Dunster by Candlelight 6th and 7th December: Christmas shopping (and more) Exmoor style

Over the last few years, it seems that there has been a big increase in Christmas markets in England. Many of them are German style. Nothing wrong with that, but how about a really English Christmas shopping experience?

Every year on the first Friday and Saturday evenings in December (the 6^th and 7^th this year), Dunster village on Exmoor has a ‘big switch off’ and the streets are illuminated by candle lanterns instead of electricity. It really seems like going back in time, especially as Dunster still has the look and feel of a medieval village. To complete this experience, no cars or other vehicles are allowed into the village during the candlelit festivities.  

 Most of the village shops stay open until 9pm on both nights. There’s lots of inspiration for original and unusual Christmas gifts (and even a special Christmas shop) but it’s not all about shopping. There will be plenty to see and do even if you are just browsing. Plenty of places to eat and drink, too, with everything from street snacks to a three course meal, or maybe simply some hot chocolate or mulled wine to keep you warm.

The festival kicks off on the Friday at 5.30pm, with a lantern lighting procession featuring stiltwalkers. Entertainment each evening includes a variety of musicians and singers, both in the streets and at the Parish Church, so there is a real buzz. You’ll also find displays by local attractions at various venues, and maybe talks by local celebrities. Full details are in the programme, available in advance and on the night (it costs £1, with all the proceeds going to the Somerset charity St Margaret’s Hospice).

You may be wondering: with no vehicles allowed into Dunster on the Candlelight evenings, how do we get there?  The answer: use the Park & Ride buses, which go to Dunster from various places including our village, Wheddon Cross. The buses from Wheddon Cross start from Cutcombe Market (where there is free parking, although if you’re staying here at Exmoor House it’s only about a 5 minute walk to the market). The first bus to Dunster is at 4.30pm, and they’re approximately every half hour after that, with the last bus back to Wheddon Cross leaving Dunster at 9.15pm. Return fare is £3.00.

As I write this, we have a few rooms left for the Candlelight weekend. Dunster itself will be pretty hectic, so if you stay at our place at Wheddon Cross you can experience all the fun of the fair (as it were) and then escape to a calmer atmosphere afterwards. Best of both worlds!

Visit our website www.exmoorhotel.co.uk for lots more information (including details of special dinner bed and breakfast breaks).

Autumn on Exmoor: enjoying the harvest

I’ve always loved autumn; to me as a child it meant bonfires, harvest festivals, picking blackberries, seeing the changing colours of the leaves, then jumping into piles of crunchy leaves… and thinking about it, nothing much has changed – that still just about sums it up.

Here on Exmoor, the local villages will soon be holding their harvest lunches and suppers, to celebrate the

gathering in of all kinds of crops – and just to have a get-together - always fun occasions and very well attended.

Autumn really does seem to be a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness this year. The past few days have started off mysteriously misty, with full sun by the afternoon. And fruitfulness-wise, everything’s been burgeoning. The glut has meant that we’ve been lucky enough to have received various produce from kind people. If you've read this blog before, or seen our webstie, you'll know that food is a subject very dear to our hearts.

First came a large Boston winter squash, from which we made soup (see http://exmoorhousewx.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/squash-soup-autumn-recipe-from-exmoor.html ). Then some wonderful windfall apples. Nothing can compare with fresh English apples; it’s a shame so many in the shops are imported. Plums from a neighbour’s tree have made up into lovely jam; ornamental Japanese quinces from another neighbour have given us japonica jelly. Made in a similar way to apple jelly, it has a sweet-and-sour taste that goes well with meat and cheese – and apple pie. We’ve also served it with our vanilla ice cream as part of a fruity sundae. There are field mushrooms galore; delicious with a garlic sauce, or simply fried in a bit of butter (NB: never eat any wild mushrooms unless you have definitely identified them as being non-poisonous). And of course we’ve been picking blackberries; try blackberry and pear crumble as a change from the ubiquitous blackberry and apple.

The beautiful summer we’ve had has done wonders for the herbs in our garden. The lovage plant reached over 8 feet tall this year. Normally by this time it would not have many leaves left; but there is quite a bit of new growth at the foot so we’ll probably get a few more pans of carrot & lovage soup yet. I’ve already got some of the seeds drying (they can be used to season casseroles and so on, and have a particular affinity with beef). The mint has gone, well, berserk – and the rosemary has done better than I’ve ever seen it here.

Exmoor’s changing colours are always a delight; at this time of year the beech hedges are starting to fade to browny-gold; there are just a last few flowers of heather and gorse clinging on, and the hawthorn and rowan berries are in their full glory. Why not come and see for yourself?

Squash soup: an autumn recipe from Exmoor House

The other week some kind guests brought us a present: a large squash from their allotment. This turned out to be a Boston marrow winter squash, which resembles a pumpkin in texture and colour but is more lemon- or gourd-shaped. It can be used in all the same ways as a pumpkin (e.g. baked, included in casseroles, and to make pies, purées and soup). If you’ve stayed with us at Exmoor House, you’ll know that we love good food and enjoy trying different ingredients and flavour combinations.

In autumnal mood because it was a lovely autumn day, I just fancied some soup. On the web I found many recipes for squash soup, some of them quite fancy. I decided that mine would be simple and basic, so that the squash could speak for itself – it adds a lovely velvety texture and has a sweet, mellow taste. The soup could then be jazzed up if required. Here’s what I did… by the way, I deliberately haven’t mentioned any quantities here, because it will depend on how much squash you’re using. You might need a very large pan, though.

Cut the squash into chunks and peel it. Fry the chunks in olive oil with some chopped onions. Add vegetable stock (or chicken stock if you prefer) plus some fresh herbs (I tied mine in a piece of muslin to make a bouquet garni, bruising the herbs so that the flavour went into the soup) and garlic. I also added pepper, but not salt. Bring the pan to the boil and simmer until the squash and onions are soft. Liquidise the mixture (removing the bouquet garni first, which I nearly forgot to do!).

We ate the soup with a dusting of smoked paprika as a garnish. You could also use other spices such as cumin, or perhaps small pieces of crispy bacon, fried sage leaves, crème fraîche, cream, most cheeses… I’m sure there are many more possibilities, so do let me know if you discover one that is particularly fabulous.

Shorter, flatter walks on Exmoor (part 2)

Here are some further ideas for Exmoor and Somerset walks for people who don’t want to – or aren’t able to – do more strenuous walking.

Horner Woods

foxgloves in Horner Wood

Start from Horner village and follow the (mostly level) track into the woods; walk as far as you like, then back the same way. There are two (seasonal) tea gardens in the village, near the car park, for refreshments after your walk. Horner Wood is very atmospheric, and rich in both flora and fauna.
Find more information about the woods here:

http://www.everythingexmoor.org.uk/encyclopedia_detail.php?ENCid=549

Snowdrop Valley near Exmoor House

Snowdrop Valley

When the snowdrops are in bloom (February to early March) there is a park & ride bus from Wheddon Cross down to the valley. The rest of the year, you can drive down there via the narrow lane and use the pull-in car park, which has space for just a couple of vehicles. There’s a flat, even-surfaced there-and-back walk in the valley itself; you could make it a circular walk by returning on the other side of the river (gentle slopes, more uneven ground).

Washford to Watchet (or vice versa)

Follow the line of the old Mineral Railway. You could combine this walk with a trip on the West Somerset Railway as there are stations in both Watchet and Washford.

Tarr Steps

Tarr Steps, Exmoor

A favourite spot for picnics. For an easy circular walk: go down to the river from the car park near Tarr Farm (quite a steep slope), turn right along the river path without crossing the Tarr Steps clapper bridge, then in about a mile cross the river via a footbridge. Walk back on the other side and cross back over the river via the clapper bridge. If you don’t like the idea of walking across Tarr Steps, then you could just walk along the river and back again.

Shorter, flatter walks on Exmoor (part 1)

Exmoor is wonderful walking country. There are plenty of challenging walks, but this article is for those people who don’t want to walk too far or are not particularly mobile, but still want to get an idea of the fantastic variety of scenery within and around the National Park. 

Woodland near Nutcombe Bottom

The Tall Trees Trail, Crown Estate, Dunster
From Nutcombe Bottom, near Dunster village. Visit the tallest tree in England on this easily accessible woodland trail.

 

Wimbleball Lake

Wimbleball Lake

From the car park by the café it’s a shortish downhill walk to the lakeshore. Once by the lake, if you go right it takes you towards the dam; turn left to go towards a small nature reserve and Bessom Bridge. There are various tracks and trails (mainly flat), or you could just walk as far as you feel like along the main lakeside path, and back again. 

Clatworthy Reservoir

Again, there’s a downhill walk to the lake itself from the car park and the lakeside walk is pretty flat.

Near Heddon's Mouth

Heddon’s Mouth

The walk to Heddon’s Mouth and back, from Hunter’s Inn, has some spectacular scenery. There are some (gentleish) slopes and uneven, stony ground. 

Bossington

 

Bossington

This village, owned by the National Trust, is very interesting to wander round, and there’s also a flat walk to the coast at Bossington Beach, well worth a visit.

For more ideas (including information about hiring all-terrain mobility scooters) visit
http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/visiting/accessible-exmoor

Exmoor: What's happening in August 2013?

In Exmoor National Park there is always plenty going on. Here are some Exmoor events coming up this August:

Minehead and Exmoor Music Festival 1st - 3rd
National Parks Week 1st - 4th
Cutcombe village fete 3rd -one of the prizes in the Grand Draw is dinner for two at Exmoor House
Exmoor Explorer off-road cycle trial from Wheddon Cross 4^th – if you're taking part, you could make a weekend of it and stay at Exmoor House and enjoy our fab food
Exford Show 14^th  
Porlock Country Fair 11th
Minehead Summer Festival 14^th -  includes a display by the Red Arrows and Red Devils, also an arts, crafts & produce market & various other stalls)
Dunster Show 16^th - a great day out  http://thedunstershow.co.uk/
Exmoor Pony Festival 24th - 31^st to 1^st Sept - more info at http://exmoorponyfestival.wordpress.com/

There will also be lots of things happening at the National Trust properties in the area (for example on the Holnicote Estate, at Dunster Castle and in the Heddon Valley). Visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/whats-on/events/ where you can look up specific areas.

Exmoor National Park’s events in August include woodland and moorland walks to learn more about the area’s wonderful range of wildlife as well as to discover some archaeological sites; seaside safaris; Big Adventure days.

For even more ideas, have a look at...

http://www.activeexmoor.com/home

http://www.visit-exmoor.co.uk/must-see-and-do/events

http://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/visiting/events

http://www.exmoorsociety.org.uk/Events.htm

http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Somerset/Minehead/TA24

Inspired to pay a visit? Check out our dinner, bed and breakfast breaks at http://www.exmoorhotel.co.uk

Beech leaf gin

Talking to some twitter friends a couple of months ago reminded me that for the last several years I’d intended to make beech leaf gin – also called noyau – but had never got round to it. Our exchange of tweets was the nudge I needed to get going. Late spring or early summer is the time to make this drink, and on Exmoor we have a plethora of beech trees... tall beech hedges are a distinctive feature of this lovely area.


There are several recipes around; I used the one in Richard Mabey’s book Food for Free (an excellent read, by the way, as is his Flora Britannica).

You’ll need a large jar, which you pack about nine-tenths full of beech leaves. Pick the leaves when they’re young, soft and that delicious lime green colour. This year the leaves on the beech tree in our garden were at that stage in mid May (but everything’s been a little later than usual). I think some arriving guests were slightly bemused to discover me peering into the tree and snipping off small twigs into a colander. Make sure the leaves are clean, dry and free of bits and insects.

When you’ve packed the leaves into the jar, pour in enough gin to cover them completely. You need to keep pressing the leaves down while you’re doing this, so that there are no air bubbles. We didn’t have quite enough gin to cover the leaves, so I also used the remains of a bottle of Dutch genever (similar, but this was vintage stuff so our friends in Holland may not have approved) and a bit of vodka.

Leave the mixture to steep for about two weeks. Then strain off the gin, which will have taken some colour from the leaves. Add about 350g (three quarters of a pound) of sugar, dissolved in 284ml (half a pint) of boiling water, to every 568ml (1 pint) of gin. Add a dash of brandy, mix it all up well and bottle when it is cold.

I left the resulting concoction to mature for a couple of weeks before trying it, and can report that it’s rather good - makes a great after dinner drink. It has a unique flavour, which I found slightly nutty (Mabey describes it as ‘a thickish, sweet spirit, mild and slightly oily to taste, like sake, but devastating in its effects!’). Definitely worth having a go.