Monday 21 March 2016

A valley walk and some baking


OK - I am a failure at Hot X Buns, but these are Hot X Apple Scones (without the X, obviously!), and glazed with ginger syrup from a jar of preserved ginger.  They are AMAZING.  My husband ATE TWO for his lunch.  He NEVER eats my baking . . .  I had to be revived with smelling salts!


I hope you can read the recipe.  Shout out if not, and I'll type it up.  Many thanks to the Waitrose Spring Harvest Cookbook 2016 from which is it taken.


These bought a smile to my face on a walk up by the river yesterday.  The first Wind Anemones of the season.


Now that the river has dropped, you can see a tree which has been there a couple of years now has snagged some more branches brought down by a winter spate.  A bit too difficult to get at with a chainsaw but there's a branch on the bank which might do.


Our favourite view upstream.


A lovely wild daffodil growing by the ruins of the old river-side cottage.


You can barely see what is left of this little one room cottage.  A char lady lived here in Victorian times.


Mollyblobs (wild Marsh Marigold) growing in a damp spot in alder carr woodland beside the lane.





The remains of the more substantial cottage opposite the tiny river-side one.  Legend has it that earlier last century the encumbants of each cottage - I think they had each lost their partner - married.  A practical arrangement, but let's hope it was for love.




A piece of old farm machinery now has a tree growing through and around it. The cottage sits in a good acre of land, but now it's totally overgrown with trees.


Saxifraga oppositifolia (Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage) which abounds on damp ground hereabouts.

More tomorrow - off out the door shortly.

15 comments:

  1. Wow they look delicious. You have me drooling. Will have to look out for that recipe. Might pop in tomorrow. Have to go to Wilkinsons today for some storage boxes. Hope you enjoy your day. Tricia xx

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  2. scones look good, I had a bit of baking session yesterday, I love finding old ruins all overgrown and being reclaimed by nature :-)

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    1. This is definitely a recipe for my personal favourites recipe book. Plenty of old ruins in Wales. People just left and went to the towns for work when times were hard in the past.

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  3. Scones look amazing! Thank you for the lovely photos.x

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  4. Beautiful photos as always and those scones look mighty tasty! x

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    1. Glad you like the photos and the scones are amazing.

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  5. Should have added that the window frames and farm vehicle wheel would be might welcome in our house for re-purposing!

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    1. I think they are definitely hardwood frames, as that has been a ruin since the 1950s I think. The farm vehicle wheel has a pair and a bar in the middle (plus tree!)

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  6. I love the name 'mollyblobs' BB. We always called them 'waterblobs' when we were young. They are my favourite of all the spring flowers to watch for - ours are just out.

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    1. Gld yours are flowering now. I have several plants around my wildlife pond. Such a burst of colour.

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  7. Lovely photos from your walk and it is great to see more and more wild flowers starting to appear. The scones look delicious. Think I may well try those!

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    1. Things are still emerging at different rates, wild flower wise, depending on which areas get the sun. A sudden explosion of Celendines this last week although odd plants have been in flower since the end of January.

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  8. What stunning photos, I love anything like that. It feels like I'm on an adventure as a kid again! I am going to try your hot x scones at the weekend, thanks for sharing

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    1. Welcome Croods. I am just a grown up version of the den-maker and explorer I was as a kid! I hope you enjoy those scones.

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