Hay-corns!

I love seeing the seasons changing and these acorns that have been forming on the Oaks along Parkland Walk caught my eye on my way home from work- so I picked a few to take home with me.

The pottery Stoat I bought down in Cornwall on a holiday back in 2008- he is raku- which means his glaze is all crackled- i really like how realistic he looks! :)

Bramble Jam

I was meant to be going to Regent Park Open Air Theatre one eve- to watch Crazy For You- but it turned out to be a typical English summer eve- and the heavens just opened- and the prospect of sitting outside for 3 hours in the Rain somehow didnt appeal to me.

So instead I decided to make Bramble Jam. Id been noticing the early Blackberries ripening all along parkland walk - and decided to go and pick some to make Jam with- I noticed over the next few days I certainly wasnt the only person round here to notice the abundance of ripening fruit!

So first you mash the fruit in the pan with a potato masher.

Add the juice of a Lemon for pectin

Add a whole load of sugar!

Stir till the sugar dissolves

Bring to a rolling boil (the kind of boil that when you stir the mixture it doesnt stop the boil)

And then test for setting point on a chilled plate- and then once the setting point has reached ladle into jam jars!

And voila! Easy and delicious Bramble Jam straight from the hedgerows. Very satisfying and tasty!! :)

Walk in the evening September sun

Friday evening was gorgeous- and so with nothing better planned- I went for a walk along the old Train Line that runs from Finsbury Park to Highgate. This is an old abandoned Train line that has been allowed to return to a wild state- with trees growing up through what were once stations and platforms.

http://www.parkland-walk.org.uk/

Parkland walk is very popular for walkers, joggers and cyclists and is normally busy- but luckily for me I seemed to have alot of the way to myself which is just as I like it.

I even found a lovely old apple tree which had lots of lovely apples ripening - so was able to grab a few for the rest of my walk! They were usually shaped with angular sides as opposed to the normal rounded apples you see in shops.

Once i reached the old tunnels at highgate- you have to leave the walk and can either make you way into Queens Wood which is a beautiful woodland (highly recommended in the spring for the woodland flowers eg Anemones) or walk up in Highgate village itself and onto Hampstead Heath.

I chose to walk into Highgate village and went and explored Waterlow Park- which is a beautiful Park just on the high street. The have a few ponds a lovely sloping lawn and even a Wildlife hospital.

My eye was drawn to the vegetable gardens there- as local community groups had been given individual beds to tend. They looked really pretty!

The sun had set by this point and I walked home back along the track in the twilight and was able to watch the bats flying up and down the walk.

A beautiful way to spend one of the last summer evenings of 2011.