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The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...
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Blueberry-Nut Loaf Cake


Blueberry season has arrived. They are abundant in our region. I have thought about going to one of the local farms where you can pick them yourself but they are readily available at grocery stores and farmer's markets. I purchased berries that were grown in Salem, Oregon and that had already been frozen. They were delicious!

This recipe is from Maida Heatter's Cakes.

 1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 TBS unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup orange juice
Grated zest of two large oranges
1 1/4 cups walnut pieces

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 10 1/2 x 4 x 3 inch or 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Dust with fine bread crumbs.

Wash the berries and allow them to completely dry. When dry, toss the berries with one teaspoon of flour.


Sift together the remaining flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Beat the egg and mix in the orange juice and butter. On low speed, gradually add the sifted dry ingredients. Stir in the orange rind and the nuts.



Place 1/4 of the mixture in the pan. Fold the berries into the remaining batter. Place this mixture over the first layer and smooth the top.



Bake for 60-70 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully removing it from the pan. Allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.

 Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Lisa at GreenbowJuly 24, 2018 at 11:59 AM

    My mouth is watering! Not only does it sound good it looks good.

    ReplyDelete

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