After a couple of weeks back at the farm, we headed West for four nights in Bath to catch up with old friends. It’s always nice to be back in Bath, although we never really see a huge amount of it any more …. or do alot more than eating, drinking and social…. but when combined with such good company…who is going to complain?

This time however, we put the bikes to their first ‘proper’ test and on the Sunday cycled over to Timsbury to catch up with James and Claire – what would have been a beautiful route if we weren’t in the clouds and the roads weren’t rivers – a 22 mile round trip on counrty lanes through undulating hills… I think I am converted!

Following Bath, we headed South East into the New Forest to Milford-on-Sea where we had booked Vervaine, a tiny little fish restaurant we had planned to visit a couple of years ago, but they had to cancel at the last minute due to a bereavement.

We had found a campsite (Lytton Hall, £25 per night inc.) which happened to be just round the corner from some friends in Everton so were able to not only catch up with them, have some lovely walking exploring the area a little more, but also endulge in some lovely cuisine…. If all waffles were cooked like this one – I would be a convert… gruyere and parmasan cheese mixed in but so, so light and the liquorice ice-cream for the pre-dessert was also fantastic. Both fish courses were cooked exceptionally, the only negative was that both were quite one dimensional in texture and very similar in flavour which was a shame, but worth the visit.

It was quickly time to move on again, so on Thursday we headed to Winchester (Morn Hill Caravan Club Site, £36.80 pn inc.)

After arriving on Thursday lunchtime, we headed out for a little walk to stretch the legs closer to the campsite, exploring the country lanes down into Easton where we fell upon a Village Shop which happened to be inside The Chestnut Horse Pub. We felt it rude not to have a look and check out their produce and as it was a bit grim outside stopped for a refuel. The Pub/Village Shop had obviously been recently converted or regenerated as it was light and airy, offering huge glass windows to look out onto the wet and rainy courtyard whilst eating home baked delights and drinking a glass of wine or supping a smoothie.

With the sun breaking through the clouds we headed into Winchester the following day and soon realised that we hadn’t actually ever been before… or perhaps we passed through to come to a friends wedding many years ago – but neither of us remember anything so were more than pleasantly surprised.

Whilst scanning the local eateries I fell upon a place called Piecaramba, a small Pie cafe just off the main thoroughfare and we figured it would be wrong to pass it by and not try bearing in mind the pies looked so good. The cafe was basic but adorned with comic book characters – the toilets being a little haven for Star Wars fans! As we walked in, the table in front of us had just been served a double pie which looked amazing (one pie stacked on top of another, accompanied by all the trimmings)… however, we both opted for singles but with the crispy onions, grated cheese, mash and mushy pies….leaving a little space for the cherry pie with custard for dessert.. not culinary delights, but certainly good hearty food.. a nice little pit stop!

Winchester itself is beautiful and well worth the visit. Architecturally it is wonderful mix of new and old, green areas and higgledy piggledy buildings with a bustling main street … a proper market town… or I should probably say City.

We walked not only around the center, but also out to St Cross and Catherines Hill taking in the beautiful rolling hills and the plethora of cycle routes – a really lovely place. We took advantage of a couple of interesting coffee shops along the way, one of which was Proudfoot & Co. run by Eoghan a Welsh/American who is passionate about cookery books, foraging and natural remedies. The coffee shop/bar doesn’t serve alcohol or coffee but the cocktails and drinks menu is multi faceted and offers something for most palates, whether you are after a warming hug of a drink or a refreshing kick…..as well as a number of interesting accompaniements from one of the 600+ cookbooks that he has collected/inherited from his ancestors – the Malt Loaf was to die for….

Our short trip away soon came to an end and we headed back to the farm for a couple of busy weeks as always….this time slightly more educational in the form of a cookery course and then a Natural Beehive making course.

Keith had been doing some research looking for a local Supper Club with the hope that there may be somewhere local offering family, home cooked Indian foods bearing in mind Slough and Maidenhead have such an eclectic community. Unfortunately we still haven’t found anywhere but he did fall upon a Punjabi lady offering cooking courses in her home, so we took a punt and had a go and are now happy to say that we have a couple of new dishes under our belt…a couple (including the chapati’s) have also been tried and tested at home since.

I had found a Natural Beehive making course a while ago that was being run at a local bio-dynamic, organic farm in White Waltham which is where we buy our Vegetable box from when they are open for the season. It was an unusual but interesting course, with the objective being to provide a wild hive for honey bees to populate and make into their home, encouraging pollination naturally. Keith set off prepared for a full on day’s work but I don’t think anything would have prepared him for the size of the tree trunk that he was carving out and turning into a hive…. just to put the pictures into perspective, the tree trunk only just fitted into the boot of the VW Golf and weighed in somewhere between 30-40kg once hollowed out. A really interesting day – albeit apparently quite hard work…. I didn’t go. The Wild Beehive has been donated it to the farm – all we need to do now is get a cap sorted for it and work with the farmers to get it hoisted into a tree where it will live and hopefully become a home for a new honey bee colony.

Moving from one type of Beehive over to another… we snuck in a little visit to The Beehive in White Waltham last week too… a lovely treat of fresh seasonal produce from Wild Garlic soup and Rabbit Lasagna for starters all the way through to Rhubarb Souffle for dessert. Highly recommended if you are in the area.

The main event this month however, was Keith’s brothers’ 50th birthday which we all celebrated last weekend along with the absolutely amazing ‘Cookie Monster’ cake baked by one of Carly’s ex-pupils…. such a cool cake

…and as always just so that you can see where we have been…. our little triangular map from the last trip