Weddings, NGS and Blackcurrant Compote

Now is the time to enjoy our gardens!  Falconhurst has been looking magical this month, and we hope has been casting its magic over our visitors.  We love our garden but really it would not be the same without sharing its peace and beauty with others.  Our two National Garden Scheme days raised £1500 for the charities supported by NGS and nearly £1000 for Holy Trinity Church.  We are open on Wednesdays and Thursdays too throughout the summer and I enjoy nothing more than bumping into a visitor and having a good garden chat. 

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Our other real joy is hosting weddings watching the bustle of a marquee going up in the garden and families armed with flowers, bunting and other paraphernalia all with the aim of giving their guests the best possible time.  Garden games are all the rage this year.  My winner for the most extraordinary wedding games was a rodeo and space hopper dressed as ponies) racing.  The bride was the winner of all these.  Amazing!  We then have the joy of quietly watching guests drifting around the garden, finding a quiet spot for a chat with an old friend and children racing round the cut strips of grass.  (I naughtily tell them there maybe snakes in the grass to protect the prettiness of the wild flowers and grassheads!)

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This month cannot pass without mention of blackcurrants!  The queen of the garden fruits.  So utterly delicious and good for us.  Our new bushes on the patch are producing well and we are now able to supply the shop with a few precious punnets.  Two super easy ways of eating: 

Blackcurrant Compote

100ml water + 2 tablespoons of sugar

Punnet Blackcurrants

Dissolve sugar in water over low heat, add blackcurrants and pop a top on the pan.  Simmer for five minutes.  Cool or even better eat warm with crème fraiche.  Or ice cream.  Or panna cotta.  Or on your muesli.  Gosh!  So yummy. 

Blackcurrant Fool

Do above and stir into whipped cream (with some Greek yoghurt if you must be healthy)