Mary Berry (or Saint Mary as we now call her) has a delicious and really simple recipe for a crunchy top lemon cake.

100g Margarine

175g Caster Sugar

175g Self Raising Flour

1tsp baking powder

2 eggs

4 tablespoons milk

Grated rind of 1 lemon

Beat everything together for 2 minutes until smooth.

Level into a base lined 18cm tin

Bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes

When just out of the oven pour over juice of 1 lemon mixed with 100g caster sugar.

Leave to cool in tin.

Eat with a cup of tea.

A couple of months ago I won 6 duck eggs on e-bay.  After a month in the incubator 5 eggs hatched.  Now 4 weeks after hatching it is hard to believe they were ever able to fit inside an egg.

They are running free in the farmyard now drinking and eating just as much as they possibly can.

Andy and Ian tending the hive

The bee hive has been keeping Andy buzzy this summer (please excuse all bee puns).  This picture shows Andy and Ian feeding the bees.  The bees have all bee-haved really well – making a bee-line for the meadow flowers and fruit blossom.  Andy has learnt to bee careful when checking up on his swarm. He has now put a fence around the bee hive to stop Clifford the dog sticking his nose into the hive – again!

Thank you to Gail for bee-ing brave enough to take the photo.

Southdown Sheep

Our 4 Southdown ewes have now settled in on the farm.  They are a local breed of sheep which are quite compact and have beautiful furry faces and legs.  We are planning to keep these lambs and breed from them  to start a small flock of pure Southdown sheep.  If all goes according to plan we are hoping to have lambs born on the farm in spring 2011.

Thank you to Joke and Susan for the picture.

Today the Marine Conservation Society announced its list of clean beaches. Although the news isn’t great, there are still some lovely beaches near Elmfield to visit. A full list of can be found at http://www.goodbeachguide.co.uk/

We would recommend sandy beaches at Dymchurch 20 minutes away, or Joss Bay near Margate 45 minutes. Hythe just 10 minutes away has a lovely shingle beach with sandpit play areas, and a promanade all the way to Folkestone.

Sometimes Andy and I end up doing things that we never in our lives believe we would ever do. Take yesterday – our friend Natalie who is fantastic with all animals offered to shear our Alpacas, so we spent the afternoon and into the evening shearing our very woolly coated boys.

Alpaca Shearing at Elmfield Farm Cottages

We started with Gorgeous George as we thought he would be the most amenable. In fact he turned out to be a bit of a pickle as he has ticklish legs, but with a blanket over his eyes and his nose in a bucket of food and a lot of Natalie patience we got there.

Ben was next, well behaved although he did insist on lying down for his haircut.

Elvis who had never been halter trained before was a star. Once he got used to the halter he stood and seemed to enjoy the whole thing.

A huge thank you to Natalie, and to John. John added insult to injury to the Alpacas by vaccinating them on the same day as shearing.

Needless to say Ben, George and Elvis are not talking to me today, but seem to be enjoying rolling in dust baths and soaking up the sun.

We now have around 18lbs of wool. I have ordered a book on how to spin!

Baby Lamb at Elmfield Farm Cottages near Canterbury

Our 2 Southdown cross lambs have been doing very well.  They are growing fast now, and really enjoy drinking their milk.  Children young and old seem to enjoy feeding them, but as you can see they are not the tidiest of eaters!

Thank you to Ian and Gail for this picture!

Bank holiday Monday was supposed to be hot so we booked a table in the garden of The Hop Pocket.  About 4 miles from Elmfield, this pretty pub has recently been taken over by new owners.  The inside is bright but still has character, but as we had 4 children and 2 dogs with us the garden was the place to be! This has been revamped with giant Connect4, Chess and Jenga toys and a see saw.

The menu although short was really nice pub food, and everyone found something they liked – broccoli soup, juicy burgers, ham,egg and chips and curry.  Wherever possible the food is locally sourced and hand made to order.  I also loved the fact that children chose from the adult menu and had half size portions at half the adult price.  The food was tasty and very reasonable – we would certainly recommend it.

Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday Lunchtimes get very busy so it is worth booking a table.

The Hop Pocket,  Bossingham  CT4 6DY Tel: 01227 709866

Visit Britain have produced a list of discounts available for visitor attractions in Kent.  These range from Credit Crunch Lunch offers with the National Trust to where to get 20% discount on entry to the two closest wildlife parks Port Lympne and Howletts.  Click here for more information.

Yesterday we acquired another couple of lambs.  These are just 4 days old and are being bottled fed as their mother had triplets but didn’t have enough milk to keep them all fed.  They are Southdown crosses so they are very woolly and extremely cute.  They are getting more stable on their legs. I am amazed that they can drink  1/2 a pint four times a day.  I hope this means they will soon grow into their woolly coats which look a little oversized at the moment.

We have made a nice den for them in the barn with lots of straw – but the weather was so lovely today that I put them in the field with the older lambs.  They all got on very well, playing chase, doing mad lamb jumps in the air and trying to eat grass like big sheep, before settling down to snooze in the sun.

Ben George and Elvis the Alpacas look over at them from their paddock and aren’t quite sure what to make of them!

Our new lambs have come from Cuckoos Pit Farm in Woodchurch – a small organic farm producing delicious free range lamb, chicken, beef and pork.