Come Rain or Shine

I went for a really long walk today. Sunday usually is the day I try to keep free for walks, doing all my grocery shopping on Saturday so I don't need to worry about closing times.

A few Sundays ago I walked from Hungerford to Chilton Foliat (where the BBC filmed the classic series Victorian Kitchen Garden and Victorian Flower Garden) and today I walked from Hungerford to Kintbury and back again (about 13 kilometres or more, which is pretty impressive for the likes of me).

The weather was changing constantly, some sunshine, some rain ... Autumn is arriving really fast and there are still lots of rosehips, haws and the last of the damsons around. Yesterday I went foraging for sweet chestnuts and brought home half a carrier bag! Maybe I will make some into marrons glacés ...

On my return I baked some buttermilk scones and ate them slathered in clotted cream and my homemade blackberry jam - the perfect treat and simply the best way to reward myself for my aching feet!

Love, Qaroline

suspicious sheep, near Chilton Foliat

Freeman's Marsh, Hungerford, on my way back from Chilton Foliat

on my way to Kintbury

rainbow

along the Kennet and Avon Kanal

Tea time: buttermilk scones with clotted cream and homemade blackberry jam. Single tuberose in milk bottle.

Foraging Frenzy

I have been walking a lot this weekend, foraging for flowers and fruit. This morning I woke up early, had a quick breakfast and went out blackberrying.

I remembered how my parents used to bribe me with picking blackberries or cobnuts when they had trouble persuading me to join them on a Sunday walk. Foraging for free food still is the main reason why I always try to get a sense of my surroundings. I simply have to find out where the blackberry bushes are, good mushroom spots or sweet chestnut trees.

I found lots of beautiful flowers today but as I do not have a single vase in my cupboard I took a milk bottle from the recycling box and arranged the budleija and elderberry branches, the comfrey blossoms and grass stalks in there.

milk bottle bouquet

Apart from blackberries I also found damsons, very small, prune-like, slightly bitter fruit who are quite exotic to me – I haven’t seen them anywhere in Germany. I will try to make damson cheese but my jam-making equipment is still packed away – time for more experimenting …

Love, Qaroline

damsons I brought back home wrapped in my shawl

dusk settles over the river Kennet

Hungerford Common