Well, you learn something new every day – which is something that pleases both Paul and I when we have our little excursions for a coffee, or tea and cake, in our local area.
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Broadway and Chipping Campden are small (but beautiful) villages in the north Cotswolds and within very close proximity to us.  They are both well-known tourist destinations with a reputation for chocolate-box thatched cottages and as a centre for the Arts and Crafts Movement, and artists and literary giants such as William Morris, John Singer Sargent, Francis D Millet and J.M. Barrie.  For example, “Sargent’s first major success at the Royal Academy came in 1887, with the enthusiastic response to Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, a large piece, painted on site, of two young girls lighting lanterns in an English garden in Broadway, The Cotswolds. The painting was immediately purchased by the Tate Gallery”.
www.broadway-cotswolds.co.uk/history

However, Chipping Campden was also the birth place for the less well-known but equally as important E.H. Wilson – a British plant collector and explorer who introduced a large range of about 2000 of Asian plant species to the West.    On Sunday Paul and I stumbled across the Ernest Wilson Memorial Garden at the end of the High Street, a quiet and unassuming garden oasis tucked away behind the ubiquitous honey-coloured Cotswold stone wall.  A beautiful haven away from the relative hub of touristy traffic.

Ernest Henry "Chinese" Wilson was born in Chipping Campden, in February 1876 and until his tragic death in 1930 was a significant contributor to the discovery and introduction of many Asian plant species to the West.

His family moved to Birmingham where he grew up and eventually went to work in Birmingham Botanic Gardens. In 1897 he moved to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and from here was tasked by the famous nurseryman James Veitch to take part in a plant hunting expedition in China. This was the beginning of many such trips encompassing not only China but also Japan, Korea, Formosa and Taiwan. Subsequently E H ‘Chinese’ Wilson discovered and brought back over 1,200 different plants including the ever-popular Handkerchief Tree (Davidia Involucrata). Other plants which he introduced and are now popular in many domestic gardens are: 
 
Acer griseum (Paperbark Maples), Actinidia deliciosa (kiwi fruit), Berberis julianae (Chinese barberry / hedging), Clematis armandii (white, climbing clematis), Clematis montana var. rubens (light pink and fragrant vigorous climber), Ilex pernyi (evergreen shrub), Jasminum mesnyi ( evergreen shrub with yellow fragrant flowers) and Primula pulverulenta (mealy primrose or mealy cowslip).

How to Braid Onions (clicking on this should open a new window... let's see?!) 

I am currently a week into some time off work… and it’s great!  This two-week break is the longest period of time I have had at home (that is, at No. 6) without having to dash about the country or being required to do something or be somewhere, since returning to the UK two years ago.  So, to all intents and purposes, this is the longest period of time at No.6 since May 2010!  It has to be said, it has been a long-time-coming over the past few months.

Other than the cookery course, the only other things in the diary have been medical appointments – seeing the diabetic nurse and a ‘top-up’ with the chiropractor.  Both were positive – with my HbA1c blood sugar reading going down and losing a few more kilos / pounds.  The visits to the chiropractor are also paying off as Paul and I went for a walk to Belas Knap Long Barrow* on Sunday morning and, whilst it is quite a steep climb, I was still able to proclaim that I was walking with no pain and ‘normally’!  Yippee!

​The only other things I have been committed to have been Winchcombe related:
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• Winchcombe Christmas Festival preparations are underway!  I sent out approximately 160 information emails and Stall Application forms to a wide variety of retailers.  We have received 54 applications so far – pretty good going for mid-August.

• https://www.winchcombe.co.uk/winchcombe-christmas-festival/
• https://www.facebook.com/WinchcombeChristmasFestival/
• https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/winchcombechristmasfestival/

This weekend I have been mainly embracing a Cotswolds Lifestyle!
 
My birthday treat from Paul was definitely a good one – he booked me a place on a Sustainable Seafood course at the the Daylesford Cookery School. 
 
Daylesford Organic Farm is a bit of local institution which started over forty years ago with a family focusing on sustainable and organic farming.  It seems to have developed in to a ‘destination’ for the green-welly, Range Rover-driving brigade. Call me a cynic, but the C02 emissions from the vehicles on the car-park probably negate any of the produce bought in the Daylesford retail shops, or consumed in the café and restaurant!  The main farm development is near Kingham in the Cotswolds but it is indicative of the customer base that there are also satellite stores in Notting Hill, Pimlico, Brompton Cross and Marylebone.  

​The whole “Daylesford” experience is a bit ‘lifestyle’ though – and the prices are eye-watering!  Because I had attended a day’s class, I was entitled to 25% off in the food-shop and 10% off in the other bits (interiors, cleaning products, soaps and lotions etc).  Hmmm… I only ended up getting some paprika (which we had used in one of the recipes and was SO good), and some Shropshire Heather Honey (so not even Cotswolds!) because those prices weren’t too extortionate. For example, a very small tin of olive oil cost £10, and a package of 15 bags of their own blend Breakfast Tea was £5.00 . And from the Bakery (although baked fresh every day) ONE croissant cost £1.99 . Well, I think that’s a bit pricey to be honest!
 
Having said that, the cookery class was extremely good – interesting, informative and thoroughly enjoyable.  I was there a little early, at 9am for tea / coffee and pastries (homemade on the premises) and the official ‘lesson’ started at 9.30am, and it finished at 3pm. We had one tea-break and had a lunch in two parts.  There was a group of ten ‘students’ and two chefs teaching us.  Check out the photos or the website and you’ll see that the cookery school is pretty flash.  We were taught how to fillet and prepare:  mackerel, lemon sole and scallops.  We then were shown how to cook various dishes with all three – and did two of the dishes ourselves, in pairs.  

The recipes were:

• Chermoula mackerel with bulgar wheat salad, tahini and yoghurt dressing
• Poached sole fillet broth*
• Roasted scallops with curried courgette puree, chargrilled courgettes, and sultanas and capers.

 
*The broth base was a fish stock which we also created using the ‘frames' after filleting the fish.
 
And we ate everything too, accompanied by two different organic wines from Chateau Leoube in Provence - their European venture!  The atmosphere was really relaxed and easy-going.  It was thoroughly enjoyable and I am going to check out the other courses that they have on offer – because they do a whole range of short courses as well as the full-day, full-on ones.

All I can say is - watch out Nigella... or maybe that should be Rick...?*!