Harvey and I had a much too short but oh so very splendid visit to the Dav’s in Leicestershire this weekend.  Lara was there when we arrived which made it even better.

On Sunday morning I made a large green/brown smoothie with spinach from the garden, a bag of red kale, a couple of handfuls of frozen mixed berries and 2 dates.

It just fitted in to the new blender by Magimix which I was very impressed with.  It is cheaper than the Vita Mix but seems just as good if not better.  It has a glass jug which I liked and the jug is square so easier to scrape and the bottom comes off which makes it really easy to clean.  When my Vita Mix conks out I will seriously consider one of these. The smoothie tasted good too!  I needed that after the multiple glasses of bubbles and wine I had enjoyed the night before.

This is the giant spinach.

Which sits in one of my very favourite veggie patches – BJ’s.  It is really well designed and an absolute pleasure to potter about in.  I think I need to go back in June to help eat some of those strawberries! When one lives surrounded by beautiful countryside, you don’t have to get in the car to go for a walk which is lovely, especially when the sun is shining.

This is a 300 or so acre field of wheat.  There are some huge farms around here.  This was one of those days where the clouds hung in the sky, all white and fluffy, and the sky seemed huge.  It was beautiful. I love Spring with all the flowers

and the blossom out.

Shame I have just missed the wisteria being in full bloom – it was nearly there.

After a very cloudy morning the sun came out at lunch time so we could have a BBQ !

It was even warm enough to eat outside too which was a real treat.Now I do confess to thinking I was going to just eat fruits and veggies this weekend, which would have been fine.  I don’t expect people to cater for my lifestyle choices or go to any extra trouble on my account.  So I was just thinking I would eat what the others eat and leave out the meat.  Oh how wrong I was!

My wonderful hosts had thoughtfully planned menus around me and bought so many things that I could enjoy that I know they would never eat or drink, such as soya milk, soya cream and this tofu so I could have tofu and vegetable kebabs on the BBQ.We marinated the tofu in soy sauce and garlic and threaded them on to skewers with red onion and peppers.  Served with a salad I had a mighty fine meal.
I was not expecting to have a pudding I could eat but I was wrong again.  Helen made an incredibly delicious rhubarb jelly which I enjoyed with some soya cream.  It was absolutely gorgeous and so I had to have seconds.  I just had to. After a large meal we set off for a walk along one of the canals in this part of the world. I have never (as far as I remember) seen a canal in operation before and I was fascinated by how the barges move up or down hill. It is a simple but brilliant design. We could see a barge in the distance heading our way and we decided to sit and wait so we could see how it moved from the lower level of the water to the higher level.

There are many fields of rape around here and they are currently in full bloom.Very striking and colourful. Here comes the barge so the water level needs to be adjusted which is achieved by opening one set of lock gates by using a special key so the water begins to pour through from the bottom of the gate.

When the water level is low enough the gates are opened and the barge moves in to the lock. Note how low the barge is and it needs to get up to the level of the water beyond the next lock gate. This is achieved by closing the lock gate behind the barge and then opening the next lock gate further upstream.  With the barge in the lock, the lock gate behind the barge is closed so the water can no longer flow downstream.  As the water enters the lock, the barge rises.

So simple and so clever.

Once the water is level, the lock gate in front of the barge is opened and it moves through and upstream.  Even easier with so many willing hands, helping to open and close the gates. We continued on our walk. This really was a delightful walk.

Back at the house there was even more completely yummy and vegan food.  A home made soup which was excellent, with a slice of wholemeal bread.
Followed by roasted veggies, new potatoes and green beans.  I did then eat about 5 more servings of the new potatoes with Salad Cream as they were perfectly cooked and full of flavour. Followed by a definitely non vegan but very tasty lemon pudding.  I do like a homemade pudding and they are rarely experienced in our house so I enjoyed one very small serving.

Thank you so much to Helen and BJ for the phenomenal support you showed of my vegan eating.  Thank you for buying me so many wonderful things I could eat and for making so may nutritious and delicious home cooked meals I could enjoy too.  We loved our visit and just wish it could have been for longer.