An English Country Cottage

                                   “Where, you tend a rose, my lad, A thistle cannot grow “

This effectively simple sentence has proved to be an antidote to the narcissistic ways that had begun to engulf me.

Without wanting to provoke those self – obsessed feelings once more, the less that is said on the subject the better. All there is to know that having found some solace in the form of a book, with every page that was turned, another pane in the disused and fogged up stained glass window that is my mind would polish itself clean and allow the sun’s rays to sparkle through the crystal coloured glass making everything seem much clearer and brighter than it was once before.

Now before you all think ( and I know some of you have thought it for a while ), that I am completely off my rocker , I’ll give you a recipe and some pictures to showcase the things that have helped me on a new road to self-discovery…

For a long time I have been mentally fending the month of September off with a big pointy stick.
September to me signifies –

The sneaky beginning of winter

September has this deceitful way of underhandedly making you think the summer is actually longer than it is. We are all too often met with glorious unprecedented sunshine in the first two weeks (hence the reason for our wedding anniversary being September 12th), which tempts us into thinking that this year will finally be the year that we will be granted an Indian summer that we see us still tending to the coals of our bbqs in late October.
Every year I fall for this trick but once the harsh winds and torrid wetness meets us in the last week of the month, all dreams of a sun – drenched Christmas day lunch cease to exist.

The month before my life meets my most pinnacle age yet

I can’t explain why or give any pathetic useless reason as to why I am quite fearful of turning 28.
Being 30 or even 50 has ever brought on the thoughtless panic attacks that I have found myself fighting with at the thought of hitting my late twenties.
Maybe I’m afraid something’s going to change, it might even be that I want it to change and it won’t.  All I can say is that I’ll let you know in a month…


However much it might seem, I actually enjoy the passing change of seasons that occurs in this mid – range month.  When summer and autumn amalgamate into one the most beauteous of landscapes can be seen, with the soft autumnal golden flocks of leaves being highlighted by the very last little bit of energy the summer sun has to give the views across land and field become awe inspiring. Brisk, cold, earthy mornings give way to warm days, with still enough light to stretch out the working hours in the garden that little bit longer.

And it is with September that we welcome the sight of the plum blackberry but we bid farewell to the strawberries, the blackberries and the raspberries that have enlightened our summer thus far. There has not been a day where my face has not been brightened with one or more of these berries, either as part of my breakfast or in the middle of the day when I want something to cheer me up. Now they are beginning to have seen their best, our season may be stretched a little longer with the help of heated greenhouses, but the majority of our good old English berries have seen better days and this is the most perfect recipe to give them the best send-off possible.

Strawberry and raspberry sorbet

400g strawberries – washed and hulled
200g raspberries
100g caster sugar
The juice of a lemon

Put all of your fruit into a large bowl then sprinkle with the caster sugar and the lemon juice.
Leave to macerate for half an hour.
Once to berries have softened puree them with a blender then sieve to remove the seeds.
If you have an ice cream maker pour in the mixture and leave for about twenty minutes until frozen, if not the place your liquid mixture into a suitable container and freeze for an hour, then take it out of the freezer and mix well with a fork and return to the freezer. Repeat this stage at least twice more at hourly intervals until frozen. Remove the sorbet from the freezer at least twenty minutes before serving.