Well, kinda pesto……. there is no garlic, and no basil, and not necessarily pine nuts, but there is ramsons, any nuts, and olive oil… and cheese if you want it,…
Who doesn’t love a Herdy. They are one, if not “the” most resilient breeds of sheep. None of this namby pamby lambing in a shed for these ladies. Outside on the…
I cannot belive that we are half way through May, how did that happen. And so far this year I have not posted a picture of bluebells; one of the…
This is great with strawberries and ice cream, or as a filling to a cake, or meringues. Easy to make, as ever, but great. At this time of year the…
At this time of year, I am inundated with eggs, luckily I do have avenues to sell them. Which as such allows me to keep more chickens than I really…
Even though we are out of the Easter holiday season it is still really busy here, so I decided to head out for a walk away from the madding crowds,…
And a fake tree at that!! Well that is where Mr & Mrs Robin have made their nest this year. The not so better other half was tasked with putting…
Out and about at last!!! Well I have had a busy few weeks, helping with a brewery, and in the midst of it all Ellie came into season, so I…
It is a nice easy walk, flat literally all the way, which is not unsurprising as it follows the lake shore! The drive is fantastic going over Kirkstone Pass to…
What a bore, and a delay, and how to make someone grumpy………….. Well…… living in the Lake District I really cannot complain when I am struck in traffic, or diverted, as…
Who doesn’t like choc chip cookies? As always these are easy to make, and I am pretending to be healthy, ha ha. Instead of using plain flour I have swopped…
This is yummy and as ever easy, and freezable, IF you don’t eat it all! It is also great warmed up with ice cream for a fab pudding. It also…
I know, I know……… it’s Gummers How. One of the best known and accesable view points in the Lake District. Without too much effort you can get fantastic views over…
and I am not overly sorry, January is always rubbish, but the February often joins in with lots of wet and windy weather, and this February has not disappointed, (if…
Now lets hope GCHQ don’t get too giddy, we are not making a real bomb, just a chocolate ice cream version… If only all bombs were the same…… Anyway this…
I have made this version with marrow as I have a good stock from picking last autumn, but you can add anything, if you add meat, cut into bite size chunks…
For another year, that is it for pheasant, partridge, duck and snipe. The season ended on Wednesday the 1st February. I don’t shoot, but all the land around me is…
The house out in France, is just outside Bergerac, which is a great wine growing area, it is also known for its prunes. Long story short, a few years ago…
People sometimes ask how I chose the name for my blog. Well I had no idea what I was doing (still don’t really) and had no idea what to call it,…
How much fun can a group of ladies have with some wool and needles. It was a great way to spend a day. I was expecting to enjoy it, but…
A marrow is an overgrown courgette! It is the tough lad out on the veg patch when most things have gone mush for being out past the first frost! They can…
January can be a bit rubbish, and my year has started a bit of a grumpy one, one main issue is that I have been run off my feet at…
First free weekend since before Christmas. And it was sunny, so off for a walk. Just above the village of Windermere is Orrest Head and Elleray Woods. The woods were…
Although after all the festivity, or more.. the unorganized self in getting to Christmas, I have to admit I feel a bit craggy myself. My mum and big sister came to stay…
Nothing to do with Owl, but, pictures of grey green turkey bake does not look too pretty, whilst wise old does!…………. and I was left with the vulture in the fridge,…
Starling murmerations to be exact……….. and they were fantastic. A friend told a friend, who told me of the spectacular event taking place not that far from home, where not…
If you happened to live in Rydal in late Medieval times; and died, and you wanted to be buried you would have to hope that some happy, fit sole would…
made of silver birch…. and a bit of string. Not much space for a tree this year in the conservatory, as there is a bed settee which is going to…
The fennel had been growing in the polytunnel for a few months, and was going wild, the danger is that is seeds everywhere and come next Spring I have a…
Been out for a wonder with a friend and we came back with holly and other greens. The ivy is off the old cottage which in reality is holding the building…
I bought a verbena plant in France for 1 Euro. brought it home and put it in the polytunnel. The leaves can be dried and then pour over boiling water…
We had a few days away last week and we headed off to the North East, Northumberland. It is only a few hours drive and as it doesn’t involve going…
It is a bit early for us here in the south of the Lake District, but, there is not much of it. The top of the fells have a good…
Autumn has been late coming this year, and in fact, is still not at full pelt. The trees are changing colour and are starting to lose their leaves, everything is…
The one thing that is usually agreed… if you own an apple tree, you have more apples than you know what to do with. You freeze some, eat some, give…
There is nothing more autumnal than blackberry and apple pie. I love the fact that I can go out for a walk through the local field and collect ingredients for pudding. And…
I “collected” my damsons from an abandoned orchard, which technically is theft, but, as they were going to rot if not take away, I call it “waste not want not”!…
also known as stealing fruit without permission………… or as I like to call it “waste not want not”. As this time of year there is often more fruit around than…
This is a great way to store plums for the winter. Once cooked and bottles, they need to be stored in the dark so as not to lose their colour,…
There is nothing quite like a free meal, especially when you have exersice to get it. I knew a good place for mushrooming, but I am not confident enough to decide…
This is one of my favourites, I pretend it is healthy as it contains apples and wholemeal flour, I just blank the sugar, but it is a real taste of…
in France!!!! But thanks to an air strike by the French I have been left at home, with my otherhalf already out in France; grumpy is not a strong enough…
I was going to say I am sorry for another courgette recipe, but it is a good one, and there has to be ways to eat courgettes as I have…
If you look at any of my garden or pottager posts there will be a rogue poppy, or two in there. I have no idea where most of them came from,…
This is my favorite summer meal, and one of the easiest, and I make enough to freeze for nasty winter months. It is also a great way of using up…
We went to look at some labrador puppies for my mother in law which the local gamekeeper had. The problem was that in the pen next door were some springer…
I think forest is the word to describe the polytunnel in August. I have had a bit more time to take care of things this month, but it is…
I was down in North Devon last weekend, at my sister in law’s. I was giving her a hand with her vegetable plot Which contained a large amount of rhubarb.…
I have never made shortbread before, I don’t know why, as it really is the easiest thing ever, and tastes great. I was making afternoon tea for my mum and…
The difficulty with going out at the weekends here in the Lake District, is that everybody else has had the same idea… and headed here to the Lakes. Which is…
As the glut of courgettes looms, I am digging though my recipes for ideas. This is a great one, it is easy and quick, and you get to eat a…
Throughout Summer there are country shows on every week in the Lake District. They are often during the week, originally for locals to get together and show their produce and…
As the courgette season is just getting started here in the Lake District, I have been looking up my old recipes as well as looking for some new. This is…
Hmm I hear you cry, nice poppies but not very edible. I know, but I just love them.. I have no idea where most of the varieties I have throughout…
My runner/Aylesbury ducks have grown! Jemima, Liametta and Luck have blossomed. They are now 3 months old, and fully grown, and not quite as cute, but still such fun to…
My attention has not been great in the garden this month, I have been visiting family in York, so plants have had to fend for themselves, which in a polytunnel…
My garden is very much a Spring garden, I have just done a once round to take pictures of what is in flower and there are not too many, it…
I am now nearing the end of July and the Raspberry canes are looking good with fruit ready to pick. So as with most fruit and vegetables, I will have…
Earlier in the week I was invited out on a mushroom hunt. I was not going to turn that one down, I love wild mushrooms but unless I have a…
I find that, fruit or vegetables that grow at the same time, taste well when cooked together. Gooseberries and Elderflower is one, another is gooseberries and strawberries. It gives a…
Yum!! I have seen raspberry and white chocolate scones, but I have lots of wild strawberries so thought I would use them instead, and then added a few extra larger…
There is an obvious lack of swallows this year. The first swallow arrived here on the 15th April, but only a few. From carrying out some research, I am not…
When I was in my early teens, on a Sunday, we would, on occasions, have Elderflower Champagne with our Sunday lunch. And did I feel decadent. It didn’t matter that it is…
It has been a funny old month. We have had a heat wave (for the Lake District), and then rain to knock everything back. But the pottager is looking ok.…
In the garden, with the rain and sunshine we have been having, the Nepeta bed has gone wild, quite literally, but the bees love it. The long bed (my joke…
At last, due to the rain, I had time to potter in the polytunnel and “muck it out”. Removing all the pots no longer needed, trays etc etc. It had…
My recipes are normally seasonal, I put great importance in buying local food, I start with local butchers and end at supermarket and British products. This is not just “buy British”…
Is a small village on the outskirts of York, in the North of England is a village called Dunnington It is known for it’s good weather, and as “the fruit…
No not chicken chicken, but a Fungus called Chicken of the Woods! The reason being that “it tastes like chicken”!! I have the pleasure of having a great old piece of…
This is the first alcoholic drink of the year with home grown ingredients, as the year progresses there will be elderflower champagne (although none alcoholic), ending the year with sloe…
I know I keep saying this, but I have finally dug up the last of my beetroot. I keep finding a few more tucked into corners of the garden. I…
We have not had rain in weeks!! This is so unlike wet and windy cottage here in the Lake District…..We only get the lakes from getting the rain. My chicks…
It has been just 2 weeks since I had to adopt 3 ducklings, and the house will never be the same. They follow me everywhere up and down stairs and…
Well, what a busy week I have had, so busy I have got behind with my blog posts. As well as everything else that is going on in my life…
This is two jars from one cook… Perfect. Firstly I make a rhubarb and ginger compote which can be stored in an airtight container for upto 12 months. I also…
May has been a great month here at Wet and Windy Cottage, we have had little wind and little rain. The lack of rain has been a bit of a…
We are at the beginning of June, the best month in the garden for me. I love the early summer flowers, the fact that everything is green and sprouting into…
May has been a busy month, due to family illness over in York, I have not been as attentive in the garden as I could have been, driving over the…
I was away visiting family last week, I was wanting to make a cake and take it with me, but time got the better of me. So I thought to…
I flew off to Bergerac in France for a few days. We flew Liverpool to Bergerac, an hour and a half flight, to arrive to a sunny Bergerac. We were staying…
I still have lots of kale in the polytunnel, but it is now starting to “run to seed” which means it is overheating and thinking of giving up the ghost. So to…
One of the advantages of living in a cottage in the middle of an Estate is that the gamekeeper has to be nice to you. As such we have a…
This is one of my favorites, but I never seem to make it often enough. I either make a biscuit base, using crushed biscuits of choice (or whatever is in…
I know I go on about wet and windy, well, somethings like the wet, obviously not me, but I am not everyone, or in this case everything. I was moving…
This is easier than it sounds, and tastes sublime. I use less sugar than bought ice cream, and of course there are no preservatives in it, so kinda healthy… There are…
Well, what a month April was, there was not much rain but we went from hot sun… to snow and hail. The horses haven’t know if they were coming or…
This month I got even giddier with the sowing of seeds. For veg, I sowed:- Red Barron Shallots Yellow Moon Shallots Leeks – Blue Green autumn Swiss Chard – Bright…
On the 15th April 1989, 96 Liverpool football supporters went to a football match never to return. Over 27 years later a Jury has found that everything the families and…
I thought my hens eggs where going missing. One day I would collect an egg for each of my girls, which, due to their young age, I should be doing.…
This is the time of year when bluebells start to show and the yellow of daffodils and gorse start to fade as the cool blue carpets appear. I always think of bluebells…
robin eggs hatch
chocolate cake with beetroot
Rhubarb stewed
The shooting season is well and truly over by now, but, as I live in the middle of a large shoot, the gamekeeper keeps me in good supply of pheasant,…
It takes 21 days from eggs going into an incubator, or under a broody hen to a chick being born. What I find even more impressive is that the eggs will…
gorse flower syrup
We have now sprung into April. The weather has been sunny with still lots of rain, but what is happening here at WetandWindyCottage? At the beginning of each month I…
So this is the first March in which I have owned a polytunnel. So I have gone a bit seed crazy. I have started off some old tomato…
We have had one of the wettest and windiest winters I can remember. I cannot complain about the floods in November and December as I, and the animals all survived, but…
