Glorious grapes

Where has the year gone? I can't quite believe that we're roaring through November. Can you believe that we've been in the cottage for a whole year? And we certainly didn't have grapes on the vine. It was freezing. The conservatory was hovering at around 3C.

Fast forward a year. A proper cold snap, an incredible summer, a wet autumn and lo and behold the front of the house is laden. They even survived the high winds of last week. Mr M has been on a mission to use them. So, armed with ladders, secateurs and a washing up bowl we picked a third of the crop.

Washed they looked like beautiful marbles.

Mr M cooked them down and turned them into astonishingly tasty grape jelly using an incredible contraption from The Kitchen Shop to strain them.

A little rounder in flavour than redcurrant jelly, it was absolutely delicious with a hearty beef stew.

We finished the weekend off by going to our local fireworks display. I was feeling a little ginger having been laid low with a horrific migraine all day, but there's nothing like a day in bed quietly hallucinating and neurofen plus to get a girl ready for some pretty sparkles. Oh, and a hog roast.