#Sally Lunn buns

[beebees-photography]

Visited Bath yesterday. After The Roman Baths, we had a wander around Bath to soak in some of the sites. We have the Pulteney Bridge (Georgian, one of 4 bridges across the world to have shops across full span on both sides), Bath Abbey, The Circus (Georgian - historic ring of large townhouses), Sally Lunn's Historic Eating House & Museum (Oldest house in Bath - 1483) and The Royal Crescent (Georgian - sweeping crescent of 30 houses)

[bibleofficial]

bath is such a tourist trap 😭😭 the roman baths were neat but that’s literally all there is

[peterpecksen]

Time Flys

Wow! When Karen told me we needed to start packing today I was honestly surprised. In the last 2.5 weeks we have had three amazing house sits with a liberal dose of challenges and wonderful discoveries. While we were in Chertsey we enjoyed a wonderful variety of weather which made photography a joy. The view of the Chertsey Bridge was different every time we took the dogs out for a stroll. A…

[desertdollranch]

It's bread baking day at the Merriman household, and Felicity is happy to have her friend Elizabeth helping out with the tedious chore. Today they're making loaves of Sally Lunn bread, a soft and dense loaf rich with eggs and sugar, reminiscent of French brioche.

The recipe comes from Felicity's Cookbook, which I've owned for years and have used quite often. I made this bread for the very first time this week, and I was very happy with how it turned out. It's soft, flavorful, and doesn't require any kneading. As much I as I enjoyed it, I don't think it will ever be my go-to bread recipe, since it's so exceedingly rare for me to have eggs, milk, butter, and sugar in my kitchen all at the same time!

Unlike Felicity, I never learned to make bread when I was her age. When I grew up and moved out into my own place, I brought my childhood copy of Kirsten's Cookbook, and the recipe for whole wheat round bread was what got me started and helped me learn to make my own bread instead of buying it. I've been doing that ever since. I even taught my mom to make homemade bread, which had always intimidated her.

Felicity's Cookbook mentions that the origin of the name "Sally Lunn" is not known for certain. It might come from the French words "soleil-lune" which means "sun-moon", or "sol et lune" (sun and moon) due to the golden top (sun) and white interior (moon). I checked to see if this is still a mystery 30+ years after Pleasant Company published this book, and apparently it still is. The Sally Lunn Eating House in Bath, England claims that the recipe originated from a French Huguenot refugee named Solange Luyon, whose name was then Anglicized as Sally Lunn, but there's still no solid evidence of this being true either.

In the UK, Sally Lunn bread is usually made as buns, while in the American South it's a loaf made in a round or tube pan. I thought it would be cute to make it in doll-sized mini loaf pans so Felicity and Elizabeth could help.

The recipe is below the cut, with a few of my (experienced bread baker) adaptations.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup milk 1/4 cup warm water 1 package active dry yeast 6 tablespoons butter, softened 3 tablespoons sugar 2 eggs 3 cups flour 1 & 1/4 teaspoons salt Shortening or butter to grease the pans

Here are the mini loaf pans I used. Or you can use just one standard sized tube pan or loaf pan, but the minis are cuter and in my experience the bread turns out better in small loaves.

Directions:

Measure the milk in a saucepan and warm it over medium low heat. Turn off the heat.

Measure the warm water into a small bowl. Add the yeast and stir. Then stir the warm milk into the yeast and water. Always use WARM water and milk only, NOT HOT liquids. Yeast is alive and temperatures above 140F will kill the yeast.)

Measure the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat them together with a hand mixer or whisk until they are creamy and soft.

Crack 1 egg into the mixing bowl and beat it into the butter and sugar mixture until it's well blended and creamy. Then do the same with the second egg.

Stir in about 1/3 of the yeast and milk mixture into into the butter and sugar mixture, then add the salt and 1 cup of flour.

Once these are all mixed together, do the same with the second cup of flour and another 1/3 of the yeast mixture. Then do the same with the last cup of flour and last 1/3 of the yeast mixture. Mix it all together until it's soft dough with no lumps. If it feels too dry to mix, add one or two tablespoons of milk until it's soft and mixable.

Scoop 1/3 of the batter into each of your three greased mini loaf pan. Or into the single pan.

Cover the pan(s) and let the dough rise for about an hour in a warm place. On the kitchen counter is fine. Or set it in the oven but do not turn the oven on. Don't put it in the fridge or anywhere cold.

After an hour, turn on the oven and pre-heat it to 350 degrees.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes if you're making three small loaves. Keep a close eye on them and take them out once the tops are a nice golden brown, like in my pictures. If you're making a single loaf in a single pan, it will take closer to 45 minutes to bake. Keep an eye on that as well and take it out the moment the top is golden brown.

Let the bread cool off for a few minutes. It will continue to cook on the inside as it cools, so let that happen before cutting a slice with a serrated bread knife.

[starspray]

I made Sally Lunn buns out of the Tasting History cookbook today and they are so good

[cookwithcheffrancis]

BATH BUN|HOW TO MAKE BATH BUNS|BATH BUNS|BATH BUNS RECIPE|BUNS RECIPE|BR...

[kittydeblair]

Chá com Mr. Darcy em Bath

O Salão de Chá Regency, parte do imperdível Jane Austen Centre, é o lugar perfeito para provar um chá da tarde como faziam Jane e suas heroínas.

Peça o popular “Chá com Mr Darcy”. Ele inclui mini-sanduíches, bolinhos quentinhos com creme coalhado de Dorset, geleia e um bule de chá. E mantenha os olhos abertos - você pode ver o próprio cavalheiro passando por ali. Você pode entrar no salão de chá gratuitamente, mas vale a pena comprar o ingresso para visitar todo o centro. Além de uma estátua de cera em tamanho natural de Jane, feita por um artista forense, você também vai encontrar uma coleção de roupas em estilo Regência para experimentar.

Para um lembrancinha local antes de pegar o trem, compre um paõzinho doce de Bath, o Bath Bun, da Sally Lunn’s . Dizem que era um dos doces favoritos da escritora.

Como chegar: Bath fica a 90 minutos de Londres em viagem de trem.

[indigo-a-creeping]

Sally Lunn’s is the oldest house in Bath, with a restaurant on the first floor and a little museum/bakery in the basement.  The bread’s very light and fluffy, a lot like brioche!

[dasistleeway]

had lunch at this historic restaurant...dated back to 1680, how could we resist as tourists...their famous “bunn” was indeed fluffy, whether it was with butter, salt beef, or steak & mushroom, all yummy!...

[oumaheroes]

hii its bougie <3 if you're still taking hc requests, i was wondering if you'd have thoughts on something that's been on my mind for a while. i was interested in the nuance to english culture due to regional differences. eg.,dinner being called "tea" in the north of england, rugby being more popular in the south, the difference in how scones with jam and cream are enjoyed in Devon and Cornwall?? or how certain english accents are perceived as... "less attractive" i guess (the black country accents are unpopular apparently?) -- you'd probably know more about these particularities than me ;u;

i was wondering how these cultural differences might map onto hws England's character, and how they might influence his attitudes and behaviours. because there's such a clearly defined stereotype of the english that i think shape people's expectations of what the english are like, i usually think that Arthur usually consciously acts according to what counts as positive interpretations of himself. however, i love nuanced and somewhat subversive interpretations of his character, and am very curious if you might have any ideas on how these kind of internal regional differences might shape him.

--------------------

Bougieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee <3

I’m not gonna lie this sent me down a RABBIT HOLE of thoughts, so hang on tight cos we're gonna get messy.

Accents:

Let’s start with my personal favourite, so excuse me whilst I geek out for a second. I’ve gone into this area already in this headcanon, but I personally see England being a very proud little dragon regarding English accents, those both native and non-native to the British Isles. Focusing just on accents within England for this post, the way Arthur himself sees them, (regarding class and general preference), comes a lot down to how I see him feeling about language and the unification of England in general.

England is a tiny country. It’s really teeny, compared to some, and yet holds an incredible number of regional accents and dialects (from digging about the internet for a good source, I keep finding numbers ranging from 37 to 43). There are a number of reasons for this, but the one that I love the most is that accents are influenced by the previous/ influential other languages spoken in a given area. Accents on the East of England are more influenced by Viking invaders, both phonologically and via the dialectal words used, and accents/ dialects in the West are more influenced by Welsh, for example.

Accents and dialects tell the history of a place, all who ever came there and influenced it to some degree. The map of English accents is a patchwork quilt of old cultures and people now lost to time, but their ways of speaking have been preserved in the modern tongue. The old English kingdoms might now be mere counties- Kent, Essex, Sussex, East Anglia, etc- they may not have their own influence or language these days as they used to, but their old ways have been imprinted on their people of today whether they know it or not and they carry pieces of the past in their words and how they speak them. Older speakers of the Northern English dialects liek the Yorkshire dialect still use ‘thou/thee’ where this has fallen out in other areas, the Midlands and parts of the South-East still keep the ‘-n’ ending for possessive pronouns (‘yourn’ instead of ‘yours’, ‘ourn’ instead of ‘ours’), and there’s even some linguistic research into how Brittonic, the ancestor of Modern Welsh, influenced English structure and phonology (for references, see notes at the end).

Back to England the person (to contain myself slightly), his regional accents are a story of himself, his history being kept alive in all of its variety every day. He doesn’t hold a classist view of a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ accent because he knows why they’re all there- what languages and people influenced them and how these events affected him- the older generations now lost and forgotten being kept alive in the smallest of phonemes.

Every dialect, every accent, and every language tells the story of a people, from the smallest phonological marker right up to a language as a whole and England takes comfort and pride in his dialects and accents’ longevity and variety. He is as much of the North as he is the South, as much of the East as the West and a patchwork man born of patchwork cultures it makes no sense for him to favour one particular accent over another.

That being said, he is aware that there is a common cultural stance on accents as well as an opinion regarding ‘ugly’ ones, ‘common’ ones, and ‘classy’ ones, but he himself doesn’t partake in these ideas. I like to think that a nation takes on the speech of the people and the area they’re in, matching the person they speak to or the area they visit to relate to their people. So, for me a Chav Arthur exists as much as a Brummie one does, or a Scouser, or a Geordie, or a Cockney. They’re all English, and thus they’re all a part of him.

Class

I have to include this one, if only to touch on it lightly regarding accents and dialects. Class does influence which words you speak, arguably just as much as which accent (this is known as a sociolect). Although I said that England adopts the accent of whatever area he’s in, or whomever he’s talking to if they’re English, the class people are will also affect which words he choses to use.

Here’s a short example from here:

'It is pudding for the upper class. Dessert is sometimes used by upper middles, but afters and sweets very clearly put you below stairs.'

Have some more!

Upper class: Spectacles, Lavatory or loo, Die, Napkin, Sofa

Middle class: Glasses, Toilet , Pass on, Serviette, Settee or couch

(Working class is a mix but harder to find sources for).

This is where England treads a fine line. It could be that he again adopts more of a class lexicon regarding who he is speaking to, matching his people word for word. However, England is not unaware of the affects of class, regardless of how he himself feels, and also although class snobbery and divide frustrate him, he cannot deny using this understanding to benefit himself, which also conforms to how his own people behave. (I myself have, many times, diluted and filtered my speech to be seen as ‘better’).

Want to be seen as more reliable and powerful? Want to be taken more seriously? RP and Estuary English (a lot more so these days), hold undeniable sway and England is not above adopting a manner of speaking to come across ‘better’ or more polite, or a more ‘common’ accent to fit in with the working classes. I think of England as leaning more towards a working-class mindset- he’s very hands on, very up for and used to manual labour and this particular English class has always made up the bulk of his population. It makes no sense for a nation, who represents all of their people, to have a snide view or a preference for a particular group and England as a person I see is someone who does not enjoy the foppery and false airs of aristocracy.

That being said, England is an intelligent man. He knows how to work a room and use a crowd to his advantage, knows what must be done and what he needs to do to achieve a goal and if this entails courting the upper classes for a time then he will do so. He’s adepts at switching himself like a chameleon, blending his behaviours, accent, and dialect to match who he’s talking to to achieve a goal or to fit in with someone’s perception of him, or to gain influence or prestige. He also doesn’t hate his upper classes- they are of him too, and the middle and working class have their own prejudices and ideas against the others. But he doesn’t adopt a stereotypical distain of lower classes because to him, it really doesn’t make much sense.

Abroad, this need to cultivate a particular perception defiantly comes under greater pressure. RP and Estuary English are more well know, more heard and taught, and more recognisably ‘British’, and so these are what he uses when speaking English to other nations or foreigners, either wanting to uphold an image of himself (more so in the Victorian/ Edwardian period than nowadays) or just for the ease of being understood.

Regional Differences

Okay, this one is a lot more fun. Does England put in his milk first or last when making tea? Does he put jam first, or clotted cream when having a scone? Does he have chips with gravy, or curry sauce? Does he have dinner at 6, or 9? To marmite, or not to marmite.

Ah, that is the question, and England does not know the answer. Does he do what he does because that’s what he likes, or because that’s what his people do? He didn’t grow up with these habits, after all, they’re all relatively recent in his lifetime, and so these habits are defiantly things he cultures for a particular audience.

I’m not really sure if the above preferences are class based, (well, milk first when making tea is argued to be, but I can't find any sources I'd consider entirely credible. I put the ones I did find in the notes below, in case any one's interested), so it’s hard to get a sense of which one to use. Overall, it doesn’t matter which you do and neither is right or wrong, but the English feel strongly about them, one way or another, and often Arthur the man isn’t sure at all which one he himself actually thinks is better.

Food in another sense though is something he can be surer of. A Cornish pastie not from Cornwall is not worth eating, nor is a Bakewell tart outside of Bakewell. England can be very particular about this sort of thing and enjoys maintaining and supporting the ‘original’ flavour or recipe of a thing where he can, considering this to be the ‘best’. Sally Lunn Buns from Bath, Gypsy tarts from Kent, Eccles Cakes from Eccles.

England wants to preserve his food and culture and has what could be considered a snobbish view on the ‘best’ way of creating or eating his national foods. Some things he is more lenient with: he will eat cheddar cheese, whether or not it is from Cheddar, same from Cumberland sausages not from Cumbria. But he certainly has a preference and he is not afraid to voice this when asked for his opinion.

Okay, we're done

Phew! This had me digging out my old linguistic student brain. To anyone who has made it this far down, gosh golly miss molly thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the ride, and especially @prickyy who was kind enough to want to hear my opinions about all of this <3

----------------------------------------

Notes:

Brittonic influence on English:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittonicisms_in_English

https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?url=http://journals.mountaintopuniversity.edu.ng/English%2520Language/Celtic%2520Influences%2520in%2520English%2520A%2520Re-evaluation.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2ohDYdq3BoWImwHn6oWQAg&scisig=AAGBfm29zTF0FBCpd1KqDiAbjM-0X7nfoA&oi=scholarr (PDF)

https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar_url?url=http://www.oppi.uef.fi/wanda/unicont/abstracts/14ICEHL_MF.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2ohDYdq3BoWImwHn6oWQAg&scisig=AAGBfm3UvOXbJEb0b51J73eBnTJvgGaQOA&oi=scholarr (PDF)

Sociolects and class distinction within language in English:

https://languageawarenessbyrosalie.weebly.com/social-dialects.html

https://www.grin.com/document/313937

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English

Milk in tea first and the potential class reason:

https://www.theteaclub.com/blog/milk-in-tea/

https://qmhistoryoftea.wordpress.com/2017/05/11/milk-in-first-a-miffy-question/

[shadowydoes]

what I saw in Bath, jan 8 //

a wednesday is weird day to travel. and, when you receive and email that says, ‘travel to Bath’, is kind of odd. but, everything is worth it. pinky promise. The university was the one that organized this trip. and by that I mean, they transported us there and let us be free and wander around for hours. 

we checked out the Roman Baths, which I was excited. as you can all see. this temple was dedicated to Minerva (roman version of Athena, now you see?). getting here felt like a portal to Italy, specifically, Venice. then, we came back to England and walk around the city to this two places: the circus and royal crescent. one is an entire circle of the same squishy but tall house. in the middle was these gorgeous two big trees. the other one, that is a block away from the circus is incredible. 30 houses making a giant semicircle. in front of it, is a big big park that goes down the hill. from there, the royal crescent looks like a castle. the view is incredible. and guess what? actual people live there. the house in the middle is a hotel. we walked around more and more. until we found the Sally Lunn's house. the older house of the town. is a restaurant and a 'museum', rather tiny I shall say. it is known for these large buns. It looked really tasty. 

I made a little vlog of what I saw. I think is better to show than to describe. I am planning on doing these 'what I saw in…' for everywhere that I go. I am going to upload here but it is also in youtube. enjoy it. 

// athena, Bath 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-ephsKBqpY

[vanillacup-cakes]

This is, by far, the latest I’ve ever written one of my year round-ups, and by far, the messiest post. 

2019 was a year guys, so have a really messily written year round up. If I try to tidy it up we’ll be here until December. 

TL;DR

2019.

2019 was a year of love; happy, sad, somewhere in between. 

My heart got broken. 

Hera got married. 

My friends are in love. 

At the end of the Barat, in Pakistani wedding traditions, the bride goes home with the groom. Any events before that the bride always came home with her family. But for this main event, after the actual marriage contract has been signed, after all the festivities, she goes home with the groom. We took it in turns to hug Hera goodbye, I pushed myself to the back of the queue being the crier of the group. 

When I was talking to Hera’s cousin she mentioned that some people have questioned why this little bit of the wedding celebrations causes such emotional responses from the bride’s family and friends, after all, we’ll see her again the next evening for the reception. And it’s not like she’s gone forever, she has just moved out of her parents house. She said that the reason for this was not because we will never see her again but because things will never be the same from that moment on. Not in a good, nor a bad way, it just is. 

Changed. 

Life changes and when one of your close friends get married it changes your relationship with them. Not that you or they love you/them less, not that you or they are less important, not that you or they care less. It just changes. 

it doesn’t even have to be marriage. 

In October, one morning in Peak District I was stood in the kitchen of our rented apartment and in front of me were two of my best friends with their other halves going on about their day eating their breakfast. It was a picturesque little scene I tried to capture as a photo, I was scared of ruining the moment though and my sly camera skills were terrible so I just have a blurry evidence of that moment. Throughout that holiday I caught little moments of the two couples, little moments I can’t really describe but you know it when you’re around it, little moments that made my heart swell and hurt at the same time. Because things are different. Things have changed. 

Change isn’t bad, it can be really, really good. In fact I hope it’s a really, really, really good change for all of them, I just need a moment to accept that we’re no longer in our early 20s and our lives are going to change a lot before more.

2019 was a year of love; the good, the bad, and the bittersweet. 

I started 2019 falling asleep as the fireworks went off. We had gone out for dinner earlier that evening with a friend from work and his missus, to a nice fancy restaurant where desserts are always perfect. I’m not one to go out on New Year’s so I worried that we’d be out long but, fortunately for me, the other couple we’re not up for a long one either so, after dinner, we tried to see if we could grab a couple of drinks in a bar before heading home but, as it was NYE, we had no luck. The other couple went home, we tried a couple more before we gave up and called it a night. 

We were falling asleep when the fireworks went off. In our 20s, supposed to be the prime of your life, and I was cuddled up and happily falling asleep before the new year rang in. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. 

January meant Hamilton and birthday boardgames and lots of ballroom classes. I think this may have been the year that we also started, or tried to, regularly schedule in time for face masks. 

Then it was suddenly February and I received the best Valentine’s day card in existence, I continued to dance, finally saw a Footlights performance and even caught a show put on by CUMTS. Cirque du Soleil was okay too… 

March was when Amy, Izzy and I decided to start our own tradition, every year, no matter what, we’d get together; us and the boys, with the dogs, or kids or goodness know what else life gives us, we’d meet up. We’d meet up somewhere in the UK for a long weekend, where we’d go for walks and cook dinner, and just overall relax and unwind and catch up with each other. Each year starting that October at the Peak District. 

March was when I forgot my water bottle at our last dance class and we had to turn the car around. March was when I got no sleep and still chose to go to work the next day. 

For the three months we had worked in the new building together we had never bumped into each other in such close proximity, and then, suddenly, there he was coming out of the showers as I tried to find an empty stall to check how I tired I looked. I smiled, I can’t remember if I said anything but my heart dropped. 

March was when I got my promotion and all I wanted to do was tell him. 

I gave him his stuff back and I gave him his birthday present; an embossed leather notebook, dotted not lined, perfect for both writing and drawing, he was a design engineer after all. 

In July he wished me a happy birthday. 

In my head, people judge how much it hurt me when we were only together for nine months. But no one has the right to dictate how you feel.  

Back in January, Hera started sending me dance videos, videos she wanted us to learn for her wedding.

By April, the Kate, Olive, Sam and I were in the full swing of Friday on a Monday: Dance Edition. We’d cook a spicy meals (the spice increased in level as we went along, yoghurt or cream became more for taste than for firefighting) then we’d dance. Every Monday, where possible. Sometimes we’d skype Charley, sometimes Charley would be with us in person. 

As per usual we celebrated birthdays not in the correct months; Kate’s November was in January in form of birthday boardgames, face masks and hand massages by Olive. Charley’s January was in May in Claydon house where we discussed medieval fayres and the Jane Austen festival, where we sat in a private chapel and spoke as we wished until a lady came into actually pray and we tried our best to exit quietly. Sam gave Olive a piggy back in the gardens and there were some happy screaming and laughter. Olive’s March preceded Charley’s as we went to Bath in May and had ourselves our own very luxurious baths. Preceded and proceeded by enough Sally Lunn buns to feed a small army. 

My mum randomly won tickets to Look East festival so Charley and I went on an impromptu trip to London and saw Mumford and Sons live. Next time we’ll be prepared with a picnic blanket and more sunscreen for Charley. Indeed we were more fully prepared a month later for West End Live, armed with a cool bag full of food and drinks. What we weren’t prepared for, though, was the vast amount of people queueing. We knew it was popular and we knew there would be a long queue but we didn’t quite anticipate just how big. Having said that, after we admitted defeat we found a little section to the side of Trafalgar square with deck chairs facing a huge screen live streaming the whole event. We didn’t get seats straightaway but sure enough a family with kids left slightly earlier. Instead of standing under the sun for hours on end, Charley and I sat on our deck chairs in the shade in a lovely June day eating our food and drinking to our heart’s content. We decided that in 2020, we’d just do the exact same. We also come out wanting to watch ever single musical there was. 

Speaking of getting the right picnic spot, we are starting to have this ‘Singing on the river’ thing down; picnic blankets a plenty, napkins, cutleries, takeaway for dinner by the river listening to the wonderful King’s men perform renditions of old and new songs. It’s a Cambridge tradition we just can’t miss. 

We did try to keep up monthly dinners in 2019; we went to Varsity, The Red Lion and Petersfield before we had to suspend the dinners as it was time to fly to Pakistan.

After the vaccinations were done, after the visas were sorted, after all the clothes were bought, after all the make-up and hair trials were done, after all suitcases were packed, after all the dances were mastered (somewhat), after the incredibly long wait to see Hera again it was time to get in the taxi and slowly but surely make our way to the train station. Slowly because we had a flat tyre. But it was going to be faster to get on a slow car than wait for another taxi. 

For months on end, as a group, we all had a phrase “After Pakistan”. The amount of things we said we’d do ‘after Pakistan’ and suddenly we were there. Suddenly it was all gone. 

I’m not sure life kept going after Pakistan, you know. 

And yet it did. I came back to work with my new manager fully into the swing of things, nothing had exploded and everything was still chugging along. Suddenly I was being invited to more meetings and prospects of going business trips became a thing. 

I also started sewing classes, along with Olive and Sarah. I stopped ballroom classes and continued with krav maga. 

In October, Amy and Tom picked me up in Cambridge and we all drove to Bakewell together to meet Izzy and Zack. The weather could have been nicer to us but it was the UK in October, we should have known better. So off we went, in the rain, walking down an old railroad track (we did consider cycling but that got confusing and expensive), climbing hills for loo breaks and risking ankles and necks for a hope of a nice warm lunch only to be disappointed because pubs in the middle of nowhere is far and few in between and only serve food at specified hours. Having walked for hours with a small amount of sustenance we took the taxi home and enjoyed a meal at the apartment instead. 

In November, we flew to Bulgaria and what an experience it was. Beautiful sceneries and definitely a hidden gem, but take it from me, don’t take the jeep up the mountain. Find a different mountain, there’s plenty. Explore the gorgeous towns preserved to their original glory and feel like you’ve been transported back in time. Try the local cuisine! Dress up in traditional Bulgarian outfits, it’ll make a wonderful family photo. 

That same month, Hera visited England again. For a mere few days she stayed in Cambridge and we tried to make the most of it as possible. Butch Annie’s was obviously a requirement. And at last, once again, Kate’s November birthday was celebrated in November. In a once in a lifetime opportunity where all six of us were finally back together again to tackle not one, not two but three escape rooms! We got out of every single one of them. No biggie! But just like that, we were all split up again. 

But no rest for the wicked because the very next day I was off to Austria on a business trip. My first ever business trip. It wasn’t all work and no play, in fact, at one point we were chucked out of the office so we can explore Vienna further so we did. We went to Christmas market after Christmas market and I stocked up on Christmas baubles and Christmas presents. My favourite bauble though? Came from the Bury St Edmunds Christmas Fayre. I’ll be on the look out for you again next year!

Before long it was December. With all the hubub of 2019 and the hubub that 2020 will bring (in form of a NYE party) I decided it was best if we had someone else cook for us for Friends Christmas. Secret Santas were exchanged and extra sticky toffee puddings were ordered, no dishes were cleaned by our hands that evening, 

And then it was time to party. 1920’s themed party to ring in the 2020’s…

When I really think about it 2019 was one helluva year. So much has changed, so much will change. There isn’t one month similar to the one before, it’s terrifying. Growing up is terrifying. Changes are terrifying. 

But we have to bury broken hearts and raise a glass to falling in love, we have to hug memories goodbye and smile at the new ones. We have to accept things won’t be the same but that’s not a bad thing. There are still songs to dance to and movies to cry at, rooms to escape and snacks to share. They’ll always be there no matter what… no matter what 2020 will bring. 

[dryingzangel]

The original and must try Sally Lunn buns! We are pleasantly surprised at how well the soft buttery buns matches with both savoury smoked salmon and traditional butter cream/strawberry jam. Hidden in a small alley so not easy to find even with Google walking navigation. A lovely pot of Sally Lunn Blend for the rainy afternoon as well. Do arrive earlier as their museum closes by 4pm (we missed it! 😂) https://www.sallylunns.co.uk @sallylunnsbath Taste ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ Location ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hygiene⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Service⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Price ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #foodporn #foodie #instafood #foodphotography #foodstagram #yummy #foodblogger #foodlover #instagood (at Sally Lunn's Historic Eating House & Museum. BATH. UK) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgsXdTEBhdP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[theblondegoesabroad]

Day 69

Saturday 9th July 2022

Another real summers day. The further south we go the better the weather is. Gone are the days of three layers of sweatshirts, midges, rain, menacing skies. I can finally be the sun worshiper I was born to be. Thanks nana for those genes! We had a lovely sleep in at our campsite this morning, and we woke up to blue skies and warmth. I didn’t even need to put on a jumper this morning. After a shower we had a yummy breakie of summer fruits again. We mixed a few different cereals together and now have a good combination of crunchy clusters and fruit and nuts. We had our coffee with our books before packing up camp and heading to Bath. We first walked around the Priory gardens, a lovely little garden ok the outskirts of bath with great skyline views of the city before we walked into the city center. It was hot and everyone seemed to be in Bath. It was very touristy and couple that with it being a Saturday morning at the start of the holidays, it was busy. Needless to say Benoit and I didn’t stay too long amongst the crowds. I wanted to test a Sally Lunn bun from the place where the recipe was developed but there was a line all the way up the street so we gave that one a miss. We checked out the town square and the beautiful architecture but didn’t go in to anything as the lines were huge. So instead we made a short sharp quick of Bath racing around the main sights before heading back to the car. Today we did plan to visit Stonehenge but yesterday when I looked at booking it, it turns out you need to book at least two weeks in advance. We didn’t do that as we weren’t sure of our time line. So no Stonehenge for us. Luckily though we feel we have seen enough rocks and ruins and old things to last us for a while so didn’t feel too put out about missing out on the famous historic monument. We instead headed to stourhead gardens, 40 minutes south of Bath and exactly on our route to Portland island. So we stopped at the gardens. They were lovely, English gardens really are something. Lots of big trees, little pathways. So many picnic spots. Benoît found a place to have a swim. In a grotto which directed a water source into the lake in the gardens. He was rather chuffed to be bathing with a beautiful sculpture. We had a tea at the garden and then headed back on the road. We decided to treat ourselves to an ice cream as it was a hot day and we had at least an hour of driving to do to get to Portland. We arrived at Portland island and it felt like arriving home again. Back to our safe happy place. We parked up in our usual spot, although it was dry. Very dry. Unlike the top of Scotland and even most of England which is still green grass everywhere. Portland doesn’t look like it has had rain since we left, there is definately some special microclimate here. It was also busy, today there was a wee music festival at the farm we camp in front of. It was neat. We sat outside and enjoyed the music. A local band playing lots of covers from pink floyd to the eagles. For dinner we had the last of our pesto pasta in front of our free concert and then enjoyed a little ginger wine for our after dinner treat. This is our second bottle of ginger wine, it is made by the English heritage society, an organisation like the national trust that we are a part of. Their wine is delicious. They have a few different ones that we have tasted but the ginger one is by far the best. It is just for sipping as it is rather sweet and the ginger kick is strong but we love it. Our little treat before bed. Love kate xxx

[lottie-the-travelling-camper]

While in Bath we couldn’t not visit the famous Sally Lunn’s for a Bath bun @sallylunnsbath #sallylunns #bathbun #visitbath #visitengland #janeaustenfan #bridgerton #janeaustensociety #bathcity #janeausten #explorebritain #georgians #birthdayparty #royalcrecent #sydneygardens #walkingtour #guidedtour #birthdaypresent #bathpumprooms #regency #staycation #ig #visitwest #cutestreet #royalcrescent #romanbaths #somerset #instagram #lottie_the_travelling_camper (at Sally Lunn Bath) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca0WmzKMVDd/?utm_medium=tumblr