Drinks Archives

A visit to Thatcher’s Cider

How cider is made at Thatcher’s cider and a visit to their exhibition orchard.

British Hops Herefordshire Grown

British hops are sought by brewers all over the globe. One hop farm, Stocks Farm located on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border grows enough hops to create 48 million pints of beer each …

Not all cider is made from cider apples

Creating a cider raspberry sorbet with Thatcher’s Katy Cider

Podcasts for food and drink lovers

Updated February 2021 Indulge your passion, listen to a food podcast Here’s a way to make the most of that extra free time and indulge your passion for food and …

Mulled wine pears recipe

Spicy Pears, a perfect dessert If you’ve visited Morocco, I am sure one of your abiding memories will be the smell of spices in the souk. We discovered one tiny …

Drink in Champagne for the Weekend

A city break to Reims

Do you love driving in France? I do. Of course the cities are busy, but get on the autoroute and generally you fly along, enjoying the countryside. Bliss after our clogged motorways.

Take a long weekend off and you could head for the Champagne region as we did. It was our first crossing using the Eurotunnel and we were seriously impressed. Giving ourselves plenty of time in case the infamous M25 was slow going, we arrived way before our set train time. We were waved through. Subject to availability you can travel two hours before or after your chosen time.

You might think that the carriages you drive in to are claustrophobic. Not at all. The carriages are light and airy. You can get out and stretch your legs. After 35 minutes, your through and as customs were passed through on the English side, you are straight on the motorway. We had 2 1/2 hours to drive.

Our focus was food and drink naturally so we planned ahead. Reims is a compact city. Astonishingly, after the First World War just 60 houses remained. So 400 architects were engaged to create the new city with very few constraints. Now the roads are wide and reminiscent of Paris with touches of art deco too. It’s an easy place to get around – we walked to most of our destinations.

We spent 3 days in Reims. Here are our Top 7 things to do

In the pink. Make elderflower cordial

How to make elderflower cordial

If you want a non-alcoholic drink that is refreshing, what do you choose? I often go for an elderflower option. Did you know it’s easy to make elderflower cordial or syrup at home? It’s the perfect time to go on the hunt and pick elderflowers.

Beautiful pinky purple elderflowers – perfect for cordial

What truly inspire me are the flowers on the purple leaved elder (sambucus nigra) in my garden. Each time I walk past, the flowers zapp their scent my way. I just had to do something with them. Of course, if you’ve not got a purple leaved elder, the standard white flowers will do very well. But as you see, the flowers from the purple leaved elder make a fetching pink hued drink.

Discovering Cotswolds food and drink

If you visit a new area, where do you choose to eat and drink? Of course you ask people you meet, but with an area as large as the Cotswolds, you’ll inevitably not find all the gems.

The Cotswold Cook Book will help. It celebrates the amazing food and drink in the Cotswold and includes more than 40 recipes. I’ve been reading through and getting very hungry. I’ve also started to plan visits to many of the places mentioned. What better way than to read a recipe and think, “I’d like to visit and try more”.

Cotswold Cider Bread Recipe

My cider bread made with Blow Horn Cider

Using craft cider made from 100% juice gives this bread a great flavour.

Award winning sloe gin recipe

A really delicious alcoholic drink that can be drunk neat or added to a cocktail, sloe gin is easy to make with fruits from the hedgerow

Let’s make sloe gin

Why make sloe gin? It is a gorgeous tipple. Drink a tot on its own or add to a cocktail. Make in early autumn so it’s ready for Christmas.

Its latin name is prunus spinosa which might give you a clue to its spiky nature. Do go armed with gloves! Look for the blackberry bushes and if you’re lucky you’ll find the sloe bushes also known as blackthorn. They can grow up to 6 or 7 metres high and live for 100 years! But the ones round here are much smaller. The fruits are mostly similar in size to a blueberry although I did find some woppers this year.