We always offer our guests a little something on arrival - a cup of tea and a slice of home-made cake, a fresh scone, a plate of home made or locally produced biscuits and cookies.  Yum.  Alternatively, we offer a complimentary glass of wine - maybe a warming red in winter or a crisp, cool white in the garden for summer.   Someone has to test all this cake ...........................

and that someone is me.  It is one of my favourite tasks to research cake recipes and then test them as well as spotting locally made items which are also delicious.  So this summer we have a selection of cakes and you could be greeted by any one of them on arrival.

Our list this year  includes the ever popular, and sometimes mystifying to the none Yorkshire folk, Yorkshire Parkin - a delicious sticky, ginger number which can make a great pudding as well with banana and custard.

The second cake that we have used for a few years is a fruit cake which includes in its ingredients a tin of crushed pineapple.  This is not a pineapple flavoured cake but it does make a lovely, moist, luscious fruit cake.

Appearances are also made by my Elmfield Dundee style cake which has a good wallop of very untraditional Cointreau - yummy and it is so popular I have sent guests home with the recipe more times than I care to remember!

We also love a good Victoria Sponge which allows us to reflect the changing seasons with different jam fillings.  We use a lot of locally produced Rosebud Preserves jams and my favourite summer filling is Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam with whipped cream laced with a hint of elderflower cordial.

Scones make a regular appearance as well - good old fashioned fruit and my personal favourite of Apricot and Amaretto.

I am happy to share recipes with guests and they go all over the world.  I have an apple and walnut cake made with olive oil that is doing the rounds in the south, the Isle of Wight and Guernsey with my name attached to it and a Lemon Drizzle Cake which has gone to Slovakia as Astra's Cake!!

We look forward to greeting you with a teapot in one hand and a plate of cake in the other.

Spring is in the air and there is snow in Scotland and it all feels a little unseasonal.

I know it must be spring as Ian has had to give the lawn its first light trim but it looks like the second trim may be some way off.  The ground is, once more, a bit waterlogged and we don't want to leave tyre marks in the surface of the lawn to try and level off over the summer.  We have had some lovely warm days where we have been able to take the rugs of  the horses for a few hours and get some air and sun to their skin.  They really appreciate this and show it by finding the last remaining patch of mud to get down and have a good old roll.  I know from the horsey point of view this feels great and is good management for their coat but does give us a HUGE brushing job before we can put the rugs back on!

I know it must be spring because the daffodils are now coming out, but are very late, and the flowering currant is coming into bloom.  There are green shoots a plenty and Chris, the milkman, says he has seen blackbirds carrying worms.  Out of my window I can see the annual starlings collecting for their nest - only the best will do and it is fascinating to watch them reject a number of small twigs before being happy enough with their selection to fly off to the nest site.

I know it must be spring because the shops are stuffed with daffodils, tulips and reduce price Easter eggs.  There is an abundance of floral tops and spring pastel colour clothes to herald in the new season.

But it is hard to believe that spring is here when the weather forecasters are using phrases like "severe weather warning" and talking about people being rescued from their cars.  I know Scotland and Ireland are bearing the brunt of it at the moment but I am keeping my fingers crossed for a sunny and fresh Easter weekend that will get us all out into the fresh air and blowing those winter cobwebs away once and for all.

I have fallen in love.   Head over heels with Bentley.

We had a short holiday in January and having escaped the snow here for a while came back to find a thaw well in progress.  And how surprised was I to see that as the snow receded there was evidence of new life in progress.