Walking East Stoke's lanes: October 2024

This month not only is this post almost on the schedule I set myself it covers three separate walks - all of which took us in different directions, unlike last month’s post which only had a single walk. Some months are like that, and that’s ok. It’s also true that two of this month’s walks involved lunch out, once at the pub in the next village and another at the farm shop in the other direction - and that’s more than ok by me too.

Let’s start with a walk towards Elston, stopping briefly to admire the tyre track patterns in one of the muddy fields along Moor Lane.

MOOR LANE

It was only the first week of the month but already the rosehips and sloes were very much in evidence - reminding me that last year I foraged some rosehips to bring inside, and which ending up lasting until Christmas and became part of my Christmas decorations. It’s a bit early for that, but Christmas preparations seem to get earlier and earlier each year - that’s definitely something you don’t want to ask MOH about - or maybe you do, who knows.

ALONG THE PATH TO ELSTON

The leaves were already turning quite red in places and it was a joy to see - I think autumn and its leaves are one of my most favourite things, and these really did make me smile. The leaves in both of these pictures were glistening from recent rainfall, though thankfully the path itself was easily walkable and free from mud much to my delight.

Lunch at the pub was good too - steak and ale pies, and a much slower walk home. A few days later we were out again, this time heading down School Lane, along Church Lane and towards the River Trent, still dodging the puddles.

CHURCH LANE

TO THE JETTY…

There were of course stops to admire the views and the plants growing in the hedgerows. And this time knowing that there is a jetty - we first saw this in June - we purposely looked for it, though there was a small gap there was very little jetty on show!

We stopped by the church yard on the way back to pick up some conkers - my forage activity for the autumn - and as the sun had come out also took a look inside. This statue on top of Baron Pauncefote’s grave is particularly impressive; as was he - he was the first ambassador to the US, who was buried here after dying in Washington in 1902.

Our third and final jaunt out involved more lunch and was one of those ‘break in the showers, let’s get out’ type of opportunities. There was a chance they’d start again at any point, but thankfully mostly held off. This time we headed down Moor Lane and then turned off towards Thorpe, retracing our steps later that afternoon.

Thorpe is a pretty village and even in October there were flowers in the gardens - and in the case of the hollyhocks escaping the gardens, that we passed.

Heading out the other side of the village these twin trees caught my eye initially but then I saw the gates, which immediately reminded me of the gates we’d seen while walking in Portugal.

On our return journey - and still managing to stay just about dry - we spotted some workmen at the top of one of the pylons. Definitely rather them than me!

And then we spotted clusters of mushrooms, and wished we knew anything about mushrooms - though I’m not sure I’d ever be brave enough to try any, even if I was pretty sure what they were - would you?

Thanks for joining me this month, if you enjoyed this post you may also like to see all of the posts in this series or some previous series where I revisit the same place - there’s my year in Greenwich Park and remember that time when I followed a tree?

Making green tomato chilli ketchup

Years ago I made the best green tomato chilli ketchup but somehow lost the printed copy of the recipe and I’ve been kicking myself ever since, especially as the recipe was removed from the website I’d found it on. Sigh. This year when dad said did I want any green tomatoes I searched harder online for something similar to the previous recipe - and found this Green Tomato Recipe on the From The Larder website, and it gets a huge thumbs up from me.

And of course with anything made with green tomatoes - fresh bright green tomatoes go in, and ends up as something more brown - but don’t let that put you off.

No really don’t.

This has a great taste and is so useful. I love it alongside roasted squash and rice and even in sandwiches.

The recipe calls for 1kg of green tomatoes, and while I had a lot from dad (and I mean a lot) some had ripened as they sat alongside the already red ones and so had made their way into roasted tomato pasta sauce and subsequently the freezer, I was still a few short. And this handful topped me up to the full kilo - a quick last picking from my own tomato plants and I was good to go.

There’s a bit of chopping involved as you’d expect, but nothing too onerous. And don’t they look so fresh and vibrant?

I debated (with myself, in my head!) about if I should use my preserving pan or not. And in the end the logical answer of ‘you’re preserving so why the heck not’ won out, and I’m so glad I did.

It is a large pan, and even though the amount of ketchup I was making was relatively small using this pan meant I was confident it would all fit in and there’d be no risk of anything bubbling over.

In preparation I’d even saved one of those almost 700g passata jars, but I didn’t use that in the end instead opting for smaller jars. I mean, it often takes me more than one attempt to use all the passata and I knew I’d be using the ketchup in smaller amounts, so it made sense to fill smaller jars.

This is very much like the recipe I remembered and I’m so pleased to have found it, and to have had the green tomatoes. I think next time I’d probably add more than one green chilli, and would consider adding some grated ginger too for an extra bit of zing, but that’s for next time when no doubt I’ll have lost the recipe again.

We’re already almost through one of the smallest jars, with the others safely stored on the top shelf of my pantry. And I couldn’t be happier!

I'm impressed with my Shark

What is it they say about age and getting excited about household appliances? Well, whatever it is I’ve a feeling it could be true…

Since we moved here - to a house with mainly carpets - it’s been clear that our well used and much loved little vacuum was struggling. It’s still great on the Karndean flooring but with the majority of our new house carpeted, it really was hard work to vacuum, so much so that instead of blitzing the job as we would previously, it made more sense to tackle a room at a time.

In the end though I had to agree with MOH - we needed a new vacuum.

Though a quick search of prices left my eyes wide open, as did all the options and permeations available. So nothing happened for quite a while as it was just too tricky. However we were in Nottingham a month or so ago and actually looked at vacuum cleaners, in person. Unsurprisingly this helped narrow the field a lot, but we still left without one thinking that we could probably pick one up a bit cheaper online, or at least have it delivered and avoid carrying it home.

But that didn’t work out so well, or not immediately anyway - as our ‘chosen one’ was out of stock everywhere I looked, even on the maker’s website. I signed up for the ‘tell me when it’s back in stock emails’ but nothing ever arrived, so I took this to mean that the model was being retired and hopefully replaced.

It wasn’t all bad news though as we’d identified we wanted a Shark. We’ve had good vacuums in the past - a Dyson (which has been retired to the garage) and a Hoover, which had been promoted to our first choice. Both have served us well, but it was time for something new. And the Shark cleaners were new to us.

Our must haves were:

1. Be able to remove the battery and charge this independently of the vacuum cleaner.

2. Be able to deal with a lot of carpet, but also hard flooring.

3. Two batteries.

4. Store compactly.

5. Noise - nothing too high pitched and screechy.

6. Not cost the earth.

For me number 1 and number 5 were really important. One because I like our current arrangement of storing the cleaner in our plant room, and being able to charge the batteries separately. This ruled out a Dyson as I didn’t want the vacuum on show in our utility room, where we have a spare power socket (or to have the faff of getting a socket put in where we store the cleaner). And five because, our Dyson hurts my ears; the Hoover is better noise-wise but the Shark we tested in the shop was at a much lower pitch, so that worked in its favour too.

I’d expect all vacuums to manage my second and fourth requirements, but it’s worth making sure isn’t it - some claim to, and are, better than others. Having two batteries means that if the battery does run out on you, you can still carry on - maybe not a blessing every time, but useful if you want to finish off cleaning a room.

And number six, well - we can’t have everything can we?

It was definitely worth signing up to the ‘tell me when it’s back in stock emails’ as while I’d already clocked that Black Friday (which seems to last at least a week now) was approaching and was hoping that I might be lucky with that final option on our wish list. And it turned out to be a good choice, as one of the emails that arrived promised ‘early access to Black Friday deals’.

I was right when I’d assumed the model we looked at no longer existed, but I found one - the Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro Cordless Vacuum [Double Battery] IZ420UKT - that had similar details to the photo of the tag from the shop. And so, around 7.30pm I ordered that, which was also £150 cheaper than we’d seen in person.

What I wasn’t expecting was for it to be delivered by 11am the next day. But it was. That was impressive.

I set about unboxing it, putting it together and trying it out. I was still impressed.

Over the next day or so we vacuumed the whole house. We were still impressed.

Although I’m both impressed and slightly depressed about how much dirt it’s picked up - oops! And it’s worth noting that it’s heavier than either of our previous vacuums.

So back to my list of must haves - we’ve achieved all of these, which is great news. I know it’s only a fortnight or so since it arrived but I have no regrets, and I’ve a few learnings too:

1. The delivery experience from Shark (we bought directly from their website) was exceptional.

2. This doesn’t come with a manual, which was ok - and there’s enough information printed on the box, but if you like all the details it’s worth checking what’s included. I’ve ended up cutting out and keeping part of the box - and storing with the accessories, so I remember what they’re all for.

   So far for me it’s been a bout straight up vacuuming, I haven’t branched out into the accessories yet - but it comes with a multi-surface tool, anti-allergen brush, 12” crevice tool and a motorised pet tool with a handy storage bag.

3. The ‘flexology bends’ means it gets under the furniture much more easily than I anticipated, and retains its full power while doing so.

4. It senses and automatically adjusts when there’s more dirt to pick up from where you’re cleaning, and shows this on the floorhead, the noise intensity also changes - but even better, it reverts when the dirt has gone.

   We had the ideal opportunity to test this when MOH wanted to see how it opened and hadn’t quite made it to the bin in time! It was like one of those 1970s ads, but for real!

5. One thing I wasn’t prepared for, and I’m still not sure about is the suction pads on the bottom of the battery charger. They have good suction, and I guess it means it will stay where you put it - but mine is currently on a paper bag while I work out exactly where it will live.

   I’ve a feeling it may get an upgrade to something fancier than a paper bag at some point, as I’m not sure I want it stuck in place if I’m honest.

We chose the Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro Cordless Vacuum [Double Battery] IZ420UKT

So all in all, it’s been a great experience - and one that has made keeping our house clean slightly easier, and quicker too. And we remain impressed.

FYI: This isn’t an ad, but I shared some pictures on Instagram Stories and had so many questions that I’m sharing everything on my blog, as a quick and easy way to provide answers.

And yes, we are now a three vacuum household - which is something I’m still coming to terms with…