Summery summary

It's been another perfect summer hasn't it?
Well, ok we haven't had the much anticipated barbeque summer but , realistically, we were never going to get that. We have become suddenly quite accepting of unrealistic aims in the last decade. The ever increasing Americanisation of the British lifestyle has seen the dismissal of such hitherto relished delights as makinbg mud pies, long walks over verdant hills and wearing a vest under your summer clothes. In fact, summer itself is now expected to last much longer than the old six week period we were used to and which fitted the government issued compulsary summer break.
Now, thanks to cable television and cheap foreign holidays, we all want, no demand, a three month summer of blistering heat. We need at least desert conditions so we can dry roast ourselves in suburban gardens and eat chargrilled offal every evening from mid March until October.
Now, I like my full english served up poolside with a columbian blend coffee and freshly squeezed juice as much as the next man but I'm happy if it happens once or twice a year but I would happily forego that delight if it means retaining the temperate climate that allows my South African Alliums to flower alongs side my Himalayan Rhododendrons and my Australian Phormiums. I am aware that we like warm and dry more than damp and cold but if we want to remain the uniquely diverse island that we are, we need those rainfalls for our forests and flower meadows as much as we love the sun baked beaches and the snow capped Fells. This country reveals in such a huge influx of international tourists for the very same reason we like to moan: the weather. The range of conditions we enjoy here are the envy of the world as far as gardeners are concerned. Farmers may not like them because they specialize in sinlge crops but a gardener grows as big a spread of plant varieties as they can sustain and as such, we love the ever changing moods of Mother Nature. This year my crops, those I have had time to sow, have enjoyed days of high humidity, evenings of warmth and nights of mild but refreshing rain. We even had the ideal weather for about a week in May, days of hot dry sun with a slight breeze for pollenation, mixed with nights of straight rain from dusk until dawn. Perfect weather and perfectly British.
So, yes, I like to bake and tan but I can either pop on a plane to a foreign soil for that or crawl through traffic on a bank holiday and find it on a square metre of sand in Cornwall. Give me my Chinese veg and spicy italian herbs, bring me my home grown Apricots and frshly dug new potatoes. You can keep your Big Mac and Fries, give me wellies and grey skies. I love my British short lived summers!

Juggling new business start-up & full-time job!

I wouldn't recommend to anyone what I've been doing for the past 3 years unless you are fully motivated with an ultimate goal to aim for. Setting up a new business isn't easy, but doing it whilst working full-time and renovating a property from 70 miles away has given me many headaches as well as a lot of sleepless nights but it's all been worth it.

I'm very fortunate to have been given my inheritance by my father during his lifetime. As a result, I am now the proud owner of a beautiful farmhouse which originally belonged to my grandparents. It is situated on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border, approx. 6 miles from the Malvern Hills. It is where I grew up as a child and where my father and brother still farm.

This all may sound very idyllic, but in the early 80's the property suffered a horrendous fire which nearly resulted in the family losing the whole house and the nearby farm buildings. Although a fantastic property to be given, it was derelict and in need of a great amount of love and money to make it habitable once again. Birds were able to fly freely through the house and nest on the wallpaper hanging off the walls! Last year when the plastering had finished in the bedrooms, we left the windows open so the plaster could dry more easily only to find that a swallow had made its nest in the rafters of a bedroom! We had to leave the bedroom window open through rain and wind to allow the swallows access to their nest. Luckily, they have all returned this year and found new nesting places in the farm buildings.

In 2007 renovations commenced in earnest but I soon realised that my partner and I couldn't live in such a large property with no extra income to help run it. Many ideas went through my head and I thought that holiday lets would be the answer. But as the renovations progressed, I became more and more attached to the property and the idea of living in it and enjoying the place where I remember fondly playing as a child. Holiday lets no longer seemed such a good idea. And so the idea of developing the property as a Bed and Breakfast was decided as a great compromise - we could continue to live in and enjoy the property but also by sharing it with others we could pay for the renovations and running of the house.

So plans began to transform the beautiful farmhouse into a home for ourselves and a relaxing place for Bed and Breakfast guests to visit. This has opened up a whole new world to me of not only finding out how to set up my own business, but also the Bed and Breakfast community of landladies and landlords. I have met some great people both on- and offline since starting my research and have thoroughly enjoyed the adventure because that is how I am approaching this new business. It is an adventure which I wish to enjoy and learn from.

The website landing page has recently gone live and the real website will be live once we can take some photographs of the interior - the kitchen is being fitted this month, bathrooms next month and then the carpenter can move in to finish off whilst we decorate and furnish. We still have a lot of hard work to do inside and outside, but furnishings and gardening are what I consider fun, rather than plaster dust and builders mess!

If you would like to follow our progress, please do visit the website http://www.huntlandsfarm.co.uk/

Lemon and Honey Cough Mixture

Two juicy lemons
150ml (5floz) clear honey
50ml(2floz) glycerine

Squeeze the juice from the two lemons and strain the juice to get it as clear as possible. Put the lemon juice, honey and glycerine into a jug and mix very thoroughly. Pour the mixture into a small medicine bottle and cork tightly

This mixture will sooth a ticklish or sore throat and is suitable for children and adults. It is ideal for singers and actors and actresses to prevent throat infections and is also delicious

Cranberry and Honey Oat Bread

This recipe is in the 2010 North Cotswold Honey Show at the end of August where many of the beekeepers turn their hands to cake bakng - some more successful than others!

2 tablespoons local honey, 1 egg, 2 tblspns milk, 1 tspn melted butter, 350g(12oz)plain flour, 175g(6oz)rolled oats, 1 dssrtspn baking powder, 1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn ground cinnamon, 110g(4oz) fresh/frozen cranberries
50g (2oz)chopped nuts


Preheat the oven to 180c(350F,gas mark 4) and grease a loaf tin. Put the flour,oats,baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Beat together the egg, honey and milk and add to the flour and oats, stirring well.
Fold in the cranberries and nuts.
Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 75 mins, or until crusty and hollow when knocked.
Pour the melted butter over the hot loaf and turn out onto a cooling rack

Souvenirs from my Day at #140Conf - London

I am sure many Elevensestime regulars were wondering where I got to yesterday. Well, contrary to rumours that I was being introduced at the "House of Lords" (thanks @IamAmro !) I was in fact at #140Conf - Exploring the State of Now
This was a gathering of Twitter enthusiasts and business people organised by @JefPulver there is list of delegates a put together by @RobOCallaghan and a list of speakers Jeff Pulver's List of Speakers. Have a look at these lists - there are some great people to follow on them.
I you want to get a good feel for what it looked like @Britt_W has taken some really good photos - see if you can spot me in the crowd!
I will add some more to this later but one of the highlights of the conference for me and for many others I suspect, was the talk given by Stephen Fry - (captured on video by
@B33God ) which is well worth viewing. The message here and throughout the conference was that Twitter is about people and engagement, it is about enjoying contact with people and that business can benefit greatly from interacting with real people.
As we all know at #elevensestime!

Courgette Cake

This has been adapted from an old Nigel Slater recipe. It sounds odd, but believe me, vegetables in cakes work! I have tweaked quantities here, and also vary ingredients such as the type of nuts and dried fruit used. I also use extra cinnamon, and always use golden caster sugar (although any light brown sugar works well). It's also worth trying with wholemeal flour. I use the round yellow type of courgette because it's what I have to hand, but any will do.

200g butter
200g caster sugar
200g plain flour
2 eggs
1 apple
Roughly 150 - 200g courgettes
80g nuts (walnuts or pecans work well)
80g dried fruit
Generous pinch of salt
Half a teaspoon of baking powder
Cinammon to taste (I use half to one teaspoon)

Butter and base line a large loaf tin, and preheat your oven to 180 C. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat the eggs and add them one at a time making sure you mix each one in thoroughly. Coarsely grate the apple and courgette, squeeze out all the excess moisture and add them to the mixture. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon and gently fold into the mixture, then stir in the nuts and dried fruit. Transfer to the loaf tin, and then bake for roughly an hour (until golden and firm). Cool in the tin before turning out.

Shropshire Honey Cake from Hopton House B&B

This is probably one of the simplest cakes in the world and one of the most delicious. I make mine with Shropshire honey & eggs from my own hens. Their yolks are such a vibrant yellow that the cake is beautiful and golden.
I would strongly recommend you make your cake with your own local honey & local free range eggs, you may then rename it to your local area - so far, since I first posted the recipe on Twitter, it has transmuted successfully into both Perthshire Honey Cake & Somerset Honey Cake and Texas Honey Cake is imminent!
It really does need to be eaten on the day it is made, preferably still warm from the oven.

Cake Ingredients
180g Shropshire Honey
140g butter
80g soft brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
200g self raising flour
1tsp cinnamon
water

Icing Ingredients
60g icing sugar
1 tbsp honey

1. Preheat oven to 180C and butter and line the bottom of a 18cm cake tin with bake-o-glide
2.Heat the honey, butter and sugar with a tablespoon of water in a large pan until melted.
3. Remove from the heat and mix in the eggs, flour & cinnamon, then put into the cake tin
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and shrinking slightly from the sides of the tin.
5. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.
6. While the cake is still warm, make the icing. Mix icing sugar & honey with 2-3 teaspoons of hot water and then drizzle over the cake.

Hopton House, Shropshire - A Perfect Place to stay