, extra garlic and Limoncello.

3. Add the rice to pan with onions and peppers. Stir in tomatoe puree and leave for 2 minutes.

4. Meanwhile melt knob of butter in a 2nd pan. Add bacon lardons and salami to butter.

5. Add 3 ladles of stock to onions and rice and allow to simmer. Repeat as all moisture is absorbed (roughly every 5 mins).

6. Remove skin from salmon steaks and chop into chunks. Add to 2nd pan and cover.

7. Add peas and sweet corn to rice and add more stock. 

8. When salmon is cooked, stir in the salmon, bacon and salami into rice with the remainder of the stock.

9. Chop fresh parsley and add to finish and serve.

it's been 9 months....

I am so ashamed that it has been 9 months since I last wrote on my blog. I do have valid reasons but I apologise for those of you have been so faithful in following me and sharing my posts on social media. I hope to resume my accounts now that life is more settled.
Why the delay? In October we moved house. I know I gave no notice but that was because it all happepned so fast! We moved out of the flat because we were unhappy with the damp and it had storage heaters which are not ideal with children and copious amounts of washing to dry. We were offered another house from friends and so handed in our notice on the flat but then the house fell through and we were facing homelessness. My husband was in between finishing his degree and gaining work so we couldn't find a landlord that would have us so we approached social housing and were awarded a house with them. So we moved in October but it was all a shell so we have had too decorate, fit carpet etc. We're still not finished but a home isn't made overnight. I hope to include accounts and pictures of our progress including the garden which is our current project. Shortly after moving, my darling son was sick on my open laptop :( alas it will not work and so I lost most of my recent pictures and the easy access to an available computer to update this blog. Following Christmas (it pained me not to blog during my favourite period) we had several bouts of sickness but we improved in time for a family holiday to Norfolk during half term. I managed to visit several more National Trust sites and began some crafty projects for the house.

 This was a cardboard reindeer I decided to make after some pinspiration.

 I decided to cover all of it in a patch work effect using pattend paper from Wilko.

 I then attached it to a wicker oval wreath and finished it off with ribbons and it took pride of place in the kitchen tying in the other grey and red Christmas decorations.

 We visited Clent Hills which isn't far from us. It's a National Trust site and has fantastic views across Worcestershire.

 Kids and trees-yes I put them up to it without any complaints from them.

 We also went to Croome estate over Easter and did their egg trail. It was a blustery day but none of us minded.


March was eventful. I managed to pick up a dangerous organism in water which gave me a nasty bug resulting in 4 days in hospital on a drip and weightloss exceeding a stone. I'm recovered now but Easter passed with me mostly in bed still weakened from the infection and now I find myself in May with a 2 year old. How is my baby boy an active, noisy, chatty and demanding tot! My 4 year old has chicken pox and I suppose this is proof life is just busy when you have kiddies. So 9months has passed very quickly. I have missed out some of the lovely things I have done like going to a pride and prejudice re-enactment in the grounds of Brockhampton Estate, seeing 'Rebecca' at the theatre, making my first set of curtains, putting up my first shelves and curtain poles. My phone has captured some of these momentous achievements and events but the picture quality isn't the same standard as my Cannon unfortunately so I again apologise for blogging faux pas.

These pictures were taken at the countrytastic event at the 3 counties showground. There is so much for the kids to do here from seeing animals, doing crafts, tractor rides, face painting, animal and falconry displays, sawdust play areas with miniature tractors and circus skills.

These pictures were taken at the stitch and craft show also at the 3 counties showground. Lydia was trying her hand at block printing here and I admit I am hoping to buy a collection of blocks myself.

I am working on the above quilt for Michael using material I got from the stitch show and utilising the big shot to cut perfect squares using my quilting dies.

This was a cushion I made for my friend who loves ducks. It was supposed to have been a Christmas present but I didn't get it finished in time so it was a birthday gift instead.

So this was a bit of a catch up on missed posts over the last 9 months. I will post again soon with an account of our Norfolk adventure. 

Fruit picking and subsequent baking

I only have one memory of fruit picking as a child and that was with my Aunty in South Wales.  We picked strawberries, blackberries and raspberries growing wild in fields near to her house.  We went to Ireland quite a lot in holidays where I only remember picking apples from another aunty's garden and so I can't say that this very British past time reminds me of my childhood.  However, this was the first time we took our children and I hope it will become a Summer tradition we will maintain.

For our first foray into the world of fruit picking, we went to a Fruit farm and collected 2 varieties of plums; Jubilee and Victoria.

We discovered (through tasting) that the Victoria plums were sweeter and collected more of those.

It really is an activity for all the family even Michael was able to help with the tasting and Daddy was in charge of quality assurance.  The girls were chief pickers although towards the end, the bag was very heavy!
 The picking would be nothing without the eating and the question suddenly arose of how on earth can we eat 1kg of plums?!  I haven't made much pastry or many pies before but I attempted a short crust pastry recipe using some blackberries I picked which grow wild at the back of our flat (I suppose it wasn't our first fruit picking outing if we count last years blackberry picking but that did seem like quite a minor introduction).  I didn't roll the pastry thin enough on the bottom and so didn't have enough for the lattice on the top.

 But when served with ice cream , it really didn't matter!



My next endeavour was much more successful although the cake did dip in the middle.  I found a recipe for a plum sponge which used 4 eggs- in hindsight, I think I will use a different one with only 2 eggs as this took 1 hour 20 mins to fully bake.  It was however, sooooo good!

Finally, another first for me, I made jam and chutney!  I followed the recipe's closely for both and they seem to be the right consistency and colour.  The whole endeavour took up a lot of time last week as each jam/ chutney require lots of peeling/ de-stoning, chopping, stirring and cooling etc.  But first tastes are very good and it's a start on my Christmas presents.

 I suppose it may not be seen as traditional crafts but definitely new to me and certainly in the home-making tradition which is what this blog is also all about :D.