Goodbye Summer

I was looking back at pictures of our Summer, now it's over and Autumn is upon us.  Still the memories are GREAT.

Giant Rhubarb

Bee Keeping:  I got stung this year for the first time.  Still it was fun...

with the children.

And honey this year, enough to sell.

Our Maran chicken's - Bernadette, renamed Bernie, because she's a boy!

We've a flock of 11.

Picking plums - at least the dratted caravan has some uses.

Greengages, nom, nom...

Harvest from the Veggie garden.

Rainbow chard was a big hit.

Ash Camp was bigger and better than ever this year.

Our summer cocktail of choice for 2016 - Aperol

Reading in the hammock

Trips to the seaside in the summer hols went on late into the evening.

I became a member of the Little Hadham & Albury Gardening Club and we went to the show.

My entries for the show.

Una won in the junior section with her "Tutti Frutti Chicken"

Louis won in the junior section with his photo of a field of poppies.

All together a glorious summer!

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Our Holiday in Brittany

This weekend it has felt like summer is well and truly over.  I've been going through my holiday photos.  It brought back what a lovely holiday we had in Brittany this year, with the other Mrs Fox & family, and I wanted to capture a few memories.  

We were initially looking for a camping holiday in France.  Little Louis Fox wanted to go on a ferry in the car - he was very specific!  I'd never been to Brittany before, but I remembered friends who went regularly raving about it as a unique region of France.  I started exploring the possibility of camping, or staying in a gite, and then a friend offered their parent's holiday home for 2 weeks at the end of August.  We didn't need to be asked twice and stayed in Penvins, just outside Vannes.

The medieval town of Vannes was beautiful, and we enjoyed exploring it:

I must confess my favourite shop was also in Vannes, la belle-iloise.  An entire shop of tinned sardines (and other fish).  

I know I am a sucker for good packaging, but, I loved this shop, and I have never before bought a tin entirely full of tins of fish, but from this shop I was happy to do so.

Vannes is in Morbihan on the south west coast of Brittany.  Morbihan is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution in 1790. The only French department whose name comes from the Breton language.  It is particularly famous for the Carnac stones, ancient megaliths which predate and are more extensive than those at Stonehenge.

After a soggy spring and summer, we Foxes were so ready for a holiday by the time it got to August. Busy with work and a family of young children we were looking for a seaside holiday with sunshine and nothing more strenuous than choosing which holiday book to read, and deciding which beach to go to.  We got that and so much more.  We had such a wonderful, relaxing time with the children.

The weather remained beautiful and we stayed only a 2 minute walk from the closest beach and spent almost every day there.  The children loved; shell collecting, sandcastle making, swimming in the sea and became experts at tip-toeing through rock pools in pursuit of crabs.  We kept them in buckets and then ended each day with the 'traditional' racing of the crabs back to the sea.

With shells abundant on the beaches we all found ourselves becoming slightly obsessed with collecting them.  As ever when on holiday I find myself coming up with new ideas for crafts and I've plans in mind for the many shells that we have brought home.   

Where we were in Morbihan, despite it being a popular destination for holiday makers, the coastline is unspoilt.  Development seems to be done so much more sensitively than in the UK and other parts of Europe I have visited.  I was inspired and recharged by the natural beauty around me in Brittany.

Ah, Brittany was wonderful:  We ate good food and then cycled it off on trips along the costal paths. All the little foxes are now cycling confidently.  And singing out French greetings and thanks to anyone who will listen.

We visited Château de Suscinio, and dressed as Medieval knights and ladies.

We found some great children's craft magazines.  Here is a photo of some of Little Una Fox's favourite things in France.  Who remembers Barbapapa?

There is so much more I could say about what a wonderful destination Brittany in general and Morbhian in particular is, but I need to go to sleep, so, here are a couple of lists:

My favourite things in Brittany;

the people - so friendly - really, they are so kind to useless Brits who can barely mumble "Bon-jour",

beaches,

cidre,

galettes Bretonnes,

sardines,

warm bread and chocolate and almond croissants bought from the bar in the village every morning.

Still to do;

the islands in the gulf of Morbihan,
the jazz festival in Vannes,

eat more seafood,
kite surfing,

try to speak more French.

How was your Summer Hols?

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Oh I do like to be beside the seaside - Whitstable

The Foxes (All of them!), are now off on holiday, but here's what we did last week:

Photo by Penny Mayes

Hurray for the summer holidays and with this month’s crafty boxes theme being the beach we thought a trip to the seaside could not be missed.

We went to Whitstable and as so often when we go I find myself coming home to peruse Rightmove for houses and scour the train timetables into London for the hubby’s commute.  I love the seaside and dream of living closer to the ocean.

I love watching the little foxes amusing themselves on the shoreline, finding interesting stones and shells, ...

...and investigating jellyfish,

....and oyster mounds.

The children did not appreciate the oysters themselves but Mr Fox and I love to eat and drink the local beers at the Royal Oyster Exchange.  It can be busy, but the food is great and the beers from local brewers are delicious, I especially like the stout.  Kid’s portions are available, and although often busy it is the type of vibe tolerant of young families.  Being so close to the beach means you can save dessert for an ice-cream and beach walk to off-set some of those yummy extra calories.

And after we got home, little Una fox could not wait to make something from the shells she’d collected, more inspiration for this months craft boxes,  if you would like to order for delivery after 30th August, click HERE.  

There are so many things to make with shells and Little Una Fox has become quite obsessed using her book from her granny to identify them and collaging using old shell illustrations I have downloaded from the internet.  If you'd like to have a go yourself here are some for you to download, click on the pictures below:

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Crafting in the Garden

It was a funny old day yesterday wasn't it?

There are the little foxes at the beginning of the day, yes, those are snails all over her hand:

And here we were at the end:

All hard at work testing the crafts for this month's kid's craft box that we are due to send out soon and available for pre-order on the website here.

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How does your garden grow? - Summer Hol's Edition

From the allotment - yellow squash, courgettes, french beans, broad beans, spinach, beetroot, gooseberries and raspberries

I’ve not managed to join in with this linky in the last few weeks, but I’ve had fun looking at the other gardens.  They are an inspiration. 

Over at Mrs Fox’s HQ the garden and allotment, have been doing well due mostly to the sensational weather rather than my diligence.  We have been reaping the rewards with yummy scrummy fresh food.   Today I cancelled my Abel and Cole order for the next 4 weeks; "Yes!" I love it when I get to this time of year.

I am a more dedicated gardener when the reward is food.  Although, I have to say, my allotment is anything but pretty, unlike Mamasauras’ grandad’s veggie garden, which is a sight to behold.  My newest little herb patch is perhaps the prettiest thing to look at.

mint, marjoram, thyme, lemon balm, chives, 

I think it really important to teach my children where their food comes from, as well as introduce them to the wonderful tastes of unadulterated fresh fruit and veggies.  I blog more about that here, on a post where you can also win a copy of Belle & Boo And The Yummy Scrummy Day.

So, that is what I have to show you this week, all the yummy scrummy food growing in our gardens...

raspberries;

blackcurrants;

potatoes - most of the flowers are dead so we'll be eating them soon;

On the studio balcony are yellow squash, challenging the courgette's in the allotment for most productive..

and winter squash that are not ready yet but hidden under all that foliage are the gourds.

Our grape vine has gone mad this year, huge quantity of grapes and crazy amount of leaves. The vine climbs over a pergola that creates a wonderful shady space in the centre of the garden that the little foxes have been using as their studio for their outdoor arts and crafts.  And we use the vine leaves to make dolma. 

I've also an eye to the future, on or dog walks we are scouting out our autumn scrumping sites, I’ve been watching the damsons for months...

21 May 2013

29 July 2013

Blackberries are mostly still green and hard but we spotted one...

All in all I am loving this summer holiday with the little foxes in the garden, playing, making, eating and enjoying the sunshine.  How's it going for you?

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