something about bread...

There is something particularly pleasing about the smell of freshly baked bread. And even more so if it is made at home.

Some time ago I came across this recipe for 'Crusty Bread' via Sue at The Quince Tree and after some trepidation it has become my 'go to' easy bread recipe. My reservations stemmed from the fact that it just looked so unlikely to work somehow - sloppy looking mixture rather than 'proper' dough, no kneading, only one rise, unconventional baking method...

But actually it suits my inability to measure things properly or stick to a recipe perfectly! I am often trying to cook when I'm a bit tired or doing things from memory or am a bit slapdash about measuring. And even if I read a recipe I often don't quite read to the end or I don't have exactly the ingredients I'm supposed to (don't know why I'm so shoddy with cooking! I'm really not in general - but maybe because I sort of feel its not an exact science and I quite like to cook by feel?).

This bread has never failed me. I have made it too sloppy and added extra flour, too dry and added more water. I've done the basic recipe but also added whatever happens to be kicking around - different flours, olives, seeds, nuts, fruit, dried tomatoes, herbs, oil, spices... This week I didn't check I had enough bread flour first... So it was 2/3 bread flour and 1/3 all that was in the cupboard - which happened to be self-raising!! Plus some fairly ancient poppy seeds and the end of a packet of sunflower seeds...

The only problem is how much gets eaten at once. We don't always even manage to wait until its cold...!

Yum,

S x

Living the dream - things that memories are made of...

My youngest son and I have shared something of an obsession with VW campers for some years now. We have admired them at our local VW festival, oohed and aahed when we spot one on the road and planned our 'if we win the lottery...' trip round the world. (We don't actually do the lottery, minor detail...)

This year he turned 21 and in a rather rash moment I decided it was time to indulge a little of that obsession with a holiday/birthday present that would be a treat for us both - on the spur of the moment, I booked a Mon-Fri break with O'Connors Campers. Check out their website if you are a VW fan - they have some lovely vans!

Last week we set off for Devon for our little road trip, via an overnight stop in Bath to extend the holiday. I had never been to Bath before and was not disappointed - it is a beautiful city with grand sweeps of town houses, lovely parks and a palpable sense of history.

Somehow, it didn't seem particularly odd to see people wandering around or reading in the park in full Regency style dress...!

We wandered around in the lovely late afternoon sun, just taking in the quirks of this beautiful city. These two little characters were observing us from an upstairs window...

 We stayed at YHA Bath, very comfortable, lovely old building and pretty reasonable value. 

The following day saw us heading on to Devon, with a brief stop in the pretty Somerset village of Dunster for essential coffee and cake...

Much excitement (and more than a few nerves on my part!!) when we picked up this beautiful little van from Okehampton, engaged our inner hippies and set off for the North Devon coast...

This is Barbarella, and she certainly has some quirks from a driving perspective! Dating from 1967, she has a something of a mind of her own as far as gears are concerned, brakes that required physical effort of the downhills and a fabulous engine roar. I'm not sure how long it is since I drove something without power steering or brakes and even the position felt very weird to begin with! We may have caused a few curses behind us as we crawled along to begin with but there is something very liberating about just tootling along. By the time we got to our first overnight stop I had sussed that a bit of gentle handling in the gears department was the way to go and was beginning to enjoy the drive - Tom was definitely enjoying the ride and the sideways glances of people we passed!

First stop North Morte Farm, with stunning views as the sun set over the coast...

We had packed for autumnal weather but in fact, summer seemed to have had second thoughts and we woke the next day to a beautiful sunrise that turned into gorgeous blue skies...

Thought my blankets looked at home though...

Next stop Port Isaac and the lovely, quieter Port Gaverne (cream tea :-) had to be done!)...

Our stop for the night was a campsite near Padstow - both minor disappointments to be honest - the site was nice and quiet but very basic facilities, which didn't bother me at all except that it was relatively expensive! Padstow just seemed rather commercialised and felt a little like it has lost its heart to the tourist trade (noting that we were being those tourists!) - that may be unfair because we only saw it at night and perhaps it has a different feel during the day.

Tom would have loved to drive Barbarella, but insurance didn't allow - didn't stop him posing though... Essential for social media!

...and he 'dressed' Barbs with the blankets the next day...

On round the coast to St Ives via the Bedruthan Steps (the guy on the car park said he thought the van knew its way there! obviously a regular stop!!). The coastline here has a rugged dramatic beauty...

It was a bit misty & blowy, these little sparrows were getting decidedly ruffled...

We stayed at a really lovely campsite on the clifftops above St Ives - Trevalgan touring park - great facilities, good value and a lovely walk down to the town along the coast path.

We were in St Ives primarily to see Seth Lakeman, who did not disappoint - had everyone on their feet by the end of the night...

The next bit of the coast road around the headland to Lands End was great - stunning scenery, gorgeous blue skies and I was really enjoying the van by this stage. 

We had planned to visit the Minack Theatre but didn't quite make it as the fees for almost everything just start to really add up after a while so instead walked around to the beautiful beach at Porthcurno, where a spent a happy while taking photos of the sea...

Just gorgeous. I could've happily stayed here for hours. But sadly, our little road trip was coming to an end and we eventually made our way on to Woodovis Park near Tavistock for our final night with Barbarella. This was a really lovely site complete with an indoor pool which was a real treat to end the day.

We had such fun in this old van - is it the most comfortable way to travel? Nope. Are you likely to get the best night's sleep? Probably not. But there was something very liberating about just chugging along, knowing that however long the queue behind you, there's no point in trying to go any faster and I'm pretty sure she brings a smile to most people's faces.

Did I discover a bit of my inner chilled out hippy chick? Yep - wish I could bottle that feeling and keep it going day to day. Would we do it again? Yes, in a heartbeat - only next time I might just keep driving... ;-)

S x

things that have made me smile this week...

This week has seen some bizarre weather again. We have alternated between bright sunshine and pouring rain; and on Tuesday we had both. At the same time! I was dashing to my car on Tuesday in a heavy downpour but bright sunshine - very weird, you expect the sky to be full of dark clouds. And then as I looked around the corner, there they were plus this stunning double rainbow...

It was so bright that it was reflected in the puddles on the path and in the windows and the double arc reached right down to the ground on both sides. You can see how sunny it was from the shadows on the path, even in my hastily snapped pic on my phone.

I was heading to our patient support group meeting where our speaker for the day was a florist doing demonstrations of arrangements on a film theme. Red, white and blue for 007, 'Man with the Golden Gun'...

Red (ish! more orange really!), white and green for 'The Italian Job'...

...and red and gold, with a spiders web, for Harry Potter's broomstick...

They were beautiful flowers and the florist is very clever at putting these arrangements together, talking all the time, but if I'm completely honest... I think I prefer the simplicity of these...

This week's flowers from the market on my window sill, which make me smile every morning.

And this makes me smile every evening...

Not new, of course, these blankets have moved twice with me now, but the advantage of a bed to yourself is that, as a cold body, I can throw as many bright blankets on together as I like. And, I can have my book and bag of crochet in semi-permanent residence!

Yesterday, I discovered something of a treasure trove, in the form of a giant warehouse of 'antiques & collectibles' in the site of the old Looses cookshop on Magdalen Street, fabulously called Looses Emporium. It is a series of huge rooms on two floors absolutely stuffed with unwanted, house clearance furniture, china and all manner of anything...

It's completely chaotic, and some of the furniture is difficult to see under all the other stuff, but I spent best part of an hour just wandering around and looking. There is, of course, a complete mixture but I love the fact that all this stuff has had another life and I can see myself heading back here fairly regularly! (well, its only about 5 minutes walk away...)

And I did pick up this simple little shelf which I felt sure I could give a new lease of life...

My only problem is that it turns out it is next to impossible to drill into a flint wall, so the place I had in mind for it might present a challenge! Off to find out if there is anyone clever at the DIY shop who can tell me how to get round it!

Fingers crossed...

S x

back in the room...

Finally... internet reconnected so normal service resumes! I have been just a teeny bit shocked at how cut off I felt with no wifi at all - not just for the social/interesting/recreational side of things (honestly, I really don't spend that much time on here!) but so much stuff seems to have to be done via the internet now, particularly around moving! Sorting utilities, registering to vote, changing address with the endless list of contacts we seem to accumulate... Of course, you can still do some of these on the phone or in person but it means you spend ages in a call queue (usually at great expense on a mobile call, because you have no landline yet either!) with an increasingly grating message telling you that 'we are experiencing a particular high volume of calls and you can do x,y,z via our website...' I even had the same message from Talk Talk! Ironic when it was their connection I was waiting for!

Anyway, all back on now, so last night I updated my 365 project (yep, still taken a picture a day so far - some very hastily snapped as I realise I've forgotten to do it, most on my phone in the last couple of weeks!) and this morning I have had a little spree on Amazon (theatre tickets & coffee, essentials, obviously...) and now I have a bit of catching up to do!

Thanks for all the good wishes with the move, all went well and it really is amazing what you can get into a Corsa if you are determined! 8 trips between houses over a couple of days and we were pretty much in, slightly hysterical at times (picture 20 year old, front seat so far forward his knees were virtually under his chin, packed round with cushions from the sofa and a box of lego...good job we weren't driving far, I wouldn't like to say I had particularly clear vision all round!) but by the end of the first afternoon we had enough bits of furniture in to sit and eat a takeaway and feel that we were at home.

The chopsticks look impressive but actually it was because we realised at this point the cutlery hadn't yet made it across. Tom resorted to a large strainer spoon in the end - not one to let utensil shortage get in the way of his food!

The only entrance into my house (my house! still childishly excited to be able to say that!) is via a little courtyard, so each car load was unloaded and unceremoniously dumped with the car on double yellow lines, then sorted afterwards. By this point, there was no more room in the vicinity of the front door and the armchair got parked temporarily. When I looked back, this made me laugh...

Tom thought it looked quite at home out there! So, this is the little house I fell in love with, 5 minutes from the city centre, just walking back from picking up our Thai meal...

Apologies for the lousy photo quality, the light was very low and its possible I didn't stand very still, I was soo tired by then!! I am still in love with it. Sure, of course, once you move in you find 'quirks' - yep, the secondary glazed windows (listed, can't have sealed units...) are a little bit drafty in places and yes, empty, the need for a lick of paint was a bit more obvious but hey, I have the rest of my life to tweak this place and I think that's just fine.

A lovely friend gave me this as a present...

...doubly appropriate because I am a closet scrabble fan, but I think this house should be full of all of these.

Saturday morning saw me up bright and early, car packed to the gunnels again, for the last couple of trips. The sky was beautiful...

...and I sat and had my first breakfast here, looking out at this view. Marmalade on toast (of course!), large cup of tea, bliss.

By this point, we still had a few boxes to unpack, but basically it felt like home...

In places the walls are 650mm thick (so the survey tells me!) and I love this little window in the corner...

Note to self...still need to replace the shade on the oil lamp which got broken many years ago, courtesy cats or small boys, can't remember which!

Looking the other way out of my kitchen window, I see my neighbour's lovely brick and flint wall, and one of 4 planted hanging baskets kindly left by the previous owner...

I have daffodils (and wilting herbs!) on my kitchen window sill..

...chilled white wine...

...and at least some of my pictures on the wall...

Believe me, after two years in a rented house it was so liberating to bang hooks into the wall!!

I feel the most 'at home' I've felt in years. I've even had time for a bit of reading...

Loaned to me by my eldest son, this was a very quick, pull at the heart strings, read - a reminder that we shouldn't let the 'busy' stuff get in the way of time with the people we love. I'd recommend it with a box of tissues handy!

I've even managed a little bit of planting, these primroses were calling my name from the doorway of the DIY shop...

Phew, bit of a lengthy catch up but at least now I'm up to date! Looking forward to just 'being' again. Life feels like its finally beginning to get back on track.

S xx