Sheepiness

When I was coming home from Cardigan last weekend, there was an obstruction in the road. My neighbour was bring the sheep from a field near town, back home to the farm just past Blaen-y-ffin, as they are about a month off lambing. "Go the other way" she told me "we'll be a long time if you follow." Slipping an icy hand through the window for me to feel she declared "I'm frozen already!" It was bitterly cold, and there was that damp sleetyness in the air. I took the twisty road home, and decided on the way back to get a photo of them coming past the house for the blog! She was right, they were a long time, I not only had time to find my camera, but also to have a cup of tea (very glad I didn't follow!) I was watching out of the kitchen window to see if I could see any sign of them coming, and spotted a mysterious low cloud coming up the lane. Sheep steam!!! They completely filled the road as they came past me, wild eyed when they spotted me in the way, I slipped behind my car for cover.

As they disappeared off up the road their cloud of steam followed. You can just make it out in this picture.

Living side by side with the farming community is not always so picturesque. The other day when my daughter and I went to walk the dogs down the back lane. It was quite late, the light was beginning to fade. The other farm had moved some sheep into a newly fenced field. As we got near the back end of the field there was a sheep over, struggling to get up. My daughter and I watched it for a minute, and spurred on by her telling me that when she went to stay on Michael Morporgo's farm with the school as a kid, they were told to watch out for sheep that were down as they can't always get up themselves (major design fault IMHO) I ran back to the farm to look for help.

There was no answer at the farm house, all the lights were off in the son's bungalow too, but I managed to find the farmers daughter in, they live across the yard. All the farm staff were off in town watching bloody rugby! She grabbed her wellies and came back out with me, Jumping into the ancient land rover and telling me to get in. Now I have no fear of dogs, but the farmers Jack Russell - Rocky the terror of Mwnt was actually scraping her teeth down the passenger window to try and take a chunk out of me, so I did hesitate for a moment...Farmers daughter flung Rocky in the back with Fly the Sheepdog, I got in and we hurtled off, past my daughter and our very confused dogs standing on the corner who are terrified of Rocky and Fly..."OMG" their faces said "They've kidnapped MUM!"

I pointed the sheep out, and she jumped over the gate, I followed in a much more creaky and inelegant way. Sheep wasn't moving anymore. I pressed down on it's chest a couple of times but it didn't seem to be breathing. "Oh God" She says "this is why I can't cope with the farm stuff" but she said she'd go off to get help anyway, as we couldn't leave it there...five minutes later she re-appeared to tell me that she'd tried to turn the Landie round in the lane, and the transmission had gone "Me dad'll kill me" she said! We left her to it...

Lonely Planet...

Lonely Planet have put the Welsh Coastline as the best place on the planet to visit in their 2012 guide.

Here is the BBC link to the story. We couldn't disagree really could we!

We had a fabulous walk down by the estuary the other day with the dogs, when we saw herons, oyster catchers, cormorants and the more usual swans and various gulls.

The changeable weather over the last couple of weeks has lead to some memorable drives with alternating heavy showers and rainbows making the landscape truly magical. Wales 'out of season' is one of the best kept secrets! I truly believe that the wild beauty here is at it's best and most magnificent when the summer has past.

We can look forward to some more amazing mist over the River Teifi, such as the shot above, where I captured it one day at the Estuary, looking over towards Poppit Sands. Some late autumn, early winter days it goes up the river past Lampeter, 30 miles inland, clinging to the river as it winds its way down to the sea. I'm still waiting for another chance to photograph it as it was the first time I saw it, coming down from above on the road into Gwbert, and the mist sitting like a cloud over the water below me.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...

And with that mellow fruitfulness comes heaps of fruit and veg in the kitchen.
I've now made three batches of red tomato and red onion chutney, using ripe tomatoes either from our garden or from my friend's poly-tunnel at the smallholding 'next door'.
The red onions I've used were from our garden too! This is one I've been making for a good few years, and it really is my favourite breakfast thing, I love it with eggs and bacon.
However much I make, we always, always get through it really quickly. Originally a Women's Institute 'Preserves & Pickles' book recipe, I've made a couple of changes - namely using red onions instead of ordinary ones, and using a fabulously smoky sweet paprika, the best I can find.

We were given a bag of pears, which have become pear and ginger chutney after I tried some someone else had made and thought it was really nice. It was fab with some farmhouse pate, and my first taste of my batch is pretty similar, so that was a success.

You know there is an old wives tale about an abundant harvest in the hedgerows being a portent of a hard winter? Well before the papers were predicting snow for three months - we'd already been saying if the tale was true we were due for a cold winter.I've never seen anything like the fruit down the back lane here this year. We saw sloes and crab apples in the hedge there for the first time, and I've also made a batch of hedgerow jelly, which has sloes, crab apples, elderberries, blackberries, rosehips, and haws in!

Also I've made some mango chutney this morning, the mangos were reduced in Tesco! They are not as yet growing wild in West Wales! (But the red chilli I used was from the greenhouse here)
I couldn't find the recipe I used last year, and I'm pretty sure I used the fruit/sugar/vinegar from one recipe with the spice blend from another, so this year I made sure I've written down what I used!

I've also tried a batch of preserved lemons for the first time, made some lemon and lime marmelade, a large batch of bramble Jelly, and some bramble cheese, made from the fruit that was drained for the jelly and I've also got a small batch of crab apple and sloe jelly on the go at the moment, I must say I do like making jelly type preserves it's very satisfying when it sets

We've got a bottle of sloe vodka on the go, and a bottle of blackberry whiskey, both will be ready for Xmas. I've also made a couple of bottles of elder rob, an elderberry cordial, which is recommended for seeing a cold off. The second batch has been given an extra kick with some star anise, which is also supposed to be good for colds and flu.

My last thing to make will be some lemon curd. I've never tried to make it before, but I've always enjoyed homemade curd when I've bought it, much nicer than the shop stuff. I've got a few lemons left, and a few eggs from our chickens so I want to make some. Then I really must stop. I have nearly run out of jars, and of course all these preserves need to be stored, my cupboard is totally full, so if we DO get snowed in - LOL - we will have plenty of jam and pickle to keep us going until someone digs us out!

Kate

August has been a really busy month!

We've had lots of lovely people staying here this month and it's been incredibly busy at times, but everyone seems to have enjoyed staying here, and has loved the Cardigan area. Several guests have visited the small beach at Ceibwr, which is so unspoilt, it's on the Pembrokshire coastal path, which has just ranked No.3 in the world's best walks the path runs right across the beach, and the geology and wildlife here is amazing. The picture above was taken on one of my trips down there this month, someone had been busy balancing rocks down there, and left a collection of very Andy Goldsworthy sculptures!

I also discovered a 'new' wild flower (below) which we identified on our return as Sheeps Bit, it's such a pretty colour. I've discovered a small patch near the house too, strange how each year seems to bring a flush of new wildflowers.

I had my Mum here for a bit and we got a chance to go exploring ourselves, and we went to visit the gardens at Aberglasney (about an hour away). The garden was really lovely, and I've made a mental note to go back in the spring next year when I'm sure it will be really fabulous. I loved the 'Ninfarium' a ferny humid garden in the middle of the old house...and there were lots of unusual plants growing there too, that I'd like to have
a go at getting growing in the garden here. I loved the Japapese toad lilies, and a plant mum somehow managed to ID from a photo she took which is called Willow Gentian, a fabulous shade of deep blue.

View of the house from the Aberglasney Gardens

Toad Lilies

Willow Gentian


Kate

The picture I've been chasing....The Bumps!

I've been trying to capture the peaks of North Wales on camera since I arrived here! It's proven to be a very elusive shot, as often when they are as clear as anything with the naked eye, the camera just doesn't pick them up. The furthest point that you can see is actually over 40 miles away as the crow flies across the Irish Sea.

Locally, they say that if the 'islands' are visible then it's going to rain within two days. They really do come and go though, sometimes you don't see them for weeks, and suddenly one evening they are amazingly clear, evenings and late afternoons are a good time to spot them, the light must be right then. Oddly they were all very clear all day when it snowed! Guess they were lighter than the sky?

Only one of the 'bumps' is actually an island. Bardsey - the furthest to the left when they are visible (not in this picture). Then we have the various hills in the Lleyn Peninsular, then the peaks of the Snowdonia Range, which are seen a lot less often. On a really clear day you can see the whole sweep of the bay right up from here, round past Aberaeron, Aberystwyth and all the way round to Bardsey. This picture shows some of the Lleyn, and Snowdonia, with Snowdon itself far right, with the sort of triple peak at the top.

This picture was taken from one of the farm camp sites near us, and they are at a slightly different angle to Cardigan Bay than the back lane where we usually see the 'bumps' as we call them. at about 8.30pm the sky was light just behind the peaks, so for once the camera has captured them!

Strawberry Jam!

For the first time ever, we've had enough strawberries to make strawberry jam with our own fruit! A few times last year we picked quite a few, but they all got eaten pretty much straight away. This year they've come through in small batches, and not been quite so 'perfect' probably because of the dry spell, so it didn't feel quite so sacrilegious to make jam. I've kind of given up with using small jars to pot up jams and chutney, so tend to use these bigger kilner jars now, I find them easier to wash up and store in the store cupboard and then in the fridge when they've been opened. I usually do a smaller spare jar too when I sterilise for any 'overflow' and if I fill both of those I stick the rest in a ramekin or another unsterilised jar and we use it straight away.

First batch (on the left) I made the 'traditional' way, and threw in the 15 gooseberries that had set the bushes this year - it's the first year they have fruited so wasn't expecting much of a crop, and I also put in the contents of a pink grapefruit, to help the set, you can't taste either in the finished product. It did set OK, strawberry jam can be tricky to get to reach setting point, but for the second batch, to make sure, I bought jam sugar, which has apple pectin added. I've never used it before, and was really surprised at the short processing time. Once the jam has come to the boil it gets just four minutes at a bubbling boil, and that's all. You must then pot it straight away.

It certainly keeps a fresh colour in the jam (jars on the right) but I thought the texture a little bit odd. It tastes very fresh and fruity though, but I am wondering if the short boiling will affect the keeping properties? Not that anything tasty lasts long in this house!

I only had blackberry and apple jam from last autumn to offer the guests as home-made, so it will be nice to have something else to offer, and as the growing season marches forward, I hope there will be some other fruit about to make jam with.

Kate

Can I canoe you up the river....

NEVER let it be said that I don't do my market research....Yesterday, I went out to play with cardiganbayactive .

I was asked by some people coming in August if there was any outdoor activities in the area, and after a quick look on the internet, I conacted CBA to ask if they had a daily programme running over the summer? Oh and by the way, as they outsourced accomodation, would they like some of my cards? They came straight back and invited me to an event (Monday) to try some of their activities myself. Object of the exercise was to build links with some of the local accomodation providers, and hopefully manage to exchange some business between us. After a cup of tea and chat, we decided that we would start the day with canoeing.

Canoeing up the Teifi from the wildlife centre was absolutely magical, we went across a small set of rapids, and continued upstream for a while to one of the deepest parts of the river, where the water was so still, the steep sides of the valley and trees were mirrored in the water. There are otters in the river, unfortunately we didn't see any yesterday, but we did see a magnificent pair of herons and four red kites circling overhead. Turning and coming down stream, was a lot faster ride and we shot through the rapids this time, before returning to Cardigan for lunch.

In the afternoon, the choice of activities were sea kayaking, or coasteering. I REALLY wasn't sure that I was up to coasteering, but was persuaded to give it a go, after being promised that they wouldn't make me jump off anything, or do anything I didn't feel comfortable with. We headed off to Ceibwr Bay, nr Moylgrove, which is just over the 'border' in Pembrokshire. I've never been there before and it is a fantasic place, with wonderful geology and wild flowers.

It was quite cool by then and the sea was a lot choppier than I would normally venture into, but suitably kitted out in a wetsuit, buoyancy aid and a helmet, and with bucket loads of bravado I set off into the waves after the very capable Fiona! It soon became apparent that I really HAD bitten off more than I could chew. To be honest after the mornings activities I was quite tired, and a couple of small attempted scrambles, and wave dunkings later I told her that I couldn't do any more. The sea kept knocking me off my feet, and I was slipping and sliding all over the place on the seaweed. I felt that if I'd gone on any further I would have been a complete liability to get safely back to dry land - as it was she ended up towing me to shore floating on my back, as I simply couldn't stand up! She took me back to the cars, and I sent her and the other novice coasteer back to carry on, while I dried off. I still LIKE the idea of pootling about the bottom of the cliffs in the sea, inspecting the normally inaccessible crevices and stuff...but unless it's a nice hot day and the sea is like a mill pond, I think I should leave it to the young and fit!

Anyway upshot of all this is that there WILL be a weekly program of events from cardiganbayactive all through the summer months, everything from family stuff to more challenging adult sessions, so if anyone comes to stay here, I should be able to advise them what is running, and give them a code to book on with that will give them a £5 per person discount. Simples.

Kate