Escape To The Farm

Last weekend I whizzed down to stay with my parents for a couple of nights at the farm as I hadn't seen them for some weeks. The farm is beautiful in summer, and the longer days are all the better to spend time outside in the fresh air. The days are warm and the nights chilly now as autumn sets in.

My Dad and I visited a neighbouring farmer to talk about local history. My Dad is a history boff and writes articles for a local magazine. We set off after buying his paper at the local village shop and trundled up the long gravel road to the farm. It sits up high on the hill looking over the valley below and across to the village of New Galloway. It's a beautiful setting and a farm I have always wanted to visit. It's an old place, like many of the farm settlements in the area and they haven't changed much from the time they were built, some 200 or 300 years ago. The walls are thick local stone, usually painted white. These farms are dotted all around the green countryside, a constant reminder of older times and a history long past, but the lifestyle still lingers in these rural homes. Farming and hard work combined with tradition, and even some superstition.

These farms have wonderful names like Killochy, Torwatltie, Torwilkie, Barnshalloch. Beautiful old names with their own individual meaning, in a language long gone.

It is a place not much visited by tourists, not busy like the Lake District just a couple of hours away by car, and just as beautiful. And so it retains a sense of self, not chocolate boxed or set in aspic. But it has its own glamour - it was here that Outlander's Sam Heughan was brought up and went to school.

After a long chat about bad men roaming the countryside in the 17th century and the awful deeds carried out on the local farmers, my Dad and I drove back home for some lunch. Our farm is much like all the other local ones in this area, small and old and not much changed. You can sit a while amongst the stones and fall back in time easily. Just like Outlander's Claire Randall. It's not hard to imagine 200 or 300 years falling away.

Bramble Picking And Other September Pleasures

So this weekend the children were playing in the garden and spotted some brambles ready for picking and had a little feast and came home with smears of blackberry juice on their faces. We then decided to have an official bramble picking outing with three small boys in tow. They went exploring up and around the back of the houses in the woods and found a huge bramble patch untouched by others and drooping with lots of little juicy jewels provided so lovingly by Mother Nature.  They came back full of cheer with a big tub of fruit and went straight to the neighbours' house to make jam (this was a community effort!) ready for the afternoon. I was on scone duty and had my orders to produce a batch ready for a feast when the jam was done.

The scones were in the oven and ready in a flash (15 minutes) and were lightly browned.

My recipe for scones is here

I keep my scones small and light, not big and heavy, so they don't end up sticking you teeth together!

Then it was down to the garden to eat them with the children's jam and a pot of double cream.



They went down a treat with everyone wanting seconds, I think I should have made a second batch...

Thumper tried to get in on the action. I relented and gave him a bit of mine.

The jam was really delicious, with a wonderful deep purple colour, and was heaven with the cream.

When they were finished everyone wanted more! And the and result was blackberry faces all round.



A very lovely Sunday afternoon. And one to be repeated as we have plenty of jam already and the bramble season isn't even in full swing yet. I can see me having pots of it in my cupboard soon, ready for winter.

I will have to post a lovely recipe for a jam pudding when the weather really has turned for the worse and it's time for puddings and custard.

At the moment I am still enjoying the lovely final days of summer.

It was beautifully warm yesterday morning and I woke up very early (I am not a morning person!) and after a cup of tea and looking out the window at the most gorgeously pink morning I decided to get Thumper out of his bed (he is also not one for getting out of his bed in the morning!) and headed out for a walk. It was so lovely, I am very glad I did.

It was magical walking along in the pink light, and with very few people around - a couple of runners and dog walkers only. 

 

It always seems as if this path is leading somewhere very special, even though I am very familiar with it, it still holds a magical appeal.

Thumper met a friend and had a great run and play and paddle in the water, then played King of The Castle on the rocks.

And then he did a good impression of the Loch Ness Monster ;)

As Summer Fades

Oh, how lovely the summer has been, and how quickly autumn seems to approach. Although for me this is a wonderful time too. The sense of change in the air, as Mother Nature begins to turn her wheel again and prepare us for the new colder days. The wind has started to swirl, the trees are being blown about and the ground is slowly beginning to cover with dried broken twigs and leaves. The flowers are fading and that exciting feeling simmering below the surface of coming days of jumpers, and thick tights and boots, and sheltering from the rain, and warming soups and old fashioned puddings. All things I love.

 We have had bursts of sunny days, not something to be taken for granted in Scotland.

With lazy days in the garden

 We've spent time with friends and family....eating much of the time.

The children played freely

And we had BBQ's and picnics in the garden until evening.

And Thumper did his usual thing.....

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is the recipe I mentioned in my September Bake Off post for chocolate chip cookies. This recipe is very easy, the only trick is that you need to know when to take the cookies out of the oven. Keep your eye on them and when they are near to the end of their baking time check to see that they are just beginning to toast lightly at the edges - not too brown as that means they are getting drier and crisper. What you're aiming for here is a chewy middle and a crisp outside. The best combination for a cookie, not too dry and not too gooey. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

150g soft butter 

125g soft light brown sugar

100g caster sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg, fridge cold

1 egg yolk, fridge cold

300g flour

half a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

325g or thereabouts of chocolate chips

A large baking tray (I line mine with parchment or greaseproof paper)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170c or gas mark 3

2. Melt the butter and let it cool a little. Put the sugars into a bowl and pour in the butter and beat together. 

3. Beat in the vanilla, the cold egg and the cold egg yolk until all creamy. 

4. Add the flour and bicarbonate of soda and slowly mix until blended, then fold in the chocolate chips. 

5. Scoop the cookie dough into large gobstopper size pieces and place on the baking tray with enough space apart to allow them to spread and settle while cooking, bout 5 to 6 centimetres apart. It will probably take two batches to get all the mixture baked into cookies. 

6. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, depending on how fierce your oven is - I find different ovens really do differ, so keep your eye on the cookies in the last couple for minutes and as soon as they start to turn a gentle golden brown at the edge - TAKE THEM OUT!!

7. Leave them to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a plate or tin.  

This is a great recipe for children, who can't help but eat the dough before it's in the oven it tastes so good! 

Summer Memories

Here is just a little snap shot in time from earlier this summer when I spent a few days at my parents farm. Thumper played with the farm dogs and they had such fun running through the long grass. This is home to me and always will be.

September Bake Off!

Summer is passing fast and yes I know, I haven't done a blog post about the Edinburgh festival. The thing is as locals you kind of take the festival for granted - it comes round each year and it passes so fast, you've been getting on with everyday life and suddenly it's over and you didn't get to show. That's kind of what happens to me anyway.

We've been busy doing other things. Guests over for lunch, birthday parties, days in the garden, as well as running the business which was pretty busy in August. Now September is here and it's one of my favourite months. The sun seems to take on a golden light and the fading summer is at it's most beautiful here in Scotland.

This Sunday we had a trip to our local park where they were raising funds for renovations. There are big plans for the park including a new play area and a cafe with public toilets. Great for winter months when I'm walking the dog in freezing rain and I can get a hot chocolate to keep me warm!

This weekends fundraising was a bake off and I entered a lemon syrup loaf. A plain cake but with a zesty sweetness. It's a family favourite and one that I make often.  I wasn't expecting anything as it's not a fancy cake but....I won second prize!!! I'm not someone who is used to winning prizes so I'm also the kind of person that gets very excited that I've won a prize!

The day was gorgeous with a hot sun and light breeze. I had made the lemon syrup loaf in the morning so that it was cool enough to remove from its tin, and the wee one made chocolate chip cookies - a great recipe that makes then soft and chewy with a light crisp on the outside. Not dry and not doughie, just right.

The bake off was busy with lots of families attending. There were mini sports for the children to take part in and of course the obligatory bouncy castle.

The cake tent was...eh...busy! To say the least. It was cake chaos!

Lots of tea and cake was eaten and the judging was underway!

And here is the second prize winning cake! I decorated it with rose leaves and lemon zest as it is such a plain cake to look at. But it's delicious with a cup of tea as it's not too sickly as the sharp zest of the lemon cuts through the sweetness of the syrup. 

Someone had had enough by the end of the afternoon. 

Here is the recipe for the 

Zesty Lemon Syrup Cake 

For the cake;

125g butter

175g caster sugar

2 large eggs

zest of a lemon

175g self-raising flour

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons milk or water

For the syrup; 

Juice of 1 and a half lemons

100g icing sugar

Preheat the oven for 180C or gas mark 4. Butter and line the loaf tin. (Actually I don't do this as I'm lazy and also because I use a silicon tin which doesn't seem to need it.) 

Cream together the butter and sugar and add the eggs and lemon zest, beating them in well. Add the flour and salt, folding it in gently. This is when I say you are mixing the love into your cake. Then add the milk or water and one final gentle mix so you have a creamy consistency. Spoon it into your tin and place in the middle of your oven for 45 minutes. 

Make the syrup while the cake is cooking. Dissolve the icing sugar gently in the lemon juice over a low heat and leave to the side. 

When the cake is risen and golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean,and when it is still hot, puncture the top of the cake with a cocktail stick and then pour the syrup over the cake trying to keep the syrup running into the top of the cake as well as the sides so that it is fully coated and soaked with the lemony syrup. Let the cake cool thoroughly before removing it from the tin, and then enjoy! With cups of tea and a good old natter with family or friends.