Maytime...
It was Mr Digandweed's birthday earlier in the week and so we decided to pay a visit to Barnsdale Gardens in Rutland, the gardens of Geoff Hamilton, former presenter of Gardeners' World.
It was a while since our last visit, but the gardens were as delightful as ever.
It was a while since our last visit, but the gardens were as delightful as ever.
Beautiful blossom trees.
I remember Geoff making this lovely water feature from recycled materials on one of the programmes.
My favourite - the Japanese garden.
Love these little sculptures by Lily Sawtell which are dotted around the gardens.
Corner of a little herb garden.
A few days later and I was foraging for wild garlic in woods along the River Nene with my little helper.
We picked a little bagful of the pungent leaves - not too many - and back at home I made baked eggs with spinach, wild garlic and yoghurt.
It made an easy and tasty brunch.
In case you would like to make something similar, this is what I did.
For 2 people:
1 small handful of wild garlic, washed and chopped
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
2 eggs
a few tablespoons of plain yoghurt
fresh nutmeg
chilli flakes
salt and pepper
Saute the wild garlic and spinach in a little butter until just wilted.
Season with salt and pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.
Spoon the mixture into 1 or 2 ovenproof dishes.
Make indentations in the spinach mixture and crack in the eggs.
Cook in the oven at 150c for about 10 minutes until the eggs are just set.
To serve - spoon over yoghurt to taste and sprinkle with a few chilli flakes.
Happy weekend all.
Speak soon
Annie
x
P.S The ginger and apple Simnel cake was declared a success by one and all!
The wild garlic is amazing at the moment isn't it. The littlest boy ate a load while we were walking the other day. Your egg recipe looks delicious. Barnsdale looks wonderful, especially that little corner of the herb garden. I imagine it's a wonderful place to visit. I have fond memories of Geoff Hamilton on Gardener's World, I particularly love that he was into organic growing before it was popular. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteYes, he was way before his time in advocating organic gardening and the use of recycled materials. Do you remember the homemade ‘rocks’ which he made to prevent the destruction of limestone pavements? They are still there in one of the gardens and look totally natural! So sad that he died at such a relatively young age.
DeleteI grew up in the Fens on the very outskirts of Peterborough and can remember the wonderful Sunday afternoon drives around the blossom fields of Wisbech and Kings Lynn when the, almost non existent, apple and pear orchards were in full flower. And the always cold and often windy bank holiday Mondays watching the tulip parade in Spalding, a tradition that I think is no longer. As a babe of Yorkshire how I missed the hills as a youngster, but as I grew older I can appreciate the beautiful if very different landscape of my youth as we drive through to holiday in Norfolk.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. The landscape of the Fens is certainly very different to Yorkshire but has a quiet charm of its own and as you say. Sadly the tulip festival no longer takes place which is a great shame.
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