The Sherborne Estate, Gloucestershire

A lovely circular walk with some added extras!

The Sherborne Estate is cut in half by the section of A40 that runs from Cheltenham to Oxford. It is about 18 miles to the east of Cheltenham and about a mile from the A40. On one side of the road you have Lodge Park, now owned by the National Trust and on the other is the main part of the estate, car parking, the village of Sherborne and the walk I am talking about here.

Sherborne House was built for Thomas Dutton after he bought the manor of Sherborne in 1551. Elizabeth 1 stayed at the house in 1592. In 1624-40 John 'Crump' Dutton acquired land 2 miles south-west of the village to create a deer park. He had Lodge Park built as a grandstand to watch deer being coursed by greyhounds and to fuel his passion for gambling, baqueting and entertaining.

It became the National Trust's first restoration project in 1998 and relied on archaeological evidence to return the building to its former glory. It is situated two and a half miles from Sherborne village and the wider Sherborne estate, the other side of the A40.

Ewe Pen Barn Car Park

The three marked estate walks all begin from Ewe Pen Barn car park. There is plenty of parking here and the National Trust ask for a donation of £1.00. It is worth mentioning that there are no toilet facilities here.

Before you begin your walk, you may want to go into the barn where you will find some useful information about the estate.

We have been walking here for several years, since our children were quite small. It is popular with families because the walks are not too long. We tend to follow the circular family trail which is about 3 miles long. Along the route there are two rope swings to find, a see-saw, several climbing structures and also some sculptures to spot. You will need to look for these (in the case of the rope swings, just listen for the squeals from other children!) because they are not all immediately visible from the path.

The walk begins through open farmland before descending into woodland for a short while. Here you will find two sculptures along the route. It emerges from the woodland onto the road that passes through the village of Sherborne (please be aware that there is no gate or stile at this point so nothing to prevent eager children or dogs from running out into the road).

You then walk for about half a mile along the pavement, passing some beautiful old Cotswold stone houses, former workers cottages and estate buildings, until you come to the village church and then the war memorial. This section provides some lovely views of the river Windrush. Here the walk turns a sharp right, heading almost back on itself, through a gate in a high wall.

At this point you might want to make the short detour, by continuing along the road, to the Sherborne Village Shop & Tearooms which are definitely worth the very short detour from the route. The shop sells ice creams and sweets for weary travellers (!). There are three tables inside if you are unlucky enough to have bad weather but plenty of tables in the pretty garden to the front. There is also a toilet at this point. The food here is simple but delicious and it is well worth a stop. It can't be a coincidence that all of our walks here seem to fall over lunchtime! The owners are incredibly friendly and welcoming and are very popular with the round brown spaniel because they have a stash of doggy biscuits that they offer to well-behaved dogs!

Resuming the walk, you will follow a field boundary for a few hundred metres. A glance to your right will reveal the back of Sherborne House. The walk then turns right into more woodland along a well-trodden path. It is in these woods that you will find the swings, see-saw and climbing structures and also the ice-house that once stored ice for the occupants of Sherborne House.

You will pass through the woods before entering more open farmland. As you continue you will see the buildings of Ewe Pen Barn car park ahead of you.

If you are looking for an easy to follow, short. circular walk through some varied Cotswold countryside with the opportunity for extending it with a nice lunch or cooling drink and an ice-cream then this could be the one for you.

Making Halloumi Cheese at Home

Great Fun & Very Easy

Whenever we camp we have a tradition of starting our meal with griddled Halloumi cheese - sometimes we serve it with a side salad, occasionally it is on skewers, often it is just griddled and served with a squeeze of lemon juice or some sweet chilli sauce. I find it a really useful thing to have in the fridge for impromptu trips because it has such a long shelf life. It does have to be refrigerated or kept in a cool bag with ice blocks but that doesn't really pose too much of a problem.

The other day, our love of 'the squeaky cheese' as my kids called it when they were younger, got me thinking. Is it possible to make Halloumi cheese at home? It turns out it is not only possible but really very simple. It is also great fun and it will leave you feeling like a slightly mad professor as the milk reacts with the rennet, turning the milk into jelly which then turns into cheese!

I should say that it probably works out more expensive to make Halloumi at home in small batches than it does to buy it from the supermarket, but where is the fun in that? Also, if you make it yourself you know what has gone into it (no added preservatives for instance) and you will feel unbearably smug when you serve it up!

The one thing to remember when you make cheese at home is that everything you use must be very very clean. For the most part this just means pouring boiling water over utensils and muslin cloth before you use them. That is about as complicated as it gets.

Before I get started, I should mention that, until you actually get to the point of cooking your cheese, it will look very unappealing and you will start to question your efforts and your sanity - have faith, it will all be worth it!

So, here goes with the recipe.........

INGREDIENTS

Halloumi Cheese

2L Whole Milk (can be pasteurised but mustn't be homogenised - it needs to have a layer of cream at the top like milk used to)

2 tsp Rennet (available in vegetarian or animal-based versions from good supermarkets and Lakeland Ltd)

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Dried herbs (optional - we like mint and oregano)

Brine

1/2 L Whey (left over from the cheese making process)

1/2 L Boiling water

100g Salt

METHOD

In a wide-bottomed pan gradually brink the milk up to 32-36C. I use a meat thermometer for this part.

Add the rennet and stir gently. Cover the pan with a tea towel and leave it alone for an hour. It will set like a jelly - amazing! The 'jelly' is called curds.

Cut the curds into 1 inch cubes with a knife by making a grid pattern.

Leave it for another half an hour to settle. The curds will come away from the watery whey and you will feel like a genius!

Next, bring the entire mixture up to 38C over a gentle heat over a period of about half an hour.

The next step is to scoop the curds into a perforated container such as a sieve lined with muslin. Make sure you have another container underneath to collect the whey. At this point, add any herbs you want to use, sprinkling them in as you go, along with some salt.

Leave it all to drain for about an hour (longer won't hurt).

Now you will need to poach the curds. Heat the whey to 85C in a large saucepan or deep frying pan. Add 1 tablespoon of salt.

Turn the curds out and cut them into slices about 2in thick (please don't measure them though - it isn't that critical).

Once the whey is at 85C, add the curd slices and watch and wait. When they rise to the top of the liquid, they are ready. Remove them with a slotted spoon and put them back into your draining container (sieve). At this stage, I use a plastic takeaway tray into which we have poked some drainage holes because it is rectangular and so it creates a block of halloumi that is easier to slice.

 It will feel very wobbly at this stage but it will firm up as it cools down. Make sure you pack the soft cheese in and squash it down a bit.

Once cool and firm, it is ready to cook.

 Put a little oil in to a hot pan and fry slices of the cheese for a couple of minutes on each side until it is brown. Alternatively, cook it over a hot griddle pan or a BBQ. Sometimes, if I can be bothered, I lightly coat the cheese slices in seasoned flour before frying them as this makes them a little crispier, giving you both crunch and squeak in each mouthful!

Brining the Cheese

If you want your cheese to last for longer, you will need to brine it. It will then keep for about a month in the fridge. Just add the 1/2L of the whey to 1/2 L of boiling water and 100g salt. Stir to make sure the salt has dissolved and then leave to cool. Pour the cooled brine over the cheese and keep it immersed in an airtight container in the fridge.

Best served with a large glass of chilled white wine!

Bon-fire Cooking System - The Mobile Bonfire!

My New Toy!!

In June I finally got around to spending some money I had been given for my birthday the previous November by my very generous in-laws and my sister-in-law who lives in Jakarta and has no time for shopping but always sends much more money than she should to make up for it!

I nearly spent the money in February on a wood fired camping stove but, for a variety of reasons, decided against it at the last minute. Since then I have pondered other options.

I should say, at this point, that my desire to acquire camping stoves, BBQ's and other food-related paraphernalia is something of a standing joke in our house. My husband doesn't appreciate why we need so many cooking options but then I don't fully understand why he needs so many golf clubs!

We have been finding an increasing number of campsites that allow either campfires or firepits in recent years and, whenever we could, we have taken advantage of this and very much enjoyed the social experience of sitting around a fire and also the 'back to basics' element of cooking over one.

So, I decided it would be nice to have a firepit of our own to play with. A quick Google search reveals that there are very many different types of firepit available to purchase online. Many are intended to be used at home but a few are portable enough to be considered by campers.

I knew I wanted a portable firepit that I could use with a grill on top as a BBQ and I also wanted to be able to use it with a tripod from which I could hang a cooking pot and a kettle. I wanted something well made so that it would last many years but it was very important that the whole lot was easy to transport.

After doing my research, reading lots of reviews and talking to one or two owners, I settled on the Danish made Bon-fire Cooking Set. There are various UK suppliers who offer different combinations of parts at various prices so, if you are interested, it is important to think carefully about what accessories you might want and then shop around for the best deal available.

I bought a raised firepit, a 175cm tripod with hanging chains and grill, a solid hanging 'frying pan' for cooking smaller items that might slip through a grill or for frying something like an egg, a 6 litre cooking pot that hangs from the tripod and, finally, a kettle that can either be hung from the tripod or placed directly onto the grill.

So, what are the advantages of the Bon-fire cooking system:-

• It is really solid and well made
• The tripod breaks down into shorter lengths to make storage easier
• The various parts mean you can build a set, over time if you prefer, that will meet your specific needs. You don't have to buy something you don't want simply because it forms part of a set.
• It is really fun and sociable to use - far more so than a gas stove! You never see campers sitting around their Campingaz stove, strumming a guitar and singing songs!
• The different accessories make it a very versatile cooking set - you can fry, grill, make curries and casseroles and even boil water. You can even buy a popcorn accessory!
• The height of the grill, cooking pot and kettle above the flames can be adjusted by lengthening or shortening the chains, giving greater control over cooking temperatures.
• The tripod can be used independently (i.e without the firepit) over a campfire if preferred.
• Most campsites (even those that do not allow campfires) are happy for you to use a raised firepit because they do not cause any damage to the grass and the fire is contained.
• Protective covers/carry bags can be bought separately for most of the pieces.

And the disadvantages:-

• It isn't cheap but it will last.
• The raised firepit is a perfect height for cooking but the legs are fiddly to fit. Some sort of integrated, folding leg would be an improvement.
• It is fairly large - definitely not for backpackers!
• The manufacturers do not make a carry bag for the 175cm tripod, only for the 140cm tripod. Had I realised this I may well have gone for the smaller one because a carry bag would be very useful. I have emailed the Danish owners to ask about this and they replied very promptly, in perfect English, that they would look into it - so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

I am delighted with my set and I am looking forward to using it more and getting better at controlling the fire and the temperature. There is no doubt that, just like cooking on a charcoal BBQ, it is a skill that takes practice to learn. That having been said I managed to cook a whole piece of sirloin of beef on my first attempt and it was delicious! The important thing is to be aware of the heat and move things around if they are cooking too fast. It is also a good idea to have a hotter part and a cooler part of the fire. This is easily achieved by having more or less charcoal or wood in one area of the firepit. That way you can give a piece of meat an initial sear over high temperature before moving it to the side where it is cooler to finish cooking more slowly.

As with all open fires, it goes without saying that you should keep children and animals away from them and always keep a bucket of water close by just in case. The very first time we used ours we were all sitting around the roaring fire, the stars were twinkling above us and we were sipping hot chocolate and thinking that life doesn't get any better than this when we became aware of a truly unpleasant smell. In the darkness, the chubby brown spaniel had crept under the firepit which was just the right height above the ground for her! She was apparently oblivious to the smell of singed fur but the rest of us were not! You have been warned...!