Mother's Day - Cotswold Style

Today we went for another walk, taking advantage of a perfect, sunny English day. The 1700 acre estate of Lady Bamford begins just 200-300 yards from our cottage and we walked by way of a bridle path that starts just outside our cottage to her organic restaurant and shops-- a stroll of about a mile. Along the way we passed her free range chickens, her sheep, her milking herd and more.

Here's Jane stopping just 100 feet from our cottage to smell the white lilacs.

The morning sun and the clouds in the sky were beautiful against these overhead leaves.

A pasture along the way with mustard fields on a distant hillside.

A few of the scores of Daylesford sheep.

One of hundreds of various types of Daylesford chickens; all free range and raised for their eggs.

We watched as a young woman left one of perhaps 8 or 10 chicken houses after gathering free range eggs to sell in the organic Daylesford market shop nearby. My quick guess by rough count is about 80 dozen eggs in those cartons. Multiply that by 8 or 10 and you'll know how many she gathered for the day.

Another type of chicken a bit farther from the bridle path.

Dozens of cows are milked daily to sell their organic milk, cream, butter and Cotswold cheese.

Jane was impressed at the SIZE of the dandelions growing everywhere here- nearly as big as her palm.

In the distance is the Daylesford Church we visited earlier last week, with one of several Daylesford horses in the foreground.

Waiting for our lunch at the Daylesford Organic Cafe.

Jane started off with crab on toast.

After an entree of organic, free-range lamb with mint jelly she ordered the "Queen of Puddings" which was pretty impressive! According to Wikipedia, here's the classic English recipe: Milk and lemon zest are heated to boiling in a saucepan. Sugar, butter and breadcrumbs are mixed into the hot milk, which is allowed to cool. Egg yolks and a whole egg are beaten into this mixture, which is transferred into a deep dish then baked in bain-marie until set. The firm brownish base is then spread with jam-- usually raspberry or black currant and a meringue mix made from the reserved egg whites is spooned over the jam. The pudding is returned to the oven and baked until the meringue is golden, but still soft. The pudding is eaten hot. Did I mention the food here has been AMAZING?

A cafetiere of coffee was brought out with a pitcher of cream that was as yellow as butter and nearly as thick-- AMAZING!

Walking back toward our cottage along the bridle path, carrying a bit of pan au chocolate and a few other goodies for a late night snack tonight.

Jane stopped to admire the sheep on the return trip as well.

Beautiful hedgerows are EVERYWHERE and frame every field and cart path. The hedgerows are absolutely AMAZING consisting of shrubbery, wild English roses, dark green Ivy, wild raspberry brambles and a variety of other flowering flora all just wildly growing together in a living arrangement; mile after mile of ever-changing yet always-trimmed beauty. Wildflowers grow everywhere in fields and pastures- as you can see below.

A buttercup growing wild among the hedgerow.

Another classic English one car lane just 100 yards from our cottage.

Right around the corner from our cottage.

About 25 feet from our cottage directly across the street as we arrived back home from our outing.

For those who want to learn more about the fascinating owner of the Daylesford Organic Cafe, market, clothing store and spa, here's an interesting article...

http://www.wmagazine.com/society/2007/12/lady_bamford?currentPage=4