Life on the lake

I do love walking round the lake at Renishaw. There is always something to see. Today I've seen the 2 swans a-nesting, seven goslings swimming, 3 lots of fungi, lots of wild flowers and a heron chick sat in a tree.

The speed of growth at the moment is quite breathtaking, suddenly the bluebells are fading and being dwarfed by the beautiful wild garlic that is in flower. I love this time of year, wild garlic dip with everything. Equal parts of natural yoghurt and mayonnaise with a splash of lemon juice and seasoning to taste with finely chopped wild garlic leaves - divine. There are also a pair of Nuthatches dotting around.

Really looking forward to the cygnets hatching particularly after one of the nests was raided earlier this month, presumably by a fox. So watch this space.

Gluten Free Social Media

We are trying to get to grips with the current Century (er, exactly which one are we in?) so we have the Facebook page and we have the Twitter account and now.... drum roll please... we have the website. Its all well and good but in a little company like we are its another full time job. I find myself daily (possibly twice daily if I'm honest) looking at FB to see if we've got more likes. Checking to see if Nigel Slater has replied to my tweets (he does you know) and wondering if there is anything else I can do to the website. Its madness this obsession with social media, but apparently (and I think I've said this before) you are only as good as the number of likes and followers and visitors your social media sites have. Needless to say we're struggling - lol.

Another new cake coming this week, following hot on the heels of Costa Rican Bread Pudding which we discovered in well... Costa Rica, San Jose to be exact in a little cafe in the central market. Budin is its official name and we now sell my take on this lovely cinnamon flavoured sweet thing. The newby is Chocolate Beetroot Cake and its gluten free! I wanted to add a gluten free cake to the 'main' cake range rather than have a little offering on a cake stand in a corner and this is what is coming. We are going to try it out and see what the response is. It didn't last long at home when I tested it out on my willing volunteers so I await the feedback in whatever form it comes, Facebook twitter etc.etc.

The bluebells have been stunning this year and we were all ready to see a promise of summer after the really cold weather we've been having. The garden is generally looking fantastic and I for one am really looking forward to the new few weeks when summer finally arrives.

See you soon.
Lou x

The whirlwind fortnight

It has been all go at the Café for the last fortnight.  Finally the sun came out and caught us all unawares. The bluebells got their act together and are currently looking divine and we've had hundreds of visitors.

 Bank holiday weekend was a pleasant surprise to all, wall to wall sunshine, not quite what we've become accustomed to. We had a fabulous weekend, Saturday saw the Wolseley Owners Club visit. Some absolute stunning cars all driven by lovely people. One car had only had 2 owners (father and son) from new, quite some provenance. On Sunday we had the Lord Conyers Morris Men dancing in both the courtyard and the garden. Morris and his mates (all called Morris) came to the café for a cream scone and a cup of tea after the event. Lovely people and we're hoping to host their dawn May Day dancing next year.

Last weekend we hosted the Food & Craft Fair on Saturday and the Plant Fair on Sunday. Both days were really busy in spite of the very cool temperatures. Every other drink order was hot chocolate. I don't get hot chocolate as a drink - if I want hot I drink coffee, if I want chocolate I eat well... chocolate. Although I do admit that the big mugs of chocolate topped with cream and marshmallows do look gorgeous.

Renishaw is becoming something of a TV star with recent parts in Countryfile (28th April), Escape to the Country (7th May) and, of course, a starring role in Country House Sunday. Renishaw next features on CHS on 26th May, with David in the wonderful greenhouses in the kitchen garden. Details of when Renishaw is appearing are on the noticeboards.

"All right, Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my closeup"

Ok, so everybody now knows about Renishaw Hall & Gardens part in the new ITV series 'Country House Sunday'. If you don't you obviously haven't liked our Facebook page (see me later!). The series is 21 episodes featuring 3 country houses. Renishaw is to to be the highlight of 7 of these programmes. The first episode aired on Sunday, 21st April so if you missed it, it was a Renishaw programme and its available on the ITV player for 28 days from broadcast.

The filming took place over 2 separate weeks. The first filming in the cafe happened about 3 days after we got back from holiday and boy were we jet-lagged. It was made really easy by the crew from TwoFour Productions who were fabulous. Very laid back and friendly. Of course it helped that we were feeding them all week.

On the Monday of the second week of filming Lynda Bellingham, the show's presenter, arrived. She is lovely and very good at her job. From the moment we met her she was friendly and reassuring which all went towards making the filming so much easier to do.

When I was young I really thought that Mrs James Herriot had the perfect life and that's what I wanted to be, a vets wife, just like Lynda Bellingham! Strange isn't it how things turn out.

Needless to say we are at work when the show is aired and do not have recording facilities at home. The thing is, I don't need to know how many pounds the camera adds, I can guess - so please be gentle with me.

Here we go again

Hi all, we're back! We opened yesterday for the start of the new season, with the garden opening officially on Saturday, 30th March. It has to be said this is the first time we have been open in Spring with snow on the ground. I had a walk around the garden today and it is looking very beautiful with snow caps on the yew hedges, Hellebores in abundance and some serious winter pruning in evidence on Bottom Terrace.

Do come and visit us soon, we've some delicious new dishes on the menu and we are looking forward to seeing you all.

Its the final countdown

The temperature, whilst never achieving any dizzying heights this summer, has taken a decided turn down the thermometer. Yesterday morning saw a light frost on the yew hedges (which are currently undergoing their annual trim). The sky was as azure as it could be and the light perfectly dappled through the trees. I love the early morning light at this time of the year and in Spring, so took the opportunity to have a walk round the garden and take some photographs. I have over the years taken so many pictures of Renishaw Hall and Gardens, when I look through them they bring back such lovely memories.

Last weekend we hosted a 50th Wedding Anniversary lunch for Guy and Doris. Guy has been a volunteer here ever since the doors were first opened and has many a tale to tell. Guy very kindly gave us a bottle of his homemade wine which was delicious. He and Sir Reresby used to trade bottles annually and Lady Sitwell even once suggested it could be sold in the shop it was so nice. Guy enters his wine into Froggatt Show and regularly gets placed. If you ever see a drop of Watson's Winery I recommend it to you. Pictured is the table set with Dame Edith watching over proceedings, anyone got a birthday or anniversary they'd like to celebrate with us just get in touch - gallerycaterers@hotmail.co.uk

It's the time of year when there is a glut of lovely homegrown fruit and veg, this last fortnight I have been making runner bean chutney which I think is quite yummy. I've also made some runner bean piccalilli which I shall subject Adrian to over the winter, as I said there's a lot of them around and he did once mention he liked piccalilli!

Yorkshire parkin, that's a cake that brings back loads of childhood memories for me. I remember my mum baking it, generally around Halloween, it was sticky and dark and delicious. As the weather has cooled I thought it would make a nice warming addition to the cake range so a slightly less sticky version is adorning the cake stands and selling well. Could become a regular feature next year. I might subject Adrian to gluten free testing on it. He always says he's in charge of quality control!

Anyway, it's our penultimate weekend and as always it is very sad. This weekend and next all our lovely regular customers appear to say goodbye and wish us Merry Christmas. I'm often asked what I do over the winter - housework should be the answer. There is a need to reclaim the house from the spiders who have slowly moved in over the summer. This year I've asked the question back of those people whose faces we see at the same time on the same day each week - one or two have asked for our address!! Do sign up to the blog by email and we'll be in touch over the winter. You never know we might just open up one Sunday morning - by invitation only of course!

Take care all, do call and see us before the 30th September.

Lou & Adrian

Caution: Man at work

What a lovely month August has been, unless my memory is failing me it seemed to be pretty much wall to wall sunshine. Here's hoping the lovely weather continues well into October. The heavy rain early in the season has done wonders for the garden although its not all good news, my pear tree hasn't got a single fruit on it which I am assuming is due to the rain. I do so love pear and chocolate sponge too. Oh well, there's always next year.

As with all small businesses, it tends to be the case that everyone has to muck in and just do what needs doing. Of course there are certain jobs that we just leave to Adrian mainly cooking (best plan all round) and emptying the bins at the end of the day, conversely there are jobs that Adrian leaves to the rest of us however, I caught him the other day definitely doing one of 'our' jobs, perhaps he is a 'new' man after all despite his years!

Its hard to believe we've only got 3 weekends left of the season. I had a customer wish me 'Happy Christmas' as she left yesterday in case she didn't see me again. How lovely, but makes you realise how quickly time passes, and nudge nudge, you've only got 3 weekends left to visit.

Over the winter break, I hope to develop a full website for the cafe, I'll have the blog on there, recipes and information for individual visitors and groups and goodness only knows what else. Once it is up and running I'll post the address here. So, as the saying goes, watch this space.

Bye for now.
Lou x