I’ve had a great week with some back to basics baking. Full of ideas for baking projects in the week ahead.

It’s been another busy week so pretty glad of the Bank Holiday for a day off work. I’m away with the family at the moment so just a quick blog update from me this evening.

We spent today at Kentwell Hall in Long Melford, Suffolk. I’d been there once before when our elder daughter was a baby, but it was great to bring both the kids back now they’re old enough to take it all in. It’s like stepping foot in a time machine. On weekends like this, they put on a full Tudor reenactment, with everyone in period dress, period language, and going about their day-to-day business as they would have done 500 years ago. Within five minutes of entering through the gates, we were shown how to skin a rabbit and the day just got better and better, culminating in the crowning of the May Queen and dancing around the Maypole. I spent a long time chatting to the bakers in the picture above left, learning all about how they made bread back then. I picked up quite a few ideas to try at home, including for game pie and ‘plum cheese‘. Pretty tempted to build myself a brick oven for the garden too. In the dairy house (above right), we were shown how to turn cream into butter and we watched it thicken and turn yellow before our eyes. I can’t wait to try it at home. Their May Day reenactments are taking place all weekend so if you’re at a loose end tomorrow, jump in the car and head on down/up, you won’t regret it!

The weekend’s been pretty good already, as on Friday evening I got to go and help my daughter’s Rainbow Group earn their Baking Badges. We made jam tarts with strawberry jam and lemon and lime curd. The girls all did so well and scoffed the lot as soon as they came out of the oven! Mini tarts are so easy to make with the kids. This recipe is really simple and will be in my book, B.I.Y. Bake It Yourself, which is out in August.

It was my lovely little sister Katherine’s birthday yesterday so I knocked her up a lemon and cherry cake as I can’t let a family birthday pass these days without producing a cake on cue. I’m really lucky to live so close to my family so we had a great time with all of the five cousins running around together and having fun. Still one more day of the Bank Holiday to enjoy so I’ll step away from the laptop now and go and hang out with the kids. I’ll leave you with this, now it’s up on YouTube. If you give them a go, make sure you send me a picture (or a batch of them if you’re feeling particularly generous!) Until next week…