Well done to Belinda Bradley’s daughter, Ellie, who has just graduated from Leith’s School of Food and Wine. “Good afternoon both!Ellie has just finished her year at Leiths school of food & wine.. Just home – picked rhubarb – straight to The Allotment Kitchen – & voila!!Fantastic!Catch up soon, with best wishes from a very…

As a horse owner, ragwort is something I always try to pull out from fields. It is toxic to horses and can cause death. However, I read that it is also the natural food of gatekeeper butterflies and so was delighted to seem them dancing and feasting on a clump of ragwort in the set-aside…

A month ago I received my first veg box from Riverford Organic Farmers based in Buckfastleigh, Devon. There is lots to be found out about them from their website, www.riverford.co.uk. They supply differing boxes of vegetables and other supplies once a week straight to your door. I am so impressed I can even forgive them…

This year’s medlar crop has been amazing both in terms of quantity and quality. Luckily, there were enough takers for the fruit from our two trees and lots of pots of jelly have been made. My friend, Rosie, even found medlars on the ground in the Millennium Garden which she used, following the recipe in…

Tony Eades, who, with his family, ran the grocery store in Julian Road, died on 27 August 2020 at the age of 78. He had been ill with sepsis since the first weekend of lockdown in March.Tony Eades was a big man and a local character. Latterly, he would often be seen in the shop,…

BBC’s Springwatch was recorded at dawn on our allotments on 1 April. The lack of early morning traffic really does make it feel as if the bird song is louder and more joyous. Wait for details of when it will be broadcast. The BBC ‘unit’ that I noticed seemed to be one man and his…

Ring Common Allotments featured in the detective drama on ITV yesterday (1 March 2020). Very amusing. The plot line was slightly daft, a little as if Alice in Wonderland were crossed with Midsummer Murders and Miss Marple. A major clue to solving the murder mystery was found in a tool box on the allotments behind…

I had a good afternoon in the Bristol Archives, finding a reference to three recipe books that had come from the J R Phillips archive and calling them up. They were small, nineteenth century and containing recipes for various drinks including orange bitters, cherry brandy (there was even a mention of a Mrs Heering), rue…

It was a great surprise to see fillets of Icelandic Arctic char on sale at the fish counter at my local Waitrose last Saturday. It was the first day they had had them in. Just back from Sweden where my most memorable meal had been Arctic char on a bed or celeriac purée served with…