French Cookery Class

We had a great class today, plenty of chopping and involvement for the Prawn and Saffron Vegetable Terrine. Yet more slicing for the delicious French Apple Flan; Vanessa made a huge one for our pudding and everyone got the opportunity to make a smaller one to take home. The filling was gorgeous, and I was very pleased by my recent IKEA purchase of a huge stockpot, as we pureed a huge amount of apple, it took me back to preparing babyfood, ready to freeze in batches!

We also recognised Shrove Tuesday and wrapped some pork fillets in crepes, followed by puff pastry (and other ingredients) to make a very popular Pork Fillet en Croute with Dijon Sauce.

There were plenty more great recipes and top tips from Vanessa, especially advice on what can be prepared ahead of time, which is always helpful when you are entertaining.

Summer Classes with spaces available are: Tuesday 5 May - Lazy Days Cookery and Wednesday 24 June - Summer Cookery.

Spring and Snowdrops

The snowdrops are finally out and looking amazing twinkling in the woods and amongst the grass.  There were no snowdrops when we arrived at Treetops, so every year I plant over 100 in the green, and after 5 years, the back-breaking work is paying off!

My favourite place to see the snowdrops is Welford Park (www.welfordpark.co.uk) near Newbury.  Covering the ground like snow they look stunning.  They are in a beautiful parkland setting, with a river walk, I can really recommend a visit. 

I believe it is open for another week, until 1 March and they are open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and the weekend.  11am-4pm. They serve lovely home made cakes in the tea room.  (£5 per adult and £4 concessions - children under 16 free).  

Summer Flower Design - 9 June 2009

Susanna from Tiger Rose is returning to Treetops on Tuesday 9 June.

Summer Flowers is from 9.45am - 2pm.

The cost is £75 and includes all materials, light lunch and refreshments throughout the day.

There are plenty of photographs on the Treetops website to show you what we have done on previous classes.

It's a great day; beautiful colours, beautiful smells and by the end of the day, your beautiful creation!  Susanna will demonstrate a variety of ideas to decorate your home, using fresh flowers, foliage, sometimes fruit and the occasional sweetie or two!  The main part of the day is creating something to take home, we supply aprons and all equipment.

www.treetops-newbury.co.uk to see photographs of past classes in the photo gallery.

Summer Beginners Photography Class

Spring Beginners has completely sold out, so I have managed to get Jo Andreae back for another Beginners class in the Summer.

Part A is on Wednesday 20 May with Part B on Friday 5 June.

The timings are from 9.45am-2pm.  This includes a light lunch and refreshments throughout the day.  The price is £100.

On a Treetops photography class, the emphasis of the day is to understand more about photography, your camera and for Jo to broaden your horizons. It is a creative day.  There will be some time indoors, but Jo will have you outside too. The class is divided into 2 sessions, so that you can get your photos developed inbetween and bring them along to be analysed at Class 2, look at what worked, what didn't and what can be improved upon next time.

Class size is kept small, so that Jo can provide an excellent level of attention and tuition.

Fun in the Snow!

Will this snow ever come to an end?  It's been fun though!   

  

Art for the Terrified!

I think the most terrifying part of the day was getting to Treetops through the snow, but we had an almost full class.

Complete beginners, full of nerves but by the end of the day, they had painted the most wonderful paintings, all with beautiful skies.

Claire went through the brushes, papers and paints used for Watercolour, and having done some practices of washes and colour mixing, the main painting of the day was started.

Nervous laughter could be heard whilst I cooked the lunch, and a collective sharp intake of breath when we opened all the windows and doors.  We were so cosy inside, the paint was drying too quickly! 

A snowy day needed a steamed pudding ...... I did Sarah Whitaker's delicious Pear and Ginger pudding.  Perfect.

A Snowy Day!

A  lovely day!

A great start to the year

We had a great "Banish the Winter Blues" watercolour class last week.

A beautiful sunny day, really helped lift the mood.  Claire had us painting pretty primroses; a lovely creamy yellow with various greens that we had spent some time mixing.  For a little painting it was tricky! 

Happy Birthday to both Sharon and Elizabeth who had been given the class as a birthday present.

I had to make a crumble as it was January; I found a delicious rhubarb and pear crumble, that had the zest and juice of an orange in, and after it had spent time simmering away in the Aga, the smell and taste was lovely.