Liner notes | 04

1. The familiar top deck bus ride across north Devon in misty rain. Wouldn't have it any other way.

2. North Cornwall. Won't go a single year without a pilgrimage to this coastline.

3, 4. Meet Nelson, my gran's three-legged purring wonder. He's arrogant and affectionate in equal parts and he'll charm anybody he meets.

5, 6. The Exploding Bakery, Exeter. All station-side coffee stops need to be like this.

7. A haul from Exeter's finest record store, Rooster Records. That Stone The Crows record is my favourite music purchase so far this year.

8, 9. Some deer eat grass with all their friends. Others go solo in search of waterlilies.

River Cottage for lunch

Food in order of photographs: selection of homemade breads & butter; sugarsnaps, hazelnut pesto & toasted almonds; wild boar burger, foccacia bun, homemade ketchup & chips;  smoked wild boar tenderloin, blackberries & Trill leaf; chocolate brownie, praline & ice cream.


So there's this guy called Hugh who wears black-framed specs and is a bit of a foodie. Once upon a time he ventured into the depths of Devon in search of a better, more self-sustaining lifestyle. He moved into a former gamekeeper's lodge called River Cottage and began growing and rearing his own, turning his produce into delicious meals. A few years (ok, a decade and a half) later and River Cottage isn't just a cottage with a vegetable patch any more, it's grown into many projects, from books to television series to canteens and delis. But everything is still centred around the same belief in locally sourced food. Which makes sense really - the fresher the food, the better it tastes (especially if Hugh has a hand in the cooking).

We found this out back in August when we went to the River Cottage canteen in Axminster to encounter a very tasty lunch. Wild boar burgers. Focaccia bread. Delicious homemade butter - and I hate butter. Hazelnut pesto, fresh greens, blackberries. And a really gooey wodge of chocolate brownie.

River Cottage may have become a bit of a business enterprise, but it's one with its heart in the right place. If you find yourself in that part of the country, go to the canteen. And you'll remember how good a humble homegrown vegetable can be.

On the farm

During our Dorset-Devon-Cornwall sojourn (which now seems a million years ago), we enjoyed a really lovely stay at Spiller's Farm, a farm and bed & breakfast near Axminster, Devon. We wanted to visit the River Cottage Canteen and needed somewhere nearby to stop the night. We were lucky to find somewhere so nice.

There was a walk around the farm lake with the owners' dog Merryck, who was friendly and full of character; a flock of curious sheep with wise faces and bouncy woollen coats; a glorious Aga-cooked breakfast with homegrown tomatoes, homemade jam, hand-cured bacon and sausages; clusters of ducks and hens roaming about; a ramble through another farm and up the nearby Musbury Hill with its sea-view'd summit; fruit trees groaning with produce and a garden full of beautiful flowers; and in the morning, snuffling their way around the straw of their pen, a litter of ten, tiny, perfect newborn piglets.

My mum grew up on a dairy farm, and I may have been born and bred amongst the bustle and noise of London, but I think I'm a country girl at heart too.

Take a look at Spiller's Farm here if you're ever looking to stay in the area. It's highly recommended!

An awfully lovely day at Corfe Castle

During our sojourn to Dorset a very happy few hours were spent in the town of Corfe Castle, a village nestled in the Purbeck Hills. A picturesque home to said castle, the village is also famous for being the inspiration behind Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. Stories I will always love. (And the reason for the very cheesy title of this blog.)

It was one of the most English places I've ever visited. A paintpot blue sky with perfect white fluffy clouds, quaint stone cottage buildings clustered around a church. Sweetshops, bookshops, a deli selling pork pies & cheese, National Trust tearooms with low ceilings, wonky staircases and a garden sitting right at the very edge of the castle. After stopping for tea in the garden - and getting rather hot in the sun - we explored the village station. It's full of gorgeous retro railway ephemera and there's a fully functional steam train running through to Swanage - I felt like I was in a scene from the Railway Children, or Goodnight Mr Tom, or about to board the Hogwarts Express.

We then roamed around the castle, taking in its wild beauty - crumbling stone walls, gorse bushes, hidden walkways and panoramic views of the Dorset countryside. You can easily see the resemblance to Blyton's books. A picnic was eaten sitting amongst the ruins - almost like the Famous Five themselves. If only we'd had a dog, jam sandwiches, fruit cake and lashings of ginger beer!

A Devon break

Last week I went to Devon (and Cornwall) for a couple of nights to stay with my Gran. The weather was a bit wet but we still had a wonderful time. We explored Exeter, had many cups of tea/coffee, lingered in cafes to escape the rain, talked about all kinds of things, fussed over Tessa (her cat), enjoyed a very blustery beach walk, played a lot of Scrabble and ate big bowls of soup in front of the telly.

(Instagram photos - homemade bramble jelly using my gran's old jam kettle; my gran's cat Tessa who has the softest fur imaginable; feeling refreshed and rosy-cheeked after a beach walk; my reading material for the train ride home)

She may be 64 years older than me but I get on really well with my Gran. I love hearing her stories about being young in the forties and fifties, going to lots of dances (including one where she met my grandpa), and then becoming a farmer's wife and raising four daughters in rural Devon. I think this is where my love of the countryside must stem from.

It felt great to see the sea again, even if it was raining and blowing a gale. There were only a few brave souls out walking their dogs; so different to the sunny busy holiday place of August. But I find it just as beautiful on a wet February day. One of my dreams in life is to live close to the sea - there's just something so captivating and life-affirming about it. 

 (Summerleaze beach, Bude)

"I want to know what it says, the sea. What it is that it keeps on saying."