September in the Rain

Can't say that September was the best of months - yes, it ended well (very well in fact) but the rest of the month was decidedly wet (and windy):

And of course, our 2 week holiday had to come in the middle of the wet and windy bit - nothing quite like getting back to work and looking out at glorious sunshine!

Autumnwatch

October arrived with some blazing hot sunshine - so it didn't really feel much like Autumn (then anyway!).


Took a trip out to this year's Springwatch location - Ynys-hir - beautiful day, fantastic scenery - and there were a few signs of Autumn . . .


. . . not least the steady thwack of acorns (hitting everything in sight), but also red leaves in the sunlight . . .



 
 

And the local squirrel population, squirrelling away their winter hoards.

Dehydrated . . .

Got my new 'toy' the other day - a food dehydrator - just in time to deal with the small mountain of cherry tomatoes harvested from the clearing of the small greenhouse.

And - Ta-Da! - 6 hours or so later, sun dried tomatoes!

Well, machine-dried anyway . . .




Got a bit experimental with the one tray that didn't get taken up with tomatoes, and tried a selection of pepper, chilli, mushroom and apple . . .



All seemed to work quite nicely - nice intense flavours - and the right kind of texture - so all in all rather pleased with the results.

Norfolk Coast and Castle

Followed the sun to Norfolk for the last few days of our holiday:

'Stalked' deer in the parkland round Holkham Hall.

Explored Castle Rising with its stairs and gargoyles.

Walked the beach from Wells to Holkham.

Followed the Norfolk Coastal Path to Cley windmill.

Marvelled at the price of beach huts - £57,000 - honestly!

Dinefwr Day

A slight improvement in the weather took us off to Dinefwr Park and Castle for the day. Had a wander round the House, and a nice walk up to the Castle.

Along the way encountered one of the local deer population, which bounded across our path, but didn't hang around to have its photo taken . . .






. . . the rather fine looking sheep were much more relaxed models!

Wild Wales!

As the remains of Hurricane Katia batter the UK we've been enjoying some spectacular seas off the Aberystwyth coast.

At any rate it made for an interesting and invigorating evening walk!

Blackberry Whisky

Continuing the rather alcoholic theme of the last few posts, we've also now got a demijohn of blackberry whisky maturing in the pantry.  Spent the (rather windy but at least sunny) afternoon blackberrying down the Rheidol Valley, and the fruits of our labours are now infusing into 2.5 litres of cheapish whisky.



The sugar has now more or less dissolved, and the blackberries also appear to be breaking up nicely - will definitely have to strain this one though - blackberries are inherently more 'bitty' than damsons.  Anticipating making some nice boozy blackberry jelly in due course!