Well what a two weeks we've had!

I've just read this through and I think I need to say 'Are you sitting comfortably? then I'll begin'

I can't believe that it was just 2 weeks ago that we were sitting outside the caravan having an evening drink and talking about our lovely afternoon in Highgrove House gardens. But just before I say a little about that, I must tell you a little about the earlier part of the day. We had arrived near Tetbury the night before so choose to spend a couple of hours there before Highgrove. I really like Tetbury although I've not been that often but my Father's family came from there so there's something special about it for me. I was absolutely delighted to find when we had parked the car we were at The Chipping.

 This was because I thought I remembered my Dad talking about his father living in The Chipping as a child, so which house or was I wrong? - well you'll have to wait for that answer. We had lunch at The Blue Zucchini, a bistro we had eaten at before - it was so lovely and warm that we sat in the courtyard

 and after we had enough time to wander around Tetbury going down to the old station and back up Chipping Steps

Then it was time to go to Highgrove.We had a lovely tour round the gardens but if any of you have been you'll know that you are not allowed to take photographs and there were certainly many CCTV cameras around to check you weren't doing that. The visit was a gift from David's brother and wife to us for our 60th birthdays along with a cream tea there and our caravan site fees - what a lovely present. The cream tea was just what was needed after a 2 hour walk around and very enjoyable.

We left the Cotswolds the next day to go to Porthcawl to visit my lovely Aunty Dorothy (my Dad's sister). Before we went to see her we had a long walk on the beach at Rest Bay and into town and round the harbour.

We just couldn't believe the gorgeous weather. Off to my Aunt's where there was much catching up of news and later in the evening talk of family history. Aunty Dorothy said that she was sure that the family hadn't lived in The Chipping but had called the Rotherham house after it because it was a prominent square in Tetbury (rather disappointing). We left Porthcawl the next morning to go further into Wales - to the Gower, Oxwich Bay to be exact and here is the view from our caravan.

Stunning! 

Once we had got settled and had lunch we walked down through the woods to the beach

How gorgeous is that? There were so many likenesses to the Gironde in France and as you can see the sun was shining, oh why had I not put in a swimsuit?

A little crocheting was in order when we got back along with a G&T

The following day we woke to more blue skies and sunshine so went to Port Eynon which again was lovely.

and from there to Worm Head where we walked along the cliff path to get to it, looking down at Rhossili Beach on the way.

 Finally we reached Worms Head, where a rescue was taking place - 3 lads cut off by the tide, a usual occurrence we understand.

Another lovely day. Our last day we choose to go to Whiteford beach, a 2 mile long sandy beach backed with sand dunes and with the Whiteford lighthouse at the end of it.

and some very large jelly fish!

That ended our trip to the Gower but not the end of our holiday as we were off to a site near Barry where we could not only go down to Barry Island but also have a city day in Cardiff. We still had sun when we arrived so after a quick lunch we went down to Barry Island.

and of course you can't go there without visiting 'Nessa's slots' and 'Marco's cafe' made famous by Gavin and Stacey

We decided to take the car up to the far end of the bay and walk along the cliffs - what a different view you get

We loved the houses, old and new up there

The following day, Thursday I think it was, we went into Cardiff, parking a little way out and walking in passed the stadium where a couple of years ago we had watched Wales play rugby.

We soon came to the centre via some of the arcades

and the castle

We visited my favourite kitchen shop where they had this display just inside the door. How I wish someone would give me £1,000 to spend in there!!

That was our last day in Wales and we had another engagement to go to this time in Bradford on Avon. We were staying at Merkins farm, a brilliant little caravan and camping site with a busy cafe on site.

I came across it as I was reading Kate's blog from Just Pootling. A wonderful find, and in fact Kate had called in as she was passing and we just missed her having popped out to get some wine, but there on the step were flowers, how lovely was that?
The reason we had gone there was not only to see our lovely friends the Angels and Jan (do you remember then from Cornwall) but it was a good mid way place between Cornwall and Yorkshire for the children to surprise David for his 60th birthday. I've never told so many white lies and hidden so much stuff in the caravan. Elanor (Mrs Angel) was in on it as was Jan her Mum, and so between us we had managed to keep David at the van on the Saturday morning whilst the children congregated at the local pub and then drove onto the site together to surprise him.

 David's face was a picture when he first saw Charlotte's car and then Becky and Tom's. Unfortunately Jonathan had had his tonsils out earlier in the week and was just not up to being with us.

 Becky had a gift for Charlotte

It was a string of bunting asking her to be a bridesmaid!! There was a huge amount of wedding talk but to give the future grooms some restbite I took the girls the bridal shop in Bradford on Avon to try on dresses. We then went to collect the men from the pub crawl they seem to have been on!
Once back it was all hands on deck to get ready for the party in the evening

and then more surprises for David as unexpected guests turned up. We fed and watered 15 in all.

and here are the birthday boys, as not only was it David's 60th but also Paul (Mr Angel) was having a significant birthday in a few days time.

What a truely wonderful night.

Then the clearing up the next morning - we certainly contributed to a very full bottle re-cycling bin on the site!

 but they were all rewarded with a 'full English' in the cafe

All too soon it was time for them to go home to Yorkshire and Cornwall but we have a weekend full of memories and lots of photographs of the holiday to remember it by.

Extreme jam making - well it is for me!

This last week has been about work and jam making. I'm not going to talk about work but I'll share my pictures and recipes for jam making. It all started when we were in Richmond , North Yorkshire over the bank holiday weekend and went to the market on the Saturday. I was delighted to see they were selling damsons, so bought 1kg to make some jam. It's years since I made damson jam so had to search for a recipe but found one in 'The complete book of home preserving' by Mary Norwak ( a book I had brought back from Ireland last summer)

 Here it is:-

1.5kg damsons
375ml water
1.50kg jam sugar

Wash the damsons, simmer in water till soft, removing the stones when they rise ( the worst part!)

stir in sugar over low heat until dissolved then boil till it reaches setting point.

Pour into sterilised jars and seal. All very straight forward

The second lot of jam came about because we were looking after some friend's dog, so plenty of walks in the woods were taking place. Each time David took Polly he returned with blackberries - loads of them! I returned to Mary Norwak again for a recipe and again it was very straight forward.

3kg blackberries

125ml water

4 tsp lemon juice

3kg jam sugar

The method is exactly the same as for the damson jam

The third jam is one of my favourites - courgette and ginger. I have grown courgettes again this year with the main purpose of using them for jam. Here I turn to Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall for my recipe, you can find it here

Again it's straight forward but does take time to prepare the courgettes

Something that I did discover whilst shopping for jam sugar is that Morrisons were doing sachets of pectin (£1-45 for 3 sachets) which you just added to granulated sugar. This works out at least 50p less that buying jam sugar which is usually £1-99 kg. It worked really well and I had no trouble with the set. Well that was to be the end of the jam making until David came back with another kg of blackberries yesterday, so I made another batch before breakfast and that REALLY is the end as I need to pack the caravan ready for our trip down south. I am really looking forward to it as we were given a tour round Highgrove House gardens as a joint 60th birthday present which we are doing on Friday. After the Cotswolds we're going to Wales, first to the Gower, then back to Cardiff and finally back to England to Bradford on Avon. I know I'll have lots to tell you about when we get back so till then Bye ......