Fischer’s

However, on Wednesday John and I were fortunate enough to attend a foraging day there, led by Dr Patrick Harding, a renowned naturalist, being shown what a wealth of food there is to be found for free in spring.

We all know about nature’s wonderful autumn  harvests of damsons, sloes, mushrooms, blackberries and so on but apart from wild garlic and elderflowers we were hard pushed to think what else might be available at this time of year.

Dr Harding is probably best known in his role as a ‘mycologists’ – an expert in the study of mushrooms and his delight was unfeigned when on our foraging ramble  round the beautiful Fischer’s garden we chanced upon an edible but dreadfully poisonous-looking layered saddle mushroom apparently also called Dryad’s saddle and Pheasant’s back… We were prepared to take on trust that this was edible, if slightly tough.

He is also interested in the chemicals present in plants, and the medicinal and other uses these are put to. We however concentrated on the edible, and how one can pep up a salad with chickweed or sweet cicely and brighten it up with dandelion petals. One can make soup from the young leaves of nettles in spring, and pesto from ransoms, i.e. wild garlic leaves…

After an hour’s invigorating and enlightening ramble we returned to the hotel to enjoy a truly wonderful lunch, with every dish containing some of the wild plants we had learnt about. Fischer’s has a Michelin star so you can be sure a meal will always be delicious, attractively presented and what’s more pleasantly served. On Wednesday we all ate at one big table and the conversation and laughter flowed as well as at any successful private lunch party with friends.

My only regret was that I didn’t take notes. Several wise people did, and I thought it was all so interesting I would remember every word but my confidence was sadly misplaced. Lots of interesting snippets linger tantalisingly in the back of my memory.

John and I both enjoyed it so much we are planning to go to the autumn forage at Fischer’s on October 22nd and this time I will take notes.

Alicia and Stephen, off to explore the White Peak in a sidecar from Russia

There are so many things to do while you’re staying in Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns that even the the choice of ‘usual’ things can be overwhelming. There’s which walk to go on? Where to go? Shall we visit Chatsworth, Haddon, Hardwick, Keddleston, Lyme Park or Sudbury? Or perhaps Tissington (the Well Dressings are on as I write (May 9-15 2013)… Then again, there’s the World Heritage site at Cromford, or Buxton Opera House or even Alton Towers or the various caverns. You can hang glide or make chocolate.

I’m only just getting going – haven’t mentioned the wonderful pubs and Farmers’ Markets, Chatsworth Farm Shop or the Cheese Shop but before I bore you rigid if I haven’t already, there’s one activity that wouldn’t necessarily come immediately to mind.

And that is Bill Purvis’s Sidecar Safari. We knew of it, and indeed knew that Bill offered Peak District Premier Cottages guests a half price discount but we hadn’t actually seen it in action. It took (as so often) our guests to introduce us to what’s available locally. Alicia and Stephen were staying for their honeymoon in Tom’s Barn last week. They packed as much as possible into their stay, including a trip in the Safari Sidecar, planned for after lunch on Tuesday.

Great was the excitement. At 2 o’clock Alicia and Stephen were waiting in their outdoor kit (Bill provides proper motor cycle gear), John had his camera at the ready while I fussed around excitedly as we waited for the sound of a motor bike.

Greater still was the excitement when we could hear it coming up our hill and turning in the gate, gleaming in its Russian khaki beauty. Helmets and jackets were donned and off they went, to Biggin, Hartington, the Manifold Valley, Wetton, Stanshope and Tissington and back through the ford (twice apparently!).

They returned about 3 hours later, glowing with fun and achievement, and Bill looked as if he had throughly enjoyed it too. Alicia and Stephen say it was the highlight of their stay: they’d had a wonderful sightseeing trip passing through some beautiful scenery, with lots of friendly waves from everyone they passed. And they were so grateful for the half price discount Bill gives all our guests (we’re wondering now if John and I will qualify too..?).

Fascinating brickwork and an unassuming sign

We’re always on the lookout for new and interesting places to eat, purely, you understand, so that we can share our experiences with you all, our guests and friends.

We happened to find ourselves in Derby earlier this week , with several hours to kill while our car was being serviced. Lunch time loomed, and I remembered meeting restaurant owner Stuart Baddiley recently at a course in Derby. I had promised him we’d try tp pay his restaurant, Zest, a visit some time, so this seemed the obvious opportunity.

Derby is not exactly in our immediate radius, but we have had several guests coming to us from Derby recently, and other local places only slightly further afield; also of course many of you return or arrive via Derby or nearby, so the following food report may be helpful.

Zest is in George Streeet, off Friargate, and not knowing Derby it took us a bit of finding. Once there, the street is modest and the exterior of the building is not particularly prepossessing, and possibly unhelpfully,  right next door to another restaurant.

Delicious Mushroom Soup

This all serves to create a great contrast when one steps inside – the interior is  modern, clean and uncluttered, and very charming. We were very pleasantly greeted , seated and looked after for the rest of the meal by Matthew, the Zest manager.

The ‘Express’ lunchtime menu was attractive, and reassuringly simple; one is always suspicious of menus boasting countless choices, knowing full well that they cannot be made to order, but will be ready made and merely waiting to be reheated in a microwave and served with a flourish of (handmade?) garnishes.

As unfortunately we weren’t particularly hungry we ordered a sharing board of breads and dips followed by a truly delicious mushroom soup, piping hot. We followed this with sorbets (John) and coffee.

The restaurant was by no means full, but we could see that they were expecting a large dining party in the evening. We will certainly return when we are next in Derby and if ever that happens to be in the early morning, their champagne breakfast looks too good to be missed! Do let us know if you try it.

Parwich, with Orchard Farm at the top straight ahead

Just because you can’t clock into your barn of choice until 3pm on the day of your arrival doesn’t mean your holiday in the Peak District can’t start well before then… Similarly, just because we have to ask you to leave by 10am on the morning of your departure, it doesn’t mean you can’t linger longer in the area. (And yes, it really does take every bit of the five hours between 10am and 3pm to get the holiday cottages thoroughly thoroughly ‘bottomed’ as it is rather inelegantly called when a place is reallycleaned, from top to toe.)

We’ll concentrate on your first day, assuming that by the time you leave you will have got a good idea of what you’d prefer to spend your last day doing and you won’t need any ideas from us.

Let’s also establish that you won’t spend your precious time shopping for essentials. We provide all the basics and ‘little extras’ and a very good idea is to have preordered what you think you’ll need from Riverford or Waitrose, to be delivered, checked and put away for you before your arrive. We will have sent you the links and how to do this before you come.

The Famous Dovedale Stepping Stones

So, no shopping unless your idea of bliss is scouring Ashbourne for antiques or visit the numerous excellent bookshops in the area. For a full choice of what there is available to do in the area have a look at our ‘Out and About’ page on our website. We have had some great reports from guests who have spent the best part of the day at Chatsworth, or Haddon Hall (do check, neither is open in the beginning of the year until March/Easter time. Others have planned a long walk and when they arrive the first thing they do is tumble into a hot bath before they sit by the fire and eat their welcome tray cake. Depending on where they’re coming from guests have stopped off at Sudbury where the National Trust Museum of Childhood is very fascinating for all ages, Lyme Park in Cheshire, Hardwick Hallcoming from the north.

A Heron, patiently waiting for that fish

However, coming as you are to such beautiful walking countryside, with great pubs, this is what we would choose to do ideally… We’d aim to arrive in Ashbourne as early as possible we’d check in to Bramhalls’ Deli and Cafe on the market place for a sustaining – and delicious – breakfast (8am – 11 am) and maybe grab the chance to buy a gourmet delicacy or two to keep cool in the car until you arrive here. There is a convenient car park opposite.

Then we’d drive to the Dovedale Car Park and walk up along the Dove to Milldale where you could buy a coffee or cool drink but possibly you’ll save yourself for the delicious lunch at the George, at Alstonefield that you have planned.

Homemade cake to welcome you

By the time you have enjoyed this at leisure, and strolled down the route you came back to your car (look out for the heron, and lots of wild flowers usually) it will probably be way past 3pm, so with no more time to lose, come to us (left onto the A515 briefly, then right to Parwich via Alsop-en-le-Dale, a rather charming hamlet with an elegant hall on the left as you drive towards Parwich). This is a typical country lane, quite narrow and not always room for two cars to pass, so don’t rush: you may well meet sheep or a tractor or cars coming the other way.

It’s quite an adventure getting into the bath!

Once in Parwich and following the map we’ll have already sent you, you quickly reach Tom’s and Douglas’s Barn at Orchard Farm where we’ll be waiting to welcome you. Depending on the season your fire will be lit/on and lights on, and always homemade cake on the tea tray and music playing. You’ll already feel at home, having made excellent use of your first day here, the first of many even happier ones, we hope!

By the way, this might be our first choice but it is by no means the only suggestion. You may well have even more tempting suggestions. What would yours be?

This post will be a masterpiece of procrastination. Looming over me is this week’s Blogging for Photographers homework blog post but, as I discover, doing one to order is strangely inhibiting. Having tidied the desk, answered emails, made a few urgent (?) phone calls I now feel compelled to talk about dogs with some genuinely very important guidelines for dog owners in the Peak Park…

Firstly, how dog-friendly are we? I was challenged about this the other day by the very charming owner of a young greyhound who needed an enclosed paddock to race around in for several hours every day. There is no question that we could help. We have a largish garden, Tom’s Barn has its own charming self-contained little cottage garden and out of the back gate lies a whole uncultivated valley of trees and fields. But, there is nothing to contain a wildly energetic and tireless dog. There was no beating about the bush, and of course I didn’t try. The story ends happily, because I was able to recommend our friends Deborah and Martin Hofman at Wheeldon Trees Farm who do take dogs and who do have a fully enclosed paddock for dogs to race around in.

And talking about racing around, the Peak Park National Authority have just issued a plea to all dog owners living in or visiting the Peak District, to take particular care to keep their dogs under control to protect young animals and ground nesting birds during the breeding season. Alt the more reason for dogs that need to be let of the leash for long periods of time should stay somewhere where they are able to run free in an enclosed paddock. We love our dog owners and their dogs that com to Tom’s Barn and would never want to put any of you off and you all seem to manage to have a lovely time with your dogs, enjoying vigorous country works without any problems. But in reality, we are more heavily weighted in the dog-owner friendly than the pure dog-friendly category.

The last week has scampered fast, busily and enjoyably but leaving very little time for quiet reflection or blog posts (let alone mundane chores like ironing…

Starting backwards, Mothering Sunday today was a very happy day for this mother but possibly more about that tomorrow. Ruthie and Nick, our two London-based young, came up for the weekend which sadly is something Sara in Australia can never do. Two other friends were here on Friday night with plenty of reminiscence and happy chat. On the Saturday Ruthie and I walked in to Ashbourne along the Tissington Trail (John dropped us off at Alsop Station (no trains for many a long year although when my father was young they used to come up by train from Lichfield). We walked briskly and reached Ashbourne in 2 hours 1 minute (according to the map it is 7 1/4 miles) which we were pleased about but were we glad to sit down in Bramhall’s cafe in Ashbourne and enjoy a cup of tea and a flapjack afterwards!

We can well recommend Bramhall’s, across the road from the Ashbourne Market Place. You can have breakfasts, lunches and teas here. The service was efficient and very friendly, our tea was hot and plentiful and the flapjacks deliciously ‘homemade’. Which leads me seamlessly on to the Macmillan Lunch that Fischer’s Baslow Hall laid on last Tuesday. Fischer’s is the only Michelin Starred restaurant in Derbyshire, and eating here is a wonderful experience whatever the occasion – whether dinner, their 2013 Lunches or a charity event like this. We all were treated to sparkling wine and nibbles when we arrived, then a three course meal with more wine and coffee; needless to say, the food was all quite delicious!

Someone from Macmillan described the sort of work that is done locally, and Nicky, someone who had benefitted by Macmillan care herself spoke very movingly about the lifeline they had provided her. Fischer’s handed over the entire proceeds of the lunch – over £1600 – to the Macmillan representative who was of course delighted. All of us attending felt we could not have found a pleasanter or more luxurious way to feel good by helping a charity.

For a so far photographless post, the last entry may seem rather surprising. There is a big photographic exhibition in Derby – a ‘festival of photography and related media’ for the next month and amongst many things on offer I spotted a 4-week (2 hours each week) course ‘Blogging for Photographers”. Well, heaven knows, I am no photographer but I do write a blog and I do have a husband whose photographic skills I hope more than make up for my lack! John was quite happy to suggest it would be extravagant for us both to attend, so I shall be cooperating with him in absentia as it were.

We have had one session so far, which was setting up a blog so I spent a fairly relaxed 2 hours. I suspect it will be a different story on Tuesday when I go for the second session. Meanwhile, horrors, we have homework! We have to write a 200 word blog post and send it in beforehand which means I have little time and should not be sitting here writing this.

Sheep grazing in a field in Parwich

Don’t worry if you have either forgotten or have been leaving it to the last moment wondering what to do? A solution – your salvation – might be at hand. You’ve only one mother, or mother of your children and she deserves the best. Mothering Sunday is on Sunday, if you need reminding and what could be a better present than a weekend in Douglas’s Barn. Check Availability or book here.

We don’t take children, and Douglas’s Barn only sleeps two so for the sake of the exercise we’ll assume either that your loving children have given their mother the weekend and she has of course chosen their father to accompany her, or it could be a grateful partner wanting to acknowledge his love for the mother of their children with a present which neither would ever forget…

However you choose to spend your time, you will return home wonderfully refreshed and revitalised. What could be a better present for anyone than that?

It would be one of those presents with almost limitless ‘added value’ (one day I am going to write a post about jargon, cliches and the like but not today…). The basic gift is three nights in a wonderfully comfortable and well-equipped holiday cottage: you could just stay put and enjoy the luxury of time on your own together, generally chilling, listening to music, reading books, watching videos, surfing the internet on the Netbook, enjoying good food and just switching off for the whole weekend.

On the other hand you could pack a lot in, with walks, sightseeing (Chatsworth reopens this weekend), trips to local pubs or restaurants to enjoy some delicious local food and real ale, mooching round excellent bookshops or antique shops and generally making the most of your precious time.

Only Douglas’s Barn is free so you can’t bring a dog. The all-inclusive price is £295 and if you can’t make this weekend, you can always celebrate Mothering Sunday in a fortnight’s time, for the weekend of March 22, at the same rate.

One corner of the Douglas’s Barn well equipped kitchen

Freshly baked cakes for our guests

It is never a hardship for me, as I love baking (indeed all cooking) and it is always nice to do be doing it when you know how appreciative the eater/s tend to be. When we first started Tom’s Barn I made a cake because I simply thought that is what one did – we always have something in our tins in the house, to be produced when anyone drops in! We hadn’t realised that it would become something a bit special. Non-bakers particularly are amazed and experienced bakers usually ask for the recipe…

I have been asked for this Black Treacle & Stem Ginger Cake recipe several times recently. In fact, I fondly but wrongly thought it was already in the blog recipe section, but now it really is. It is a very favourite recipe of us all, and all credit must go to Mary Berry for the original recipe, adapted slightly by me over the years.

Tom’s and Douglas’s Barn Black Treacle & Ginger Cake
(Adapted from a Mary Berry recipe)

Cake
225g soft butter or margarine
175g caster sugar
225g black treacle or sometimes I use molasses
275g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
4 eggs
4 tbsp milk
3 bulbs stem ginger chopped finely
Generous handful chopped/broken pecans or walnuts

Measure all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix for about 2 minutes, either by hand or in an electric mixer. Pour into a non-stick (or lined with greased foil) deep baking dish approx 9”x12”. I use the small Aga baking tin

Bake at 180’C/Gas 4 or in the top oven of an Aga with the cold plain sheet hanging on the second set of runners until it looks cooked i.e. firm and golden brown. I start looking after about 30 minutes.

Icing
125g icing sugar (more probably!)
About 4 tbsp stem ginger syrup from the jar (use more if you have taken more icing sugar)
Handful chopped nuts and ideally more finely chopped than I have in this photo!

Mix all together to get a good spreading consistency and spread over the baked cake.
Sprinkle with chopped nuts

Tamarind Date

Dan Lepard, whose recipe from the Guardian this is, unashamedly calls it ‘The best date cake in the world ever’, and equally unashamedly, as someone who bakes and eats it quite frequently, I would agree wholeheartedly. It is extremely delicious and very easy to make.

I can see imaginary obstacles to trying the recipe popping up all over the place. Cardomom icing? It’s lovely but I don’t usually bother although i have tried cardomom in the cake with very pleasing results. What on earth is tamarind? Well I didn’t know, still don’t really, but one can buy little bottles of the slightly salty lemony paste from Waitrose although not our local Sainsbury’s (bigger branches might). BBC Food describes it as ‘A tart fruit from the tamarind tree, used as a spice and souring agent’. Funnily enough I soaked the dates and tamarind paste and water overnight so that it would be all ready for this morning’s bake. John, not knowing what it was, reported to me that there was a really delicious warm spicy smell in the kitchen when he got up in the morning. He reckoned one could sell the scent, maybe for food shops to waft around on the hour like bakeries and coffee shops are meant to do with appropriately scented packaged food and coffee ‘odours’!

I looked up tamarind in Wikipedia and discovered all sorts of interesting facts; I began to feel that perhaps we ought all start eating it quite seriously. Tamarind is high in acid, sugar, B vitamins and, oddly for a fruit, calcium; it is used in Ayurvedic medicine for gastric and/or digestion problems, and in cardioprotective activity… Anyway, it tastes nice and today’s cake is all but finished already. Our two ‘boiler men’ who today removed the offending boiler from Douglas’s Barn found numerous hunks of cake helped them enormously, and the rest of us have done pretty well too. I had quietly removed our guests’ portion – seen in the photo -just to ensue I didn’t suddenly find I had to get baking again. Next Friday is soon enough…although having said that, I suddenly realised that our hungry boiler-saviour men will be here again at 8 in the morning. We are so grateful to them for rallying around so quickly when disaster struck on Friday and if it means making more cake tonight, I’ll happily do it.

Two local pubs hit the headlines today. The Sycamore, our Parwich pub, has been declared winner of the rural pub of the year category by The Ashbourne sub-branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). While the Sycamore does not pretend to major on food it is praised highly for ‘an excellently well-kept range of Robinson’s ales.

The George at Alstonefield is featured nationally today in the first of a new series on ‘country trails with a pint en route’ in the Sunday Times Travel section, page 19 (10th February 2013). The author, Vincent Crump, speaks admiringly of the two pints of Jennings Cockle Warmer he drinks there (this is obviously a double dose ‘pint en route’ walk). He does not mention any other names, but the George is widely admired for its ‘well kept real ales, carefully selected wine list and real pub food’. Horses for course: this is more expensive, ‘finessed food’, not by any description the more affordable standard pub grub such as people enjoy at the Sycamore.

But I am not meant to be writing about food, or beer, but about the circular walk from Hartington that is described in this piece. Because we don’t have a Times subscription we couldn’t access the link to it, which would have been by far the best option. Instead, I shall massacre Vincent Crump’s charmingly written article to extract the bare bones of the walk he describes so evocatively, in order that friends and guests can try it for themselves. (We shall put a photocopy of the article in the walk file in each barn as well so if you’re actually staying here you can use that.)

Definitely have an Ordnance Survey map with you so you can plot the route for yourself. Crump’s description is more poetic than scientific and after lunch it becomes even more disquietingly vague. My translation may do nothing to help but I truly am doing my best to extract the facts.

1.Start at Hartington.
2. Walk up Hall Bank towards Hartington Hall, now the Youth Hostel.
3. Opposite the hall gates turn right onto the ‘Leisure Lane to Dovedale’.
4. After a ‘swift mile the path collapses abruptly into Biggin Dale’.
5. Cross the Dove on a ‘dinky footbridge’ at Wolfscote Dale then ‘walk all the way to Alstonefield’. (Forgive me if this doesn’t sound very helpful but it’s what he says. I’d say, at this stage definitely look at your map!)
George stop for a pint or two… and lunch…then set off back to Hartington again
6. The hike back ‘arrows north on a field path, cleaving the small green bosoms of Narrowdale’.
7.Rejoin the Dove ‘as it squidges between cliffs through Beresford Dale’.
8. Then, he concludes, ‘before I know it I’m in Hartington again’.

Let’s hope you are too!