Our week that was: Apple Day

We’re into October – summer has had her last hurrah – no more unexpected yet very welcome hot, sunny days. Thoughts are turning to what to do on my birthday next month, what we’ll do for Christmas and whether I’ll leave filing our online tax returns to the last minute… again!

This weekend, I attended the 2^nd annual Apple Day organised by the Hafod Walled Garden Group. The garden is located within the National Trust-owned Hafod Estate, a place we often go, but never to this hidden area that’s down off the signposted walking routes.

I saw the event advertised on their Facebook group, and organised to attend with a friend from the village. We both wanted to learn how to make apple cider vinegar. We filled a couple of large trugs with apples (many of the gardens in the village are laden) and set off.

Before long we were part of the conveyor belt of people – chopping apples, putting them through an electric shredder before finally extracting the juice with the manual press. All very physical work, but very enjoyable!

When all the apples had been turned to pomace, we set off back home, each with a litre bottle of fresh apple juice under our arm.

One of the Hafod Walled Garden Group members has posted some lovely photos of the day on her Instagram account – you may even catch a glimpse of me in there somewhere!

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Our week that was: Apple picking, a play date and moon missions

We’re still playing catch-up here on the blog after another fun-filled week – time is whizzing by in a flash. It does, doesn’t it, as you get older?

Apple picking

One of my friends from the Women’s Institute has a garden with an orchard. She invited a couple of us over to pick some of the apples, as she’d never be able to make use of them all.

The apple trees are old, rare Welsh heritage varieties such as Baker’s Delicious and Cadwaladr.

As well as apples, there were a few, much less commonly found trees in the orchard… including these walnuts that were almost ready to harvest.

We spent less than an hour apple picking, after which I returned home with two large sacks, heavy with fruit, with not much of an idea of what I was going to make with them. A pie and an upside-down cake are most likely; I have so many apples, I can attempt things I’ve never done before; apple juice, apple jam, hard cider?

Play date for Barley

A few weeks ago, we encountered a lady out walking her dog near the Arch near Hafod. After a tentative 30 seconds or so, we were all really pleased to see that her dog, Tala, and Barley hit it off splendidly. They’re about the same size and possess the same energy levels. They got on so well, in fact, that we agreed to meet the following week in the same place for a doggie play date.

The afternoon of the play date was a welcome chink of lovely, warm sunny weather in an altogether damp and dreary week. Tala & Barley loved it; tearing through the woods, chasing each other for most of the hour-long circular walk. We hope it will become a regular occurrence.

For All Mankind

We’ve just binge-watched 3 series of For All Mankind. The series proffers an alternative world history that hinges on the ‘space race’ not ending with the USA landing on the moon in 1969. The series broaches many subjects such as male chauvinism, feminism, sexuality, politics, technology and conspiracy theories. And I’ve just found out – there’s going to be a series four at some point in the near future!

Our week that was: Hafod, harvest and new shop stock

This weekly round-up is very tardy; partly because we’ve been unusually busy on the socialising front. We went out for food and drinks twice in a week – practically unheard of for us these days!

We had a rare “carers’ break”; Nerys, our dog sitter, came over for a few hours, so we took the opportunity to go for a quiet coffee and drive into Aberystwyth town for a mooch and spot of shopping.

Hafod

We arrived at the restaurant of the Hafod Hotel in Devil’s Bridge as they were opening their doors, so we headed for the comfy, mustard-coloured armchairs next to the fire. That turned out to be a great plan, as the Rheidol steam train arrived mere minutes later and scores of passengers disembarked and made their way straight down the hill to the Hafod.

We started with a couple of coffees followed by fish & chips for Justin and Welsh rarebit for me. The food was delicious – as were the coffees. The staff were friendly and very efficient – effortlessly coping with the sudden onslaught of customers.

Harvest

We’ve finally dug up our first crop of potatoes; we don’t know the variety, as we were given the seed potatoes by our neighbour months ago, and he couldn’t remember what type they were. We just chitted and planted them, then waited until we thought the plants were at the right stage for us to pull them up and dig down for spuds!

Our runner bean plants were also given to us by another very generous neighbour – they’ve been profuse, so I’m planning on canning the beans or using them to make a pickle or chutney.

New shop stock

A few, new things have been listed in our online shop and our eBay account this past week, with more planned for next week. As always, if you see anything you like, get in touch. Also, if you’re looking for anything in particular, let us know and we can keep our eyes out on your behalf.

Our week that was: Family weekend, sand spray and fruit picking

We had a visit from Justin’s sister this weekend; it’s been in the diary for ages, and we’ve been really looking forward to having her come to see us again.

Rachel’s visit

Rachel lives in Greater Manchester – a 4-hour drive away. She’s the one we stay with when we have our dentist appointments up in Todmorden, so we’re taking our turn in acting as hosts! We’ve been keeping our fingers & toes crossed for good weather while she was here. The weather forecast wasn’t great, but we did manage to enjoy a few dry and sunny spells when we were out walking.

We took her to the nearby Hafod Estate as she’d not been there before. We cobbled a walk together that took us through steep woodland, fields with highland cattle grazing and above and along the winding river Ystwyth.

Another trip to the coast

Whenever she’s visited in the past, Rachel has enjoyed going for a walk along the beach. So, even though the forecast wasn’t great, we took a drive out to Ynyslas. As usual, we timed it so we would be there at low tide; the dog went completely bonkers, galloping along the long, wide sandy expanse.

Although it was really windy, there was a great, big, blue sky. It was so windy, in fact, that there was sand spray all the way along the beach; that’s how the famous sand dunes were formed!

Blackberry picking

The local hedgerows are currently heaving under the weight of blackberries. They’re like little glistening jewels crying out to be plucked and made into jam, jelly or apple & blackberry pie or crumble. I’ve already picked around 2 kilos and have put them into the freezer while I decide how I’m going to use them.

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: Hafod