Jackie and Matt. Autumn, Cricket and Horses!

First thing to arrive on the Friday before Jackie and Matt's wedding, 

was Jackie's Mum, Jill, with a horse box FILLED with flowers 

of all manner of shapes and sizes.

The Ballroom smelled amazing!

It was like Mary Poppins handbag, this horse-box..

you never knew what was going to come out next!

Jill immediately got to work and started to assemble the flowers into

beautiful autumnal displays.

I'm not sure Jill could have managed it all without the help of Jackie's lovely sister Steph. 

While I was beavering around working, I suddenly noticed a little fellow watching me.

I took this friendly Robin as a sign of good things to come.

The garden started to take on a more romantic feel,

as did the windowsill in the Snug.

 Jackie and Matt had put together these boxes for each apartment. They were filled with breakfast items but also lots of little treats. With a stencil, Jackie had personally written on the side of every one.

Matt has always been a keen cricket fan, thus the mini cricket bats. Jackie sourced these, and again made the words herself.

Jackie is a qualified vet and has a big love for horses, hence the horse-shoes.

There was also a clear autumnal palette coming through in all the colour and style choices for this weekend;

 from these fab table favours which came over from the states in a bridesmaid's suitcase,

to this wonderful idea of all guests placing their fingerprints like leaves onto this tree. Check out the ink pallets..everything had been given careful thought and attention.

Ah, thats what the swans were for! These were a surprise for the bride and groom and Jill had the frames made specially.

The wedding rehearsal was the funniest I have ever been a part of. Matt (as you can see from his cheeky expression) was cracking the jokes at every opportunity. It was hilarious!

Early Saturday morning, while I was setting up, I came across some guests enjoying a cooked breakfast on the Terrace. I love seeing our guests really making the most of being here.  

The room was ready to go.

The flowers were incredible,

every possible space was filled with them,

and Jackie had hired this baby grand piano which topped the room off beautifully.

She even managed to find Richard Gere to play it!

Our Entrance Hall boasted a garland of ivy all round the staircase 

as well as a stunning flower arch to lead you into the Ballroom.

Upstairs, the girls were busy! Steph (who is not a hairdresser by trade) did an amazing job at doing everyone's hair! 

Jackie and Matt's son, Sam, looked ready to eat in his little, well, not-so-little, trousers! 

Kerri, one of the bridesmaids who flew in from the States just for the wedding, helped him into his jacket and tie. 

I noticed all the girls looking sparkly and smelling wonderful. They gave the credit for both to this Victoria Secret spray. *Top tip* for all you future bridesmaids!

Steph helped Jackie into her stunning dress. At 11 weeks pregnant, Jackie had to breathe in that little bit more than she was used to!

Don't they look gorgeous! Notice how the bridesmaids are still rocking the autumnal theme in their sash colour.

The bridesmaids bouquet's made by Jill,

and the elegant bride's bouquet.

Here is the woman herself, Jill. Pictured here on the right. You would never know from this picture that she had stayed up all night to get the flowers finished off! Lorna (Jill's sister, pictured here on the left) made the cake, but more on that later.

Going to fetch the Dad to bring him to see his daughter in her dress, is one of my favourite moments of the wedding day. Bert did not let me down. He was blown away and clearly adores his girls.

And so it begins...

The photographer was Martin Hill. It was his first time to Pickwell and he really loved it! I'll post up his pics to our Facebook page when they are published.

Deep breath....

The piano music brought a beautiful romantic feel to the house and really set the tone 

for the intimate and moving ceremony that followed.

The sun shone on the guests as they enjoyed canapés (home-smoked country chicken bound in a mustard mayonnaise on toasted bread; croque monsieur; croque madame; pea, leek and parmesan tartlets) and sparkling wine on the Terrace. 

While the guests were happy on the Terrace, we turned the Ballroom around

ready for the wedding breakfast.

I know i am biased, but i do think it looks stunning!

On the back of everyone's chair the horse-shoe theme continued, 

and here again are the fab cricket bats. This time with each guest name on. What a brilliant idea!

The overall effect felt deliciously autumnal and welcoming and best of all reflected Jackie and Matt throughout.

We moved the flower stands out into the hallway 

and brought the wedding cake into the Ballroom. Jackie's aunt Lorna made this cake. Lorna's claim to fame is that she was part of the team who made Prince Andrew's wedding cake!

The guests ate roast Exmoor beef and yorkshire pudding with hand-tied vegetables and a red wine jus, followed by Eton Mess (my favourite).

As the evening drew in, Jill suddenly jumped up and switched on some tiny lights inside her flower arrangements! Is there no end to her floral surprises!

Jackie came down the stairs wearing another stunning, floaty evening bridal gown. She looked beautiful (but you'll have to wait for the professional photos to see how beautiful. Sorry Jackie for duff iPhone pic!)

The cutting of the cake preceded the first dance,

performed by the band 'Penfold' (who drove all the way from London). They played Take That's 'Rule the World' while Matt, Jackie (and then Sam too) swayed along. 

Tom (the MC for the day) had recently flown back from Afghanistan so was wearing the full military garb for the day. At this point in the evening, Tom was being highly entertaining singing along with the band. Nothing to do with alcohol. Absolutely nothing.

The second dance included Jackie's Dad Bert and proved to be very moving for everyone watching.

The wedding cake was served as evening food (bottom tier fruit, then chocolate and raspberry, then lemon and last of all rum and raisin at the top) alongside a selection of west country cheeses 

and hot dogs, cooked to order on the bbq outside. They went down a treat.

Sparklers were a lovely touch and really enjoyed by guests of all ages.

Jill, Jackie and Sam chill out together at the end of a long and magical day.

The wedding tree is now complete. 70+ fingerprints of love and support as a memory of those you love on this special weekend. 

Congratulations Jackie and Matt, and we'll be thinking of you with baby no.2 on its way!

x

September harvest

Look what we did!!!

The absolute joys of having a garden and a poly-tunnel and relentless watering each day, are realised in September.

Here we have corn-on-the-cob (a favourite),

raspberries, beans, tomatoes and courgettes. 

We are so blessed to have an orchard of trees which produce cooking apples, eating apples, plums, and quince.  

Apple crumble we love and is easy to make, but i think

Steve's baked apples beat even a great apple crumble (i have put the recipe from 'BBC food recipes' for this at the bottom of this post).

But of all our harvest this year, this little beauty (and many more like it) caught our eye. What the heck have we grown?!

Isn't it beautiful?! It looks like a cup cake! It turns out they are from the squash family and this one is a Pattypan squash, unsurprisingly. It comes in yellow, green and white varieties

and you cook it much as you would a courgette.

I have decided i cannot cook this one, partly because i have now read they lose their flavour if they are any bigger than 3 inches (doh!) and partly because i think it will make a wonderful bonfire decoration on our tables in November.

Where is this year going? 

Ingredients

• 80g/3oz mixed dried exotic fruit, (such as mango, papaya, banana, fig, golden raisins), chopped
• 55ml/2fl oz brandy
• 30g/1oz soft light brown sugar
• ½ tsp allspice
• 100g/3½oz butter, plus extra for spreading
• 6 eating apples, cored
• 200g/7oz Greek yoghurt, to serve

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.
2. Place the mixed dried fruit and the brandy into a bowl and leave to soak for at least two hours, but ideally overnight.
3. After soaking, add the sugar, allspice and butter to the brandy-soaked fruit.
4. Spoon the fruit mixture into the holes in the cored apples, pressing in to fill well and spread some more butter over the apples.
5. Place the stuffed apples into an ovenproof dish, cover with aluminium foil and transfer to the oven to bake for 40 minutes.
6. Remove the foil and cook 15-20 minutes more, until the apples are soft, but not collapsing.
7. Place onto plates and serve with a dollop of Greek yoghurt.

Enjoy!

Paul, Jen and a beach inspired wedding

This year the Pickwell wedding family has grown. We now have the lovely Holly Kennedy on board. Holly has worked with me for the last 2 years and we have been so impressed by her organisational skills and creative flair that we knew she was ready to start running her own weddings. 

 

This was a wedding Holly ran earlier this year...over to you Holly.  

At the end of May we had our second wedding of the year; giving the lovely bluebells one last chance to be photographed! And now we have had these fantastic photo's sent through from Matt Fryer we couldn't help but share them with you...

Jen and Paul grew up locally and fell in love here, so for them Pickwell provided the perfect backdrop to their wedding weekend. And a fantastic weekend it was!

Jen had 4 of her closest friends to help her down the aisle and even after an early start of 7am, the girls had a lovely relaxing morning being pampered by Jo Kift (make up) and Sandy from Charleys (on hair).

 

 

One of the great aspects for a bride getting ready at Pickwell is the enormous bedroom on the east wing of the house in the apartment called 'Affinity'.

 

From this beautiful stone-mullion window, you have the ability to see all the guests arriving (and very cool they were too!) and of course, the Groom looking nervous and waiting for the ceremony.

 

 I love these pictures of the girls doing just this!

 

 

Then came the time for Malcolm to walk his little girl across the cobbles...

 

 

 

The atmospheric sounds of Siona and her harp enhanced the magic of our historic Italian Garden.

 

 

After the ceremony guests enjoyed glasses of Pimms and croquet on the lawn, before being seated to enjoy a fantastic 3 course dinner from the wonderful Lee and Kristina Timmins and team.

The guests were treated to a Mediterranean Salad, followed by a main course of west country chicken roulade, pancetta and sage, and accompanied with hand-tied vegetables and roast potatoes.
For the vegetarians, they enjoyed a delicious vegetable en-croute, hand-tie vegetables and roast potatoes.
All washed down with a lovely glass of wine!

 

 

Jen spent hours of dedication creating beautiful personal touches to bring all aspects of the wedding together, like fresh flower heads at everyone’s place setting and one of our talented and recommended florists, Kelly from Off Shore Blooms once again created a stunning top table garland, along with all the bouquets, button holes and a rose arbour garland for the ceremony.

 

After the ceremony Jen and Paul were whisked away by Matt Fryer who took these stunning beach shots on our very own (or we like to think it is our own!) Putsborough Beach…

 

The band got the evening in full swing with the help of Jen and Paul's friends and family who had supplied song requests, which were covered throughout the night!

After such a wonderful day the only way to top it all off was some hot bacon sandwiches cooked by the lovely Mothers in the snug on the Sunday.

I truly love weddings, and felt very privileged to be involved in Jen and Paul's wedding. Every aspect of the day really reflected their personalities, their creativity and their relationship.

All the best for the future Mr and Mrs Shanes!!!

P.S Thank you Matt Fryer for your stunning photographs, and allowing us to share them!

 

Holly x

Delicious Elderflower Cordial

Before the last of the elderflowers disappear, we have just managed to squeeze in a final batch of elderflower cordial. I thought I would share the recipe and a few pics in case anyone else fancied giving this delicious seasonal delight a go.

Millie-Grace  picking the elderflowers..... it seems like we have had a bumper crop this year.

The girls with 10 elderflower heads ready to go. Amazingly Molly joined in with the picking whilst wearing roller blades!

The ingredients are such wonderful colours with the yellow of the lemons and the white of the flowers. The smell is heavenly too!

Chop 3/4 lemons and peel the zest (I added in a lime as I found it lurking in the fruit bowl). Squeeze the lemon pieces as you put them into the pan and add the zest too.

Then in goes 1.5 lbs of sugar....

and 1.5 pints of boiling water.

Give it all a stir, put the lid on and leave it somewhere cool to steep for 48 hours. Next sterilise your glass bottles ready for the cordial. The easiest way to sterilise the bottles is to put them in the dishwasher.......but make sure you time it right to put the cordial into the bottles whilst they are still warm/hot.

To preserve the cordial I added 1oz of citric acid, which I purchased from our local brewing shop in Barnstaple called 'Brewing at Home'.

After 48 hours sieve the mixture through some muslin into a jug and then pour it into the sterilised bottles. Here is our finished product....yum!! We like to mix it with sparkling water as it makes such a wonderfully refreshing drink.....however it never lasts long in our house as it is far too scrummy. Enjoy!

A wonderful walk to a secret water mill

What a find we had on Sunday! After picking up a leaflet in the butcher's shop about a working watermill and tea room we had never heard of, we set off with our lovely friends on an adventure to find it. The leaflet said a 20minute walk out of Ilfracombe along the coastal path. You can drive straight to it but we thought the walk would help us work up an appetite for a cream tea. They always taste better when you feel you have earned it.

As we got onto the coastal path there was a great view looking back towards Ilfracombe harbour. Next time we do this walk, I am planning to start at the harbour as I had not realised how lovely the coastal path is all the way round.

Ilfracome has a new skate park right by the water.

The children had brilliant fun watching, next time they are all plotting to bring scooters!

This piece of coastline is so spectacular, with the rock rising up out of the water!

The path comes out onto a hidden beach.

We set off with us all wondering if we were going to have to climb Hillsborough (that huge hill a couple of pictures ago).

It certainly looked like it at the beginning but.....

We cheated a bit and took the footpath around the back, past the community orchard. It would be amazing to take the red route one day, anyone up for it??

This path was lovely in a more calm and flat way.

Amazing views of the coastline beyond as you start the descent into Hele Bay (pronounced Heal by the locals).

Here is Hele bay itself, from this point you turn inland.

Crossing over the road, only this little sign denotes the treasure that lays beyond along the river.

Here it is 'The old Cornmill' now owned by the very lovely Cathy and David Jones who took over the Mill and tea rooms a year ago.

Here is Cathy with all of her wonderful home made cakes, Devonshire splits and scones. A number of the cakes and scones made with the flour milled just across the path. Can you feel my sense of excitement, I think I might have to become a watermill enthusiast!!

The tea room is also a gift shop, selling all sorts of lovely locally produced things. I particularly love their spotty china.

Here is the waterwheel in full flow. David got the children on a 'millstone hunt' (counting how many they could spot built into the walls and path) whilst we waited for our cream tea to arrive, what great service!

Something about the sound of the water and the turning wheel is so relaxing, not to mention the lovely and unexpected sunshine. The children tuck in!

Here is Richard's cream tea, the scone was made with wholemeal flour milled at Hele Mill.

I had a savoury cream tea; a cheese scone, cream cheese and homemade red onion relish, yum! I am definitely having that again.

Cream tea enjoyed, let the tour begin!

This is how it all works, why use paper when there is a perfectly good wall!

David gave us a tour of the mill, explaining everything as we went.

David had to explain some quite tricky concepts in a way that could be understood by the six, eight and thirty eight year olds among us, no easy task!

Great excitement was had spotting the little wooden mice hidden around the mill.

This is Molly starting ‘the National Engine’ built in 1928. This would have powered the Mill if there was not enough water. Oh my goodness it was noisy!

This is the only picture I took of our lovely guide and host David. I wish I had got him to pose. He was so warm, welcoming, engaging and inspiring. He captivated our attention and we learnt so much on the way round. He let the children ask questions and have a go at all sorts of things inspired by their questions. They even ended up grinding corn in a pestle and mortar to further understand what corn is made up of.

At the end of the afternoon we could not help buying some Hele Mill flour to take home.

Ooh what shall we bake?

Delicious shortbread, Millie's favourite. What a treat to have found such an amazing place at the end of a gorgeous walk, made all the more special by David and Cathy and their wonderful hospitality. We will be back!!

Christmas Sprouting

We have just finished off the last of our sprouts from the festive season. As with most families our opinion is divided as to the merits of this very English of Christmas traditions. Personally I think you can’t beat a crispy bacon and sprout combination a la Jamie. Our love of this vegetable at Pickwell has been enhanced by the generous gift each Christmas Eve of several magnificent sprout stems (and a few super swedes) from our lovely neighbours at Pickwell Barton Farm. The Cooks are a wonderful family who have been farming Pickwell for over 100 years.

This year the Cooks were keen to come and support our Purple Ball despite it being one of the busiest weeks of their year with the sprout harvest. We were so delighted they were able to make it. To help out (but not much!!!) Richard offered his highly tuned sprout harvesting skills. What he discovered was the most amazing collective effort of local farmers, family and friends working hard together.

The sprout field this year was situated opposite our gates. Never has a sprout had such an amazing view, looking out over Baggy Point and the wild winter sea. Rich had taken a few photos of his morning for us to put on the blog, but then I came across this amazing video journal by Richard Gregory from www.wavedreamer.co.uk. This beautiful film captured the sprout harvest at the Cooks so much better than any photo we could take, I was completely blown away (the surfings not bad either!!!!!!). So here it is....

Brussell sprouts, Neil Clifton and a perfect swell from wavedreamer on Vimeo.

The sprout sorting barn is situated just a few yards from our back door, so me, Susie and the girls hopped over the wall with hot mulled apple juice and mince pies to feed the hungry workers at the end of a hard morning sprouting. It really is the most fascinating process watching the sprouts going down the conveyor belt, hand sorted so only the finest get through. Rich very much enjoyed the conveyor belt banter and the challenge of being constantly pelted with rejected sprouts by Peter (Cook Junior). What a treat to get a glimpse into the process behind the harvesting of this Christmas dinner essential in such great company. Thank you the Cook Family!
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ALL OF US AT PICKWELL!!