West Dean: Part II

Whilst at West Dean we decided to do the circular Parkland Walk.  It is about two and half miles long and takes one through the estate and St Roche's Arboretum.  

Above is the River Lavant.  Or rather, it is where the River Lavant should be if we weren't in the grip of a drought.

This hedge would have been laid in last Winter, when the sap was down. 

Amazingly this Beech tree was still alive, despite being broken nearly in two and was ready to burst into leaf.  I suppose it is the same principle as the hedge-laying?

 

 The views would have been even better if it hadn't been such an overcast day.

 

At the end of the walk was the lure of the Gardens Restaurant

 

and of course, a cream tea.

 

Stuffed Mushrooms

The other weekend I did something that I rarely do - I bought ready made dinner.  The open-the-packet and bung-it-on-a-baking-tray sort of dinner:  Southern Fried Chicken, acceptable, but pre-prepared potatoes?  Actually, the potatoes didn't even require the baking tray as they came ready to cook in their own aluminium foil dish.  They had special name, but essentially were just rolled in oil, rosemary and parmesan. Really, what was I thinking?

To redeem myself, I made stuffed mushrooms to go with.

 

The stuffing was a couple of slices of brown bread, blitzed with coriander (of course!) to which was added chopped fresh tomatoes, grated cheddar and parmesan.

After 20 minutes in a hot oven they were ready.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished article but we will certainly be having them again.  Not least because I made too much stuffing and it is now in the freezer, but also because they were so delicious.

Can't say the same about the rest of the meal, though!

West Dean: Part I

Over the Easter holidays, I took the children to West Dean Gardens.  I hadn't visited West Dean for at least 15 years - I can remember having lunch there with my mum, but it was before my first daughter was born - some 15 years ago!

Our elder daughter brought along her BFF and BFF's mother - who also happens to be a good friend of mine.  The weather for the first week of the holiday had been pretty good except the day we chose to go.  The clouds blew over and a cold wind was blowing.  Still, at least it wasn't raining.

The gardens were delightful. Hellebore's were everywhere.  They are one of my favourites. I love the way they bow their heads with shyness, but I have had no luck growing them in my hot, dry little garden. 

 

 Dwarf Daffodils and Snake's Head Fritillaries (sorry, no photo) were abundant.

The heavy limbs of  this tree had weighted themselves back into the ground and were sprouting up again in their own right.

 

West Dean boasts a 300 foot pergola.  It was designed by Harold Peto towards the end of the 19th century.  It has recently been restored to it's original design and is planted with Honeysuckle and Roses.

 

Although the plants are not yet in leaf or flower, they still look beautiful

with each stem either spiralled or latticed around the uprights.

   

I am looking forward to going back to see it all in bloom.  The smell must be amazing.

To one side of the pergola there is a little summer house, with a thatched roof.  The floor was made of cut logs, set into the earth.  I would love to do something like this in my garden .....

 

or maybe this ....

Tiramisu

We had a family meal at my brother's house on Easter Sunday.  He always dishes up a fantastic main course, and the rest of us bring along various puddings.  I made a Ginger & Orange Cake (recipe to follow), our Mum made little oat biscuits AND a fruit cake and our sister brought along an enormous panettone.  Even though we made big in-roads into the panettone, there was loads left and we shared it out to take home. 

A tiramisu was called for.  I put a layer of sliced sponge into a large serving dish and drizzled black coffee over it (but left out the rum as I thought the children might not like it).

Next, I separated two eggs.  Sugar was beaten into the yolks and then mixed into 350g of mascapone cheese.  The egg whites were whisked until soft peaks and folded into the cheese mixture.  A layer of this was spread over the sponge.

 

Although the house was full of chocolate in the form of Easter Eggs, the girls wouldn't donate one for the tiramisu!  I was forced to sacrifice my own Chocolate Orange.  I grated a few segments and sprinkled the shavings over the eggy-cheesy-mousse.  Then repeated with a second layer,

 

It was a very big tiramisu: the four of us ate just a quarter of it for pudding that evening.

I ate the rest, all on my own, over the next few days .....

well it was my Chocolate Orange after all.

Bathroom - after

Do you like our choice of floor covering?

 

I have to admit, I was having second thoughts that it might be a bit bold for a small Victorian terraced house - but I LOVE it. I contemplated spending the evening in the bathroom, just because it is now the nicest room in our house!

Ta - dah!

 

We couldn't pick the paint colour until we saw what the room looked like with the new flooring laid, so on Saturday I rushed out early, with a sample of vinyl and chose a colour called 'perfectly taupe'.

 

The little book shelf was knocking about at home anyway.  It was a project that I started before we even moved into this house and was partially stripped - look awful actually - but I kept telling my husband it would look beautiful when finished. We painted it with same paint as the walls and I think it fits in perfectly.

 

This is a shelf that my husband made years ago, from some old floorboards. 

 

The accessories we already had match exactly.

 

I have become obsessive about sweeping the floor and polishing the taps - it won't last.

Bathroom - before

First, I must apologise for the quality of the photos.  They were taken in a hurry before the old bathroom disappeared for ever.  We have had plans to revamp the bathroom ever since we bought our house, so it has only taken us 18 years to finally put our plans into action.  The problem  being, it had been recently refitted before we moved in, so although it was not to our taste we couldn't really justify ripping it out and more to the point, we couldn't afford it anyway.

On the plus side, it was a white suite, but on the other hand,  I really, really loathed the scalloped edges and did I mention the gold taps? I guess they were of their time. 

The room is quite a decent size, and would probably have started life as a bedroom  The previous owners had installed a corner bath - but it didn't fit right into the corner of the room, so a lot of space was wasted.  It also took FOREVER to fill up.  Not very eco-friendly in these water-shortage times.

The tiles needed to come off before the new suite could be fitted.  What we didn't factor in was the likelihood that the plaster would come away with the tiles .....

Emergency plastering was required. We called a friend who gave up his weekend without a second thought.  Big thanks to Mr B. 

The new suite went in without a hitch, and my husband re-tiled.  This was about 3 months ago.  Since then we have been trying to decide what to put on the floor.  I brought home samples and left then in the bathroom.  I tried to like them, but they were so tame.  We went back to the shop and asked to see more samples.  At the very first one we saw, both my husband and I said 'that's the one'.

It is being put down now as I type.  

The big reveal will be tomorrow ............

Dave 2

My husband has recently discovered the delights of shopping.  Usually he makes his purchases online, via Amazon or Ebay, so occasionally it is inevitable that one ends up with something that bears no resemblance to the picture/is a good idea in principle only/is a complete waste of money.

This purchase was made in person - so there is no excuse. 

When our neighbours saw it being man-handled into the back garden they thought that my husband was just bringing his work home with him again.

 I would have to say that a life-sized resin sheep would not be top of my shopping list, but he would argue that petrol blue shoes would not be top of his....

What is it's purpose? 

In his line of work, you would think that he sees enough of the real thing.

We have named it 'Dave 2'.  The pixies move it around the garden, so that when we get up in the morning it has moved to a new spot.  It has been quite a talking point with the neighbours! 

Bombylius Major

Also known as the large bee fly.

I don't recall ever seeing these before but this week I have seen them for three days in a row.  It must be the early sunny weather we are all enjoying at the moment.  This one was kind enough to be sitting on a peg and it waited patiently whilst I ran inside to get my camera.

 

They are mimics and resemble a small bumble bee. The adult flies look furry, and have a long tongue to enable them to retrieve nectar whilst hovering beside flowers

 

In some parts of Britain they are know as 'beewhals', due to their lengthy proboscises.