Hello September. We’re getting back into the swing of things after the summer. Autumn and Christmas are looking alarmingly imminent, mind you we have plenty to look forward to so we should complain. Let’s take a look at this week’s top five:
One
Over the weekend Woking held a Food Festival. Although we live nearby we don’t often go into Woking, preferring Guildford or Kingston. We are glad we went in on Sunday though, the town was buzzing, and there was so much delicious food and drink to choose from. It was much busier than we were expecting, and the event was much larger. It really was a great event. the organisers should be proud.
Two
This week we took delivery of a large batch of logs to prepare for the colder weather. One of the advantages of temporary living at Rich’s Folks cottage is the ability to snuggle up on a cosy winter’s night in front of a log fire. It is very hygge, which neatly brings us to our next entry…
Three
If you are not sure what Hygge is we’ll be writing more about it in the future. But for now, you just need to know it is it is one of our favourite things in the world! This week The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking was released, it is one of umpteen books on Hygge coming out this year. We are going to try and resist buying them all but we can’t promise anything. Miek’s book looks really interesting, we can’t wait to read it.
Four
Although our heads are full of thoughts of autumn the weather is actually still pretty hot and humid. On these sweltering days we like nothing more than an ice cold drink, and this week we are loving classic coke from a glass bottle. Yes it is not the healthiest drink, but sometimes you can’t beat it!
Five
Finally, this week our lovely little niece turned four. She celebrated with a party, a trip to the zoo and of course a lovely birthday cake. We joined her for the cake (obviously) it was wonderful to see the excitement of a four year old on her birthday. Oh to be young again!
We spent our bank holiday down in north Devon (more of that later this week) but we managed to pick up some local beer from Braunton Brewery, we are loving it. I am sure we could probably buy it from somewhere closer, but the beer is as good a reason as any to head back down that way! 
Another west country staple is a cream tea. A scone with jam and clotted cream is one one of our favourite treats. Although there is much discussion about what goes on first, Jam (the Cornish way) or Cream (the Devonian way). Calum has his own approach making a scone sandwich with jam one side and cream on the other. Whichever way you eat one they are absolutely delicious!
Last Thursday was National Burger Day. We kid you not, this is an official thing and quite frankly this is a national day we can firmly get behind. We love a cheese and bacon burger in a lightly toasted brioche bun with some relish and some crispy lettuce. Gherkins are a tasty addition too.
So it seems we now have a glut of home grown tomatoes! Calum will soon be cooking up batches and batches of tomato chutney and other recipes. Not that we mind, who doesn’t like a good chutney?
Lots of the garden flowers have gone over now, but some are just coming into there own such as this Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ we spotted when out and about. It has to be a perfect late summer plant, masses of bright yellow flowers to keep us cheery!
For Calum’s birthday present Rich got him this 
To be honest Hettie would probably make the Top Five every week. She is such a gorgeous dog in temperament as well as looks but that wasn’t the reason for this entry! This week whilst Rich has been taking her out on walks he’s discovered the joy of Monocle Magazines 
Our Lovely friends Nikki & Mike recently went to 
Birthdays obviously need birthday cards, Rich was very excited when he discovered 
We have a card, and a present. Only one thing left for a perfect birthday – Cake!! For a change Rich headed into the kitchen to create this pimped up Victoria sponge cake. With all that fruit it must be very healthy and good for you no?
