August 2008 News and Views
News & Members' Contributions from Countryside Connection Village
The response has been so wonderful since I began sharing excerpts from our members' monthly newsletters! After enjoying this month's issue, you will be able to read all of the February 2008 News and Views as well as March 2008 News and Views April 2008 News and Views May 2008 News and Views June 2008 News and Views and July 2008 News and Views you might have missed by accessing the individual links. I will continue to provide access to all future issues in the same way so that you will not miss any of the news from our village. To enable you to enjoy past news and members' contributions from our Countryside Connection Village please simply click on the link to the appropriate month each time you visit our site.
Please Note : As one of our members, Artist Linda Leonard Hughes from Maine advised in our February issue, you will be wise to prepare a pot of your favourite brew before beginning so that you can sit back, relax and enjoy all of the exciting news as well as the latest adventures and offerings our members have shared.
I hope you will enjoy the excerpts from our Members' Newsletter. If you have a small business in Britain or America that you would like to see featured on our site and enjoy the full benefits of membership in our unique networking community, please send me an email and I will be delighted to make contact with you and answer all of your questions. Send your request to enquiries@countrysideconnection.com ~ I look forward to hearing from you, Heléne
Dear Visitors to Countryside Connection Village,
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”
Jane Austen, British Novelist 1775-1817 ~ a quote I clearly never listened to! On the 19th of July, Alan and I began yet another move, our 16th in 29 years of marriage. Admittedly, relocating from Hampshire to Yorkshire is coming home in many ways. Alan is a proud Yorkshireman and I have grown to love this part of England , the extraordinary beauty of the landscape, the warmth of the people and being close to family and friends. Gargrave, near Skipton, is a village we know well and on moving day we were welcomed by several neighbours with such generosity of spirit and offers of help that I knew it was not just the house I had fallen in love with that would bring years of calm and happiness.
It is now well into the first week of August and due to innumerable delays, extra trips between Hampshire and Yorkshire and other unexpected events, I am typing this with the keyboard and mouse perched on top of a briefcase balanced upon my knees. We are surrounded by boxes and treasures and must carefully ease our way from room to room and floor to floor. However yesterday’s discovery of all of our missing cutlery/silverware and utensils in the final box to be searched on our last trip (at least for a few days) to our storage in a barn on the farm of a family friend makes it all seem okay. The sunshine is pouring through the windows the gardens are filled with the scent of flowers and sounds of the birds of summer!
Under the circumstances, this issue will be much shorter than previous ones and I promise that September will be filled with the wealth of news you have all come to expect from the members of our wonderful village. Now that I have begun by pouring out the circumstances of my time since our last newsletter, I have some timely bits of news and items of interest to share from our members. The remainder will appear next month along with the latest news received during the month of August. Thank you for your understanding and patience!
My sincerest appreciation to all of you who have taken time from your own very busy schedules to send your best wishes for our move and shared your thoughts as well as your own moving/relocation stories. They meant so much and it really helps to feel that you are not the only one whose carefully planned arrangements somehow still seem to go awry.
Jinsy Robinson of Penyrallt Farm www.penyrallt.co.uk sent several wonderful emails this month. This one gives us an update on the progress we have been following on their restoration of the house and historic garden, as well as Jinsy’s companion Hattie:
“Heléne, thank you for the July newsletter... as lovely a read as ever.
Hope everything is going well with the house-moving. When do you actually hope to sleep in the new place for the first time?
I hope the weather is dry for your journey north. It has just been tipping here for two days...I don't think it stopped at all yesterday but today we are getting glimmers of sunshine. Despite the disgusting weather yesterday David, the boys and I spent the afternoon sorting out heaps of rubble, mud and good building stone from the piles of stuff that were outside the mansion. We had two digging machines going driven by the boys and David & I were on a riddle sorting out good stone and chucking it into a huge trailer. It was not exactly fun but the clearance of that area in front of the big house has made huge difference and we'll start planning some planting of rhododendrons and other large shrubs now.
My new companion dog, Hattie is doing well and is a very sweet character and very people minded which is great. She is now nearly 10 weeks old and beginning to understand commands and instructions; I think she'll be quite amenable to training. I'll try to send you photo sometime .
With all very best wishes to you and your family, I've got to go and organise lunch for damp, grubby men now.”
Jinsy
Maine Artist, Linda Leonard Hughes www.lindaleonardhughes.com sent another thoughtful email which offers a perfect opportunity for me to remind you about her fantastic home that is still on the market. If you are looking for an idyllic New England holiday home or if you or someone you know is planning to purchase a home in Maine , you will have to search far and wide to find one as spectacular as Linda’s. Here is a photo to remind you and please revisit our ‘Bed and Breakfast Inns and Country Homes for Sale ’ Category for full information about Linda’s home and also the fabulous inns in California and Florida .
“Dear Heléne, What good news for you!! You must be so excited about the move! I am so happy for you and your husband and family. It is so hard sometimes to make a move and I now understand why you were thinking in this direction for awhile! Take your time getting settled things will work out much better if you do! We are still waiting for our home to sell and when the time is right I know it will! Properties seem to be selling much better in England ! Just know we will all be thinking of you and be extra careful of your back! This month’s Newsletter is just wonderful as always! thanks for all your hard work! I will get some recipes out to you and take care!” Warmest Wishes, Linda Leonard Hughes
The Perfection of a New England Winter and a Home That Could Be Yours!
A Canadian Visitor To Our Site Is In Need of Some Information:
This month I received a series of fascinating emails from a Canadian visitor to our site and have thoroughly enjoyed our email exchanges. Her name is Linda Simms and I am hoping that some of you will be able to help her with her very interesting request. Please let me know and I will share the information with members and site visitors. Thank you, in advance, for any assistance you are able to offer. To contact Linda, please email: psimms@rogers.com
Here are Linda’s emails and my responses in the order they were received:
----- Original Message -----
To: enquiries@countrysideconnection.co.uk
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: General enquiry
"Hallo,
Do you offer any correspondence courses in either historic British cooking or cooking courses?"
Regards,
Linda Simms
From:
Helene Leichter-Saxby [mailto:enquiries@countrysideconnection.co.uk]
Sent:
Thursday, July 10, 2008
8:17 AM
To: Phillip Simms
Subject: Re: General enquiry
Dear Linda
"I am sorry but at the moment I do not have any members who offer those courses. I will try and find some information for you and will contact you if I am successful in my search. I do hope you have searched through the many unique offerings available from our members in all categories.
Please let me know which part of the country you reside in, and/or where you would like the courses to take places.
Thank you for your interest in Countryside Connection and our members' offerings."
With kind regards
Heléne Leichter-Saxby
Countryside Connection
http://www.countrysideconnection.co.uk and www.countrysideconnection.com
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 7:08 PM
Subject: RE: General enquiry
"Dear Helene,
Thank you very much for your e-mail.
I lived in England for 10 years, but now live in Thornhill Canada which makes it necessary to find correspondence courses. I wrote a cook book with traditional British and Newfoundland recipes, and am currently researching and searching for old recipes such as World War II and older recipes that have become lost over the years.
I am very interested in old historic British recipes because many of the recipes here were brought over by war brides or early settlers particularly in Newfoundland ."
Kind regards,
Linda Simms
From:
Helene Leichter-Saxby [mailto:enquiries@countrysideconnection.co.uk]
Sent:
Friday, July 11, 2008
3:48 PM
To: Phillip Simms
Subject: Re: General enquiry
Dear Linda,
"You are most welcome! Your project sounds so interesting. Where in England did you live - was it recently or sometime in the past?
Is your cookbook available for purchase? It sounds like one I would love. Did you notice on the website that I wrote a Country Inn Cookbook from England , Ireland , Wales and New England back in 1982? It was a true labour of love so I definitely understand your passions for your topic.
The BBC has recently presented a number of programmes of old historic cookery techniques and recipes. The series was fascinating and very informative. You might try their website and see if there is any contact information. I assume you are familiar with Mrs. Beeton's Cookbooks.
If you would like to put together an article about your interests and exactly what you are searching for, I would be very pleased to feature it in our monthly online News and Views Category (see July 2008 on the site now) as well as in the full length newsletter I send to all members each month. I feel certain you will find people interested in helping you.
I will give some thought to other avenues for you but will be very pleased to work with you to help in any way I can.
I look forward to hearing from you again."
With best regards
Heléne
Here is Linda’s request
Dear Heléne,
I am hoping that this paragraph will be appropriate for the News And Views Category but here goes.
"I have enjoyed reading the website. Two of my interests are history and cooking. I am particularly interested in British history over the past century, and how the events that occurred over the years affected the changes and preparation of food. I would really like to take a correspondence course in British cooking over the past century, and I was wondering if you could recommend any courses from either, museums, universities or other institutions. British recipes are the root of many Canadian recipes and it is unfortunate many older recipes have become lost over time. I would like to help restore some of these recipes."
Linda Simms
******Please let me know if you are able to offer Linda any assistance. Thank you!
I will close this month’s abbreviated issue with emails from two of our members. The others received that are not ‘time sensitive’ will appear in our September Issue. The first is from Karen Thorne of Hopton House Bed and Breakfast in Shropshire www.shropshirebreakfast.co.uk as well as The Bed and Breakfast Academy www.bedandbreakfastacademy.co.uk; the final one from Jinsy Robinson in Wales www.penyrallt.co.uk
Hi Heléne
“ Not been in touch for a while as I have been extremely busy with the B&B – no sign of credit crunch in this 1.75 acres of Shropshire anyway ( though property development side of business is near disastrous ) – and inbox is looking horrendous.
I’ve been playing with facebook recently – maybe a next step for countryside connection??
I will email with more updates soon. When I have a spare few minutes.
I have 3 nights off on 11th August when friends come to stay and then a night off on our wedding anniversary on 26th august when we go to luxury boutique B&B in aberdovey but that’s it till mid september! I should have booked in time off but after last year’s disastrous year I was reluctant to do that until I had a better feel of how things would be
I hope things are well with you ”
Karen
Dear Heléne,
“ Just thought I'd drop you a line to see how you are getting on with your house move. You must be so busy at present, but the weather is lovely for having to cope with stuff.
With these sunny dry days a lot of work is getting done here, so much so that I'm insisting David & I take a couple of days off just to catch our breath. One of my twin nephews has been with us for the past week and we will take him back to Brecon on Saturday and use that trip to give ourselves a break. A visit to Hay-on-Wye is going to be a priority (and to my parents of course, who live about 10 miles from Hay) and then we will journey back through the depths of mid-Wales to visit friends staying near Aberystwyth on Sunday. From there it is only an hour or so home and then we will step back into the fray refreshed , one hopes.
A small trip away from the everyday just perks one up and makes everything look better on returning.
I guess you are surrounded by boxes and packing cases. Do take care of your back...I'm sure you are but its so easy to think you can lift something and then realise when its too late that no you can't!
All best wishes for the move north to go well and without any hiccups. I'm sure the new house and its ghosts will smile a welcome to you and make you feel that you are home. ”
Love,
Jinsy
I will close with my deepest thanks for the wealth of lovely thoughts and wishes. My back is as you would imagine and CLEARLY those with similar issues are well aware that I must find time to heal in the weeks ahead, but for now there is much to be accomplished, both personally and for Countryside Connection. I already feel welcome by the ghosts noted by Jinsy that inhabit the home that is new to us but very old and I long to ‘settle in’ and begin baking and creating proper meals such as those that have been prepared in this home for the generations that have preceded us.
Please c0ntinue to write, send your favourite recipes and know that I will respond as soon as possible. Until next month. Warmly, Heléne