Hopton House Blog Stories

Every year I grow too many courgette plants. This year I have 5, which produce far more courgettes than we'll ever use.

The perverse thing is that I don't really like courgettes very much. I suppose I grow them because they are such satisfying plants, growing quickly and easily ( if you ignore the frost that we had mid June that killed the first lot I had just planted ).

I particuarly enjoy growing the yellow courgettes because they look so cute when they're little 1 inch babies.

The only way I really enjoy eating courgettes is raw, cut very thinly into ribbons and sprinkled with salt and lemon juice.

The other method I use to cook them is a dish I serve alongside a roast chicken, cooked in with lots of tomatoes, onion and garlic. But the courgettes have to be cooked quite well so they're not really recognisable.

This year I decided to try making a courgette soup. I've been enjoying Covent Garden's Minestrone Verde soup for lunch and decided it was madness buying a carton of the stuff when I had all of the ingredients in the garden ( except Orzo which doesn't grow on trees and is also seemingly impossible to buy in South Shropshire )

So here's my courgette soup recipe, with all the veggies grown in  our own garden. There's a lot of garlic in this one as the first time I made it we were all going down with colds. Both soup and garlic are good for colds apparently

6 small courgettes, topped and tailed and roughly chopped

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped or crushed

2 medium potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

1 litre of Marigold Swiss Bouillon ( or veg stock )

1tbs butter

Maldon sea salt and lots of freshly ground pepper

Melt the butter and add all the chopped vegetables. Add a teaspoon of salt and as much ground pepper as you like,  sweat over a very low heat for about 25 minutes ( I use the bottom AGA oven for this )

Add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil, them simmer for another 20 minutes or so until all the vegtables are soft.

Blend the soup with a stick blender and test for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if necessary.

This recipe makes enough soup for 6 servings.

I'm very pleased to say that Spring has finally appeared at Hopton House. It started with the catkins on the hedgerows - quite a few in our own native hedgerow I'm pleased to say, then we had masses of snowdrops along the lanes. We planted the hedgerow just after we moved in 7 years ago and, last year, we had our first nest in it. We have plans to buy some Wild Honeysuckle to plant through it, so it will be wonderful to sit on the bench in the paddock with a cup of tea and just sniff!

The frogs started singing ( well ribbiting, I suppose ), a few weeks ago and we now have masses of frog spawn in our wildlife pond. The frogs are continuing to mate and on some days it looks like the whole pond is bubbling!

We have our first primrose in the garden and the daffodils are due to pop shortly. The wild garlic we planted in the ditch last year is all springing up, so I'm looking forward to cooking with that. Not for the faint hearted but I'll offer a wild garlic omelette option at breakfast whilst it's in season.

As I came home last week I noticed a pair of blue tits investigating our post box. I can't think they are expecting any post so I assume they are looking to nest in there again. Apart from one near disaster with the postman, they were very successful in there last year and managed to raise 10 healthy chicks.

We've bought a few new nest boxes this year. The owl box still has no occupants but we are hearing tawny owls in the garden every night. And yesterday we watched a barn owl swoop across the paddock as we were getting up. The wildlife paddock is perfect hunting territory for owls with the long rough grass and lots of voles.

Last week I spotted a reed bunting for he first time. He seemed quite happy to spend the day on our bird feeder but we've not seen him since. I suspect he was just stopping off en route.

We've moved the tables around in the dining room so they're next to the windows, so that guests can enjoy watching the birds feeding over breakfast.  You'll definitely see siskins, goldfinches, blue tits & sparrows at breakfast. You may spot the nuthatch and we've acquired a resident pheasant, who is enjoying the chickens' layers pellets, much to the disgust of the chickens!

 

We’ve decided to spend our holidays at Hopton House this summer. We’ve been looking for somewhere lovely to stay but can’t seem to find anywhere that meets our criteria of very comfortable beds, very peaceful, fab views & wonderful location without spending £2000 a week for it or paying a bit less & having to share it with several hundred  other people. Living where we do, it can be very difficult to better it on holiday.

So we’ve decided to stay at home and save the money towards our “northern lights trip” later in the year. The main problem with staying at home is the temptation to work, spend too much time on the computer or do work on the house. So we have decided to plan in lots of day trips and visits out to restaurants.

Here are our thoughts on the first 3 trips we plan to do:

Powis Castle and Coed-y-Dinas Garden Centre

Powis is my favourite National Trust property locally. I’m not a huge fan of looking round old houses ( though Powis Castle is quite magnificent if you do enjoy that kind of thing ) but I do love the gardens at Powis. They are wonderful at all times of the year with formal, rose & woodland garden.

After a visit to Powis we always pop down to Coed-y-Dinas Garden Centre. It’s one of those huge Garden Centres packed with lots of lovely stuff.

The drive to Powis from Hopton House takes about 45 minutes and is very beautiful, popping in and out of Wales & England as it follows the border.

An extra special trip for the day is a drive back through the town of Montgomery with its castle.

Ludlow

Whilst we visit Ludlow several times a week shopping, it’s rare for me to get enough time to explore all it has to offer. Ludlow Castle is quite magnificent and worth a look round with its incredible history.



Ludlow town has hundreds of listed building and lots of small alleys to explore. You can take a short walk down to Dinham bridge ( stopping at the Milleneum Green Cafe for lunch or coffee is a must ), then walking along the other side of the river and back over Ludford Bridge. Horsehoe Weir is a fabulous sight and, if you stand long enough by the river, you’ll probably spot kingfishers, or, in the autumn, salmon jumping up the weirs.

My favourite drive home is via Mortimer’s Forest, where you can stop in the forestry commission car park for a longer walk. The view of Ludlow at Whitcliffe are amazing and a bit further along you get a wonderful view across most of West & North Shropshire.

Severn Valley Railway



We’re about 45 minutes from Bridgnorth here at Hopton House. From here you can get on the steam train that takes you down to Kidderminster and back. The journey takes you through the beautiful Severn Valley and my chosen place to get off would be Arley. From the station you can cross the river and walk up to Arley Arboretum, lovely at all times of the year but stunning in October! There’s a cafe here too.

More day trips from Hopton House on the next blog. Please bear in mind that not all of these places are open all year round, so check opening times before setting out or planning a trip.

 

I've been ringing the changes with the guest cakes just recently and making lemon drizzle & sticky ginger cake. The ginger cake went down so well at the course I ran this weekend that I was asked for the recipe, so here it is. It is one of the easiest cakes to make by the way.

You need 2 x 1 lb loaf tins. I line them with a loaf tin liner ( you can buy these from Lakeland or Tuffins if you're local ) as it makes it all so much easier.

Preheat oven to about 180 degrees ( for Fan Oven ).

Put the following into a large saucepan

4oz golden syrup

4oz treacle

4oz soft brown sugar

4oz butter

Put over a low heat till everything is melted and stir it all together.

Then add 8oz of self raising flour, 2 tsps ground ginger, 1/2 tsp mixed spice and 1egg beaten into 7fl oz of milk to the pan of melted ingredients. Whisk well until all the ingredients are combined.

To make it extra special. Take 1/2 small jar of stem ginger in syrup. Cut up the stem ginger balls into smallish pieces then fold into the mixture.

Put the mixture into the loaf tins and then bake for about 30 minutes ( until a knife comes out clean ).

Whilst the cake is still warm, make lots of holes all over the cake with the skewer, then pour half of the syrup from the jar over the cakes.

To make this the ultimate sitcky ginger cake my husband would then request that I add butter icing.

I have to admit that I rather like snow. It makes it look so pretty round here and I'm not forever wiping up muddy pawprints.

Luckily here in Shropshire we seem to deal with it rather better than some places too. The local farmer is contracted to come out with his snow plough and the road past our house is always gritted. So, touch wood, we've had no problems getting snowed in or stuck either this winter or last.

If you were planning a stay this Winter but were worried about booking because of the weather, then, if you have to cancel because you can't get here safely, we are happy to carry your deposit forward to a future stay.

We are already getting lots of bookings through for 2011, with most of the major holidays and bank holidays nearly full so make sure you book soon if you're after a specific date.

Hard to believe the last 2 blog photos were taken only a month apart! We've been enjoying some lovely winter weather here at Hopton House. It's been pretty enough to completely transform our already beautiful view but not disruptive. The road outside the house is gritted and the local farmers are contracted to shift heavier snow.

It's toasty warm in the house & the B&B rooms with a log fire in the dining room at breakfast time.

I've been doing my bit to keep the local bird population alive, getting through about 20 kilos a week. Luckily we have a great supplier in www.wigglywigglers.co.uk

Like the rest of the UK we have experienced the most wonderful show of Autumn colours this year. And, whilst some trees are already bare, the vast majority of the trees around here are still holding onto their leaves. The larches up on Hopton Titterhill look amazing from here and one of the oaks I can see from the dining room is still to turn green.

I took this photo last week just after a storm had moved through and the light was, for a few moments, perfect.

I do love birds and we keep a number of birdfeeders filled up close to the house so guests can enjoy watching their antics over breakfast.

At the moment you're guaranteed to see siskins, goldfinches, blue tits, great tits and sparrows. If you're lucky you may see the greater spotted woodpecker or a nuthatch.

Last week was exciting as I removed a small baby bird from the house that my Twitter followers helped me identify as a juvenile common whitethroat.

One bird that you can occasionally spot on our Scots pines is the treecreeper. These are very pretty birds but difficult to get close to. This one knocked into the window today, so I picked it up & kept it warm away from the chickens and neighbourhood cat till it got over its shock & flew off.

I've added a breakfast special each morning, as I like to offer guests who are staying a few days more choice. If I have vegetarians staying this will always be a vegetarian special - tomorrows is oven roast tomatoes with halloumi on toasted brioche.

Yesterday I did kedgeree for the first time for breakfast. This is a staple supper dish in the Thorne household so I thought I'd give it a go for guests. I'm pleased to say it was declared wonderfully light and delicious and has been requested again.

The purists out there will not be pleased with my use of curry powder and boiled egg omission. I normally make my curries from scratch. In fact the curry powder jar is only used for kedgeree.But I find that for kedgeree curry powder gives me the best flavour.

As for eggs - I really don't like boiled eggs so I've always made it without, adding a poached egg on top for the egg eaters in the house. As kedgeree is quite a dry dish, the runny yolk acts as a sauce.

The advantage of doing this in the oven is that once its cooking time is up you can just turn oven to very low and keep it warm for when guests arrive for breakfast.

In a measuring jug measure 9floz of basmati rice

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 medium chopped onion

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 tablespoon of curry powder

2 bay leaves

2 pieces of lemon peel, pared from lemon with vegetable peeler

16 fl oz vegetable stock

1 large skinned undyed smoked haddock fillet

1 poached egg

chopped parsley

You'll need a lidded saute pan or saucepan for this. Heat oven to 170 degrees Celsius

Heat butter and oil together over medium heat till butter has melted. Add onion and saute until translucent but not coloured. Add the cumin seeds and curry powder and cook for a few minutes, stirring all the time.

Add the rice, stirring well so it gets covered in the butter & spices. Add the stock, lemon peel & bay leaves and bring to the boil. Stir once, then place the haddock fillets on top. Put the lid on and place in oven for 25 minutes. Take out of oven and leave for 7 minutes. 

Flake the haddock fillets into the rice and stir carefully to distribute.

Top with a poached egg and chopped parsley.

 

Whilst our own plums in the orchard are yet to ripen, the local Shropshire shops are awash with lots of different varieties of plum. One of the most complimented of our breakfast side dishes is our spiced plums. I think it's perfect topped with creamy natural yoghurt and good sprinkling of my homemade granola.

I probably shouldn't tell you this but it's also really easy to make. I take 8 or 9 largeish plums, halve them and place in a baking dish. I then give them a good sprinkling of demerara sugar ( 1 tablespoon maybe ) and then sprinkle over a teaspoon on cinnamon. Depending on my mood I may also put in a whole star anise. Then I add a tablespoon of water and put in the top of the AGA ( normal oven about 190 degrees C ) for about 20-30 minutes until the plums are soft and the sugar and plum juices have created a syrupy sauce.

If you're short of time in the morning, then you can prepare the plums the night before and just pop in the oven in the morning.

This also works very well with frozen plums. When I have a glut of plums. I halve them, freeze them on trays individually, then pop into a plastic bag. Then I just get a handful out when I need them.

 If you missed Britain by Bike on BBC4 last night ( July 27th ). It's worth watching it again on iPlayer, especially if you're planning a visit to our part of Shropshire or just want to find out more about the area.

Clare Balding is following bicycle rides written about by compulsive cyclist and author Harold Briercliffe whose evocative guide books of the late 1940s lovingly describe by-passed Britain.

In last nights episode she started at Aston on Clun and learned of the tree dressing ceremony that still takes place every year on Arbor Day. Then took a detour ( within a mile of Hopton House as it happens ) to visit the house where Bruce Chatwin wrote On a Black Hill. The Black Hill in question being the one you walk over if you walk from Hopton Heath to Clun.

She then cycled to the beautiful village of Clun itself, visiting the Almshouses and then on across the Kerry Ridgeway to Newton. If you like fabulous views you can't get much better than the one as you walk along the Kerry Ridgeway itself.

The link to the programme is here ---->>> Britain by Bike on iPlayer

We're very pleased that our wildlife gardening has created a nest spot for a hedgehog. We've not seen one for a few years but have just found one who is nesting under a pile of old pallets that Rob has put in the wildflower meadow.

Luckily I had some hedgehog food that I'd been sent in my Wiggly Wigglers birdy box ( an assortment of different bird foods sent through each month ). I gave it to her and she wolfed it down. The next night we went back and she was sitting in exactly the same spot waiting for her dinner ( my life seems to revolve around people/animals sitting there waiting to be fed ;0) )

Here she is.

We've been at Hopton House for 6 years and each summer one of our neighbours has promised us that an orchid grows on the road verge just a few steps from our gate. Unfortunately, despite asking them not to, the people who cut the verges in early summer have been rather over zealous and mowed the plants down before they flowered.

This year our neighbour armed herself with a piece of string, some wooden sticks and a "do not mow" sign and cordoned off the verge.

On arriving back from our holidays one of the first things I did was  walk up to see how far the orchid had progressed. I'm very pleased to say that it waited for us to come back from holidays and is currently in full bloom.

The plant itself is rather unimpressive to look at from the side or above. You have to get down to its level - cue several cars stopping to ensure that the woman in her slippers kneeling at the side of the road wasn't injured or in need of some emotional support - to be able to appreciate it properly.

With a bit of help from Twitter, where I posted the photo, and also the Shropshire Hills AONB, I was able to identify the plant as a Broad Leaved Helleborine.

One rather unusual aspect of the plant on our road verge was that it was covered in wasps. Apparently this particular plant exudes the smell of dead meat, which is particularly attractive to wasps, who then come and fertilise it ( thanks to my friend Heather from Connecticut @forfeng on Twitter who found that out for us )

 



 

I think it's great these days that there is more emphasis on gardening for wildlife. We visited the Malvern Show this year, and watched Chelsea & Gardeners World at the NEC on the TV, and there were lots of gardens filled with wildflowers and designed to be friendly for wildlife.

I've always gardened for wildlife, and now my garden is mostly filled with flowers and plants that are loved by bees, butterflies and birds, with the odd notable excpetional that is let in for looks alone!

We're lucky to have space for a wildflower meadow and that is alive with bumblebees and moths. We do battle with some plants in the wildflower meadow. There is a lot of dock and thistle. However the dock seeds kept a family of bullfinches, too shy to come to the feeders, alive all winter, so I'm not so focussed on eradicating that now.

Our nettles are great for butterflies but sparrows also love the seeds.

I do find it odd, though, that people will spend so much money on wildflower seeds and plants yet do their hardest to aim for the perfect lawn and "weed" free flower beds. Our lawn is covered in very pretty buttercups, daisies and clover, which are in their turn covered in bees, distracting if you're trying to help England win at Lords I guess.

So come to Hopton House, enjoy the gardens but please don't expect perfection unless, like me, your idea of perfection is a view like this alive with the sound of buzzing bees.

We have very happy hens here at Hopton House. They have nearly 2 acres to wander around in and are allowed to live out their natural lives - well mostly ( see below )! As a result we get some lovely eggs, all with bright golden yolks as a result of all the fresh grass and other natural things that the chickens find to eat.

Unfortunately not all the chickens behave themselves and lay in their nest boxes, so we have to wait for their telltale squawking and run immediately to where they are and locate the freshly laid eggs.

One question I'm often asked by guests is "Do you have problems with foxes?". We do, indeed, have at least one fox that comes into the garden every night. Provided the hens are safely locked away in their coop ( they take themselves to bed but have failed to cotton on that the last one in should lock the door behind them ) then they are safe.

At this time of year, though, the foxes have young and are desperately looking for food for their cubs. We have a garden full of baby rabbits, eating our plants, but a slower moving succulent hen is a delicacy and easier catch. The wild flower meadow is at its best and highest so it is easy for a fox to jump into the garden and not be seen during the day.

Normally Mitsi the BnB Dog is pretty hot on security and will immediately see off any daytime foxes but occasionally there are lapses. Last week we lost a chuck late evening ( the moral of the story there my dear hens is to get off to bed briskly and not wander round the long grass in the paddock ).

This week, whilst chatting to guests in the dining room, I looked up at a commotion and saw a small fox cub in the garden. We both stared at each for a while before we both came to our senses. I let Mitsi out and the fox disappeared. Unfortunately I suspect the cub was a decoy whilst Mum went and helped herself to breakfast, as there was nothing left of one of hens but a pile of feathers.

To be honest, whilst I do get upset to see the end of a hen I also  see it as the way of the countryside. The foxes here never seen to take more than they can eat.

Here we have a picture of Toffee, who is loved by all our guests. She is a Partridge Cochin and a waste of space as far as egg production is concerned but she has a bustle, bloomers and runs like a girl - which has to be good!

If you've already stayed at Hopton House, you'll know we do love our birds, and most of our guests enjoy lingering over breakfast and watching the birds on the feeders just outside the dining room.

This time of year is fabulous as we have lots of different birds nesting all round the house and garden. We have, probably quite literally, hundreds of sparrows nesting in the eves of the house. They're very common here but I have guests arrive who haven't seen any for years.

Our postbox is currently out of use as a blue tit has taken up residence and is sitting on a clutch of 7 tiny white & red speckled eggs.

In the barn ( the actual room not the guest room! ) we have more nesting sparrows, one pair of swallows and a blackbird. We also have a pair of collared doves and 2 wood pigeons in the garden. I've  grown, quite bizarrely, attached to the crows who are nesting in the oak tree next door. Mrs Crow sits on her nest and shouts down to Mr Crow who runs round the garden frantically looking for food while she yells.

My favourite this year is the blackbird in the barn. For some reason she's on her own. Normally a pair will share the raising of the family between them. I've been feeding her extra mealworms and she now flies into the office if she feels I've been neglecting her. We're in for a stressful time over the next few days as the babies have been balancing on the edge of the nest and I think they're about to fledge. Wish us luck!

The guests announced yesterday morning that they were going to visit Powis Castle up near Welshpool. It is my favourite National Trust property, so given the weather forecast was good and we haven't visited since Autumn, we decided to go as well.

It's a very pretty drive through the mid Welsh Hills to get to Powis, particularly at this time of year with the fields full of lambs and the daffodils all starting to bloom. The road follows the Welsh/Shropshire border so you're in and out of Wales for much of the journey.

On arrival we saw a large herd of roe deer, all ignoring the tourists. And, at the entrance of the garden, 2 young lady peacocks were being fed crumbs by the attendant. Our guests look very surprised to see us walking up the path!

The gardens at Powis Castle are rather fabulous and we try to visit in each of the seasons. Yesterday it was still looking a bit bare with the daffs and primroses just starting to come out. However there were also azaleas and some camellias in blossom.

We then popped down the road to Coed-y-Dinas, a large garden centre that sells everything! I came away having ordered a single oak wardrobe for the new B&B room, a hamper for our new "breakfast in bed" offering, 9 wildflowers and 2 silicon egg rings.

I was also very pleased to have been there to see a falconry display, something they are doing every day for the next 2 weeks at 2.30.

We then decided to drive home via Montgomery, a very lovely little town on a hill with its own castle and one of those old fashioned hardware stores that you can spend hours in.

 

Spring has arrived in South Shropshire!

This week the farmer has started moving the new lambs out into the fields. There are lots of lovely bleating babies everywhere.

We've also had significant activity in the pond this week. There have been simply hundreds of frogs croaking loudly and creating masses of frog spawn. Last night Rob arrived home late to find the road and drive covered in frogs and, once he'd got out of the car, he discovered 4 of them sitting on our doorstep. The word has obviously got round that Hopton House is the place to stay locally.

The hedgerows are full of catkins and the pussy willow has finally  started to come out in the paddock, though not yet producing pollen for the first bumble bees I've seen this week. Being so late, the snowdrops are putting on a fantastic display still. I took the picture above in a field between us and Rocke Cottage Tearooms just this week.

Whilst the tiny narcissi are out in bloom, the daffodils aren't quite there yet but it can only be a matter of days before they are all out.

You don't come and visit South Shropshire if you're after an exciting night life! We specialise in dinners at lovely restaurants and pubs and then snuggling down with a bottle of wine or local beer. We also have a few games to borrow at the B&B so if you're feeling adventurous you can challenge your partner or friends to a game of scrabble.

However we occasionally have some great events and one of these is the Borderlines Film Festival held in various locations around the Welsh Marches.

Thank you to Jo Comino for the press release I've included below as well as an unusual Hopton House Blog Photo.



Arriving in Herefordshire and Shropshire bright and early in 2010, the eighth Borderlines Film Festival is set to be bigger than ever.

Borderlines (www.borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk) will screen more than 80 films in 40 venues in these two predominantly rural counties and beyond into the Marches between Friday 26 February and Sunday 14 March.

Where most festivals bring people together in one location, Borderlines covers a huge span of countryside from Ross-on-Wye in South Herefordshire all the way up to Wem in North Shropshire, a distance of over 80 miles.

Screening in village halls on the Flicks in the Sticks network, arts centres like The Courtyard in Hereford and Ludlow Assembly Rooms and even, for the first time, in Hereford Cathedral, this film festival brings a superlative selection of the best movies from around the world directly into the heart of communities in one of the most remote parts of the country. 

In the words of one member of this year’s audience, “It is great to see some more unusual films brought to the local area.“

Two of this year’s most critically acclaimed films, Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon and Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet, hot-tipped as Oscar contenders in the foreign-language film category, will be showing at Borderlines.

The fluid comedy of Up in the Air, starring George Clooney as an itinerant management consultant with a talent for firing people, is likely to prove popular viewing as are two excellent adaptations: Lynn Barber's memoir of a London schoolgirl seduced by lifestyle in the lively, witty An Education as well as the brilliantly directed The Road from Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

And the variety extends to drama, comedies, documentaries, classics. Follow would-be shepherd Asa to the Kazakh steppe as he woos his way to initiation in Tulpan. Witness a British-made version of a Transylvanian revenge fable, Katalin Varga.

It’s a festival that provides all the thrill and excitement of travel but cuts down the journey.

We enjoyed a bit of a Shropshire takeover of the BBC on Valentine's weekend. It all started on Saturday monning with Will Holland of La Becasse appearing on Saturday Kitchen with James Martin. La Becasse is one of 2 Michelin starred restaurants in Ludlow and Will is one of only 5 chefs in the UK to have earned a Michelin star whilst aged under 30.

At Hopton House we're 10 miles from Ludlow - if you want to book a taxi to La Becasse it's probably best to do so at the same time you book a table. If you go for lunch you can get there on public transport ( anyday except Sunday ). Take the train up to Craven Arms & change there for Ludlow or get the bus direct. We only have 4 trains & buses a day in each direction so it does need some planning!

On Sunday afternoon Shropshire and the Long Mynd was featured on Countryfile. The Lady with her Emus and Llama is a couple of miles south of us at Bucknell.

The Long Mynd is a bout a 15 minute drive away or you can take the train from Hopton Heath up to Church Stretton which is the town at the base of the hills.

After Countryfile the Antiques Roadshow came from Blists Hill Victorian Museum at Ironbridge. Ironbridge is about 45 minutes drive from us.

One thing I do find ironic is that the country that is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution should be one of the most sparsely populated and beautiful in the UK!

We've been very lucky this month to get lots of high quality media exposure. I'd love to say that this was as result of an organised PR campaign by myself but I can't!

In November I was invited to a photo shoot by Good Housekeeping to appear in an article about women who take risks and change their lives. The resulting article is in the March 2010 edition and you can see it here.

Then I got a phone call from Woman and Home asking if I would send a photo in to be included in an article on best Spring escapes! A sneaky peak at the article here

All this on top of the article in the Daily Mail I blogged about below. Happy B&B landlady!

I was rather excited yesterday to receive a tweet from someone with a link to a Daily Mail article describing Hopton House as one of the best Boutique B&Bs in the UK! The article is here if you'd like to read it.

I must admit that I've always shied away from calling Hopton House a boutique B&B. I'm never too sure what the term actually means and I'd rather guests chose us based on what they see on our website and on review sites such as TripAdvisor, rather than because we have been labelled in a certain way.

For the same reason I am slightly ambivalent about our star rating. It's great to be recognised for all the hard work we do but some people have said to me that they don't normally do 5 star B&Bs because "they can be a bit too formal or stuffy".We certainly don't do formal or stuffy at Hopton House! And feedback from VisitBritain has been around our customer service, levels of comfort, great breakfasts & attention to detail.

One rather unusual thing that has been said to me is that people don't trust places with 100% excellent reviews on TripAdvisor as they don't believe they're all genuine. It can sometimes feel like you just can't win in this business! I can promise you that all our reviews are real and I have been able to identify which of our lovely guests wrote what.

All that aside, I am very pleased to be included in the Mail article. Hopefully you'll be able to tell enough from the website and blog whether we are the right B&B for you.

Like the rest of the country we've been enjoying some real winter weather this year so far. We've been lucky in Shropshire to have enough snow to make it look pretty without it being too disruptive.

It's all just melted here now which has caused some flooding in the local area. Again we are lucky to avoid flooding here at Hopton Heath and the roads to us remain clear.

The dogs and I have just returned from our walk and were pleased to see the daffodils we planted last year are all coming up and that there are lots of buds on the willow trees. I find this time of year so excitng with the imminent arrival of Spring and then then rapidly changing countryside.

 As a business it's always difficult knowing which causes to support so I prefer to give privately. However I make the occasional exception. And as Christmas is a traditional time for giving I thought that I would use my Christmas week blog to tell you about a charitable event I first heard of on Twitter.

Strangely I was first drawn to this Twitter User by their avatar ( the little picture that represents the user ). The dog in the photograph is the spitting image ( well from behind anyway ) of our old much loved and much missed dog Tess. She was a rescue and obviously half German Shepherd, though we never knew what the other half was. 

I then realised the name of this Twitter user was very relevant too! Here in Shropshire we are very close to Offa's Dyke; the Offa's Dyke Centre down at Knighton is a quick train or car journey away. My favourite walk is a circular on, probably the best preserved part of the Dyke,  Llanfair Hill just past Clun. The views are spectacular.

Then I realised that the people concerned were walking Offa's Dyke to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. My Grandmother had and my Mum has MS, so again a cause close to my heart. I'm a great believer in serendipity!

I contacted Phil and Alex and asked if I could help them promote the walk so here are the details direct from them. Maybe if you've enjoyed a stay at Hopton House in the past or have enjoyed some of our recipes on our blog, you might think about donating to the challenge. Thank you.

Firstly, we would like to thank Karen at Hopton House for giving us the opportunity to let you know about our challenge.

 

Our Challenge

In April next year we will be walking the Offa's Dyke National Trail to raise money in aid of The Multiple Sclerosis Society – all 177 miles and 30,000 foot of it! There are four of us in the team – Phil (and his dog), Alex, Karen and her 13 year old daughter Popa.

We will be camping every night (it should take 12 days), with Phil and Alex carrying full packs! We will also have a support team in the guise of Phil's parents who will be following along the route staying at local BnBs and carrying Karen and Popa's camping gear.

Offa's Dyke

Offa’s Dyke path weaves in and out of the England – Wales border, from Prestatyn on the North Wales coast to Chepstow on the Severn Estuary (passing near Hopton House). When Phil first read about Offa’s Dyke a few years ago, he was captivated by the story of Britian’s largest man-made monument – built by Offa, King of Mercia from 757 to 796 A.D to try and create a boundary between his kingdom and the independent Welsh kingdoms. The route today is lined with impressive castles and abbeys – and as he is a big fan of castles, he decided that “one day” he would walk it.

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young adults. Around 100,000 people in the UK have MS. For some people, MS is characterised by periods of relapse and remission while for others it has a progressive pattern. For everyone, it makes life unpredictable.

Phil has personal reasons why we have chosen MS for this challenge, however what has become apparent from talking to people about our plans is just how many people have friends or family who have the condition. 

You can find out more about Multiple Sclerosis at http://www.mssociety.org.uk/ 

How can you help?

Any help you can give in terms of advice (on equipment / campsites on the route etc), spreading the word on what we are doing or just giving us some supporting words would be much appreciated!

You can follow the whole process on our blog www.mycountryside.org.uk – from the planning & preparation, the training walks, and the equipment, through to the walk itself: the rain, the campsites, the blisters and the aching limbs!

We are also on twitter: www.twitter.com/offasdyke4ms and we have a facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61028287345&ref=ts

If you would like to donate to our challenge you can on our Justgiving page: http://www.justgiving.com/offasdyke4ms

 

I've been making this soup for years. It is a family recipe passed down by my Mum. I tend to vary the ingredients based on what I have in the fridge so it always tastes different.

This weekend Rob and his brother were doing some building work on the house so I was kept busy cooking breakfast, lunch and supper and providing cups of tea. I made this soup and decided I needed to write down the exact ingredients as it tasted particularly good this time.

Vegetarians can of course leave out the bacon!

Ingredients

2 rashers unsmoked bacon roughly chopped

1 heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

3 medium carrots, roughly choped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tin of good quality plum tomatoes

100g red split lentils

1 litre of vegetable stock

seasoning

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Method

Heat the oil over a medium heat and add the bacon. Fry until the fat has melted then add the cumin seeds, chopped onion, carrots and garlic. Fry gently for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft but not coloured.

Put the lentils into a one litre measuring jug and pour over the boiling stock, leave to soak for 20 minutes.

Once the vegetables are soft, add the lentils, stock and tomatoes.

Simmer gently for about 45 minutes, whizz with a stick blender and check seasoning.

Serve on a cold, wet day, preferably sitting in front of a fire.

I'm sorry to mention Christmas quite so early. Whilst I love Christmas I'm one of those people who prefer to start hearing about it no sooner than mid December. However if you're planning to go away before or just after Christmas you do need to get booking early.

Hopton House is closed over the Christmas period itself - I'll be too busy doing B&B ( and lunch & dinner ) for a houseful of relatives - but we do have availability in December before Christmas and over the New Year period. Hopton House is ideal for those people looking for a quiet getaway from it all New Year rather than those of you who are party animals.

If you're looking for somewhere very special to do your Christmas shopping than Ludlow & the surrounding towns in South Shropshire is perfect! This year we're arranging a competition encouraging Ludlow shops to provide Christmas displays in their windows. That combined with a unique collection of shops and Ludlow's medieval atmosphere provide a perfect pre Christmas break.

If you're after some very special Christmas Food or food gifts then there are lots of unique artisan shops in Ludlow including The Mousetrap, The French Pantry, The Deli, Prices the Bakers and of course all of our lovely butchers. We have in room fridges at Hopton House so you can keep any perishable food cool - though probably not big enough for a very large turkey!

There are also lots of other lovely shops to buy unusual gifts such as As You Like It, Rickards and lots more.

My favourite shop in Ludlow is the newly opened Abundant Shop & Gallery. They are Ludlow’s premier destination for beautiful fresh flowers, gifts, vintage glass and kitchenalia. They create stunning bespoke arrangements and will deliver free - so if you're coming for a special occasion why not order some flowers to be waiting in your bedroom? They also have a lovely light and spacious gallery upstairs where they hold regular exhibitions.

If you are hoping to get away over Christmas than why not have a look at the South Shropshire Farm Holiday Group's website; lots of self catering cottages, some accepting pets and many with log burning fires. All set on farms or surrounded by stunning countryside.

I do love to see pumpkins in the shops at this time of year. I am growing some but I have just one and it's not very big. Unfortunately I'm not a huge fan of eating them, so I tend to buy them and sit them on the doorstep ( uncarved ) as an autumnal decoration.

A few years ago I was at a party and tasted the most incredible soup that turned out to be tomato & pumpkin. I've played with the recipe over the years and have now perfected it - to my taste buds anyway!

As well as tasting fabulous it is also incredibly easy to make once you have your pumpkin peeled.

500 g diced pumpkin ( about 1/2 a small pumpkin )

1 diced onion

1 sliced leek

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tin of tomatoes ( or 300g of fresh chopped tomatoes )

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

1 litre of vegetable stock

Put all of the ingredients in a large saucepan, bring to the boil until the pumpkin is soft. Puree, check for seasoning and serve.

One of my favourite ways of eating this is to take a whole soft cheese such as a a camembert ( or english equivalent ), bake in the oven till the inside is gooey, then eat with the soup along with crusty bread.

For me, the perfect place to eat this is wrapped in a blanket in front of a log fire on a cold blustery afternoon with a glass of red wine.........

One of the many things I love about autumn is the change in the weather with cooler mornings but warm days still - lovely to step out into a crisp morning after several hours slaving over a hot AGA at breakfast time!

This was the view that greeted me yesterday morning when I went down to start on breakfast.

As today is the Autumn Equinox we say hello to autumn and goodbye to summer. As usual we're having a lovely autumn with good weather predicted over the next few days.  As we move into Autumn we also start to get some spectacular sunrises & sunsets. I took the photograph below last night.

Autumn really is the perfect time for exploring Shropshire with the slightly cooler, but good weather and changing tree colours.

The hedgerows are full of bright red rosehips, haws, sloes and blackberries. We have a bumper crop of sloes and blackberries this year in our own hedgerows at Hopton House. The yellowhammers are enjoying the blackberries and the goldfinches are flitting betweent the brambles and the teasels we planted for them.

I made my first crop of hedgerow jelly this weekend with the first of our apples, elderberries & damsons. I've also made mint jelly to keep us going through the winter.

One thing I love about living here in Shropshire is the clear night skies. Looking out to the west we have very little light pollution so you can see stars nearly as far down as the horizon. This is perfect for meteor watching.

The Perseids Meteor shower peaks on 12th August - we have availability in the Orchard Room & Paddock - so book your shooting star watching seat now!

We're very pleased to see the re-arrival of summer. We have been celebrating it's return with lots of butterflies in the wildflower meadow and the garden.

August is a strange month. Having been almost completely full in a couple of the rooms since 13th February we do have some good availability for the next 2 weeks.

September is always our busiest month and many guests wait till the schools have returned before coming away. Do take a look at our online availability, available on the righ hand side of every page of the website.

Also a reminder that if you want up to date news of what is happening at Hopton House you can check out, and become a fan of,  our facebook page.



 

 

I seem to behaving in a very typically English way and doing nothing but discuss the weather at the moment! However these storm clouds today were just too beautiful to ignore and, I hope, go to show that Hopton House can be enjoyed whatever the weather is doing.

Well we've had days of sunshine and showers here in South Shropshire just recently. It has been lovely and warm but not overly hot. Perfect holiday weather unless you were hoping to spend it in a tent or on the beach - neither of which you'd be doing here at Hopton House.

For those of you on Facebook we've added a facebook fan page - I regularly tweet breakfast and details of events and local places to go. You can join us here

I've added smoked haddock onto the menu and will also be offering the occasional special such as french toast and blueberry pancakes.

It is a very beautiful day here today in Shropshire. We have a very deep blue cloudless sky with a slight breeze to stop it getting too hot. The leaves are rustling in the silver birch and the birds are gently tweeting.

I decided it was a perfect day for a quick walk in the woods with the dogs. I love the smell of conifers when walking in woods on a sunny day - it always reminds me of being in Switzerland. Today there was also the smeel of wild rose and lots of honeysuckle to add to the heady mix. There were also quite a few butterflies flitting around in the dappled shade.

I decided on one of the quicker routes as I needed to get home so did a short circuit around Hopton Titterhill. I came across the most amazing view - typically without camera. I could see right from Titterstone Clee in the South to the Stiperstones in the North, with Wenlock Edge, Founder's Folly, Clunbury Hill, The Long Mynd and Caer Caradoc in between.

This picture is one I took from another part of Hopton Titterhill looking in the same direction.

If you're a regular reader it won't come as a suprise to you that I love wildlife. I'm in the local Sustainable Business Scheme and the "what we do for wildlife" section was by far the easiest to complete.

So I'm very pleased to say that this year our wildflower meadow is looking amazing ( mostly! ) with  a mass of ox eye daisies. We also have mass of docks on one corner but these things take time to evolve! And actually the sparrows have been loving the seeds of the curled dock.

One areas we've been focussing on this year is helping out the bees. Rob's planted a small area specifically with bee plants, however we do pretty well in the rest of the garden too with clover and foxgloves and other bee friendly plants.

I took the dogs out earlier and was entranced by the hedgerows in the field which are at their very best at the moment. The field itself was covered in buttercups, clover,daisies, and, as a result, bees! In the hedgerows the wild roses & honeysuckle are in full bloom, along with masses of foxgloves, elder, cow parsley and red campion.

I'm very pleased to see that Springwatch is, in part, coming from Wales this year. Hopton House is just 6 miles from the Welsh border and it is my favourite holiday destination.

One of my very special treats is a trip over to see the red kites being fed at Gigrin Farm, featured on last nights show. It's only about 45 minutes from Hopton House and is a wonderful day trip combined with a drive or walk round the Elan Valley.

Unfortunately I've never been able to successfully photograph a red kite so a big thank you to www.marches.tv for this lovely photo taken at Gigrin.

I'd heard a rumour that Time Team was coming to Hopton Castle but didn't think much of it. Today Jess and I walked the dogs on the road into Hopton Castle and met up with our neighbour, Bob, who annouced they'd put a mast up on Warfield Bank, the hill just in front of Hopton Titterhill.

Looking closer we realised it was temporary mast - there had been a slight panic that someone had put up a telephone mast without consulting anyone! I then said to our neighbour "Perhaps it's Time Team, I heard  a rumour". We then had to get off the road to let a landrover past and on the side was the Time Time logo!

It's one of Rob's favourite programmes so he is very excited and hoping to get involved somehow. Watch this space for more details as we get to hear them!

I can't quite believe that we've got to the 1st of June already. Predictions are looking good for a long hot summer so I'm hoping to see lots of guests enjoying the garden.

I've just ordered a couple of new Adirondack style chairs for the garden and we now also have silent mini fridges in every room so you can fresh milk at all times time, cold water and you can chill your own wine and champagne.

The wildflower meadow is starting to come into its own with thousands of ox eye daisies. We also have pink and white clover, birdfoot trefoil, wild carrot, cornflower, red campion, ragged robin, buttercups and 1 teasel! There are also what I think are curled dock which were given a stay of execution when I realised the sparrows are loving the seeds.

If you fancy experiencing a play in the wonderful surroundings of St Laurence's Church, Ludlow, whilst you're in Shropshire, and supporting some local children at the same time then howabout going to see the Ludlow Mystery Plays. For more information see below:

"There are two perfomances of the Ludlow Mystery Plays which will take place on 11th and 12th June 2009 in St Laurence's Church Ludlow at 7.00pm. Each performance will consist of two plays, Mr Noah & The Ark and David & Goliath.

There are over 70 children from local schools along with the Ludlow New Voices choir taking part and it is a production by Ludlow Special Music Projects.

Local playright Ian Barge has produced the scripts and Steve Dunachie has provided the musical score with Shaun Ward as the Musical Director.

There is no advance booking available so it is £5 on the door, under 12's go free. Come and have a fun night and support the youngsters."

Since I have been using Twitter I have come across some very interesting local Shropshire people. One of these is Ben Proctor ( @likeaword ) who seems to wear a multitude of different hats. Ben came to talk to the farm holiday group about PR recently and he is currently trying to persuade me to get onto a bicycle for the first time in 25 years.

Whether he is successful remains to be seen. In the meantime however we'd like to let you know about a Tandem Experience Festival that is being held in Bishops Castle. There is camping available but for those of you that prefer not to rough it, there are some very nice B&Bs in Bishops Castle. Magnolia B&B run by Elizabeth & Geoff is the one I know best. And of course Hopton House is a mere 10 mile bike ride from BC!

Here's what Ben has to say about the festival:

The Tandem Experience Festival takes place in the beautiful and laid-back south Shropshire town of Bishops Castle from the 3rd July to 5th July 2009. The Festival brings tandem riders from far and wide for a weekend of rides, competitions and light-hearted fun. 

The centrepiece of the weekend is the Tandem Triathlon on 4th July. This is the 24th year for the UK's only Tandem Triathlon which is held annually in Bishops Castle. Up to 140 teams compete. One partner swims (1km), one partner runs (10km) and both partners pedal (35km). Special triathlon events are organised for the under 15s and for primary school-aged triathletes. 

Visit Bishops Castle on the 4th of July to cheer on the teams or on 5th July to enjoy the town's carnival including a parade of Tandems.

For more information visit http://tandeming.co.uk.

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that this is not a picture of a tandem but a picture of our local bull scratching his ear.

Cake Ingredients

180g Shropshire Honey

140g butter

80g soft brown sugar

2 beaten eggs

200g self raising flour

1tsp cinnamon

water

Icing Ingredients

60g icing sugar

1 tbsp honey

1. Preheat oven to 180C and butter and line the bottom of a 18cm cake tin with bake-o-glide

2.Heat the honey, butter and sugar with a tablespoon of water in a large pan until melted.

3. Remove from the heat and mix in the eggs, flour & cinnamon, then put into the cake tin

4. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and shrinking slightly from the sides of the tin.

5. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.

6. While the cake is still warm, make the icing. Mix icing sugar & honey with 2-3 teaspoons of hot water and then drizzle over the cake.

If you're not subscribed to our newsletter you can now find it on the front page of the website. Remember also that you can get the most up to date news from us here at Hopton House by following us on twitter at www.twitter.com/hoptonhousebnb

I do occasionally leave the PC and today I did so to make some Three Fruit Marmalade; grapefruit, orange & lemon. I don't eat marmalade but did try this on some freshly baked homemade white crusty bread & it was rather lovely!

Having finally replaced my broken bread machine I'm enjoying making fresh bread and other goodies for breakfast. One of our current favourites are cinnamon rolls. The following recipe is for people with bread machines but I'm sure it can be adapted to do by hand!



First you need to make your dough

1/2 tsp yeast

250g strong white bread flour

3 tsp sugar

25g butter

1tbs milk powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

100 ml water

Put all the ingredients in the bread machine and set to a dough setting.

Roll out dough to an oblong 26cmx20cm

For the filling

melted butter

brown sugar

cinnamon

Brush the dough generously with the melted butter. Sprinkle generously with brown sugar then do the same with cinnamon.

Roll up from the long side pinching the end seam.

Cut into 3 cm pieces using a sharp knife and then arrange in a lined 23cm round cake tin.

Put a piece of greased clingfilm over the top then leave in a warm place till doubled in size ( before proving  you can either put in the fridge over night or freeze )

Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius ( 170 fan ), remove clingfirm and cook for about 25 minutes.

Turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool slightly before putting on a plate

For the icing

1 cup of icing sugar

3-4 tbs milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix ingredients for icing together till you get a fairly stiff icing then drizzle over the still warm rolls.

Eat!

I've made a few changes to the B&B recently. It goes back to my continuous improvement days at BA - I can't stop reviewing and improving! Or messing as Rob would say...

Anywhere I've noticed that an increasing number of guests prefer to eat alone at breakfast so I've put 3 smaller tables into the dining room. This has been a difficult decision for me as I know a lot of people do like to come away to a B&B and chat. However this way you get a bit more flexibility whilst still being able to talk across to the other tables if you choose to!

We've put a silent running mini fridge into the Barn Room so you can store milk, chill wine and keep your Ludlow butcher goodies cold. We are also planning to get one that will sit between the Paddock and Orchard Rooms.

At breakfast I now always offer something sweet and baked such as croissants, muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls etc. If you have a particualr favourite from a previous stay - do let  me know in advance and I'll see what I can do.

Last weekend was so glorious that we were able to have our first meal of the year outside at the Jolly Frog. As soon as we get the first sunny cloudless evening we always race up to the Frog and park ourselves on the deck. I then order half a lobster with garlic butter, fries and a very dry wine. The sunset and views west across to Hopton House were breathtaking.

As we left home we waved goodbye to the guests who had been to the deli and were eating their dinner outside on the deck of the barn. We have just taken delivery of 2 rather lovely Adirondack style chairs for the Barn deck, so that guests can sit back, relax and enjoy the sunshine on what is rather a superb suntrap.

I had a special request for this cake this weekend. I try and resist making it too much because I can't get enough of it myself!

200g butter diced

175g soft brown sugar

3 tbs black treacle

150ml milk

2 eggs, beaten

4 pieces stem ginger, chopped

300g self raising flour

1 tbs ground ginger

FOR ICING

4 tbs stem ginger syrup

300g icing sugar

140g soft butter

2 tsp lemon juice

Heat Oven to 160C / Fan 140C.

Butter and line a 23cm square cake tin.

Melt butter, sugar and treacle together in a large pan. When it has a cooled a little, beat in the eggs and milk and chopped ginger. Put in the flour and ground ginger and mix thoroughly.

Pour into cake tin and bake for 35-40 mins till firm. Cool in tin then transfer to rack.

Beat together icing sugar, butter, syrup and lemon juice and spread over the cake.

When I get a few moments off I enjoy the opportunity to sit in the sun roon and spend some time watching the birds. So I was particularly pleased this week to see a pair of siskins. They have become fairly regular visiotrs over the last week and I'm hoping that they are nesting nearby.

I posted a picture of the breakfast on Twitter last week and got several of my American followers asking where the beans where. So for them I took a photo of a full english with the beans.

Here at Hopton House we give you a breakfast menu so you can choose whatever you like ranging from bacon, scrambled egg and tomato ( my personal favourite ) through to the full works.

This photo shows the breakfast complete with poached egg and fried bread - though I would suggest to be a true full english it should be a fried egg!

I've always been a bit dubious about breakfast photographs - I think it's something best left to the professionals. However I thought breakfast was looking so very lovely this morning that it needed to be captured for posterity ( or at least until tomorrow morning when I make it again! )

If you're looking for a day out from Hopton House including a walk and a bit of culture you can't go too far wrong combining today's Times' "A Good Walk" with a trip to NT Croft Castle.

The walk is a 5 mile easy/moderate circular that starts ( or finishes ) at a pub, goes past Croft Castle and includes a walk to the top of Croft Ambrey Hillfort which has views across 14 counties.

The start of the walk is at Yarpole which is about 14 miles from Hopton House - about a 35 minute drive through some very nice countryside.

At this time of year Croft Castle is open from Wednesday through to Sunday.

Below the gardens at Croft Castle in June.

Puss the chicken goes super for Red Nose Day.

She has asked that we donate all the proceeds of sales Hopton House Eggs for the next week to red Nose Day.

We had such a beautiful day yesterday that we took the dogs on their favourite walk ( it's also our favourite walk but for different reasons to the dogs ).

It's a circular from Hopton House that we can only do at certain times of the year when a series of interconnecting fields are animal free.The dogs love it because they get to run offlead for most of the walk, get 2 ponds and a stream to swim and chase sticks in, a big hill to run up and down and a wooden troll bridge to thunder across.

Rob and I love it because of the stream and the views from the top of Warfield bank. You can just see the Wrekin in the distance.

The Wrekin ( for those of you not from the Midlands ) is a large hill to the east of Shrewsbury. If you come from the Midlands then you will be familar with the term "All round the wrekin" which means travelling somewhere by the longer route. The Wrekin was deposited by a giant who was going to dump it onto Shrewsbury ( I think ) but was tricked by a cobbler he met on the way who told him that he'd worn out all of the shoes he was carrying walking from Shrewsbury.

The photo below shows the view from the top of the hill, looking back to Hopton House ( just visible on the middle right side of the photo ). The Wrekin was visible in the far distance but can't be seen on the photo.



 

And here's a photo of some swimming dogs!

Not the best photo in the world but I didn't want to disturb all of the action that was going on in the pond yesterday!

I was in the garden today when Bob, our neighbour, called over the fence "The frogs are here then". I raced to the pond and listened. There was the occasional contented burb. However, as Bob told me, if I'd been round at midnight the night before I'd have heard hundreds of frogs. He ws surprised we hadn't heard them as they could hear them from their bedroom.

Of course it's no real surprise since the chances of me being awake much past 10.00 in the evening are pretty negligible.

Ever since I was tiny I've had something about frogs and tadpoles. Every year my parents had to drive to a pond for me to collect frog spawn - the descendants of those frogs still breed every year in my parents' pond. And I've never really grown out of it. A few years ago I was running round the lake in Windsor great park when I spotted frogspawn. I then ruined a very expensive swiss water bottle filling it with frogspawn and taking it back to my pond - ok I know it's illegal before you report me and get me arrested for treason for stealing the queen's tadpoles and I promise not to do it again.

My very favourite thing about going to the Caribbean is listening to the tree frogs in the early evening - if I could find one - a DVD of tree frogs would probably be my ultimate relaxation.

I no longer have to steal anyone else's tadpoles as I have a huge pond of my own. We moved into Hopton House on 19th March 2004 and you can imagine my delight when I went to inspect the pond and it was full of matting frogs and huge amounts of frogspawn.

So for them to be starting to spawn on 24th February is quite  alot earlier than 3 years ago when we first moved in - a suprise given the cold conditions over the last few weeks or is this touch of spring to blame for bringing them out early?

I do have a photo of frogspawn somewhere but I can't find it - so here is a photo of the chickens I took last week.

We always recommend that our guests have at least one meal at the Jolly Frog when they come and stay with us. The Jolly Frog is a relaxed bistro style restaurant - it used to bill itself as country pub and restaurant but it's not the sort of place you would go to for just a pint really.

They do a special menu if you book before 7.00 or eat at lunchtime. £12.50 for 2 courses or 3 courses for £16.50.

The menu is predominantly seafood but they also do good veggie options and nice steak / veal. The last time we ate there I had wood roast prawns with a garlic fondue followed by roast cod with a smoked haddock mash. Rob had the tartiflette followed by steak and Jess had the prawns then pizza done in their special pizza oven.

In the summer there is nothing nicer than spending an early evening on their terrace enjoying some spectacular views and watching the sun go down with half a grilled lobster, chips and a bottle of cold white wine.

Please do book in advance 01547 540298. The Frog is 3 miles from us.I fyou want to get a taxi then Knighton taxis will come out. You must book a taxi in advance - especially on a Friday and Saturday as he is usually ferrying teenagers around Shropshire at the weekend. Knighton Taxis 01547 528165.

Please note the Joly Frog is closed on Sunday evening and all day Monday.

In 2006 Puss, an 18 week old light sussex chicken, came to live at Hopton House with her sister. Puss was very excited to find that she would sleep in a very large coop and had nearly 2 acres to spend her days in. At the chicken farm some of the older hens had told horror stories about something called battery farming.

Sometimes the other hens would make fun of Puss - she was completely bald from the neck up. This is all very well if you're a Transylvanian Naked Neck but not if you are a Light Sussex. However the following winter, after her first moult, Puss grew feathers all over her head and the bullying stopped.

One day Puss was feeling very ill indeed. Her owner, karen, was very worried about her suffering and said to Rob, "Maybe we should pull her neck?". Rob turned pale and said "maybe we should see how she is tomorrow". Next morning Puss woke up feeling fine. Puss is now onto her 2nd life.

Then last March disaster struck. Karen had forgotten to put the hens away at night and the fox came for dinner. 6 of Puss's friends were taken and Puss was the 7th course on the menu. The fox took a big bite from Puss's neck, then Mitsi the dog saved the day and chased the fox away.

Puss was very ill for 5 days. The local farmer offered to pull her neck but Rob said "maybe we should give her a few days". Puss lived in a big basket and karen hand fed her and gradually she recovered - thought she was a little lopsided. Puss is now onto her 3rd life.

Then the coldest winter for 20 years struck and Puss felt it right through to her bones. Arthritis struck and she couldn't move. She couldn't get out of the Coop to feed. Karen was very worried and told her web designer, Anna. Anna was a very good knitter ( Karen can't knit for toffee ) and had seen a pattern for a chicken jumper on the internet. As another cold spell was predicted Anna knitted as fast as she could and produced a beautiful jumper for Puss, who felt much better all warm and wrapped up. Puss is now onto her 4th life.

One day Karen went to let the chickens out and noticed that Puss the chicken was missing a lot of her tail feathers and  was bleeding badly from her parsons nose - something had attacked her. Maybe one of those bullying sisters. Karen took Puss into the house and put her in a warm bath. As Karen bathed her and cleaned her up Puss fell asleep with  alook of contentment on her face. Karen then wrapped her up in a warm towel and put her in front of the AGA. Puss is now onto her 5th life.

Mitsi the dog seemed to be very concerned about Puss. She sniffed her and licked her and wouldn't let Murphy the dog into the same room. Karen thought Mitsi was just being maternal till she turned her back and discovered Mitsi with her jaws round Puss's neck. Mitsi was banished into the lounge. Puss is now onto her 6th life.

The weather had warmed up and Puss is much happier, running around with her friends. She and Mitsi have come to an understanding and Puss now spends the night in her own private coop filled with warm straw where there is no risk of anyone or anything attacking her.

Here Puss demonstrates her designer hand knitted jumper. It is an attractive lilac wool, designed to reflect the latest catwalk design of sleeveless cardigans. It is finished by a bright cerise strap and large in trend pink button.

If you've been enjoying the Victorian Farm on BBC2  you may be suprised to hear that is is just 10 miles from Hopton House.

You can find out more about the Acton Scott Estate at their website here. There is an historic working farm on the Acton Scott estate. It's recommended that you visit on one of the days when they are running a special event. See here for more details.

If you fancy doing some whinberry picking, featured on the last show, then we have lots of whinberries at the top of Hopton Titterhill.

It's Charles Darwin's 200th birthday today. We're particularly excited here in Shropshire as he was born and raised in Shrewsbury. If you visit Shrewsbury whilst you're here at Hopton House ( have a leisurely breakfast, read the papers or take a walk then take the 12.25 train and come back at about 6.00 ) then you can follow the Darwin Trail. Download a copy here

I had to pick Jess up from a night out in Bishops Castle this morning. It was very beautiful driving back from there last night with a biggish moon. There was a large planet sitting over the top of Clunbury Hill - not Venus as that was in the South West. Venus was rather magnificent setting over Hopton Titterhill - no light pollution out to the West of us means that we can see stars almost to the Horizon.

OK - for the last few days this has been less blog and more an excuse to show off my photos. Those of you who are long term readers may have noticed that I've found the charger for my camera at long last.

It was nice enough this afternoon for me to sit outside on the bench ( with 3 layers on ) and just enjoy our view.

It was a perfect winter's day today. All the roads were clear of ice and snow but all the surrounding landscape was looking glorious, blue sky and sunshine.

On the way back from Ludlow I decided to drive the back road through Mortimer's Forest. That was looking spectacular with all of the trees covered in snow.

I got this shot looking North to the Long Mynd.

The sun came out and the snow had thawed enough to do to be able to play ball but not so much that there wasn't an excuse for lots of skidding and throwing yourself around to get covered in snow ( the dogs not me ).

A word of warning that if you do intend to play ball in the snow you need to watch very carefully where it lands......

We have lots of anniversaries in Shropshire this year. I've listed them on the website here  with suggestions of what you might do to incorporate them into a break in Shropshire.

The most famous is Darwin who was born and went to school in Shrewsbury and did lots of his early nature walks on the Siperstones and the Shropshire Hills.

However my favourite is the 150th birthday of A.E. Housman who wrote about Shropshire. The most relevant line for us here is in a Shropshire Lad; "Clunton and Clunbury, Clungunford and Clun are the quietest places under the sun"

You can see Clunbury Hill from the Barn and the Paddock rooms. I took this photo today on the way home from the shops.

Driving to Craven Arms today we drove past some very impressive icicles that made the Hopton House ones look rather pathetic.

Ok it's all my fault - I'm happily blogging away about spring and we get the heaviest snowfall for 18 years. However at Hopton House, of course, a snowfall is a good thing as I'm able to look out at it, it brings lots of birds to my bird table and the dogs love it.

Murphy and Mitsi ran all over the field with Murphy hoovering up as much snow into his mouth as possible - he probably thinks it's ice cream.

The only inhabitants unhappy about the snow are the chickens who have spent the last 2 days in their coop, refusing to come out and glare at me accusingly when I go and feed/water them. Some of them are wandering out and about in a bemused way but most are choosing to stay indoors.

One thing I did notice this morning was the icicles on their hen house - very pretty.

I've been spending a bit more time on twitter and getting a bit more of an idea for how it works. If you follow our blog regularly and want to be updated when I put up a new posting, then follow me on twitter by pressing this link, press follow  and whenever I put up a new blog story I'll let you know on twitter!

I was very pleased to spot the first snowdrops of the year yesterday on the dog walk. The flowers are there but not yet completely opened. A sure sign that spring is just round the corner.

I went out twice yesterday - let's be honest here once is a rare enough occurrence. Lunch was the South Shropshire Farm Holiday Group's ( of which I am chair ) Christmas Lunch at a local pub and in the evening we went to a knees up organised by the But Local Be Sustainable scheme at the NT pavillion in Cardingmill Valley in the Long Mynd.

Driving back from lunch I decided to treat myself to the tiny road back to Hopton Heath from Clunton via Clunton Coppice. Clunton Coppice is a nature reserve and also has a great dog walk as much of it is off lead - no mountain bikers and no sheep. The coppice is full of sessile oak. Yesterday afternoon a great grey cloud had descended on the Clun valley so it was incredibly eery driving through a coppice of bare gnarled oak trees. I was instantly transported to one of the scenes in Lord of the Rings where Sam and Frodo have just separated from the rest of the fellowship.

The views from that road are fabulous on a clear day but yesterday just went to prove that it can be very beautiful round here at anytime. I wouldn't recommend that road right now unless you have a 4x4. You can actually walk from Hopton House to Clunton as some guests did just this last weekend.

The evening was great - free Woods beer and chilli made from locally sourced beef. It was however pitch black. Rob and I had some difficulty walking back to the car without a torch. Luckily Rob's remote locking turns the interior light on in the car otherwise we wouldn't have been able to find it!

Oh dear - just discovered Twitter. Another reason too spend hours on the PC! Search for Karen Thorne if you want to join me.

It's been a quiet week and the most exciting news to come from Hopton House is that one of our new rare breed hens ( the 2 year old ex breeding birds sold off cheap ) has started to lay eggs again following her winter moult. I know this because she lays large white eggs and they have started to appear in the nest boxes. Merry and Pippin, our 5 year old friesian fowl, also lay white eggs but they are much smaller just like Merry and Pippin!

Our disabled light sussex ( the one who survived a fox attack ) isn't able to get out of the small coop door so I've been leaving the big door open for her to jump out off. However we've had to stop doing that as Rob caught a very red faced Murphy in there yesterday about to eat a day's worth of eggs

My web designer, Anna, has knitted me some unique Hopton House tea cosies to keep the tea warm at breakfast. Is there no end to the woman's talents? She has now started on a jumper for the arthritic chicken as it seizes up in the cold.

Unfortunately knitting isn't one of my strengths - I've been knitting Rob a scarf for 2 years now - it is full of holes and tags of wool but has character. I can just about purl one knit one but any thing more complicated than that leaves me flummoxed. As for instructions on a knitting pattern......you think it would be simple for someone who studied some quantum mechanics ( all equations and funny symbols ) as part of her maths degree but no.

Good news that La Becasse restaurant in Ludlow has just got its Michelin star. We were down to one Michelin star in Ludlow with Hibscus moving to Ludlow and The Merchant House closing down. So congratulations to them.

Save up your pennies, book early and make sure you book a taxi at the same time ( contact me for telephone numbers of local cabs).

I sometimes feel a bit like Pollyanna writing this blog. It must seem that life is pretty perfect here at Hopton House. And it is good most of the time but we do have our ups and downs. However you, dear reader, do not want to hear about the downs and I don't particularly want to write about them either so please bear with me whilst I describe another rather perfect day here at Hopton House.

Last night we had the most wonderful storm - lots of torrential rain, high winds and even lightening. Perfect "sitting in round the fire" weather - which is what we did eating tea in front of a movie ( rare treat as we normally always eat dinner at the table as a family ). The movie was King Fu Panda which I was prepared not to like but actually enjoyed a lot.

The storm had blown through this morning living us with glorious blue skies. We took the dogs down to their favourite field - the one with the stream and the troll bridge ( as in the Three Billy Goats Gruff story ). Mitsi dived into the deepest bit of stream that acts as a swimming pool and got out very quickly after only 2 laps - it was cold.

I do love this time of year ( I know, Pollyanna again, who likes January ?). For me, having got Christmas out of the way, we can now start to look forward to spring. I had a friend who once told me off for saying it was spring in February but there are already signs everywhere.The daffodils are starting to come up ( note for September - plant more this year ) and the pussy willow is starting to bud.

Jess read in the newspaper that tomorrow is meant to be the most depressing day of the year. I do think these articles are somewhat self fulfilling. The temptation is to go into a grump and just let it be miserable and everything that goes wrong just goes to prove the point. However I shall be doing my best to make it a really good day. I have no guests so I shall have a lie in, walk the dogs, have a long leisurely bath with my book and make a cake - chocolate I think.

I hope you find something to do that will make you happy on 19th January.

We went away to Aberystwyth for my birthday this week. Probably not the best time to do it - straight after the weekend of the Guardian article. I got back to 8 bookings, which is kind of rare at this time of the year!

Anyway we had a lovely time in a 5 star boutique hotel on the prom. I tried not to be critical of the hotel - very difficult to do when you run a B&B as a living.

Aber is my second home ( well was until my grandmother died 11 years ago ) so it was lovely to go back and stay there again. One of my favourite memories of staying there was lying in bed listening to the sea with a storm blowing and rain lashing against the windows. So I was very pleased to get a fabulous storm, followed by a day of clear blue skies.

We walked down to the harbour and checked out my namesake, Kaz, my grandfather's fishing boat. We were pleased to see that she is still being used - though I suspect she has changed her name.

We then drove up to Nant Y Moch reservoir - didn't see a single car for 20 miles. It is a beautiful drive but not if you don't like single track roads. We then went to the red kite feeding centre just outside of Aber. It's by a lakeon forestry commission land and feels a bit more natural than the place at Rhayader.

Coming back to the hotel we watched the startlings coming into roost on the pier - it an amazing sight, helped by a glorious winter sunset.

We drove home via the Elan valley mountain road - again deserted and very lovely.

It's only a couple of hours to Aberystwyth so you could do all of that as a day trip if you staying with us for a few days and wanted to explore a bit further afield.

Alternatively Hopton House combined with Aber would make a great 2 centre trip in the summer.

The fieldfares have been with us for some time now. I think I first saw them in October. They've been enjoying the windfall apples that I left for them and spend a lot of time flying around the field next door. They have just been joined by the redwings ( you get a great view from the barn of any birds in the field ) and also, just this week, I've seen the first lapwings.

I've never noticed them near the house before and hadn't appreciated that they are quite big birds. Murphy thinks they are big crows so does like to chase them when they are in flight. He would never do them any harm and would turn tail pretty quickly if one of them flew back at him!

Two pictures below that I took on consecutive evenings this weekend - just goes to show what a difference a day can make!



This one a bit sunnier but just as cold!

Link to Guardian Article Here >

If any of you are Guardian readers keep an eye for a review of my courses this Saturday. I've just spent over an hour being photographed - not something I enjoy but he was very gentle with me! You'll have noticed a complete lack of photos of me on the site. The last photgraph I liked of me was taken in Boston at 8.00 in the morning when we took Jess for a shopping trip for her 10th birthday ( that was in the days of working for an airline, free flights and a strong pound! )



If you prefer the Telegraph we had a journalist staying on Saturday who is writing a piece for the Sunday Telegraph sometime in February. Watch this space for more details.

 I'd been looking out at the wildflower meadow thinking that it was looking a bit messy and maybe we should cut the remaining stalks down when I saw a pair of bullfinches flying from seedhead to seedhead. So the messy stalks stay with no apologies!

The meadow and the rest of the garden have looked stunning over the New Year thanks to several days of freezing fog which created the most stunning hoar frost. The silver birches looked particularly beautiful. The hoar frost has now gone despite temperatures down to -8 degrees celsius last night.

I know it's not very fashionable to like bullfinches as they do eat the buds of fruit trees but I do love them. Our apple crop certainly didn't suffer this year. The fieldfares have been enjoying the windfalls for a couple of months now and, yesterday, I was looking out of the Barn window and noticed thay hd been joined by lots of redwings.

We've been walking the dogs in the field next door. Murphy loves to chase the crows - there's no danger of him ever catching a bird flying 15 feet off the ground so he doesn't have to kill anything. Murphy is not a kller - his biggest dilemma last year was chasing a rabbit with mixy that lay down at his feet and looked at him as if to say "OK I've had enough - do your worst". Murphy just panicked and was evidently relieved when I called him off.

I'm pretty sure he disturbed a snipe in the field yesterday. Too small for a woodcock and with a very distinctive long beak and flight pattern.

I've moved the bird table in fron of the sun room windows so that guests can enjoy the feathery antics over breakfast.

I think that I enjoy being creative with the leftovers at Christmas more than I do cooking the actual main event. Last night we had turkey and leek pie ( inspired by Jamie but using my own recipe ) and tonight we will have turkey curry. Tomorrow the last of the rib of beef ( 3 ribs was too many but I invited the neighbours over to help us finish it off ) will be turned into a cottage pie.

My favourite leftover to eat cold is the Christmas Ham. This year I decided to buy it off the bone having learnt from previous years that ended up with a monster too big to fit into any of my pans. So I bought a 3 kg boneless gammon. I cooked it using a combination of Nigella's and the Aga Book's Christmas Ham recipes and it was superb. Unfortunately so superb that there were no leftovers - it all disappeared on Christmas Eve. Whilst I love Ham I have always had problems integrating into a balanced menu that isn't too dry but this year I think I hit upon the perfect menu; Baked Gammon, Dauphinois Potatoes, Braised Red Cabbage and Peas.

The potatoes and the cabbage provided enough moisture between them to ensure a very lovely combination. I've experiemented with a couple of red cabbage recipes this year - some are too vinegary. The one I finally decided on was a combination of several so I write it down here for my own future reference before I forget!

Red Cabbage

1 medium sized red cabbage thinly sliced

1 red onion thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 grated apples

500ml red wine

1 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp mustard seeds

120g brown sugar

seasoning

Heat the oil over a medium heat and add the mustard seeds, stirring round for a minute or so. Add the cabbage and onion and saute over a low heat until starting to soften ( it took me 20 minutes to get to this stage ). Add the grated apple, red wine, allspice, salt and pepper and sugar. Bring to the boil, then put on the floor of the AGA simmering oven with a lid on for about 2 hours ( those of you without AGAs just simmer on a very low heat ). Check the seasoning and then cook without the lid, turning up the heat to reduce the liquid down till it's very thick.

Murphy has taken a break from his pre Christmas activities and got Mitsi along for a Christmas photo shoot to wish all of our blog readers a very Happy Christmas on behalf of everyone at Hopton House B&B.

One of the things that many guests love most about the breakfast is eating freshly laid eggs from the very happy chickens that are running around in front of them outside the dining room. Unfortunately what a lot of people don't know is that chickens moult once a year in the autumn and during this time they stop laying.

This means that over the last few months, despite having 25 chickens, I've been lucky to get 2 or 3 eggs a day. whilst this might keep the average family happy it doesn't suffice for a very busy B&B when I can get through 12 eggs at breakfast alone!

The good news though is that some of the chickens are now fully refeathered and starting to come back into lay - you can tell this as their combs and skin round their eyes goes a very bright red colour. We're at the B&Bs quietest time, just before Christmas , so I'm hoping I'm going to be able to save up enough eggs to see me through the family staying with us over the Christmas week

As we move into January and February I will have the opposite problem with 29 ( I got 4 older rare breed hens from the Wernlas collection last week ) laying an egg nearly daily. Last year, when the B&B was shut due to the building work, I had to resort to leaving eggs anonymously on neighbours' doorsteps and leaving  the odd box or two in the back of the builders' vans when they weren't looking.

My gardener, Bernard, was here for his last visit before Christmas so I decided to give him some muffins to take home for him and his wife to share. He was shocked one morning when I gave him a muffin with his coffee and it was still warm. Muffins really are best fresh out of the oven.

I've been using one of Ina Garten's scone recipes and cooking some very nice cranberry and orange scones when it occurred to me that an orange and cranberry muffin would be a good combination - nice and christmassy. They are lovely and, for the moment, my favourite muffin flavour.

225g Self Raising Flour

1 teaspoon of Baking Powder

60g Caster Sugar

110g of Dried Cranberries ( fresh are too tart )

zest of 1 Orange

200ml milk

1 egg

55g melted butter

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees ( fan ). A bit hotter for non fan.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the sugar, cranberries and orange zest and mix well.

Beat together all of the wet ingredients, then stir them quickly into the dry ingedients. The key to light muffins is not to over mix - the mixture will look lumpy.

Spoon into 6 to 8 paper muffin cups and cook for about 20-30 minutes until they are lightly browned on top.



Murphy says "Eat a Hopton House mufifin and you'll be raring to climb up to the top of the hill in the snow!"