The Lavender Loft @ The Old Vicarage

The Lavender Loft is the new Bed & Breakfast at the Old Vicarage in Amberley, hosted by yours truly. It is a cosy little loft above the garage with private access, undercover parking, and self contained. It has a queen bed, small dining table and chairs and a self sufficient kitchen area with microwave, tea and coffee making facilities. There is a brand new bathroom with separate loo and shower. A full continental breakfast will be available for 2. Price will be $140.00 per night, payable in advance, details to follow.

Of course, friends and whanau will stay in the Old Vicarage, I dont charge pals! This is for the gorgeous tourists on their way North to Kaikoura, or heading inland to Hamner, the Alpine Resort! Amberley is 45 mintues north of Christchurch Airport and opens the gateway to the lovely Waipara Valley in the Hurunui District!

so this gives you a bit of a preview, a little tricky when you dont have a wide angle lens, but no worry, you get the picture! The Duchess of Amberley

Colourful Friends

There are a number of sayings that float around regarding friends, girfriends etc. But to have good friends, you need to be a good friend, and in these days of manic activity, just life passing you by, it is not always easy to catch up and chew the fat, pass on a bit of gossip, talk about the world, men, fashion and shoes (or in my case boots, as it is winter). My weekend in Auckland, the first since my move South, was promising to cover all the necessary topics albeit in a whirlwind! Friday night, girls, women, chicks (all around the 50 plus) got together and do what we have done for the last 20 years. As you would expect, not all your friends can be gathered in one place at one time, and I am blessed to have a truck load of great girlfriends, however on Friday I got together with a few!

We talk (alot) we laugh (alot) we dance (alot) we sing (alot) we drink (alot-well actually some do, some dont) but most of all we appreiate that we have such great friends, and our lives are enrichened by the friendship we share.

We do still dance the same, still love the same songs, all think we are better DJs than each other, and have the same funny habits with a couple of glasses of bubbles to help the swing! I love my girlfriends, they are an outstanding group of women, who share similar views, values and care about others, and that is what it is all about for me. Last Friday was courtesy of the great Jane Jackson, aka wacko jacko, tatie (and that is another whole story), where her annual girls night of whitebait fritters and champagne cocktails was a roaring success, of course topped by her dancing on her new kitchen bench, she is quite a showoff!! Laugh out Loud!!! (and we did)

Of course there were many other moments of hilarity, but my last entry is the two we all know who apparently thought they should be part of the crew for River Dance! To be honest it is not their first attempt at trying out for the stage, but certainly their latest!

Well the Duchess is Amberley is now back home, after a great weekend of friends, a terrific show (Jersey Boys) and a little bit of shopping (cos I dont have a job). Ciao.

the journey of discovery continues

The end of May, the temperature is in decline, but as with most of the South, generally the days are gorgeous. Last weekend my friend Cobi visited, and knowing she loves the arts and a Sunday drive, we headed inland to the Iron Ridge Quarry Scupture Park, where Raymond Herber has extensively landscaped an old limestone quarry to display his work. It is a spectacular location which looks down over the Waipara Valley. It is a collectiion of scupltures, humorous mechanical contraptions, native gardens, which are all bought together quite magically.

Like so many artists, he is quiet and unassuming, happy to chat about his plans, obviously a great place for a party, and he plans to develop for weddings, quite a spiritual place, will be just perfect. His sister welcomed us, and then plied us with tea and cake....another terrible Sunday in the Hurunui!

I have met some lovely locals, John and Jan Field-Dodgson have been kind and supportive. They have an olive grove, just out of town, which is producing Mt Grey Olive Oil, and Jan is also making lovely soaps, which a number of the local accommodation establishments use. They have a stand at the Amberley Farmers market each Saturday morning, always a good time to catch up. We have discussed me working with them a wee bit, to promote their oils, which I will be putting into place after Queens birthday. As it would happen, John's father was choir master at Christs College in Christchurch and best friends with David & Mary.

Robert and Dorothy Brown are the managers of the Claremont Homestead, where I have been lucky enough to do a little work in the last couple of weeks. Again, terrific people, who have taken on this Homestead heading into their early 70s, something to be admired. The week has continued with my wonderful cousin Susan spending a day in the garden (with some help from me),Paul and Anna for dinner (utilising Paul's handyman skills at the same time) and a big day yesterday with 6 children and parents for lunch! Then last night my first trip to the new AMI stadium to watch the Crusaders v the Blues with Paul, Oscar and Jackson, great night but bloody cold, we got down to -2, no wonder the Aucklanders couldn't play. However both Richie and Dan made the cold all the worth while - I must admit, I was thinking how much colder will it be when I come to watch the ABs mid June???? All for now folks Duchess of Amberley

It must be Tuesday

The sun is going down on another autumn day, the fire is roaring and I think Molly and Charlie are in the same positions as my last post. As mentioned I visited the beautiful Claremont Homestead, and met the current leasees who are quite delightful. Dorothy is 71, and has a bad leg/hip but she is amazing. Not only lovely but extremely well organised and constantly busy, I think I have a big home to run, crikey she has a huge place, obviously with some help, but they are certainly not idle.... the website is.. www.claremont-estate.com Anyway as I mentioned Dorothy had phoned me and asked me to help with dinner last Friday night, so I went up from 2 - 5pm and did the prep, made an upside down poached quince cake (quinces from the estate) and preared the veggies, and hor duvres. A lovely 3 hours, although a bit out of practice, I managed to pull it off. Well it must have been OK as I am doing the same this Friday. For my trouble I received two lovely bottles of pinot and managed to forage a bag of pears off the ground, now currently settling as my pear, ginger and lemon jam.

Once you have checked out the link you will see the beauty of the surround, and again the limestone area I have already talked about. Apparently there is an amazing walk to be done down in the quarry, and also an adventure tour which the Homestead run for their guests and have offered me a trip, so that will be fabulous. The drive home from Claremont quite lovely and as you can see, not without its own traffic holdups!

My weekend brought an unexpected invitation to visit another farm about 10 minutes north to meet some of the olive tree growers. They are looking to form a co-op and sell their oil as one from the region. Unfortunately this wont be for some time, so no employment there, but good to talk and meet more locals. Sunday was off with aunts to the annual Alpaca open day, where they talked yarns, and spinning, apparently alpaca is 30% warmer than wool, bring it on, I now have a beanie and socks.

....and clearly more new best friends, albeit furry! Well my jam is ready and time sort out the evening meal, so will sign off for now... The Duchess of Amberley

Back in the Kitchen

Well from a wintery change yesterday, it has continued (and obviously here to stay). With some encouragement from Susan, I lit the fire at midday, she said just leave it on gently all day, not a concept we would adopt up North, as we would be in and out and feel a little bit wasteful. However, unless you keep vaccuming or dusting quite quickly the ice can form around one's nether regions. And there is something gorgeous about the fire, ask Charlie he is front and centre in 'old leather'. As an aside I think Molly & Charlie have noticed the climate change, they are heaps more hungry than in Auckland and we all share 'old leather' in the evening.

Molly, however, thought bed was still the best bet!

Anyway back to cooking, it is lovely to have a kitchen and all my very flash equipment out and in use. I currently have about 8 litres of Moroccan spicy carrot soup simmering away. The joy of peeling and cutting 5 kilos of carrots. There is a bus of Chch people who have been 'red zoned' coming up for a farm visit etc and church asked about lunch, so I offered soup. I am actually away that weekend, so I thought I would make and freeze, in my new (second hand off Trade Me) chest freezer which arrives tomorrow.

The roast chicken is just out of the oven, and soon I will be making the favourite Leek and Chicken Pies for tomorrow as Susan is coming up for the night, and to help me get the 'Lavender Loft' (b&b) organised. And before the day is out there will be chicken stock on the go, always a personal favourite. The sun has just peeked out so I have been out to oollect today's walnuts from under the tree, pictured in the handled basket, the other walnuts are drying. Apparently they need to dry for a couple of months before they become sweet and ready to eat. To my horror on the way back I found some feijoas on the ground with a tree laden with fruit. I hate feijoas, or at least the taste of them, why couldn't it be a fig tree?? Anyway watch this space, there will be a speight of feijoa receipes coming soon....oh and I forgot to mention I was given a bag of green tomatoes yesterday for relish....crikey no rest!