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.