Autumn Walking

We were blessed with beautiful sunny weather for our walk around the vicinity of Westonbirt Aboreteum. We did get off to a bit of a sticky start where some over keen polo ponies were not prepared to move for us to come over the stile.

We skirted the perimeter of the abororetum before cutting across one corner of it that had some fine old trees.

Inevitably there was the usual studying the map.

 We then walked to the attractive village of Leighterton. Sorry no photos apart from the pond.

On our return journey we had a chance to walk through some of the colourful parts of the park.

There is quite a collection of unusual trees.

Could this be a wig?

There were also some unusual berries on a Magnolia 

and on this tree from the Far East.

Called

Finally there was a foraging opportunity on the way back.

Visiting the Orthodentist

Another phase in the girls growing up came to an end today, trips to the Orthodentist. For nearly 10 years we have been making trips for orthodentic treatment. The result is two beautiful smiles.

 There cannot be many Orthodentists in such beautiful settings as in The Circus in Bath. This is a circle of houses in the Georgian part of Bath and a popular tourist spot. 

The architectural detail is quite intricate around all of the houses.

Then the old plane trees add extra character and colour.

Don't try and eat this ZIZO!

Yesterday I showed some field mushrooms and how I decided to cook them. Today I have chosen some of the other fungi I have spotted lately. I am using these pictures to join in Helena's weekly Wednesday ZIZO. You can see them on her blog

When I went on the walk around the old redding pit which if you have not read you can see here we were accompanied by a local bonatist. You will see on the right side a collection of old logs.

This lady pointed out to me a massive number of minute toadstools covering the fallen wood.

They are barely visible from this distance however on taking a closer look..

On the next bright day when I could find time I returned with my tripod to take some further close ups. The tripod was dragged out of the wardrobe and dusted down as I knew the light conditions would be poor. When I arrived at the location I could see from a distance that a lot of the tiny toadstools had died.

 I managed to find a few for some close ups.

The seedling gives you an idea of size!

Field Mushrooms

My brother in law brought me in some field mushrooms this morning. 

They were well timed as I was able to pop some in the cottage pie I was making for lunch. We had a visitor for lunch. A friend that I had not seen for we think 25 years having done our nurse training together some 30 odd years ago. I might add that she lives in Australia which explains the number of years!

However there were still a lot of mushrooms left.

So it was time to search for a recipie for supper to have with a delicious loaf of olive bread that my friend had given me. The result.... Creamy garlic mushrooms

Easy and quick to make and delicious!

• Ingredients
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 500g pack mushrooms, halved
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ x 300g tub garlic & herb soft cheese
• 150ml hot vegetable stock
• 
  

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then tip in the mushrooms and garlic and cook for 3 mins. Stir in the soft cheese and the stock and simmer for 2 mins. Top with  a grinding of black pepper.

I only had a plain soft cheese so I added some herbes de provence. I guess if you wanted to reduce the calories you could use low fat soft cheese.

A Touch of Pink

The Autumn has been mild up till now with no frosts. The leaves are now falling rapidly with carpets of brown against the green.

  Some flowers have not given up yet such as this foxglove on the edge of the woods. Looking a bit battered but still flowering!

It would make a good ZIZO for Wednesday but I have something else planned for that!

More of those Wonderful Scarecrows

I promised to show some more of the scarecrows that I have already featured here and also here. Today my friend and I made it on a walk around the village scarecrow spotting. The number and the quality of these is amazing. I leave you to have a guess at who they are. The theme is children's TV and games. We were stumped on a few! This is done by the local preschool.

This one below by year 6 of the school.

The following chap has been hanging around for days!

Isn't it amazing what you can do with some old wellies.

Aardman features quite a lot.

This next one is almost before my time!

I didn't know the next one.

Well there are more to see another day!

A Moment in the Autumn Sun

I snatched a short walk with the dog in the autumn sun this afternoon making the most of the afternoon sunshine before the clocks change tonight.

Some trees have lost their leaves.

There are still plenty of berries around.

It is good to see that the crops have started to grow.