Well, although I had good intentions to finish the blog pretty soon after we came home from our last trip, it just didn’t happen. Life sometimes just takes over and other things took priority. Doesn’t matter as it is a good opportunity to look back over some recent photos with blue sky and sunshine just before we head off again for a next little trip!!

My last update was from just outside Durham with some cheeky little goats and lots of hills, following which we moved on to Barnard Castle Caravan Club Site (£35.40 per night) for a couple of nights.

Despite the rain we managed to enjoy the beautiful little market town which was scattered with coffee shops and antiques and the most impressive chateau which now houses the Bowes Museum. A beautiful tranquil area with lots of rabbits and rain and a fantastic array of local cheeses!

Heading southwards we decided to revisit an old favourit ‘The Cud Life’ just outside Harrogate so we could meet up with Mandy who had gone back home to Leeds following a pretty rough bout of Covid. Thankfully, now pretty much fully recovered from Covid she came and met us for lunch and a good catch up out of the rain – next time London!

We love this area as the scenery is so dramatic and managed to get one of my favourite walks in over to Knaresborough enabling us to take in a picnic on the River Nidd and get some of those beautiful views of the viaduct from the castle…. another place with lots of lovely coffee shops!

A hop skip and a jump further south and we got to one of the best small Campsites we have found this year ‘Lakeside Meadow CL’ which is just outside Asbourne (£23 per night).

The Campsite was situated on the edge of a lake and forest with lots of beautiful walking and a couple of excellent pubs closeby. We had chosen the area to catch up with Kevin and Petra as they are moored up not too far from here and are always up for a good feed! This time we were lucky enough to have the Red Lion Pub in Hollington less than a mile from the campsite whose speciality is Pie….. it is fair to say that all of the food was pretty good and well worth a return visit.

The last stop of the trip was back to see Gail and the kids – or not really so ‘kids’ any longer as they are both pretty much adults now – in Lutterworth. We stopped at our usual CL ‘Orchards View’ and were not disappointed by the normal Leicestershire beauty of hay bales and far reaching views.

Having had a lovely trip up to Scotland and back the plan was to spend the summer back at the farm mainly to avoid school holidays but also to celebrate a couple fo big family birthdays…. a weekend starting with sunshine and a BBQ, ending up inside with another amazing birthday cake made by Carly….

Summer was busy as always and we made the most of the weather but as always time passes far too quickly and September was soon upon us, providing a little opportunity for us to pop away for a few nights to Bath to celebrate Jo and Mikes’ 25th wedding anniversary and also to Cheltenham to catch up with Pete and Liz – a lovely few days and the campsite at Cheltenham Race Course is pretty spectacular….. might need to come back for a race day if we can get a spot.

We have been keeping ourselves busy doing a little ‘Fungi’ hunting… well more specifically, we signed up to a Mushroom foraging course over a period of four Sundays during October and November. We had been talking about doing a foraging course for a little while but a few weeks ago we found a beautiful Giant Puff Ball mushroom which kicked me into gear of searching something out to give us a little more ‘shroom’ knowledge.

We have completed two of the four foraging courses, the third one taking place this week and each one is incredible. The amount of information and variety of funghi that are out there and when you start looking – you need to walk slowly and adjust your eyes – there are hundreds of them out there of all different shapes, sizes and colours…. it is mind blowing!

The above are only a selection of what we have found both whilst on the course and also whilst out walking since…. so far we haven’t actually gained the confidence to eat any of the ones we have found on our own…. I think its one of those situations where the more you know, the more your fear…. and yes, the first one on the second row down was a ‘Dog Stinkhorn’… better known as a dogs willy.

The last couple of months have gone quickly. Keith has been playing a support role to his mum who had a hip operation mid September – or actually more so for Molly, the dog as she needed walking – so we have been keeping a low profile whilst experimenting a little more with cooking and some lovely eateries.

I’m only mentioning a couple of favourites as there have been a few over the last few months. The first being The Beehive in White Waltham, where we have been before and this time we took Keiths mum for a birthday pre-op lunch….. and the broccoli and stilton soup was to die for.

…and the second also a second visit but this time to The Greyhound in Beaconsfield for lunch. It was as exceptional as the dinner we had previously as well as the tasting menu that we have had a Loch & Tyne (and yes, we have been back there too) …can’t ever have too much of a good thing!

Believe it or not, the following was a three course set lunch menu but they just kept coming with the delicious additions in between courses…. including a pre-dessert of scones and clotted cream!

Now with the exciting, exceptionally beautifully presented food over I can show you some of the new recipes that we have been trying…. although I possibly should have put these first as they look fairly disappointing after the above.

Can you tell that we have been watching Nadiya’s Spice series…..

– Courgette and Chickpea Curry
– Smokey Aubergine Deep Pan Pizza – Taking the base of one of Nadiya’s recipes with what appeared to be an odd flavour combination but was actually really delicious with a warm touch of spice
– Brown Lentil Dhal – another quick and easy Nadiya recipe
– Cauliflower and Red Lentil Curry – A lovely, lightly spiced curry which is really simple to make
– Tuna Bhuna – It was supposed to be crab as per Nadiya’s recipe but they didn’t have any, so I switched to Tuna and although Crab is more delicate, the tuna works well too
– Green Tomato Tarte – with a random, self planted tomato plant giving a really good quantity of fruit we felt the need to make use of them and this recipe delivers on flavour and ease
– Spicy Mexican Tomato Tarte – when the Green tomatos ran out I looked for an alternative and is equally as tasty and the cumin in the pastry adds a lovely touch.

…. and now its almost time to hit the road again for a few more adventures before Christmas!