Tie Dye and Apple Pie

While I've been busy trying to squeeze every last drop out of the summer holidays, the weather has jumped straight into autumn. We had the chilliest August bank holiday weekend in years and when the alarm went off this morning it seemed so dark. 

During a very wet and windy week we managed a day out to Weald and Downland Living Museum. I love it there. The grounds are beautiful and it's nice to just wander around and look inside the different houses, and it's great for the kids too. 

Angus had the map situation under control.

As we went back to the car to collect our picnic the rain clouds had really started to build up, and before you knew it we were all finishing lunch in the car with the rain thundering on the roof.

At one point we even wondered if we should just go home, but I'm glad we persevered because the rain did (almost) stop and we were able to explore the houses a little more.

I took this photo of the cafe area because I liked the way the trees were reflected in the water. It was only when I looked at it again later that I realised how much the trees are starting to change colour.

The museum has a small mill in which they produce their own wholemeal flour. I bought a bag and added a little to my white sourdough loaf. I like the flavour of wholemeal but find too much makes for a very heavy loaf - a ratio of about four parts white to one part wholemeal seems to work for me, keeping the lightness of the white flour but adding depth and texture with the wholemeal.

The bank holiday weekend was mostly spent getting jobs done before school and work starts again; oiling the new doors, putting up hooks, tidying the garage, cutting back hedges and trees at the front of the house, going to the tip. But there was time for a little rainbow tie dye session, something Bella had wanted to try all summer. Despite following the instructions carefully and much rinsing, everything came out of the machine a mixture of coral pink and turquoise blue. Not very rainbowy, but Bella and her cousins all seemed reasonably happy with the results.

My colleague gave me some enormous apples from the tree in her garden and I spent a very pleasant Sunday morning making a pie. I followed the recipe to the letter, finely slicing the apples, making my own sweet shortcrust pastry and faffing around with a lattice topping. It was time consuming but satisfying at the same time and I was proud of my efforts.

 

It's not just in the kitchen where the seasons are changing - little autumn touches are creeping in here and there throughout the house. I added my favourite wooden pear to the shelf in the hall and moved my much loved wooden trees onto the round shelf to replace the shells and stones I like to display there over the summer.

I even dug out and untangled my leaf garland. I usually hang it across the mantel but I love it against the green-blue wall here. Changing the decorations in the house to follow the seasons is one of my favourite things to do.

Outside of the house, we know summer is ending because we have now entered Muddy Dog Season. When it's really cold we shower Ziggy in the bathroom, but he had to suffer the indignity of a hose-down in the back garden here. I think his face says it all.

The end of summer always brings with it a desire to pick up the yarn and crochet hooks after months of not really wanting to crochet much at all. I made a little cushion cover, slightly different on each side, and am making a baby blanket for someone. It's small and very manageable, I'm enjoying it actually. It's nice crochet to do in front of the TV.

Life is starting to gather pace here as we all return to school and work. I am back into my old routines of planning meals and checking the calendar, washing school uniform and thinking about slow-cooker meals. Angus starts secondary school tomorrow and Bella goes back Monday. I had a day at University (via Zoom) yesterday and my first day at school today and I swing between feeling completely overwhelmed by information and really excited to just get stuck in. Everything feels odd at school, with the covid-related changes, and I think everyone is trying to get to grips with it, and I think a lot of people feel overwhelmed too which is reassuring I suppose. I am looking forward to next week when all the children come back. A school without the noise of small people is no fun at all. 

Heatwave Holiday

Hello! We are back from a wonderful break in East Sussex which happened to fall during one of the hottest weeks in the UK for some years. We are all tanned and I keep finding sand in the bottom of bags and shoes - I feel like we've been abroad. It's lovely. We stayed in a self catering house in Camber Sands (nice beach, not so sure about the rest of it) which was about five minutes from the beach. Our days fell into a gentle rhythm of exploring the local area in the mornings before it got too hot, going home for lunch, then heading over to the beach in the afternoon for a couple of hours.

Sometimes we'd go back to the beach again in the evening when it was cool for a walk, although by the time we'd staggered over the dunes there and back you didn't feel very cool.

Probably my favourite part of the holiday was our visit to Dungeness.

It's a huge shingled beach (Britain's only desert!) which is home to a nuclear power station, and is often called "bleak", but it has a strange, otherworldly charm and and sparse beauty. I was quite taken with it. A long road runs for a couple of miles from the village to the lighthouses, with the sea on one side and shingle on the other, and along this road are lots of single storey wooden houses - some almost shacks - with power cables running from one to the next. 

A few are holiday homes but many are lived in year round, and a community of artists has evolved over the years. 

One of the most well known properties here is Prospect Cottage, formerly home to film maker Derek Jarman.

It's certainly a place to go if you are seeking solitude. Scattered across the huge beach are boats - some in use, others abandoned - and fishing detritus, shipping containers and all manner of strange and fascinating things. 

Rye was also a treat, the prettiest town absolutely packed with history. 

We really enjoyed wandering around the cobbled streets and exploring the lovely independent shops, stopping for iced coffee. It was so lovely we went twice and I'd happily go again tomorrow.

This photo below is Rye Pottery where we made a few purchases - I will show you another time.

I think Bella and Angus enjoyed exploring these new places as much as the adults. Angus had found a free map of Rye in the holiday let we were staying in and was very keen to tell us where to go.

They both enjoyed popping into shops, spending their holiday money on sticks of rock and books and other random bits and bobs, and so long as there were frequent opportunities for ice creams or milkshakes it was all good. 

Rye is one of those places where around every corner there is something interesting or quirky or unusual to catch your eye. This window was a particular delight.

The night before we went to Hastings the unbearably humid, hot weather led to some thunderstorms during the night.

I tried to get a photo of the storm but this was the best I could do from the balcony. The storm didn't really clear much of the humidity and the weather in Hastings was still hazy and oppressive with grey skies and rain out to sea.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Hastings (a friend of ours grew up there and rarely had anything positive to say about the place) but the Old Town part felt vibrant and was buzzing with people sitting outside cafes or wandering around the streets. We bought Cornish pasties for lunch and ate them by the car near the beach, surrounded by sea gulls. 

They are a bit of a pest in this area; noisy, very bold and aggressive in groups. But so long as you don't feed them (or leave your lunch out while you go for a swim!) you're ok. 

It was a really wonderful, relaxing week away. I took lots of craft projects with me and didn't do much of anything as it was too hot, but I read a lot and relaxed and feel rested. I think that the children have had a good holiday and it was especially lovely to watch them swimming in the sea every day, something we rarely get the weather to do in the UK. Now that we're home, the weather has been quite wet and changeable (just when I want to do lots of washing!) but the rain is welcome and the garden already looks greener. We had a bit of work done on the house while we were away and I will show you photos soon, along with the holiday souvenirs we brought home with us. But now we have two weeks of holiday left before school and work start up again and I am determined to make the most of them, starting with some blackberry picking today.