Autumn – the season of fruits and next year’s tariff!

Apples from the orchard

In the cottage orchard, here at Coed y Berclas, the branches of the apple trees are weighed down by the fruit they bear. Bit by bit, as they ripen, we are picking lovely red and golden apples which would never be accepted in a supermarket because they are anything but regular in size or shape. They are, however, very tasty, especially eaten straight from the tree. This season’s crop is large so we are storing, cooking and freezing, pie making, looking up chutney recipes and giving apples to friends and family.

The sloe gin is coming along well, the sugar has all dissolved, so I have stopped shaking the bottles and put them all into a cupboard until near Christmas when I will strain the liquid from the berries. The colour is already a lovely wine red.

At this time of year I am also reminded that the end of 2010 is approaching and I have been prompted to work out the tariff for 2011. It will be there on the Tariff and Availability page soon and we already have a number of enquiries. Goodness, doesn’t time fly.

New cooker in the cottage

This week, we replaced the gas cooker in the cottage with a sparkling new Cannon with far more safety features. It was on our list of ‘things to do’ but jumped up the list when the thermostat in the old oven started to misbehave. Old cooker out and new one sourced and in within a morning. Is that a record?

Dorothy

Sloe Gin Recipe for a Cheery Christmas Treat

Sloe berries for making Sloe Gin

It’s that time of year again when here at Coed y Berclas we pick sloes to make sloe gin which will be ready in time for Christmas. In case you’d like to join in the fun, here’s the method my Father taught me:-
Sloe Gin Recipe.

Sloe gin is a lovely liqueur for sipping after dinner but we pour a little over fresh fruit and yoghurt as a dessert. It’s very easy to make and you can pick the sloes (blackthorn berries) from the hedgerows.

For the sloe gin recipe you will need:-

  • Bottle of gin (don’t waste your best gin, the cheapest will do nicely)
  • Empty screw top bottles (they can have contained your best gin!)
  • Enough granulated sugar to fill a bottle
  • Pick enough sloes to fill a bottle (if you pick too many they can be frozen for later use – you can always buy yourself another bottle of gin and double the quantities!)
  • Divide the gin evenly between the three bottles so that each is one third full.
  • Pour sugar into each bottle until each is two thirds full.
  • Fill each bottle almost to the top with sloes.
  • Screw on the tops and shake each bottle to mix all the contents.

Once a day, shake the bottles to mix up all the contents until the sugar is totally dissolved and there is no longer any settling at the bottom.
Now leave the bottles until just before Christmas then strain the liquid. Discard the sloes and pour the Sloe Gin back into the bottles. The longer you keep Sloe Gin the better it gets but try some over Christmas – you deserve it!

You might have noticed that both the ingredients and the method are ‘informal’ – this is how my Father made Sloe Gin and how he handed it on to me. It works!

Dorothy

Sept 27th 2010

The Old Gaffers Weekend at Holyhead Sailing Club

The Old Gaffers Weekend at Holyhead Sailing Club. Battle of Holyhead

We have had a busy time this Summer, which is wonderful, of course. When filling in a form earlier this year I was amazed to note that 60% of our bookings were repeats which is lovely, but we also love to welcome new guests.

Now that the bank holiday is over and the new school term has begun, Autumn isn’t far away and the weather has been a blend of blue skies, warm sunshine, showers and wind. Our Victoria plum tree is giving masses of fruit, we have a glut of raspberries and the apples are ripening in the orchard. It’s time to collect blackthorn berries to make a new batch of sloe gin ready for Christmas. What a beautiful season.

The Old Gaffers Weekend at Holyhead Sailing Club

Over the weekend Holyhead was lucky to have good sailing weather despite a daunting forecast. Holyhead Sailing Club played host to a fun weekend of beautiful old gaff rigged boats, sea shanties, much socialising and a parade which included the Battle of Holyhead – played out in the outer harbour.

Daf and I spent Saturday night and Sunday on our boat in the centre of the festivities and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Seeing the gaffs in full sail is a wonderful thing and they came in all shapes and sizes.

The Old Gaffers Weekend at Holyhead Sailing Club. Blackbeard's Tea Party

Much love and a great deal of work goes into mainting these lovely craft and I can recommend looking out for this event next year.

One of the fun, and educational, things to do was rope making and Daf and I made a length of flax rope which has now become our skipping rope and is helping to keep us fit. We also watched as some little girls concentrated very hard on learning to make lovely fish and lanterns from willow, while a young woman used a spoke shave to prepare strips of oak to make spelk baskets. There was also a coracle maker and someone smoking fish. Lots for everyone to see and do. We were quite taken with a shanty band called Blackbeard’s Tea Party and came away with a CD.

The Old Gaffers Weekend at Holyhead Sailing Club

Dorothy Russell

Sept 7th 2010

Private Quilt Workshops at Coed y Berclas

 Private Quilt Workshops at Coed y Berclas

At the moment, we have Julie and Anthony staying at the Cottage, along with members of their family who have dropped in for a few days, one or two at a time. Julie, already a skilled needlewoman, has been having quilting lessons with me and is enjoying herself, adding new skills to her repertoire.

She hit a good time to holiday here as she caught the last of my current series of Individual Workshops and was able to join the group doing Reverse Applique (contemporary style!). She was pushed well outside her comfort zone and had fun escaping her usual symmetrical approach to produce a really lovely piece of work which you can see for yourself in the photograph taken at my group’s ‘end of term’ Pot Luck Lunch, on Sunday 4th July.

While Julie has been doing patchwork and quilting with me, the other members of her family have been discovering Anglesey and North Wales before being guided gently towards one or two of the quilt shops we have on the Island. They have climbed Snowdon, visited Bodnant Gardens and Beaumaris Castle, watched nesting seabirds at South Stack, been body boarding at Cable Bay on the north coast, enjoyed ice cream at Red Boat and a lot more beside.

While at Cable Bay Julie sat quietly quilting a piece of wholecloth work she had designed, layered and begun stitching in a private workshop with me. You can also see how that’s developing in one of the Show and Tell photos from our lunch party on the 4th. The section you can see is only part of a bed quilt Julie is planning to make – the drawing is done and at the rate she’s working, it won’t be too long before it’s finished.

Having come to grips with Machine Quilting, at our next session together she tackled a version of Magic Tile; so keep an eye on the blog to see how that looks later on. I must ask her to let me have photos of all her finished work.

I have to add that I too have really enjoyed myself: Julie has been very good company, always open to new approaches, fun to spend time with and at the Pot Luck Lunch she blended in with my regular quilt groups as though they’d all been friends for ages.

Private Quilt workshops at Coed y Berclas

Dorothy

July 9th 2010

Beaumaris Court

Beaumaris Court house performance

Court scenes at Beaumaris

This afternoon Daf and I were invited to a special performance at Beaumaris Courthouse, a lovely old building which has seen the balance of justice swing to and fro since 1614.

We were in very distinguished company: following brief speeches by representatives of Anglesey Council’s Department of Leisure and Culture and an amusing delivery, given with urbane skill by Alun Ffred Jones, Minister for Heritage (in which Daf was given a mention!), we were treated to a performance by Cwmni’r Frân Wen (an Anglesey based group of professional actors).

Assembled outside the Courthouse by the ‘Town Crier’ we were ushered into the building and settled in various parts of the court to attend the ‘trial’. I found myself climbing an old wooden stairway to become a member of the jury, seated in a box overlooking the body of the courtroom.

Other guests represented members of the press or the public and everyone was closely involved in the performance as the actors delivered two different cases for our entertainment and education.

When asked for our verdict on a man accused of ship wrecking (1742), we, the jury, offered a distinct ‘not guilty’, much to the delight of both the man and his vociferous wife.

  • These performances are offered to the public:
  • 31st May – 6th June 2010
  • 19th July – 30 August 2010
  • 25th -31st October 2010
  • Monday, Thursday and Saturday 11:00/12:00/2:00/3:00

And I can honestly say that it brought the court to life and would be both fun and interesting to all ages. Cwmni’r Frân Wen will also be performing at the Round Houses at Llynnon Mill, Llanddeusant, giving a fascinating insight into Pre-historic life.

  • 31st May – 6th June 2010
  • 19th July – 30 August 2010
  • 25th -31st October 2010
  • Wednesday and Sunday 11:00/12:00/2:00/3:00

I’ve seen the Round Houses and they were bigger than I expected, about 10metres in diameter, and beautifully built according to archeolological information. They are reconstructions of buildings inhabited on Anglesey about 3000 years ago; of timber construction with wattle and daub walls and, in order to be truly authentic, the thatch for the roof was imported from the Continent.

With Llynnon Mill on the same site, built in 1775, and the only working windmill left in Wales, there’s a lot to learn and enjoy. And when you’ve absorbed enough history, there’s also the tearoom!

Dorothy Russell

29th May 2010
pMonday, Thursday and Saturday 11:00/12:00/2:00/3:00

Graham Mills Landscape Artist

Watercolour by Graham Mills  'Bangor Pier'

Artist Graham Mills and his wife Rosie, from Milton Keynes, stayed at Coed y Berclas during the second week of the Easter holidays. They had beautiful weather for the whole week, which gave Graham the opportunity to produce a series of watercolour paintings of the view from the Cottage Orchard, looking over the Menai Straits and Bangor Pier towards the mountains of Snowdonia. We thought you might like to see some of the resulting images. We chose two of our favourites. Graham says next time he stays here he’s going to bring acrylic paints and really let rip. We look forward to putting photos of some of those paintings on the blog too.

This is what Graham and Rosy wrote in the Visitors’ Book:-

‘We had the most fantastic time, we pre-ordered the weather so that we could sit and enjoy the amazing views. We were able to sit out every morning and night (6 days of sun). Everything about the stay was great, fantastic warm genuine welcome, the website which is excellent does not convey the reality, it would be impossible to.

We both enjoyed painting the views from the terrace, I ran out of paper, will not make that mistake next time. There is much to do and explore on the Island, we enjoyed the artists open studios, if these are not open then look around the cottage at Dorothy’s work. We will be back with more paint and brushes, enjoy your stay, tell all your friends but not for the week that I would like it next year.

Just relax and float into the landscape.’

watercol02

Dorothy

Berclas Blog 28th March 2010

daffodils on the upper lawn at the cottage

Today we woke up to the first official day of British Summertime. I don’t mind losing an hour of sleep as it feels so positive: the run up to long warm Summer evenings spent in the garden or sauntering along the lane after an evening meal. Have you ever noticed how many more people you meet as friends and neighbours come out of Winter hibernation, drawn by gentle warmth and longer hours of daylight?

The birds definitely know it’s Spring; the dawn chorus is wonderful and there is song and activity throughout the day. The bird feeders in the oak tree are a delight to watch as lots of small birds avail themselves of an easy meal – I’d rather the jackdaws stayed away however, we call them the ‘football hooligans’ as they descend in gangs, raid the feeders and even manage to fling them to the ground. The small birds return immediately the vandals have flown off and seem unhassled by the whole performance.

Rabbits are also much in evidence, with some small ones already running around the lawns. They save us a lot of fuel for the lawn mower by keeping the grass short but, unfortunately, they won’t eat weeds! I wasn’t happy last Summer however when one of their number ate every single fruit from my little fig tree – I had no idea they could reach it – I’d been watching them ripening with much anticipation but I obviously wasn’t alone because one day every fig was gone! I hope the guilty little perisher had a tummy ache!

Up on the ‘daffodil lawn’, just above the Cottage, the flowers are in full bloom now – it’s a picture every year, with all those sunny yellow heads nodding gently in the breeze – and the hyacinths and camellia are looking so lovely around the garden. It won’t be long before our woods are carpeted with bluebells again.

I really love the arrival of Spring here at Coed y Berclas but I must start making plans to protect my figs this year!

Dorothy

Waitrose at Menai Bridge

New Waitrose at Menai Bridge

If you’re coming to Coed y Berclas for a holiday, you can do your shopping here and save the suspension and the fuel consumption on your car – we now have a wide choice of supermarkets, a farmers market (once a month), Llangefni market (twice a week ) and a selection of independent shops in Menai Bridge and Beaumaris.

There has been a little excitement hereabouts; the Co-op in Menai Bridge has closed and after fairly extensive alterations the building will soon be home to the new Waitrose in Menai Bridge. Hopefully this will reverse the shopping flow across the bridges and the mainlanders will be heading to Anglesey to divest themselves of their hard earned cash. The new store will open on Thursday 25th March 2010.

Today Daf and I went to a Waitrose promotion day which was, of course, well attended. There was lots of information and a few tasty morsels of Welsh produce to try. The new manager was there to meet and greet and we were shown a scan-it-yourself system.

It seems the new staff are being steadily absorbed into the Waitrose way of doing things and I’m assured that to be a front-line, meet the public worker there are stringent rules of engagement.

I must say, I’m looking forward to a leisurely wander through the new store and a relaxed cuppa in the new Waitrose cafe but I think I might just wait until the queues reduce a little.

Dorothy

Improvements at the Cottage

New Oak in the cottage kitchen

We have replaced the kitchen unit doors and drawers in the Cottage with solid oak and I have to say they look lovely – a great improvement – you just can’t beat real wood. Winning ‘Best Self Catering Establishment 2010’ has not allowed us to ‘rest on our laurels’ – on the contrary, it has given us a lot to live up to – I have other improvements in mind for the near future!

Dorothy

Spring 2010

Spring Snowdrops 2010

The snowdrops and crocuses are blooming together here at Coed y Berclas but, as yet, the camellias are refusing to open their buds – the temperatures have been a bit chilly lately, although, as we benefit from the warmth of the Gulf we haven’t had the cold weather suffered by much of the rest of Britain. Today we have a stunning blue sky and glorious, warm sunshine and are looking over at snow on the mountains, which are breathtakingly lovely. Recent guests, on a similar day, sat out in the Cottage orchard enjoying the early promise of Spring.

I’m looking forward to warmer weather arriving, not just because I love being outside on a lovely day but also because I want to be able to look out for red squirrels – I still haven’t seen one and here we are, living in ‘Red Squirrel Woodland’: there are plenty of signs up saying so! Fingers crossed!

Snow on Snowdonia Spring 2010

Dorothy