The Noble Boke of Cokery

I've just added a link...2nd down in the column on the right. This will take you to a rudimentary website with more information about my book, The Noble Boke of Cokery.

It should give you a bit more information about the book than I am able to put on the lulu.com storefront. It includes some sample pages and photo's of the book to let you know what you'll get for your money.

As it says, go on...get a taste for history...get the Noble Boke of Cokery.

A Bumper Crop!

20 images sent to flikr today....mainly because I'm away for the weekend and won't be posting again 'til Monday when I shall regale you with the menu for next weekend!
I've now posted all of the images that I took at Easter, so I'll be boring you all with the ones that Robert took next week, there will undoubtedly be some repetition of subject matter, but at least they'll be decent images......he's trained you know.......as a photographer!!

I've also uploaded a video to Youtube:



It's a pretty good visual that shows how much heat the legs of a pot transfer into the vessel itself - that's why you can see those three spots boiling away.

So...enjoy the photo's and video and I'll catch you all next week.

CAUTION....Viewer Discretion Advised!?!

10 more pictures just sent to Flikr for all to see.........BE ADVISED that this selection does include some of the photo's of the night we 'processed' the rabbits - see 'A Funny Thing Happened On The Way Home From The Pub' for full and frank details.

There's nothing too bad about the photo's.........but I know how sensitive some can be, so best that you know before blundering into Flikr and finding something you don't like!

The menu is 99% sorted, just got to check what's in store at work tomorrow before finalising it, then I'll let you all know.....along with some more images.

Testing.......4,5,6

yet another test of stuff that Robert won't be able to see!?! - you may be asked to download 'Quicktime' to view this, that's no bad thing really and most new PC's come with it pre-installed.

Again, as before the image is controlled by moving the mouse over it......this time though you need to 'click and drag' the image using the left mouse key.

The image is from the year 2000 I think?? We were doing Charles I and the Stuarts anyway - that's not important though, it's the technology not the image I want to play with, although worth mentioning that the kitchen display doesn't look much like this any more!

I'd really appreciate it if you could comment to let me know if you CAN'T see the image in this post.......Thanks.










Oh and by the way.........10 more images have gone to Flikr for you all to see.
I also seem to have been having problems with one of the sites that hosts some of my images, so for example the post below 'Testing...1,2,3' may be empty, thereby negating the whole point of the post!?!

I'll give it a bit and see if it recovers before trying to re arrange stuff between hosts. It's also worth mentioning that the panorama here is quite large and could potentially hammer my free bandwidth at the site I'm hosting it on......if it vanishes in a couple of days then that's why.....all part of the testing folks.

More later guys and gals.

Good Grief....Is That The Time??

I said that I'd post some more images and a video this weekend, phew....20 minutes to spare (unless you're in the US in which case I've still got plenty of time).

10 more images sent to Flikr for your viewing pleasure and a video uploaded to Youtube that should appear here:



It's an early test of one of the nozzles at the base of the fountain, here using water instead of wine but I'm sure you get the idea.

I'm told by Dave and Adrian that when the finish it, you'll be able to pour wine into the top of the fountain and have it cascade down the levels, each level pouring into the next from lions mouths. The final level will allow you to catch the wine in a cup or have it fall into a gutter where it will be channelled to a reservoir underneath the model..........or so I'm told!

Given their previous work though I have absolutely no reason to doubt them. I've got more photo's of their progress as well as the rest of the Easter event to come and will take plenty more as they progress over the next cookery weekend - possibly the event that they finish it, who knows.
After that it'll be back to working with sugar for them, not sure what on.....probably getting in more practice with simple repetitive stuff but we'll have to wait and see.

There aren't any more recipes at the moment as I've been busy with a load of 18th century documents today - pretty interesting stuff as it goes, Georgian texts on early recipes, histories of Henry VIII, jokes and manners - so I've got a little behind.....especially as I have to sort the menu and shopping list out for the next event by Wednesday.
I also really should put some effort into writing my best man speech for Robin's wedding and re-jig and publish the website about the Noble boke of Cokery....available by clicking the link in the right hand column (shameless plug!)
Still, there's always tomorrow.

Normality Has Been Resumed!

....Well as normal as it's ever going to get anyway. Cash has been sorted, transactions transacted and a full Flikr account purchased for the next 12 months. All of which means 'go...go...go...' for posting pictures. So without further ado........the next 10 images have been uploaded for your delight and delectation!
Another mish mash selection, heavy on the meat and including some pictures of the wax model that Dave and Adrian are now working on- a working fountain based on one of those in the painting 'The Field of the Cloth of Gold'......obviously not full sized though......that would be silly......and would need a LOT of wax! I have a short video that I'll put up on youtube over the weekend that will give you an idea of the way it will hopefully work.
As usual with this sort of thing, half way through and they worked out how they would make it if they were to begin again; which means that they aren't happy with what they have now.......which leads to eternal disappointment for them, anguish, soul searching - 'should we start again?'....'well, it could be so much better....' damned perfectionists, never happy eh! Still I think it's pretty damned good and so does everyone else that's seen it so far. You can make your own minds up when it's finished and I post the pictures here.
Best of all with the wax stuff, it will eventually go on display, like the St George and the dragon from last year, within the Tudor kitchen area at Hampton Court, so many more people will be able to see it than just those that come to the events or pop in here.

Back to the photos though. One of the added benefits of the full Flikr account is the ability to create 'sets' to sort out the images, which simply means it should be easier for you all to find images from previous events and the like. Another benefit is the 'unlimited' uploads and storage which means that in theory I can show you any and all the photos that we take. I won't bore you with all of them though, just the best, interesting and the odd!

All of which has breathed new life into Robert, our Clerk/woodworker/photographer and all round good egg. The thought that people might actually see the photo's he takes has kick started him off into taking all sorts of images as well as thinking about the possibility of others. The disk of his photo's from Easter arrived in the post this morning and I'll post some up for you to see soon; I also know that he is now thinking of all the possible ways he could take arty images of the work we do - and if he wasn't 'til he read this....he is now !
I'm not sure if he'll be able to see the previous post, but if he can then I'm sure that it will inspire him to be planning some BIG pictures for the future.


More images and some recipes to come over the weekend........stay tuned for the next mildly exciting episode.......anything could happen in the next half hour!!

Testing Testing 123!!

Just testing something for the future - sorry Robert, you might not be able to see it!

Run your cursor over the image and see what happens!!

Something Fishy This Way Comes!

The first of the recipes appear below........all for various fishes and all used over the first two days of the Easter cookery.

It suddenly occurred to me that by posting all of the recipes, I would rather be reducing the potential for sales of the recipe book (damn! how mercenary of me!?!) So.......yes I will be posting recipes from the cookery events, both from Easter and in the future, just not all of the recipes that we used - SORRY - trust me though, if you try the recipes I do post, you'll love them.

I should also be able to let you all know the menu for the forthcoming cookery over the holiday weekend- see the column top right for dates.......you know the place.

As for the pictures, hopefully all will be back on track tomorrow or Saturday........until then:

¶Vyaunde de cyprys in lente.

¶Take gode þikke mylke of Almaundys, & do it on a potte; & nyme þe Fleysshe of gode Crabbys, & gode Samoun, & bray it smal, & tempere yt vppe with þe forsayd mylke; boyle it, an lye it with floure of Rys or Amyndoun, an make it chargeaunt; when it ys y-boylid, do þer-to whyte Sugre, a gode quantyte of whyte Vernage Pime with þe wyne, Pome-garnade. Whan it is y-dressyd, straw a-boue þe grayne of Pome-garnade.

¶Sore Sengle.

¶Take Elys or Gurnard, & parte hem half in Wyne, & half in watere, in-to a potte; take Percely and Oynonys & hewe hem smalle; take Clowes or Maces & caste þer-on; take Safroun, & caste þer-to, & sette on þe fyre, & let boyle tylle it be y-now; þen sette it a-doun; take poudere Gyngere, Canelle, Galyngale, & temper it vppe with Wyne, & cast on þe potte & serue forth.

¶Myle in Rapeye.

¶Take Fygys & wasche hem clene, and boyle hem in wyne, & grynd hem smal, & draw hem vppe with þe Wyne þat þey were sothyn in; þan take flowre of Rys, & Wyne, & draw þorw a straynoure, & do þer-to pouder Gynger, Canelle, Mace, Quybibe, & þen take Freyssche Samoun, oþer Pike or gode Freyssche Codlyng; seþe it wyl, & pike owt þe bonys; þan take perys y-coryd, & grynde hem ryth smal & wyl with þe Fyssche; þan take hard olkys of Eyroun soþin, & grynd it wyth-al, & do it in-to þin veselle, & take with Sugre & pouder Gynger, & meng it with þe farcere wyl, & presse hem to-gederys; þan make a gode bature of Almaunde mylke & Floure, & do þer-in, & frye hem wyl in Oyle, & ley hem yn a dyssche, & pore on þe Sew, & serue forth.

¶Samon roste in Sauce.

¶Take a Salmond, and cut him rounde, chyne and all, and roste the peces on a gredire; And take wyne, and pouder of Canell, and drawe it þorg a streynour; And take smale myced oynons, and caste þere-to, and lete hem boyle; And þen take vynegre, or vergeous, and pouder ginger, and cast there-to; And þen ley the samon in a diss, and cast þe sirip þeron al hote, & serue it fort.

More Easter Pictures

Just sent another batch of images to the Flikr account for you all to see - enjoy!

We've reached a little barrier as far as the images is concerned I'm afraid; one that will curtail the further posting of pictures for a couple of days anyway!
Flikr allows you a free account to post to, which is what I've used up to now; the downside being that it will only hold 200 images working on a 'first in first out' basis - post 205 for example and the first 5 will no longer be viewable. Well the images I just uploaded take me up to 199 so.........I'm going to stump up for a full account.

To do this though I'll have to put some cash into the bank, so until then we'll be 'image lite (TM)' for a couple of days.

All of which leads me to the lack of promised recipes..........which I've decided to post another time (tomorrow possibly) to make up for the lack of the pictures.

Apart from all of that, I'm quite enjoying some quiet time off from work.......making the most of it before I have to get back with a planned menu and shopping list early next week, all ready for the next cookery on the first May bank holiday (5th-7th May inclusive)

Finally, for the moment at least, if you are enjoying the blog....don't keep it to yourself...... tell your friends about it!
Tell them about it or use the button on the right to send them an email with the details in it.......spread the word and you too can have that warm fuzzy feeling inside as well.

So.....Let's Recap

As promised, I've just uploaded the first of the pictures to the Flikr account - 10 to start with, more to follow as we took over 200 digital images and a similar number of film stills which I'm waiting for Robert to get processed. As usual with the link to Flikr, it'll take a short while for them to show up on the right of the page.
I'm not going to bore you with all the images but will endeavour to share the choicest with you.

I've also popped a couple of videos up on youtube, which should be below. They are both of Pick trying out his new toy........a cleaver for cutting up all things meaty!

First one is him using it to mince pork:



Second one shows him using the back of the blade to break open bones to extract the marrow:



As you can see, it does that rather efficiently......which was handy as he had a fair bit of that to do so that we could have enough marrow for all the cookery over the 10 days.

Back to the pictures; there's no real order to them apart from the fact that each subsequent batch will be from further through the week than the previous ones....so saying, the exceptions to that will be when Robert sends me the film images for upload.....although I'll make it obvious which ones they are when I post them.

More to come tomorrow, perhaps with some of the recipes.

Hoo Flipping Ray !!

Done, re read, corrected and re submitted, the book is now back online!


I'm now going to finish the rest of my day off (what's left of it) and will start posting pictures and 'stuff' tomorrow evening.

Oh Poop !?!

Contratry to earlier posts...I've just taken the book off sale for an hour or so in order to correct the typo I just found!

Off to write out 1000 times 'I MUST PROOF READ PROPERLY'




Idiot

Plain Sailing...

All dishes made it to the table today without a hitch.....

Nah! Not really......that'll teach me to speak so soon eh! Bit of a cockup today with some of the dishes.......The Curse Of Saturday 14th Strikes!?!

First problem was with the chawettys, a nice veal pie that has the contents cooked first before putting them into the pie case. It was during this pre cooking that for the first time ever the boiling veal which was cooking in about 4 tablespoons of white wine set the bronze pot to produce verdigris. Unfortunately I can't show you the photo of it yet, suffice to say that bronze cooking pots aren't supposed to be a somewhat verdant jade colour........wrong.....wrong....wrong; so that was that dish ruined.

We then had a close run thing whilst cooking the Lesenges de chare:
¶Losinges de chare.
¶Take faire buttes of porke, and hewe hem, and grynde hem, and caste there-to yolkes of eyren rawe, and take it vppe into a faire vessell; and take reysons of Corance, and myced dates, and pouder ginger, peper, saffron, and sugur, and medle al this to-gidre; and make faire paast of sugur, saffron, and salte, and temper therein; And make thereof ij. faire cakes, and ley the stuff therein al abrode on þe cakes all flatte. And þen take anoþer Cake, and ley him al abrode thereon, and þen kutte þe Cakes thorg with a knyfe, in maner of losinges; And then make faire bater of rawe yolkes of eron, sugur and salt, and close þe sides of þe losinges therewit, and then fry hem in fress grece ynow, And so serue hem forthe.

Whilst cooking these there was an odd reaction, we think between the raw egg yolk and the oil, that caused the pan to 'foam'...suddenly it looked like we were cooking in butter. This foam then spilled over the edge of the pan a little and caught light......quite spectacular but quite harmless. Unfortunately it tainted the oil and we couldn't cook any more of them and had to make do with one each- shame really as they were quite nice.

It's such a shame that I can't post any pictures until I get back as all this stuff would make much more sense if you could see what I was talking about. I'll post all of the pictures in batches next week, so you'll have something to see then.

Tomorrow is the last day of this 10 day stretch.....more cooking plus a major clear up at the end of the day, then off home for a long rest. I doubt I'll post tomorrow but keep an eye out for the photo's and the weeks recipes early next week.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way Home From The Pub.

This afternoon Les the gamekeeper popped into the kitchens to ask if wanted any rabbits-he was off tonight shooting. We said we'd like a brace if he could manage it......and left it at that.

After we'd finished in the pub tonight we got back to the palace to find that Les had left us 5 rabbits in the back of his Land Rover and 'could we deal with them!'
So Adrian and I have spent the last 40 alcohol soaked minutes gutting and skinning them ready for tomorrow.......normal people bring a kebab back home on the way back from the pub.......oh well.....off to bed.
(yes i know 40 minutes is a long time to paunch and skin 5 rabbits....but we were terribly terribly drunk!!)

Friday The 13th !!

The curse of Friday 13th struck today and we had problems with all the dishes!?!

Nah! Just kidding......but it is getting rather tedious writing that all the dishes went to the table ok......damn we're good!
In so saying though, the chike endored which is a battered roasted chicken ended up being just a plain roast chicken. It cooked quicker than i had anticipated and was done before i had the chance to make and apply the batter.....still, not the end of the world.

Two days left to go before we finish, so tomorrow will see a bit of a sort out, with ingredients that will definitely not be used put into store/freezer for use during the next event.

Robin's top reccomendation from today's menu is 'Arbolettys', essentially a cheese custard.....recipe to follow next week.

Oooh What A Fibber!

Although i said 'more tomorrow' yesterday....i lied!

I forgot that we were all going out for a sort of 'stag night' for Robin who is getting married in a couple of weeks. So....i'm writing this from the pub.....and i am now going back to drinking.

Truly......more tomorrow!

Stop The Presses!!!

No......cancel that order.......start the presses!!

As of now, 'The Noble Boke of Cokery' is available to purchase at http://stores.lulu.com/tudorcook for the princely sum of £22.90 plus postage and packing (shipping and handling for our US viewers!)
Due to the convoluted method that I am using to post these blog posts I am not able to make that a clickable link at the moment so I'm afraid that you'll have to cut and paste the address into your web browser should you chose to visit the Lulu shop. Likewise, I am not able to change the button at the top of the column on the right, so for the moment it will still take you to the website that will give you a little more information about the book.

Should you choose to look at the Lulu site please be aware that the cover that you will see is very probably NOT the cover that the book comes with; the site is limited in that it doesn't seem to show covers that are full wraparound dust jackets, so it sort of makes one up. When I get back on Sunday night I'll post an image of the cover for you all to see and sort out all of the links to the relevant sites.

I'm now off down the pub to celebrate with a pint then back for an early night as today was a long old day.......more tomorrow.

.....And Finally....

Newsreader Sir Trevor MacDonald came through the kitchens today (and NO mother, we didn't talk to him!)
Apart from that, not much of interest happened today. All the food went well and seemed to go down well with the chaps.

Adrian & Dave are making great progress with their latest wax creation- a model of one of the fountains from 'The field of the cloth of gold' painting........which WILL flow with wine!?! I am taking plenty of pictures and video so you'll get to see how it progressed when i get back into the land of internet connctions.

I doubt i'll post tomorrow (but you never know) as we have a small get together tomorrow evening.....keep watching the skies........well, this blog at least.

....And Still They Come!

Day 4 done and dusted.....we didn't find out the ticket sales figures today, but i'd be surprised if we hadn't topped 10,000 for the holiday weekend....here's hoping the numbers keep that way for the rest of the week.

Today was a hard slog....what with cooking dinner and supper for today, we also had to cook most of tomorrow's dinner as well (it would take far too long to do it tomorrow); I don't know about the rest of the guys but I'm sure that I deserve a pint tonight!!
It didn't help matters that two dishes went slightly awry either. The trayne roste kept falling off the spit so we gave up on it and made a custard instead-it turns out that Ross tried to tie it to the spit without any help and consequently couldn't tie it on tight enough; then the chickens got all leary with us,so to speak!?! Although they were organic birds they suffered from the preparation techniques used nowadays and had all the firmness and intact bones of someone who had welched on a deal with a loan shark! This meant that it wouldn't go onto the spit....so we boiled it instead.

Other than that....not too bad a day. Tomorrow sees the rest of the staff of the Palace back from their holiday weekend, as well as new food deliveries for us- early start as I think the butcher is due at 8.00 a.m.

Hopefully we'll also get some more time tomorrow to take temperature readings of the food and the kitchen. From the quick readings today it looks like they could be quite interesting.

If You Cook It....They WILL Come!!

Wow...another day with over 3000 hopefully happy visitors........and it feels like we spoke to every one of them!!

Again, all the dishes we cooked were successful and everyone was really happy to be back onto a meat based diet.

That's all I'm going to write today I think as I am absolutely exhausted and off for a drink, a beef bun and an early night. More news tomorrow though...........fingers crossed.

The end of Lent.

Still no real joy on the technology front, but I have worked out a 'work around' solution that will at least allow me to type the blog out as opposed to writing it with the stylus on my PDA! (not sure how the formatting will appear though.)
Today didn't seem as busy as yesterday; there were great periods throughout the day when there were only a handful of people in the kitchen as opposed to yesterday when it was absolutely manic at times. We did however have a crowd of people from about 3.00 p.m. right through until the close of the Palace unlike yesterday when it was really quite dead. In fact yesterday was the first time that we can recall not having any public to talk to at the start of the meal, they did however begin to gather as soon as the food was on the table. Being quiet also meant that we had plenty of time to talk and answer questions and get on with the cookery so for us I think it was a great day.....and I would hope that all our visitors had as good a day as well.

Again, today's meals ran like clockwork, all dishes successfully cooked and to the table for the allotted times. We've started trying to re appraise some of the recipes that we're doing this week..taking a closer look at the actual wording used and trying to look with clearer understanding at what we are being told. The sweet version of Soupes Dorye is a case in point:
¶ Soupes dorye.
¶Take gode almaunde mylke y-draw wyth wyn, an let hem boyle to-gederys, an caste þer-to Safroun an Salt; an þan take Paynemayn, an kytte it an toste it, an wete it in wyne, an ley it on a dysshe, an caste þe syrip þer-on. And þan make a dragge of powder Gyngere, Sugre, canel, Clowes, Maces, an caste þer-on When it is y-dressid, an serue þanne forth for a potage gode.

In the past we have taken the word 'syrip' to imply that sugar is added to the almond milk and wine......and jolly nice that is. Today we left the sugar out and created a syrup by reduction of the liquids. When we tasted the results before the spice dredge was applied both Robin and I were sure that we had created a disaster because my God was it awful!?! However, once fully completed the finished dish was really quite good, with somewhat of a sweet/sour edge to it.
Dish of the day for me was Myle in Rapeye:
¶Myle in Rapeye.
¶Take Fygys & wasche hem clene, and boyle hem in wyne, & grynd hem smal, & draw hem vppe with þe Wyne þat þey were sothyn in; þan take flowre of Rys, & Wyne, & draw þorw a straynoure, & do þer-to pouder Gynger, Canelle, Mace, Quybibe, & þen take Freyssche Samoun, oþer Pike or gode Freyssche Codlyng; seþe it wyl, & pike owt þe bonys; þan take perys y-coryd, & grynde hem ryth smal & wyl with þe Fyssche; þan take hard olkys of Eyroun soþin, & grynd it wyth-al, & do it in-to þin veselle, & take with Sugre & pouder Gynger, & meng it with þe farcere wyl, & presse hem to-gederys; þan make a gode bature of Almaunde mylke & Floure, & do þer-in, & frye hem wyl in Oyle, & ley hem yn a dyssche, & pore on þe Sew, & serue forth.

Which taste very much like Thai style fish cakes....superb....and once again what we thought could be the end result was far from the truth......we were thinking that the fig and wine sauce would really overpower the fish balls/cakes but much to our surprise it was just the right complement to the fishy cakes.
Much as I did at Christmas I intend to post up all the recipes after the event but will continue to pop the odd one up for all to see as and when needed.
Well that's lent over with now for another cookery year.......tomorrow....bring on the meat!!

Good Friday

..and it was, with just over 3600 tickets.

This is a very short post as due to technical problems i'm sending this via my PDA and mobile phone!!!
Hopefully, normal service will be resumed soon.

Suffice to say that all went well, all meals on the table on time and no casualties.

Hopefully i'll sort the problems out for tomorrow.

Cryptic Post..............All Is Revealed?!?!?!

contrary to what my colleague Robert thinks our most common question is NOT 'Why is Daves head that shape?'

It is in fact 'Do they sell that recipe book anywhere?' referring to the recipe book that we use when cooking at hampton court.
Here's a lousy photograph of one of the books:

It really doesn't do it justice, suffice to say I made 3 of these for us to use in front of the public; they're printed on laid paper, hand sewn then hand bound in pigskin. There are a lot of comprimises involved - the paper is modern, they were printed on a laser printer and so on, but they're a pretty good approximation of the real thing and are a good point of interaction between us and the visitors.

Over the last few years of using these books in front of the public I've lost count of the number of times that people have asked if they can buy a copy somewhere. Apart from a couple of people who were adamant that cost was not a consideration and really wanted a handmade book, the majority of people want a modern version of these books.
After numerous meetings where this was mentioned, Hampton Court finally decided that there wouldn't be enough demand for such a book and if i wanted to produce one then that was entirely up to me!

So the cryptic posts referred to :


The recipe book from our cookery events printed in a modern version.

Unfortunately there is a catch in that I am still waiting for the proof copy to arrive before I can authorise it for sale.

I've knocked together a very rough & ready website with more detail on here or you can click on the big picture link now at the top of the column on the right. (sorry, lots of text, not many pictures!)

As soon as everything is ready to go, which should be in a few days time, then the link will take you straight to the website where you can buy the book rather than my pathetic attempt at a web site!
Please have a look and do look at ALL the information there as it should explain more than I can fit into a post here.

Gentlemen....Start Your Engines....

So we rush headlong into the Easter cookery that starts on Friday and lasts until Sunday 15th - If you're able to pop to Hampton Court and see us in action then I'd encourage you to do so, if nothing else you'll be able to see if the grand menu plan has resulted in my early demise at the hands of the rest of the team!!

Tomorrow will be a jam packed day. Arrive at Hampton Court and receive the deliveries, make sure everything has been delivered then put it all in its places (fridges, shelves and cupboards). After that, when the rest of the guys arrive, we'll start work on washing all of the ceramic and bronze stuff that's been out on display since the Christmas event. A short break for a meeting with the boss, then back to it..finishing the cleaning then setting the kitchen up ready to start first thing on Friday.

I'll be taking pictures and video over the week, much like i did at Christmas if you were reading the blog then. The problem is how much access i have to the Internet over the week!!
I'm under the assumption that I'll only have a connection via my mobile phone and dial up which means only posting text and no images over the week I'm afraid. It is possible, but not probable that one of the chaps will also bring his own laptop and 3G data card as he did at Christmas, in which case normal service will continue (If I can sweet talk him into being able to use it)......just don't count on it.....I'm not as i can't get hold of him at the moment to ask.

Anyhow, all will be revealed tomorrow and you'll know as soon as I do.

I'm aiming to post the same sort of stuff that I did at Christmas, each day's menus along with general comments on how things have gone, hopefully on a daily basis but that will depend on so many things as the week progresses.

Off to pack my bags now ready for the off......more postings as and when over the next 10 days or so....including the one above!!