RECIPE INGREDIENT: Hedgerow Elderflower Tried and tested seasonal ingredient notes from our country cookery school kitchen garden. As well as hacks and get ahead tips for EVERY cook who loves to be in the garden. Adorning the hedgerows from mid May until late June,...
RECIPE INGREDIENT: Garden Rhubarb Tried and tested seasonal ingredient notes from our country cookery school kitchen garden. As well as hacks and get ahead tips for EVERY cook who loves to be in the garden. Thankfully back in favour, this versatile ingredient can be...
RECIPE INGREDIENT: Wild Garlic Tried and tested seasonal ingredient notes from our country cookery school kitchen garden. As well as hacks and get ahead tips for EVERY cook who loves to be in the garden. The arrival of spring brings wild garlic to our Dorset...
It’s such a treat to gather your own home grown flowers and carry them back to inside safely in a garden trug. If the weather is kind, dahlia plants will continue to flower well into November, to give us a vase that will last at least seven days for the...
How are you making the most of this glorious summer? As the stone fruit slowly begins to ripen, we begin gathering the damsons and plums from the orchard and begin preserving in the kitchen. This recipe always evokes fond memories of a friend who lived at the...
As summer gallops full speed ahead, all of a sudden there is an abundance of hedgerow berries and orchards fruit, ripe for preserving. Over the years we have gathered a collection of hand written methods on splattered pages. We return to these tried and tested...
Most commonly available Russian tarragon is a perennial that is easy to grow and overwinter in the herb garden. It can be germinated by seed and also grown from a root cutting. However the aroma and flavour is not very strong and seems to lessen with age. However if...
Culinary and medicinal mint is thought to have been growing in Britain since Roman times. Loved for its antiseptic and anti-bacterial properties, it is a familiar sight in most herb gardens. Mint is very easy to grow and perfect to add a finishing touch for so many...
Whether you have a few pots beside the back door or a patch in the garden especially designated for your favourite culinary herbs, there’s such simple pleasure of being able to snip and gather fresh, aromatic leaves for the kitchen. As spring unfolds into early...
Almost the time for the clocks to ‘spring forward’ to mark the beginning of British Summer Time. To be honest, I am beginning to feel quietly uneasy. This is one of the busiest times in the gardening calendar and I am so behind! There’s so much to do...
The shortest day has now passed and we can look forward to the daylight gently increasing each week. Like you, we are making the most of extra time indoors to start planning our summer garden. We just cannot resist flicking through seed catalogues and making long,...
The days are growing shorter. It will soon be time to adjust the clock back one hour. There’s a definite nip in the air each evening. In the darker mornings our hens are anxiously waiting later and later to be let into the yard, so they may peck and scratch...
All around us we can hear the gentle hum of the combine and then a tractor or two hurries past the gate towards the grain store. I love September, but all too aware of the frantic rush of gathering in the harvest. The farming year is drawing to a close and there is a...
We are keeping our fingers crossed that a long, hot summer will finally arrive. The art of the staycation is truly underway and as we all enjoy our outside space, there may be a few moments to put down a great book and ease out of your garden chair, so these are a...
As we approach the start of British Summer Time, this is one of the busiest times in the gardening calendar. Seed trays and pots are jostling for space in the greenhouse and the cold frame is standing room only. Sweet pea plants are being religiously brought out...
Mid March through to early April, is quite often referred to as the ‘hungry gap’ by farmers and growers. The stored root crops from winter are dwindling and if the weather is harsh and we experience a ‘blackthorn winter’*, there is little...
Gather from sunny glades and beneath hedgerows, wild garlic is easily recognised by the pungent aroma that will greet you long before you see it flourishing in chalky woodlands. Available to gather with permission from the landowner, from early March until the last...
The evenings are definitely drawing out and the mornings begin earlier. Make the most of the extended daylight to start sowing under cover in early March. This will give you an opportunity to raise your own plants from seed and the chance to create a cut flower...
The daylight hours are lengthening and the birds are welcoming each morning with their song. Our first sweet pea seeds were planted in the late autumn but, NOW is a great time to get another sowing undercover. You can then look forward to gathering posies of your...
Always so pretty in pink. The sight of a greengrocers display of neatly stacked forced rhubarb from the famous ‘Yorkshire Triangle’, makes my heart leap. Whether you simply chop and gently poach these beauties or prefer to whizz them up into a brightly... 