Last weekend we wrapped up warm and headed over to the magical Cornbury Estate for the Wilderness Treasure Hunt. In the lead-up to the Wilderness Festival in August, local residents are invited along to a few special events which are just brilliant for the children – and indeed fun for the grown-ups too. A taste of things to come!

The treasure hunt began with a visit to the fortune teller. She told us how the Nymph, Aurelia, vanished from Cornbury Park in 1675. The fortune teller went on to say, if we can find Aurelia’s golden tiara, and take it to the magical ancient tree, the High Nymph will return to Cornbury Park.

So, off we set in four teams of ten, in search of clues – which we find hanging in envelopes from trees – and also with the various characters dotted around the Estate. We are also looking for a brown suitcase and a vase of flowers, being careful not to trust the evil Hubert River-Pitts and Snarlbury Slickbin as they are racing us for the tiara.

The first clue sends us in the direction of a fox, where we find the vase of flowers – and also a lovely supply of sweets for the children. The fox then points us in the direction of a mermaid who again provides us with our next clue, “I am ancient and I grow in the ground.” The children all guess the answer and off we race up to a giant tree for our next clue. We meet Dr Richard Bulberry who asks the children to name his scientific contraption, and we must take our invented word up to the evil Snarlbury Slickbin and try not to let him trick us into going the wrong way.

After a lovely hour collecting clues – and some lucky ones also find deer antlers to take to Aurelia as a gift – we take our findings back to Fortuna Forfolium to be allowed to take part in the final race for the tiara. Fortuna whispers the very last clue to the children and off they go! It’s the race to solve it and find the tiara.

The teenagers race ahead, and we see them head over to the Fox. And then, from the fox, over they dash to a giant tree!
A girls holds a golden sack up high and a big cheer goes up – another clue drops out and she has to race the others again – back to the fox.

Waiting for her is the beautiful High Nymph Aurelia, shining in a silver splendour. The girl gives Aurelia her golden tiara, and all is well in Cornbury Park again. We all head back to base camp and the children receive a special certificate to take home. The girls had a lovely time and so did we. We met loads of nice people, chatted while the kids raced after the clues (and the sweets) and were very much entertained by the characters and the stories they had to tell.

In such a beautiful setting – down in the valley by the lake, surrounded by trees – we can’t wait for the Wilderness Festival.

www.wildernessfestival.com

We had some lovely weather this weekend – and a lovely trip to Foxholes to see the bluebells in bloom. Edith took her camera and Astrid played by her favourite tree in the clearing where the bluebells flower. We came here last year, on one of our trips to Daylesford.

To get to Foxholes, take the road in from Foscot, near Kingham, and hope it hasn’t rained – or you’ll need to park by the houses before you get to the car park – as the road can get quite flooded and it’s impossible to reverse back once you’re in!

It’s a fast ten minute walk up the grassy path to the bluebell woods. There’s a lovely babbling brook running alongside the path which turns to head down through the bluebell woods. This is where Astrid and Edith love to play – there’s a fallen branch that we place on the V of a bigger tree and they bounce up and down on it for ages before heading down to the brook to poke at things with sticks.

Foxholes is a classic storybook childhood adventure. A place to play hide and seek. A place to pretend you’re a knight riding a horse with a heavy silver sword. A place to play I spy with mum and dad and a place to explore by the little brook. Wildflower patches play home to fairies in the woodland, and out in the dry tussocky fields cows amble along, paying scarce attention to passers by.

The girls love coming here to our clearing in any season – Bluebell time in May is so pretty – stay tuned for Foxgloves in July.

Thanks to Lands’ End for Mum’s outfit – fantastically comfy attire for country days out in our unpredictable weather.  I keep a pair of nice boots in the car to dress my outfit up for a nice drink at The Feathered Nest  after our walk. Doesn’t the lovely blue linen match the bluebells well!!

More info on Foxholes

With the warm weather upon us I’ve been able to indulge my love for soft serve ice cream – hand made of course.

The girls and I eat this for breakfast every day. And every day we choose a different variety of frozen fruit for a different flavour. Some days it’s mango, others strawberry, vanilla – you choose!

Recipe at Lovely Food

A few weeks ago I received an email about Mari Vanna, a fairly new Russian restaurant in Knightsbridge. Their wholewheat pancakes looked so gorgeous I emailed right back to say so – you all know I love baking with whole grains.

Two weeks later a little surprise – they asked if I’d like to come and see their vintage Russian interior and maybe sample their wholewheat pancake. It coincided very nicely with my trip into London for The Set Table book party and off I set, camera in hand to discover the visual delights of the Mari Vanna interior.

The entire interior has been authentically done in the style of a wealthy Russian grandmother’s home. Traditional master crafters have attended to every detail from the distressed finishes on the chairs to folk painting on the dresser and serving table. The stained glass panel in the hallway is a magnificent feature as is the crystal chandelier.

Mari Vanna transports the visitor into another world. Luxurious and homely it’s easy to feel comfortable and relax here. And once you’ve sampled their beautiful infused vodkas you’ll relax even more.

I didn’t think I’d eaten Russian food before but it was very familiar, quite like my German Grandmother’s cooking. She was originally from the north of East Germany and the dark breads with fennel seed and gherkins – as well as the herbed butter reminded me a lot of her farmhouse kitchen.

Mutti was a farmer. She grew all her own berries and infused vodka in her kitchen so it was lovely to try Mari Vanna’s infusions. In order of savoury to sweet – horseradish, cucumber and dill, cranberry, cherry, raspberry, strawberry. The cherry was the winner, lovely and tart and full of taste.

I started with the Borscht, much lighter than expected – and not blended but made from fried grated vegetables infused in stock. The breads and herbed butter were gorgeous. I secretly wished I could have eaten it all.

The traditional Russian salad of peas, carrot, potato, boiled egg, chives and ham in mayonnaise was beautifully cut and very fine. Beef Stroganoff is an old favourite I haven’t had in a very long time – very creamy, it was served with mushroom and nutty tasting buckwheat groats. I would love the recipe for this.

And of course I had to try the wholewheat pancake for dessert, served with a yoghurt cream, fresh berries and chocolate sauce. The yoghurt cream had an interesting nutty texture with a gorgeous flavour.

My overall impression of the food was that it was very homemade and rustic, but the surprise was in how delicate it was. Quite like the interior. Very much created with the tender touch of a smiling, welcoming, generous grandmother.

MariVanna.co.uk

Our current bathroom must be the smallest bathroom I’ve lived with so far. You need to close the door to open the airing cupboard door, but it’s functional nonetheless. And, did I mention pretty? Because pretty is one thing our bathroom most definitely is.

In true Cotswolds farm cottage style the bathroom fittings are very traditional. The porcelain is all by Burlington and the fittings are Bristan. Baileys Home and Garden do a similar 1930s three piece bathroom set which is gorgeous.

Since my last birthday (a bit of a milestone one) I have suddenly begun to love The White Company. I always liked them but was really into all sorts of colours and mixing things up. Since we stayed at Daylesford’s Honeysuckle cottage I have grown to love everything The White Company does . You see Honeysuckle was all Daylesford in the kitchen but the rest of the house was White Company. Lovely textures and cotton and linen in different shades of white. So this month I’ve slowly been replacing the bright towels we’ve collected over the years (really good ones I must add) and the IKEA bathmats and baskets, and slowly slowly it’s becoming a White Company bathroom.

Initially it was a bit of a shock. An all white and grey room. I love it. But can it be me? Absolutely I say – let the flowers be the colour!

Where to buy: Egyptian Cotton white towels and facecloths, Grey Hamman hand towels, Toulon bathmat all by The White Company. Grey tiger flower voile dressing gown by Susannah Cotton. Cleanser and face mask by REN. Handcream, body scrub and soya candle by Karmameju. Kid’s body wash Weleda. Shampoo and Conditioner A’kin. Pink latte cup by IKEA. White latte cup by Habitat. Fleur de lis glass by Anthropologie. Flowers from our garden. Floral lei from Karangahape Road, Auckland.