Churnet Valley

Perhaps a typical Bank Holiday Monday with grey skies and rain. But, we put a pin in the map and off we went. We found the Churnet Valley and parked the car at Froghall station and had a walk along the canal and then back to see the steam train. The liitle tea room in the station was delightful with a 1940's feel and the best cup of tea.

The Churnet Valley Railway runs steam and historic diesel trains between Leekbrook Junction and Froghall. It is a remnant of the North Staffordshire Railway, built through the valley in the 1840s. Currently, it has stations at Cheddleton, Consall and Froghall but it will, eventually, extend to Alton, Oakamoor and Leek. It also connects with and sometimes runs on Moorland & City Railways' Cauldon Lowe Branch, which reopened in November 2010, and the line to Stoke, due to reopen in 2012.

Weekend Eats

The weeks seem to slip by and my blog gets pushed to the bottom of the pile. However here we re again with another weeks break from school. This term has been very hectic as I started a mini-enterprise with my class of Year 9 pupils (aged 14-15). They have called the business 'Weekend Eats', providing cakes,pastries and anything else they fancy making to eat at the weekend. They have made a great impact and sell pre-ordered food to parents and staff for them to eat at the weekend.I have posted the order form below for you to see the variety of products being made. We are now into our fourth week with another four to go before the end of term. There have been a few hiccups with apologies to the person who never received their Brownie and to the person who bought a lemon drizzle cake with no lemon as we found the lemon still sitting on the table after all the orders had been collected. However that's buisness and they are enjoying every minute of it.

Special Request
Rocky Road Crunch £3.00
A tray of crunchy chocolate coated biscuits,
with marshmallows and maltesers
Cut into squares or fingers and……. Well just eat it. Yummy!

Lemon Drizzle Cake £2.00
A tangy cake made in a loaf tin, with a drizzle of lemon sauce

Carrot Cake with Orange Frosting £3.00
A yummy, scrummy moist cake made with carrots and oranges

Scones 30p each
Fruit, Cheese or Cherry and Ginger

One Crust Apple Pie £1.50
An American pie made famous by Delia Smith
Uses less pastry so easy on the waistline and you
can see the fruit inside

Jar of Orange and Ginger Marmalade £1.00
Shreds of orange blended with ginger pieces

Chocolate Cake £3.00
That extra special slice of chocolate cake, with chocolate filling and dredged with icing sugar



What could be better then filling up the cake tin with these goodies for the weekend.
They are in profit at the moment, so here's hoping they do well.

Happy Week

Gardening

That time of year again and I have been busy making changes to my garden to try and use every bit of space. I want to grow vegetables, but still have space for herbs and flowers. I still have plants to put in, but the photographs show a start. Next weekend I will planting up my hanging baskets filled with marigolds and cherry tomatoes.




No I am not growing tyres, but have planted out potatoes to try for a good crop.



My green beans are just starting to climb up.



Peas just starting to come through and climb up the sticks.




A selection of herbs that I can just pick and use in my cooking. I have still to plant out my basil, as it needs lots of sun.