On our last day at camp, the sun came out and transformed our little meadow.
What had been a fairly grey and drizzly weekend in the country suddenly rose from the damp ashes to become a glorious golden phoenix.
Ok, so I might be laying it on a bit thick but when you’re camping these things really do make all the difference!
Jeans and wellies were swapped for dresses and bare feet (and dresses and wellies when required) as we all soaked up the Sunday sunshine.
While I may have taken charge of the food for the weekend, Harry did us proud with games.
Out of nowhere he produced a cricket bat, balls and off we went.
Taking it in turns to bat, field and bowl.
All promising not to hit any out of the park, to try and avoid rustling through the bushes in search of lost balls.
Which naturally Harry immediately flouted!
Sending Dad and Teddy running!
Much to everyone’s amusement.
We played on.
Much to Custard’s delight.
Not taking the competitive nature terribly seriously.
I think it’s fair to say that the England Cricket Team don’t need to worry about their spots on the team any time soon.
Although I have to say, mum was outstanding in her field.
She’d make quite the catch!
Hot and thirsty, we spread out the picnic blanket and cracked open the cider.
A well earned break and the perfect treat.
Family time is always special, but it seemed especially so as we’d all relaxed so much over the weekend.
Having spent our time offline, away from work with nothing but our books to distract us, it felt as though we’d been away for weeks rather than days.
Shortly before our cricket game I had sneakily made a head start on lunch.
Wrapping a few potatoes in foil and leaving them in the embers to bake. And a little further away from the heat I left a couple bunches of carrots wrapped up in foil with a pat of butter and grind of salt ‘n’ pepper to steam away.
Pretty sure they’d be done after a couple of hours snuggled up in the heat, I threw a few steaks onto the grill.
Finished them off with a good dollop of butter.
And served the lot with some salsa verde I’d made at home. (Recipe here – it goes with everything!)
We all settled in to a long, lazy lunch under the dappled shade of the ancient oak.
Complete with fluffy, buttery baked potatoes.
Thank you very much, embers!
For pudding (Sunday lunch isn’t Sunday lunch without pudding) I tried out a new idea.
Campfire Dutch Oven Crumble
1 cup almond flour
1 cup flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp nutmeg
Pinch of salt
6 apples (cubed)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (cubed)
1/2 cup liquid (apple juice, cider or water)
Do at home:
Combine almond flour, flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt in large jar. Shake. Pack.
Do at camp:
Chop up your apples and pop into dutch oven with your sugar, butter and liquid of choice. Top with the topping you made at home.
Cover and place onto a ring of coals, cover lid in coals and bake for 20mins.
After 20 mins use the Dutch oven lid lifter to carefully remove the top.
Spoon into bowls and serve with lashings of cream.
Sunday afternoon perfection.
After a long snooze in the shade of the trees, we all packed up and headed back to civilisation.
Completely revitalised and rejuvenated after our weekend in the wilderness.
