Weekend escapades

Good morning, happy Monday! It is a grey day here in Moreton and I am needing some serious motivation to get myself up and running, literally running, in the woods with little Plum.
We have had an interesting few weeks with our little Plum, quite traumatic and to be honest I don’t think I am entirely recovered.

part of the family

part of the family

Harry & Plum

Harry & Plum

Last Saturday we took Plum for a brief walk at a local wood whilst the kids played football and she was there one minute, gone the next! We searched for hours and must have walked miles to find her.. it was absolutely awful. The forest we were in is huge and I was fearing the worst. Luckily a wonderful couple found her, popped a lead on her and took her to the vets to have her chip scanned. We got the call and were so relieved! keeping her very close for the time being, thank goodness for technology and the kindness of strangers!!

We have been getting in lots of lovely new produce at The Dovecote farm shop and most of it is grown on site. It’s lovely to be able to pop in and have a coffee, read the papers and pick up some yummy bits and bobs, we enjoyed some delicious Seville marmalade over the weekend as well as veggies and sausages. The menu in the cafe has had as revamp and I enjoyed some lovely lunches there last week, soup, cassoulet and fishcakes..

Yummy soup

Yummy soup

Seville Marmalade made at The Dovecote

Seville Marmalade made at The Dovecote

We had a lovely Friday evening with our great friends Sophia & Mike, and on Sunday enjoyed a muddy and windy walk along the hill at the top of Ringstead, down to St Catherine’s Chapel by the sea and back. The sea mist was blowing in and we all got VERY wet and muddy, but the fresh air blew away the cobwebs. The views at the top are amazing and you can see along the coast and across to Portland. A highly recommended walk for anyone visiting Dorset.

After the walk we got the car stuck in a very muddy patch in the car park and needed rescuing by our friend & neighbour Scott and his trusty Defender, it was not quite how I had planned our Sunday on going but we redeemed the day by paying Scott & his family back for his time with a delicious supper of Osso Bucco and some lovely red wine.

I will be able to reveal the new interior scheme for our bedroom at the manor this week and will hopefully get started on the decorating by Wednesday.

I know what colours I think I want to use but they are not officially released until this afternoon – I think I need to run the idea by a few trusted friends first!

T x

Weekend Round up

We kick started the weekend on Friday afternoon by baking a huge batch of cookies with the boy one and girl one.. they love getting involved in the kitchen and although its messy, chaotic and not always a great success it’s the moments like this that are the ones I remember the most from my childhood so I think it’s pretty important to make the same kind of memories with my brood. We also received a dashing set of matching aprons from the children’s godfather for Christmas which they have been desperate to put to use..

The cookies were delicious – we used a Millie’s cookie recipe from BBC good food.

I had met my girls on Friday for coffee and ended up having a really feminine discussion about log stacking, log piles and how cool they can look – apparently the biggest selling book at Christmas was one about log piles, I need this in my life. So this chat inspired my Saturday as we had emptied our log store over the festive period and with a hugely anticipated cold spell on its way Harry & I chopped, wheeled and stacked at the cottage.

No fancy patterns here but neat and oh so satisfying. I now need to do the same with the enormous stack of logs at The Manor.. one for my to do list this week.

We ventured out for a walk to the Ford at Moreton to see how the floods had affected the water level.. it is lovely to live in such a beautiful place and see the seasons changing and landscapes constantly changing. We dodged a downpour by minutes and retreated to The Dovecote Cafe, The Manor’s sister site to warm up by the log burner and have some yummy food.

The Walled Garden is directly next door to The Manor and we have co managed the site for around a year now, the gardens are absolutely beautiful, there are lots of different areas, nooks and corners to explore. A stream runs through the garden and there are a series of bridges that look so pretty. At this time of year it is still stunning, with a settled and peaceful atmosphere like it is slumbering until the spring.

We ate a delicious lunch and sampled some of the new local ales. The farm shop within The Dovecote always has tempting bits and bobs to buy too.

Sunday morning was so bright and clear I took off for a run in the forest, apart from a tumble in to a puddle it was great! We then lunched with friends and planned our summer holidays and some important upcoming birthdays. A lovely weekend. And on to a good week with lots of Manor House projects starting.

A little taste of summer on a grey Sunday. Gorgeous lunch with lovely friends. #sunday #bordeaux #friends @louisaloasby

A photo posted by Tabitha Schofield (@tabsschofield) on

T xx