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My English Country Cottage
  • Blog Posts
    • Our Home
    • Interior Design projects
    • How To Create A Cutting Garden
    • Pantry Recipes
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    • Home County Candle Company
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    • Country Cottage Creatives Interviews
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  • Risotto with crispy chorizo, red pepper, spinach and feta

    Risotto is an absolute favourite in our house.  One of my pantry staples is a bag of arborio rice.  Risotto is a dish that you can basically throw anything at, conjuring up a delicious bowl of creamy tasty rice from whatever is in the fridge, which is exactly how this recipe came about. These are all flavours that we know work: chorizo and red pepper, spinach garlic and then the…

    April 7, 2021
    Pantry Recipes

Latest Posts

  • Turning to the dark side as we build up for Halloween
  • Autumn Magazineing part Deux (it sounds more stylish)
  • Creating an Autumn feel in your home
  • Autumn Magazineing
  • Protected: Changing colours with the changing of the Seasons

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I write this to you from my pit of despair…my prison for the next few days…I find myself a martyr to my bed & must avail myself of the kindness of stra…well..my family. Admittedly I was out of bed when I took this photo but it was all I could manage from my sick chamber. A cover flick here & a kick of the dirty socks out of view there and I crawled back to my bed wondering if my family would even remember that I was upstairs, languishing? Perhaps I would only be discovered months later, a lonely form, curled up on her bed of ills, book dropped from malnutritioned hand…then I remembered a tub of chocolate cornflake cakes left over from my daughter’s birthday so managed to tremble my way downstairs & stave off my lonely hunger. Yes, Covid has hit our household. It actually hit last week and I have nursed (well I did at least remember to bring him the occasional tea) my husband and both children (ok they were both completely fine) through this virulent virus but I have now been forced to my bed (except for life saving trips for chocolate) to recouperate. Thank the lord for the most wonderful @clover.stroud who sent me her extraordinary book “My Wild and Sleepless Nights (a story of Motherhood)”. This accompanied by my chocolate fix kept me reading all day yesterday. My goodness I had forgotten how all encompassing & joyous & awful the first few years of motherhood was. Lying in bed with a temperature yesterday seemed like a breeze compared to her visceral, truthful & hard won account of early motherhood. My friend & I used to wish for a book like this when our first babies were born. She is a Sunday Times Best Selling Author so I don’t need to review it as a gazillion amazing writers have already done this. But thank you Clover, you are unbelievably brave & the most incredible writer, your love for your children is palpable. You have the most extraordinary voice and I feel very privileged to have received your book. Thank you. She lays her head gently back down on her slightly chocolatey pillow and hopes for just one cup of tea. Happy woeful Wednesday x #cottagebedroom #interiordesign #decoration #vintagehome #mycountryhome #shabbydecor #bedroominspo


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A fringe of horse chestnut leaves. Yes, I was hiding in the undergrowth again. It was peaceful. It was quiet. I was alone….except for my husband pacing and muttering darkly about not being able to mow the now knee length and soaking grass, my son pretending to help with the logs by carrying three very heavy logs then sitting wearily on the bench, a broken 12 year old spent force “Can’t…manage…another..log..” and my daughter with brand new make up hairband swathing her ten year old hair, glitter adorning her cheeks as she clutched her birthday blue haired doll, attempting to sing from the birthday score of Matilda that she was given (I am pretty certain she can’t yet sight read) whilst holding up her new concealer stick to show her friend on FaceTime and uttering the words “and I finally got a concealer so thank goodness for that”!!! I was a little terrified that I had perhaps passed out in the undergrowth and woken up five years later but as we sat down to birthday rainbow unicorn cake my daughter asked “are we ready for our poo to turn green?” to which my son rejoindered “is anyone ever ready?” to which we all giggled furiously and I was relieved to find that my children are still young and laughing at poo jokes. Who knew that would come as a relief to me?! Happy Tuesday xxx #cottage #cottagife #ruralliving #rurallife #appletree #meadowcore #naturecore #oldfashioned #cottagestyle #cottageliving #mycountryliving #thecountryjournal #cottages #listedbuilding #cottagehome #exteriordesign #countrycottage #cottagecoreaesthetic #countryliving #characterproperty #thatchedcottage #chocolateboxcottage #thatchedroof #autumn #explorebritain


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My daughter & my husband dug out the little medicine bottle from our garden when we first moved in. Her first real treasure aged 2. Today she is 10. We have hit double digits. Finally! She has spent a year kindly breaking it to me that she will be ten soon & now, here we are, the birthday with the longest lead time ever..where does she get it from?? Thankfully we are really making the most of today, our terribly grown up double digiter allowed us to really wring all the joy from this special occasion by awakening us at 3.30 am with the chorus to kill all birds temeritous enough to try the dawn chorus with “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY”!!!!!! Naturally it came as a shock to her family who have been quaking with fear that they will have forgotten one of the vital birthday ingredients in all her detailed but extremely neatly written birthday tomes….I have forgotten the birthday badge- I only hope to make it through the morning before this missing object is highlighted in one of her very angry highlighter pens. I did however remember the cinnamon swirls (“yours are lovely Mummy but maybe just to be sure we can eat them we should buy the bake at home ones?”) so I am hoping this might allow me one pardon. I shall continue to seek refuge in my flowers as the day progresses through playing with her birthday doll with glow in the dark hair, crafting sequin unicorns to donning her birthday dungarees & applying her new sparkly eyeshadow- I fear she is breaking me in gently to a new dawn. But she does everything with the sunniest smile & biggest hugs that I am accepting of my fate as a very old mother (“there’s even a Granny at school who is the same age as you”) of a truly amazing possibly too truthful 10 year old. Happy don’t mention the badge Monday x #dahlia #dahlias #dahliasofinstagram #dahlia #dahlias #dahliaflower #glassbottle #glassbottles #brassmirror #mirrors #exposedbrick #medicinebottle #exposedbrickwall #bathroommirror #oldhousecharm #cottagedecor #rusticdecor #rusticcharm #rusticdecor #hyggehome #floralarrangement #flowerstagram #prettyflowers #freshflowersmakemehappy #mondaymotivations #colourfulhome #popsofcolor #postpretty


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The fuglies are finally in their element. They don’t just gently thud to the ground, they dominate the ground, they smash the ground, they pulveris…ahh ok, some of them get pulped when they hit the ground . They have finally learned that reddening will at least improve their chances of being picked and even when their lumpen misshapen forms are revealed in all their glory, the fear of being crumble-less is so real that they are hastily shoved into the basket and hurried into the kitchen. I am a slave to the fuglies…and my terrifying crumble and custard obsessed family (the cream was on the turn last night- pray for me!). Happy scary Sunday x #gardenlovers #instagardenlovers #countrygardens #cottagegarden #englishgardens #aquietstyle #instabritain #thisjoyfulmoment #simplenaturefinds #ofsimplethings #simplethingsinlife #countrysideliving #autumndays #cottagelove #cottagesunday #appletree #redapples #cottageexterior #theirenglishcountrycottages #thatchedcottage #gardenlife #apfelbaum #hyggegarden #countrycottage #appletrees #applepicking #autumnfeeling #autumnvibes


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Oh hello! You find this very important press person sat at her kitchen table being very important with a cup of tea and a PRESS PACK from @shopivyjoan !!! I sat staring at it for a while- mainly to cherish this warm glow of surely this makes me a ground breaking journalist now but also because it was so beautifully packaged. I am now wrestling with the beautiful brochure - I need it all!! I especially need every single confit pot and earthenware vessel that graces these pages. I’ll buy the lot!! Oh and your gorgeous new winter (Hayley calls it Hiver - I KNEW it sounded fancy!!) candle scent. Oh, but I am just a lowly award winning ground breaking journalist, I barely earn a penny, I do it for the truth. Hmm, actually I am not sure I want to be a roving reporter any more. I might just be a nice hip PR person who pops into London Town looking really natty and drinking cool coffees. Actually, that sounds a bit hard too, I think I’ll just sit here and enjoy this beautiful world from the safety of my kitchen table. Happy stay safe, stay seated Saturday x #modernrustic #kitchendresser #farmhousekitchen #shabbysofa #rustichome #countrykitchen #kitchendiner #oldhousecharm #cosycottage #cottagedecor #cottage #cottagecharm #kitchentable #countrycottages #interiordetails #dahlialove #beams #countryfeatures #kitchenlove #autumnstyle #cosykitchen #mycountryhome #kitcheninspo #kitchensofinstagram #welshdresser #kitchenstories #cosykitchen #countrykitchen #flowersfrommygarden #saturdaymorning


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Ahh Autumn. You circle our trees with your come hither hiver eyes (it sounds better in French than cold, stark English “winter”). You wrap your coldening, goldening grip around our leaves and drop them carelessly to the ground (actually you have created a beautiful circle of leaves around the walnut tree but again, it’s not as dramatic). No care for the family that have picnicked merrily under it’s shading branches all summer (twice- it was freezing and frankly a bit muddy). No heed has been paid to the swing of dreams that allows one to fly under a canopy of delights, giving free rein to the imagination to soar as high as the feet in the sky. Mud shall rein supreme for the next few months on this trapeze of derring do and bottoms will remain off the seat (ok..just mine…the children don’t seem to care about the mud). You are gently and beautifully stealing our summer colours (I have no idea- we seemed to be inside for most of the summer) and given us an Autumn to enjoy. Leaves to rustle and tussle, conkers to crack and clatter and squirrels to shout at - they started it!! They won’t stop shouting!! I try to sing to them a la Snow White but they bare their teeth and shout. These squirrels would not even get a call up to a Snow White remake casting, these beasts (they even tried to eat the rotten onions that I still haven’t taken down to the composter) are the baddies. Think “When The Chipmunks Went Wrong” and that is their castability. Happy flora and evil fauna Friday x PS for more October glories, head to my website to read @flowersandlifestylebymargot truly stunning new blog on October floral woodland tablescaping. Absolutely beautiful! Xxx #autumnleaves #cottagefarmhouse #ofwhimsicalmoments #cottageliving #mygardenthismonth #cottage #hyggegarden #englishcountrygarden #gardenliving #englishcottage #thatch #myhomesanctuary #outdoorliving #autumn2021 #thisisengland #country #countryliving #countrycottagestyle #countrycottages #countryhomes #thatchroof #your_beautifulhouses #countryside #seekthesimplicity #autumnvibes🍁🍂🍃


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The pears may be gone but the roses battle on valiantly with nary a nod or a wink to the month. Ahh yes…the October roses…nestled in amongst the September rosehips… I am not even going to question this craziness but it does at least distract from the pure and simple no getting away from it fact that the lawn needs a ruddy good mow. Given that the mushrooms, ants and slugs have spent more time on this lawn than I have this summer, I feel a little put out at having to mow for them. Although I suppose it may discourage the blimming squirrels from digging massive holes in the lawn to bury MY poor stolen walnuts. It really is a case of adding insult to injury - particularly as they then don’t actually bury them in the holes so I can’t retrieve them but do manage to stumble down the holes as I waft by. Happy woeful wafting Wednesday X #autumn #alfresco #peartree #mygarden #rosehips #country #countryliving #myenglishhome #shabbydecor #oldhouselove #oldhousecharm #tablestyling #tablefortwo #cottagestyle #cottage #autumngarden #autumnintheair #autumninthecountry #cottageliving #littlecottage #cottagefarmhouse #cottagehome #thatchedcottage #thatchlife #thatching #thatched



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