After 5 nights back at the farm catching up with friends and family and taking advantage of a Wine Society ‘tasting’ event, we hit the road again and headed up to Leicestershire to catch up with Gail, a friend who lives near one of our favourite little CL’s – Orchard Views, just outside Lutterworth.

It is the home of Wind Turbines … or at least that is what I think, as they are like giant ballerinas on every rolling hill you look at in Leicestershire. Personally, I think they are beautifully, simple, structures…almost pieces of art – especially when they have a lovely backdrop of bright vibrant blue skies and fields full of rapeseed, but I do appreciate that if you have them in your back garden you may well not feel the same. However, wind turbines, yellow posts for footpaths and the huge quantity of distribution centers summarises Leicestershire for me…. perhaps I need to get out more!

Despite Keith and Gail’s miscommunication – Gail drove all the way down to Holyport to see us before us realising – we had a lovely catch up and dinner, got woken by the Donkeys and then got on the road again to head up to Kendal for a few nights where we had booked back in at the Club site just outside town by the farm shop.

The campsite had only just opened for the season the previous weekend so it was busy, everyone obviously wanting to get the walking season going – albeit that the weather wasn’t looking quite as good as the last couple of weeks has been. It is a great campsite, like many others as they have lots of little wooded cul de sac’s holding 4 or 5 caravans/motorhomes so that no-one feels on top of each other and it doesn’t feel big, or over-populated.

The weather was definately better than it was last autumn when we came – although it was pretty poor on the Tuesday. So we walked into Kendal on Monday and had a look round to accompany coffee and cake, then on Tuesday took a taxi in to have lunch at Babaganoush and do the shopping….we love Booths – it’s almost like Waitrose – but the products are even better!

Babaganoush has two cafe’s – one says it is more of a soup kitchen, but only does vegetarian food, the other has some meat and fish too. All the food though is home made, plant lead and rusticly delicious. Keith and I had quiches, salads and soups, followed by a Bakewell tart type slice and a carrot cake….our kinda food!

From Kendal, we headed back over to Cartmel where we had booked back in at Valley End CL, once again a great site, nestled amongst the beautiful countryside – well situated for walking into Cartmel, or up and over into the hills to look down on the lakes.

It is a beautiful area – even nicer when it is dry – but the real reason we came was to visit Rogan & Co again in Cartmel. We had such a lovely meal and experience last time we visited, we decided to come back – and it was every bit as good as the last time.

Every plate was perfectly balanced and full of flavour, even my version of the meal – it is fair to say that not only do they serve excellent food, they also do a good job with dietary requirements.

Needless to say, that will probably be the last visit for a while as we do really prefer slightly more rustic, hearty food to the ‘haute cuisine’. Always good to have in the back pocket though if we are passing this way!

Heading south again to get home before the general rush for the Easter holidays, we found a very basic campsite run by the Forestry of England inside Cannock Chase Forest. The area is great for walking and mountain biking and despite being cold, wet and having no facilities on the site apart from running water and a place to get rid of your waste, it was surprisingly busy. I guess it was the first weekend of school holidays, but it was lovely to see that there are still hardcore families and groups of friends who like to get out in nature and make the most of it… BBQ’s, tents and all!

The area dedicated to camping was an old station platform and trainline which was put in place in WW1, and since has been used for the large felling trucks – perfect for a motorhome of our size and weight to park up on… and so, so peaceful!

We got some good walking in, and the sun even came out a little – it is definately one that we will come back to and explore further.

We headed back to Holyport after the weekend and have been hanging low, seeing family and stocking up the store cupboards before we headed off to Europe earlier this week.

We went back to the London Street Brasserie, and also The Crooked Billet (Pictures below) – both of which were excellent,. Keith had an incredible salt beef sandwich with hash brown for his main, and yes, a slightly quirky take on the cheeseboard for desert…. hot cross bun, cheese, chutney and apple!!

We also tried out Skindles on the river in Maidenhead – which if you want a beautiful location, is definately a good choice. The food was good, but some – not all – of the portion sizes were questionable for the price!

We have been cooking a little too with some good results..
– Two halve loaves, GF Sourdough and Spelt Sourdough in one tin….both of us managed to have bread, Keith was the old style but in loaf tin instead of rolls, full of nuts and seeds, mine was the GF option just with a few added pumpkin and sunflower seeds. It worked really well!
– Roasted Aubergine Traybake – One of the best ‘umptious’ one pot dishes we have had for ages. Full of flavour and texture… a hug on a plate!
– Gluten Free Gnocchi – with lemon, peas, artichokes
– Apricot and Banana Flapjack – really simple but deliciously tasty
– Chocolate, hazelnuts Scramble – not what you’d expect, but apparently very good and packs a punch in protein
– Sundried tomato. Olive, Almond and Walnut Biscotti – Deliciously crunchy savoury version of the biscotti biscuits using ground almonds instead of flour
– Lime and Coconut Rice Pudding – rich, creamy and tangy
– Lime and Mango Rice Pudding – a different take on the rice pudding, less rich, but full of flavour too
– Mocha Muscadavo Brownies – a truly umptious brownie, with bite and goo… just how it should be!

We have headed off again this week to France, but to keep the blogs seperate – and as I am so late again in getting this out – the map for the last trip is below…. watch this space for the next one!!