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The Domestic Fowl Trust and Honeybourne Rare Breeds

Today my youngest son and I decided to visit 'Chicken World'.  The Domestic Foul Trust.  It isn't too far from us.  It is in the County of Warwickshire.  I thought I would show you this picture of a Village called Alcester, it looked pretty with the remnants of yesterday's street party for The Royal Wedding.  Warwickshire is Shakespeare country as it is the County where William Shakespeare was born.  Even the hen houses are mock Tudor.

Well these ones were anyway.  The Domestic Foul Trust near Honeybourne has a museum containing all things chicken and egg related.  We read about the history of Cockerel Fighting and looked at the Factory production of chicken and eggs.  We also enjoyed looking at old chicken themed toys.  When we left the museum to enter the park we were mobbed by trained racing chickens sprinting towards us as they must have known we had bought feed to share out on our way around.

They look sweet and innocent but some could jump pretty high and manged to peck the paper bag in my son's hand.  I made friends with one before I realised it was a cockerel.

It's loud crowing gave me quite a shock.
My son made friends with this one...

It actually followed him all around the park for about fourty minutes, they had quite a bond between them.  Euan called it Freddy the Chicken.  Freddy certainly got reward for his friendship with Euan and we probably left him nicely fattened with a belly full of corn. 
We had a tour around the world in chickens and saw 131 different breeds of chicken, from British and European breeds to American and Asian breeds, you will forgive me for not remembering all of them.  Many of the exhibits had tried and tested escape routes from their enclosures and were at large around the park.  I am a complete 'Townie' and the size of a full grown chicken surprised me, some are huge.  The cockerels and Turkeys were a bit scary.  I am sure by the way this turkey puffed himself out he was as scared of me as I was of him.

It was quite hard to tell which was the head and which was the tail with some breeds.

I found myself admiring all the miniatures and bantams.  They are definitely on my wishlist for the future.  I particularly loved these miniature Buff Orpingtons.  They are about a third of the size of a Buff Orpington.  There were also Buff Orpington Ducks but I didn't photograph them as they were too busy having a bath.

We went even more miniature in the chick room....

Very cute with all the different breeds of chick all together.

I can see three ducklings in this picture too.
Euan got very sad when it was time to say goodbye to Freddy so I had to promise we would go and see him again soon.

The Royal Wedding

What English Blog would be complete without a post about 'The Royal Wedding'?
You can download 'The Royal Wedding Official Programme' - free.
http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/content/documents/RWOP_V2.pdf
 If you havn't seen it already you may like it.  It has some excellent information, maps and photographs.  It is a very useful guide to the 'pomp and ceremony'.
My plan for the day includes going to my parents to watch the 'ceremony' and I may crochet some 'commemorative' red, white and blue Granny Squares to make my 'Poor old Blanket' feel a bit regal and important.  I am all for this wedding, it is afterall an extra days holiday.  Three cheers for Royal Weddings!

Bluebells (Knit Your Own) - If you go down to the woods today...

Today I took my dog for a walk in the local woods.  You can find out a little more about them by clicking here.  These woods literally straddle a County Border, half of the woodland is in Worcestershire and the other half is in Warwickshire.  Today I walked in both counties to admire the carpet of Bluebells.

I love Bluebells.  This year vast areas of British woodland were under threat to be sold off by the Government.  After a successful, largely cyberspace campaign, thankfully there was a U-turn decision.  It was a scary time.  Once these ancient woodlands are lost they are gone forever.  How can you not respect Mother Nature in all her glory?  These woodlands to me represent our past, present and future. 

Free download - Knitting Pattern from The Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust have been running a campaign to encourage more people to visit and value their local woodland.  The knitted Bluebell is to be used as a symbol in a Geurilla Knitting Campaign, Yarn Bombing Style.  You have to admit it is very cute.  I will have to add it to my ever growing 'To Do' list.

In ancient folklore it is said when the bluebells are ringing the Fairies arrive.

I tried to get a close up photograph of a fairy but she must have hidden under the nettle leaf!

I have heard of the 'black sheep of the family' well this is the 'White Bluebell of the woods'.


This is definitely not a fairy it is my lovely Lacey.  She loves the woods, squirreling and finding 'Sticky Wicks'.  If I say that to her she will run and find a stick and by stick I mean log!

Lacey's specialism is 'Big' sticks, she adores them.  She struggles and wrestles with them until she finds their point of balance so she can carry them.  She is as elusive as a fairy to photograph when she has a stick, I took loads of photographs and these two were the best!  She growls and snarls with a stick.

Once she drops her stick and has worn herself out she returns to her lovely, placid, old self!  Doesn't she look pretty with the backdrop of Blubells?  

If you cannot find a chance to visit a Bluebell wood near you soon, I would definitely knit your own!

Ginger Beer Scones

I am turning in to The Queen of Scones!  I have posted the recipe for Cheese Scones then I posted the recipe for Easy Peasy Lemonade Scones, one for the boys, I posted the recipe for Cheese and Beer Scones.  Now let me bring you ............The Ginger Beer Scone!

Makes about 12-14 scones.

325g self-raising flour
170ml cold Ginger Beer (use the carbonated type)
170ml Double cream (It needs to be a heavy cream as no other fat is going into these scones.)
25g of finely chopped Crystallised Ginger

Preheat oven to 225 degrees Celsius (205 degrees Celsius fan-forced). Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Sift flour into a large bowl add the crystallised ginger. Combine Ginger Beer and cream in a medium bowl. Add Ginger Beer and cream mixture to flour and gently fold ingredients together until just combined (don't over mix the dough as this will make tough scones). The dough should be fairly soft and sticky.

Place dough on a lightly floured work surface, form into a round and press out to about 3.5cm thickness. Cut scones using a floured 5cm diameter cutter.   Use a quick, firm motion to cut the scones to gives them a better shape and it makes them less likely to stick to the cutter. Form the offcuts into another round and cut some more scones.

Place scones close together on the tray, so they are just touching. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until pale golden and cooked through.

If you like your scones to have a soft crust, cover them with a clean tea towel for one minute after removing from the oven. Delicious served spread with butter and  a drizzle of honey .

Scones take no time at all to make and are very economical as a quick snack.  It also makes sense when you already have the oven on to use the fuel economically and bake goodies alongside dinner.

Crochet Granny Squares

Here are some of my new Granny Squares.  This repair job is going to take a while especially as I am so divergent.  I have also been attempting to crochet my first pair of 'crochet' socks.  They do not look very impressive to show you yet though and I have been spinning like crazy over the Easter weekend.  I will photograph that when I have used my niddy noddy and wound the yarn into a skein.  I have had to give up on the Crochet Bunting idea I had for 'The Royal Wedding', maybe I will plan better for the next 'Coronation'!   

I really like the Stylecraft 'Meadow' with the pink.

and more pink...

and the pink with the pink. 
The ends are tucked under for the purpose of the photograph.  I must be disciplined and not leave them, to avoid a marathon end sewing in session.  By the time I am fifty this blanket should be near completion!

Spinach - Garden Harvest

Here is some Homegrown Spinach.  This spinach was actually planted last year and it survived the harsh winter!  This Spinach is very Hardy.  I think it is 'Matador' variety.  I try to use what I grow rather than waste it.  Popeye would be proud of me.

I put some in this Chicken and Chick Pea Curry.

I also made a Spinach and Feta Quiche.  I just made a shortcrust pastry case, blind baked it for about ten minutes then crumbled about 300g of Feta into the base, with all of the wilted chopped spinach I could gather.  I beat three eggs with 150ml of milk, poured it over the Feta and Spinach and baked it until golden and set.

I have lots of vegetables threatening to put in an appearance this year so I am looking forward to more concoctions.  Last year I had a large glut of Turnips...I was going to write a book '101 ways with the Humble Turnip!'  I wonder what this year will bring...

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'Poppy Day' - Giant Poppies

For a couple of weeks these will be the Stars of the garden. 

I am rather fond of the buds, I think they look funny.  I love the fuzzy texture.

Then from the Fuzzy Buds burst enormous, 'In Your Face' Poppies.

This is the first and the only one in full bloom so far.  Isn't it gorgeous.  I took this photograph in fairly overcast light and I have not altered it in any way.  These Poppies brighten up the Garden regardless of what the weather is doing.

These Yellow Poppies bloomed today for the first time too, they are wild and have just decided they like it here.

Kiwi Spinning Wheel Trolley - A Thrifty Invention

I love my Ashford Kiwi Spinning Wheel but it is not very portable.  I found this shopping Trolley in a Charity Shop last weekend.  (The dog wanted to be in the picture and I didn't want to argue.)

The Spinning Wheel did not fit on the frame like this.  So my parents found some old board/wood.  Then my Dad attached these bracketty type of things.  They hold the board tightly onto the trolley frame.

My Mom found some old carpet and my Partner found some strong glue (it was seriously called 'Sticks Like S**t'.)  It seems to have done the trick anyway.  The carpet stops the wheel from slipping about.


The wheel can be strapped on using strong elastic cord and there is still room to put the trolley bag on back to front to carry my stash!  I have no idea where I am going but now my wheel can come too.

Is this ingenious or what!

Cheese and Beer Scones

I have posted my recipe for Cheese Scones, I have also posted my recipe for Lemonade Scones  and now (Drum roll please.......) I would like to introduce Cheese and Beer Scones.  These are a cross between cheese scones and Lemonade Scones.  They make a deliciously different 'cheese Scone' and are very simple and quick to make.  They make the humble cheese scone a little bit more modern and funky.  You can really taste the yeasty beer flavour which is delicious with the wholegrain mustard and cheese.  I used a 'Strong Traditioal Ale', 'Speckled Hen'.  This recipe calls for approximately half a bottle, which is a shame because then you are left with the dilemma of what to do with the other half bottle of the 'Amber Nectar'. 

Makes about 12-14 Cheese and Beer scones

325g self-raising flour
75g grated Mature Cheese
2tsp Wholegrain Mustard
2tsp Finely Chopped Chives
170ml cold Beer
170ml Double cream (It needs to be a heavy cream as no other fat is going into these scones.)

Preheat oven to medium to hot.
Sift flour into a large bowl, add the cheese, mustard and chives.  Combine Beer and cream in a medium bowl. Add Beer and cream mixture to flour and gently fold ingredients together until just combined (don't over mix the dough as this will make tough scones). The dough should be fairly soft and sticky.

Place dough on a lightly floured work surface, form into a round and press out to about 3.5cm thickness. Cut scones using a floured 5cm diameter cutter.   Use a quick, firm motion to cut the scones to gives them a better shape and it makes them less likely to stick to the cutter. Form the offcuts into another round and cut some more scones.

Place scones close together on the tray, so they are just touching. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until pale golden and cooked through.

If you like your scones to have a soft crust, cover them with a clean tea towel for one minute after removing from the oven.

Happy Easter Chicks

 The Chicks are spending more time outdoors now which is wonderful as I can reclaim my living room.  They still need to come indoors at night and sleep under a heat lamp for a couple more weeks.  As the days have been so warm I have had them in their coop or run in the daytime.   The above picture is my youngest supervising them for their first time in their run.  'One Man and his Chickens'.

 Forgive me for the photograph of the chickens bottom, it is quite tricky to take photographs of chickens as they are fast and not very obedient, like my kids and dog!  They really enjoyed scratching and pecking on the grass and they are amazingly adept and swift at chasing and catching tiny bugs to eat.

 They are friendly and rush to greet us if we go out, but they  protest when they are picked up.  I left them out until dusk last night and they were all stood on their flower pot cheeping their alarm calls, I think they are afraid of the dark!  They didn't protest to be carried indoors.  It was a very warm night so they spent their first night without their lamp so it was dark, but indoors.  I went to bed listening to their pitiful cries, their alarm call is quite loud, shrill and repatitive, but their unhappy cries are a constant little worrying squeaks.  Tonight when I brought them in they were worrying again, I put the lamp on and they have gone straight to sleep.

I am wondering how long it will be until they are big girls and brave enough to sleep in their coop without causing a noise disturbance to all my neighbours!  It thundered today for about half an hour, they coped with that by running for cover in their coop.  They show no fear of my dog that eyes them up like Sylvester the cat after Tweety Pie.  Everytime the dog thinks I am not looking I can see her licking her lips!  These Hens will not be free ranging.  I have found out they are F1 Brown Link Hybrid variety - Battery Hen variety. 

 "Various combinations of pure breeds were originally used to create egg laying hybrids, the most popular being a Rhode Island Red cockerel and a Light Sussex hen. These breeds have of course been modified over the years to create better parent stock that will lay even more eggs. It is thought the White Leghorn has also been used and this is where the battery hen has got her large floppy comb from". 
Poultry Keeper - This is where I found the info
 They have been bred as the most prolific layers and lay more eggs in their lifetime than any other breed.  This is when they are kept in an artificial environment with artificial light constantly.  These ladies will not produce as many eggs as a battery hen would and will stop laying when daylight drops to less than fourteen hours a day.  Fantastic I might get three eggs out of each of them this year!  An egg still seems a very long way off.  We will probably fight over the first in this house or share it!   For now I will have to console myself with eggs of the Chocolate variety.  I hope you are all enjoying a Happy Easter Weekend.

Cinnamon Rolls and Maggie Sefton Knitting Mysteries

I may aswell come completely out of the closet!  I do enjoy reading 'Knitting Fiction'.
 There I have said it!  My favourites are the Maggie Sefton 'Knitting Mysteries'.  In the winter I went through a spell of getting cosey and reading until I nodded off.  The titles of the books themselves are great.

To go to sleep with a head full of knitting, Yarn stores, Alpaca farms, sheep shearing and fleece, spinning etc is the thing that dreams are made of.  I don't like anything scary or gruesome so these mysteries are about as hardcore as I get.  I think there are eight in the series.  Each book contains recipes and knitting patterns at the back too.  The main character 'Kelly' spends a great deal of her time either in the Yarn Store or the Coffee shop, when she isn't solving mysteries.  In one book she was drinking 'Gingerbread Coffee' and in every book she eats 'Cinnamon Rolls'.  I tracked down a place in town that served 'Gingerbread' flavoured coffee so I did a 'Kelly' and treated myself.  It was delicious.  Then last week I found this recipe...At Sheep Spinach and Strawberries  a blog about

"Food, Farm and Fiber -raising, growing, cooking, sharing".  I love this blog and today tried my version of this recipe.  I didn't have Craisins but I used sultanas and Walnuts.  Both of my Son's sampled when the rolls were still warm and when I asked for marks out of ten, the youngest said '100 out of infinity' I think that means he liked it.

I won't be solving any mysteries but I do like Cinnamon Rolls, coffee and 'Yarn Stores'.