Family Camping at Filey

Last week we spent a few days at the East Coast.  Camping with my sister and family.  We were so lucky to have glorious sunshine, as it was a pre-booked trip and you never know with the great British weather.  The first day was spent setting up camp and exploring the campsite (Humble Bee Farm)...

Watching the combine monster at work

Mahoosive cockerel

Looking for chucks

Off the beaten track

Giant climbing

The second day we drove the short distance to Filey, and hit the beach. Lots of sandcastle building, frisby playing, rock-pooling, ice-cream eating, lazing around in the sun...

Paddling in the sea

Sandy picnic

Sandy toes

The last day was mainly spent at the beach with a little walk along the promenade, mainly to collect freshly made donuts and a cup of tea. Also to ride donkeys, see the life boat and generally people watch.  We also spent some time at a play park with pedalo rides, trampolines, racing cars, bike rides, mini golf and more ice creams. I haven't included all the hundreds of photos  I took, as they are fun family memories and probably not very interesting to all...

M with her donkey

Looking out to see with the man from the RSPB

Don't need much more than a bucket and a net

Leaning on some fishing nets

Filey Lifeboat

RNLI Dinghy - off out to a call

And to finish our lovely holiday we had a camp fire and toasted marshmallows...

Lovely lovely lovely...Nx

Tractors and Jam

Most of yesterday was spent washing and hanging out clothes from our camping holiday - which by the way, was brilliant - 3 days of glorious sunshine, mostly spent on the beach at Filey...more about that tomorrow.

So, while the hanging out of clothes was going on at the back of the house.  There were lots of tractors at the front (in the fields opposite)...they had harvested the wheat a week or so ago, so yesterday they were ploughing the fields and scattering as the hymn goes...

Ploughing in the hazy early morning sun

Ro was happy to see a John Deere tractor

At one point I counted 7 tractors.  It was quite interesting watching them change over to the the next tractor contraption.  It went on until dusk - busy boys.

Today I made the marrow jam I mentioned the other day.  It was actually a massive courgette and I wanted an easy recipe, so had a look on the internet and found this one. I took a couple of snaps as I went along, but only remembered to start taking them once I'd prepped! So here is a pile of compost gubbins to start you off...

attractive hey!

It was an easy to follow recipe, just chuck everything in a pan and warm, add the sugar and stir until dissolved, then boil for about 10 minutes, et voila...

I may have overcooked it a smidge - but it tastes very nice, I tried it on a jacobs cream cracker...it's sweet with quite a kick of ginger...Mmmmm.  Nx

Embroidery hoop butterfly

I borrowed a lovely book from the library this week, Hoop-La! 100 things to do with embroidery hoops. I've had a little hoop in my stash for a few months now and after flicking through this book I've finally been inspired to make something.

I separated the hoops, put the smaller hoop down added some fabric for the backing, a length of lace and pushed the outer hoop over the top of both...

Then I sewed a line of backstitches around the edge.  Worked a double crochet through each stitch...

Then added a scalloped edge, chain 1 and then *skip 1 foundation chain stitch. Work 5 treble crochets into the next stitch. Skip 1 foundation chain stitch and then work a double crochet into the next one.* Repeat from *to* all the way round...

I played around with different embellishments...buttons, crochet flowers, but eventually decided to go with a butterfly brooch with a broken clasp. What do you think?

I'm going to proudly hang it on my living room wall...

Nx

My friend grows stuff ya know!

Last week while J was away working I arranged a girls night in.  We ordered chinese food, we drank wine (one drank Shloer but we'll let her off) and we had a natter and a laugh. Now, one of my friends grows lots and lots of things in her front garden, so she brought a few items with her...

..."please post pic's of what you make" Dawn said as she left.

I'm up for a challenge, so the next morning I'm trawling the internet for recipes, looking at pictures of squash trying to identify them! I made this one up because I thought the kids might eat the filling if nothing else.  1st meal made (lunch)...

Pattypan squash with Orzo pasta, sundried tomatoes, peas and cheese

2nd meal made (tea)...

Marrow, stuffed with mince, onion and tomato, topped with cous cous

The stuffed marrow was horrible, it was an abel & cole recipe, it was watery and bland and crunchy browned cous cous is not a great idea.

3rd meal made (breakfast)...

Pink pancakes

 

Now these were a hit with everyone, another abel & cole recipe, they call them pink panther pancakes I think.  The recipe suggests either raw or cooked beetroot and apple juice (no milk in these pancakes).  I had apple and elderflower so used that and I had already roast all the beets yesterday.  Even the gooseberries and blackcurrants were from Dawn, bizarrely the blackcurrants tasted a bit like chicken when they were raw.

Tuesday we had a yummy beef stew and mini Yorkshire puddings with loads of veggies thrown in, including some squash and courgette from the booty...

Yesterday we had fishcakes with a salad using some of her white cabbage (no photo, camera died).

And today, there were just 2 sticks of rhubarb left to use, so the children made pudding.  I found a lovely recipe in this book.  I tweaked it slightly and swapped the butter for coconut oil and if you changed the honey for some agave syrup it would be vegan.

Ro made the topping: oats, breadcrumbs, demerara sugar, melted coconut oil

Miss M did the rest: chopped rhubarb and dates, zested and juiced orange, squeezed honey 

Ta-dah! Topped off with some swedish glace vanilla ice-cream, yummmmmmy.

So that's it! I had to throw the strange looking purple and white kohlrabi away cos it had gone mouldy in the middle, but I think I used everything she left us with.  I have one marrow left and one of my other friends suggested I make marrow and ginger jam, I think I will...Night night..Nx

Bilberry picking for the first time

Yesterday we went bilberry picking for the first time.  My friend knew just the spot (Harden Moor). Today I looked for a recipe and found this one, I have now added the site to my reading list because it's right up my street! Here are a few photos of my bilberry and lavender cheesecake...

It was gorgeous and easy peasy to make.  My loose bottomed cake tin is bigger than the one suggested so I needed more bilberries for the topping.  I will definitely go bilberry picking again.

I had a quick look at Fox's Lane blog tonight and copy and pasted the following list, that Kate has copied from this site, I thought I'd have a go too...

Making : bilberry and lavender cheesecake
Cooking : well risen Yorkshire puddings to go with a nice beef stew
Drinking : cocoa
Reading: to my children
Wanting: more hours in a day
Looking: forward to our camping trip with my sister and family
Playing: out
Wasting: time on facebook
Sewing: just finished bunting for the garden, thinking about making a dress for Miss M
Wishing: I had a bigger fabric stash
Enjoying: the summer holidays with lots of days out with friends
Waiting: I'm not very good at waiting
Liking: picnics
Wondering: if J has fallen asleep upstairs
Loving: J
Hoping: everything turns out ok for my friend tomorrow
Marvelling: at my children and the imaginative games they play
Needing: sleep, but needing to finish this post first
Smelling: of coconut
Wearing: sandals everyday and having tanned feet
Following: the children round picking things up
Noticing: weeds in the garden - tomorrow's job
Knowing: I should be in bed now
Thinking: I haven't spoken to my mum for a while
Feeling: tired
Bookmarking: huh?
Opening: solar powered fairy lights
Giggling: ah I love the sound of giggling
Feeling: still tired - but I know I've already answered this one! Night night...Nx

A random mix of Skipton Urban Beach, Garden Bunting and Fairies

I put my garden bunting up and I love it, a little splash of colour, I'm definitely making more...

It's going camping with us at the end of the month :-)

As I mentioned yesterday, Yorkshire Day celebrations are going on in Skipton.  I packed up a picnic and went to the urban beach today.  It was really good, lots of sand obviously, stripey deck chairs, a few beach huts and punch and Judy of course...

This afternoon, Miss M caught a 'fairy' and immediately googled 'how to care for a fairy'. Apparently they like to eat tiny bits of chocolate, milk and honey. They like natural things around them and most of all they like to be free, being able to come and go as they please.  She proceeded to make a fairy chair (the fairy is sat on it, see)...

A fairy bed (it has sellotaped sticks holding it up)... 

A pot of milk with stick spoon, a table with leaf plate of honey and teeny tiny chunks of chocolate, and a fairy shower... 

She has such a big imagination, what a creative little girl, love her to bits...Nx