Toad in the hole, mushroom and potato pie and glorious Cliveden

October Greetings. The toad in the hole turned out really nicely. Usually I wrap the sausages in streaky bacon but we didn’t have any this time. It really didn’t matter. It was gorgeous.

For tonight I’m making Nigel Slater’s mushroom and potato pie which is a combination of garlic mushrooms, mashed potato and melted gruyère cheese. What’s not to like?

We’ve had a glorious afternoon. We went to Cliveden, National Trust place near Maidenhead. It’s been several years since we’ve been there. I was blown away by how majestic it was looking: the house, the grounds, the trees, the river and the light. We booked tickets in advance via The National Trust, £10. each, which is a little more than the previous places we’ve booked, but we didn’t regret it, we had a lovely time.

I think this’ll do for our retirement pad…

The gardens are looking immaculate. What a view!

We stopped at the courtyard café for al fresco lunch. It was all nicely organised and Covid safe. We thought the café could have had a little more choice of food.. no pasties today, we do like pasties! I opted for a nice jacket potato with tuna. David had a sausage roll. David then had a big chocolate cookie (all the healthy choices), and later on the way back to the car he led me astray and we stopped at the kiosk near the car park for a Magnum, white chocolate for him, dark for me.

Talking of the car, the check in lady must have been impressed with our car on arrival (!) as she suggested we might want to rent a boat on the river. Here is the boat rental sign..

£300. for the first hour…??…!!! I’d only just recovered from the £10. each entry fee to go for a walk. The boat did look quite nice though.

The light down by the river was really gentle. So serene. Everyone was quiet and absorbed.

This house by the river caught my eye. What a wonderful location.

Long steps back up to the big house..

And below, a very rare appearance from my husband on The Waffle. It was about now he starting talking about ice creams… I said I was full, he said “you won’t be when you’ve done all these steps!”.

I have so much more from today to show you… but the mushrooms need frying for next stage of the pie. Part two of Cliveden to follow next time….. xx