Two more cakes

So more from the Waltham St Lawrence sit. Not surprisingly in a truly rural area there are a lot more people walking dogs, I am sure some people come here to do so. As I often did the walks for my troop at the same time, I did met to same people. On one occasion I met a large group, it is based on a WhatsApp group where they organise days to go out as a group and where to go. There are lots of possibilities here! One of the dogs was a soppy black flat haired retriever. They are lovely dogs, not so popular now sadly.

I met a lady with her Labrador, I thought the dog was quite old but she was quite young, just going grey early. The owner was in her late seventies, but full of life and humor. I saw her twice, the second time, she was going to a birthday party for her brother that day. It was a fancy dress party. She was going as Elvis, she had the wig and everything. I said well done her. The couple I was doing the dog sit for, she is a dog walker. As well as looking after her pair, she asked if I could walk one of her customers dogs, a friendly lab. Here is is getting a treat after his walk. Look at those Labrador eyes!

Near here is a church called Shottesbrooke. Also an old big house. The area has quite a lot of history, there is a story that the architect of the church, after the church was built he climbed the steeple and toasted his design up there. He promptly fell to his death. There are all sorts of things here that are disappearing elsewhere like  Haha fences. It’s like a ditch with a fence running along the bottom. The name comes from the idea that it’s a bit of an optical illusion. The building I mentioned before is now owned by a rich family, if you look carefully there are avenue of trees going out from the front and the back of the house, but the tracks are largely gone now.  If you are desperate for more information on the house click here 


Going back to the church, I had never been inside it. But on one walk, we heard the organ playing, so we took a look inside. It’s very pretty.

The two dogs were fun, they like walking, and sniffing and marking a lot. The black Cairn often slept in my bed, but on the last night he didn’t. On the last night we had the  Gardeners Question Time hosted by the Horticultural association I am a member of. There was a lot to organise, and they recorded two shows, the first to go out on April 4th. I took my ninety year old neighbour, she like me submitted a question but it was not selected. 

Finally, it’s our Spring show this Saturday and I have made Two Easter Simnel cakes, at the house I was in. One is a Show entry, the other to be used as a guess the weight cake. I am making a Battenburg cake to enter later this week. The Simnel cakes, they have eleven marzipan balls on the top, for the eleven disciples, one less as Pontius Pilate is omitted. When you make it, you put half the cake mix in the tin, then a flat layer of marzipan. You then add the other half of the mixture. I think the amount of marzipan my recipe says to use for this is not enough, as when you cut the cake you can’t really see the layer of marzipan, let’s see what the judges think!



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