Spring clean your bedroom

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The Great British Spring Clean has been postponed until September but while you can’t do your bit for the outside it doesn’t mean you can’t focus on the inside so how about giving your home a spring clean instead?

Be realistic about it, don’t try tackling it all at once – especially if you’ve got other things that need your attention – do it room by room, perhaps even enlist the help of other family members at home with you and make it fun for the children to help out, after all many hands make light work!

Over the next week, we’ll share advice on all those essential tasks that can help give your house a new lease of life.

Today how about giving the bedroom a spruce up!

 

Bedroom


Duvet & Mattress

Wash and whiten your pillows and duvet in the washing machine, and air your mattress – you’ll be guaranteed a better night’s sleep when you do it in a truly clean bed.

 

Try the hanger trick in your wardrobe

We’ve all got clothes in our wardrobes we haven’t worn for years, but are you just hoarding them? The hanger trick was made for you. Hang all your clothes so the hangers are backwards in the wardrobe, then, when you use them, put the hangers on the rack the right way. Do this for about a month and you’ll soon appreciate what you wear and what you don’t. So if you have a dress you love and can’t bear to part with it, then wear it!

 

Fold and stack clothes vertically

Organise your clothes drawers by folding and stacking clothes vertically and not horizontally. This makes it really easy to see all your t-shirts/jumpers in one go and will even minimise creasing.

 

Vacuum seal non-seasonal clothes

Don’t cram heavy coats into the wardrobe during the middle of summer or have to dig through flimsy dresses in January. Use vacuum seal bags to store clothes you want to keep but know won’t get any wear for a few months.

 

Store sheet sets in pillowcases

Don’t lose a pillow case, keep sets & their matching sheets in one of the pillow cases – it will keep it all together and be much neater in your cupboard.

Happy bunnies…

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You’re never too old to enjoy an Easter egg hunt which is lucky for you as there are some cracking ones to enjoy!

You could take part in the egg-stravaganza at more than one spot – it just depends how many you want to shell out on!

SURRREY

RHS Garden Wisley, GU23 6QB

Celebrate the launch of The Secret Garden starring Colin Firth and Julie Walters (in cinemas from Friday, 10th April), by visiting the garden trail experience and many other family activities.

Albury Vineyard, Silent Pool, GU5 9BW

Visit Albury vineyard for a family-friendly open day with self-guided tours of the vineyard and a glass or two of bubbly. Entertain the little ones with a vineyard ‘bunny run’ toy trail and craft activities.

Hatchlands Park, Guildford, GU4 7RT

Visit Hatchlands Park in the first flushes of springtime for the popular Cadbury Egg Hunt which can be enjoyed throughout the school holidays. There’s also the natural play area with a tree house and bug burrow to explore.

Runnymede, SL4 2JL (SatNav: TW20 0AE)

This picturesque open landscape beside the Thames was witness to King John’s historic sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215. Follow the Cadbury Egg Hunt for hidden clues across the meadows and along the slopes of Runnymede.

Gilbert White’s House, Selborne, GU34 3JH

Visit this beautiful historical site for an Easter Egg hunt with a difference between 4th & 19th April. Hunt for the painted eggs which are all based on the eggs of the birds which nest in the grounds. Learn about where different species of birds nest as you explore the gardens and meadow. Find them all and claim a chocolate egg! This costs just £3 on top of the general admission price.

Dapdune Wharf, Guildford, GU1 4RR

Stroll along the River Wey tow path and admire the barges, or why not take a boat tour? On Good Friday you can also try the Easter trail with Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger and enjoy sports day races and craft on Friday 10th, 11am-5pm.

Painshill, Cobham KT11 1JE

Over the Easter holidays follow the trail to find
big statues of eggs, in colourful and crazy designs, around Painshill Park. See if you can spot the unicorn egg or the one that is painted like a pirate.

Winkworth Arboretum, Godalming, GU8 4AD

Put your adventurer’s hat on and explore 149 acres of woodland following a rainbow of clues on two different routes. At the end of either return to the kiosk with your completed trail sheet for a delicious prize. Saturday, 28th March to Monday, 13th April. Usual admission applies + £3.50 per trail. Put your super senses to work and see what you can discover from 28th March to 13th April.

HANTS

Hindhead Commons, GU26 6AG

Hindhead Commons and the Devil’s Punch Bowl are home to abundant wildlife and a great place to explore the natural world. Pick up the Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt trail as you explore the countryside and claim your choccy treat at the finish.

Swan Barn Farm, Haslemere, GU27 2HU

Escape the bustle of Haslemere’s high street this Easter at Swan Barn Farm. On Easter Saturday 11th, explore the woodlands and meadows, while solving nature clues to receive your chocolate prize.

Gilbert White’s House, Selborne, GU34 3JH

Join an Easter Egg hunt with a difference – can you find the painted eggs all based on the eggs of the birds which nest in the grounds? Learn where different species of birds nest as you explore the gardens and meadow. Can you spot the odd one out among the species featured? Find them to claim a chocolate egg!

Petworth House and park, Petworth, GU28 9LR

Join in the Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt, every day of the school holidays and look out for clues in the Pleasure Ground left by Sir Percy the Petworth Bunny and earn your chocolate reward.

Hinton Ampner, Alresford, SO24 0LA

Hinton Ampner’s Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt will have little ones exploring the nooks and crannies of the grounds for signs of nature. With flowers blooming and birds singing, there’s lots to tick off as they use their senses to find the clues on the trail, in return for a chocolate reward.

Uppark House & Garden, Petersfield, GU31 5QR

Complete the nature-themed Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt around the grounds of 17th century Uppark to collect a yummy chocolate treat.

The Vyne, Basingstoke, RG24 9HL

Uncover some of the spots that animals call ‘home’ on The Vyne’s Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt, and claim your prize. Kids can find out about wildlife homes to have in their own gardens too, such as bug hotels and bird boxes. Join the Ranger Rabbit trail to find out how the busy rangers protect wildlife, try the ideas at home, from log piles to bat boxes.

Winchester City Mill, SO23 9BH

The gardener has lost all the spring plants he needs to put in the mill’s garden. On this new spring trail, kids can turn ‘plant hunters’ as they help seek out plants hidden around the mill. Join the Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt over the Easter weekend.

BERKS

Beale Park, Pangbourne, RG8 9NW

Find out more about the resident birds thanks to the Egg-stravaganza family trail from 4th to 19th April. Workshops on offer this month include learning how to make a bug box and insect sessions. Call 0118 976 7480 or visitbealepark.org.uk

Marwell Zoo, Colden Common, SO21 1JH

Always a brilliant day out for animal lovers, plan in an Easter visit to admire the snow leopards, giraffes, hippos and more or book a sunset safari. Call 01962 777407 or visit marwell.org.uk

Highclere Castle, Newbury, RG20 9RN

Enjoy the Easter Egg Hunt and Bonnet Parade on Saturday, 18th April (11am-3pm) in aid of The Murray Parish Trust. Enjoy a spring walk, too. Call 01635 253204 or visit highclerecastle.co.uk

Dinton Pastures, Hurst, RG10 0TH

Follow the Easter Eggstravaganza orienteering trail on foot or bike around the country park to find the clues on Sunday, 12th April. No need to book, just find the instructors behind the café garden. Call 0118 974 6343 or visit dinton-pastures.co.uk

The Vyne, Basingstoke, RG24 9HL

Uncover resident animals’ homes on the Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt or create a bug hotel or bird box. Or join the Ranger Rabbit trail to find out how the busy rangers protect wildlife. Call 01256 883858.

Bucklebury Farm Park , RG7 6RR

There’s always lots of fun on down on this charming farm, especially over the school holidays. Hunt for the Giant Easter Eggs, feed the orphan lambs, book in for a deer safari and much more on this stunning 77-acre site. Call 0118 971 4002 or visit buckleburyfarmpark.co.uk

Cliveden, Taplow, SL6 0JF

This National Trust beauty has teamed up with Cadbury again to host another Easter Egg Hunt every day from 3rd to 20th April. Call 01628 668561 or visit nationaltrust.org.uk/cliveden

LEGOLAND® , Windsor, SL4 4AY

Hop on the world’s first DUPLO rollercoaster and meet Dexter the Dog. Over the weekend (10th-13th April), enjoy Easter fun & build your own LEGO daffodil. Join a Where’s Ollie? badge hunt and try the LEGO® City Deep Sea Adventure. Call 01753 626 416 or visit legoland.co.uk

Wellington Park, Riseley, RG7 1SP

Enjoy Easter crafts and a circus spectacular over Easter weekend, 10th-13th. Call 01189 326 444 or visit wellingtoncountrypark.co.uk

BUCKS

Odds Farm, Wooburn Green, HP10 0LX

Newly hatched Chicken World invites you to enjoy the feathery friends. Take your wellies for the newly reopened H2Odds Water Play and, between 4th & 19th April enjoy the Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt . Call 01628 520188 or visit oddsfarm.co.uk

Cliveden, Taplow, SL6 0JF

This National Trust beauty has teamed up with Cadbury again to host another Easter Egg Hunt every day from 3rd to 20th April. Call 01628 668561 or visit nationaltrust.org.uk/cliveden

Windsor Great Park, SL4 2HT

Enjoy Easter fun for all the family between 4th & 13th April thanks to James Horton’s vintage fair and Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust’s puzzling nature trail. Call 01753 860222 or visit windsorgreatpark.co.uk

LEGOLAND® , Windsor, SL4 4AY

Hop aboard the world’s first DUPLO rollercoaster and be among the first to meet Dexter the Dog. Plus, over the Easter weekend (10th-13th April), enjoy Easter fun with the chance to build and take home your own LEGO daffodils. Join a Where’s Ollie? badge hunt and try the revamped LEGO® City Deep Sea Adventure Call 01753 626 416
or visit legoland.co.uk

JC Farming, Little Kingshill, HP16

Watch live chicks hatching, cuddle and bottle feed little lambs and enjoy cuddles with the animals with a handling session. Have a go on a tractor-and-trailer ride, hunt bugs in the woodland walk. Visit jcfarming.co.uk

Runnymede, Egham, TW20 0AE

This picturesque open landscape beside the Thames was witness to the Magna Carta in 1215. Follow the Cadbury Egg Hunt for clues across the meadows, 10th-13th April. Call 01784 432891.

Bekonscot, Beaconsfield, HP9 2PL

The world’s oldest original model village, opening for the first time in 1929, is a great and timeless day out for grandparents & their brood. Call 01494 672919 or visit bekonscot.co.uk

Wellington Park, Riseley, RG7 1S

Enjoy Easter crafts and a circus spectacular over Easter weekend, 10th-13th. Call 01189 326 444 or visit wellingtoncountrypark.co.uk

Beale Park, Pangbourne, RG8 9NW

Enjoy the Egg-stravaganza family trail from 4th to 19th April. Workshops on offer this month include building a bug box and insect sessions. Call 0118 976 7480 or visit bealepark.org.uk

OXON

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, OX20 1PP

From 10th to 13th April the Pleasure Gardens will transform into an Easter wonderland with a traditional fairground, dressing-up tent, princess meet & greet, Punch and Judy, fairy stilt walkers.Embark on an Easter Bunny Walkabout, take part in a circus skills workshop, have a go at archery and test bouncy castle or bungee trampoline! Call 01993 810530 or visit blenheimpalace.com

Cotswold Wildlife Park, Burford, OX18 4JP

Always a glorious day out, over Easter weekend (10th-13th April), you can also take in a birds of prey display at 1pm & 3.30pm. Oh, and World Penguin Day is on Friday 24th, FYI! Call 01993 823 006 or visit cotswoldwildlifepark.co.uk

Farmer Gows, Longcot, Faringdon, SN7 7PR

Enjoy all the fun of this friendly farm, which hosts handling sessions at 11am & 2pm daily when you can bottle feed lambs, kid sand wriggly pigs and stroke the fluffy chicks and chirpy chickens.
Call 01793 780555 or visit farmergows.co.uk

Waterperry Gardens, OX33 1LA

Until 21st April, join the Big Easter Bunny Hunt around the ornamental gardens to claim your prize (£2.50 per child, who must be accompanied). Call 01844 339226 or visit waterperrygardens.co.uk

Bucklebury Farm Park , RG7 6RR

There’s always lots of fun on down on this charming farm, especially over the school holidays. Hunt for the Giant Easter Eggs, feed the orphan lambs, book in for a deer safari and much more on this stunning 77-acre site where you can go on a tractor ride to feed the deer and hoppy bunnies will love the jumping pillow! Call 0118 971 4002 or visit buckleburyfarmpark.co.uk

Story Museum, Oxford, OX1 1BP

From 4th April visit to enjoy the final wonderful chapter. This month you can also develop your comic-making skills with artist Neill Cameron. Call 01865 790050 or visit storymuseum.org.uk

Cogges Farm, Witney, OX28 3LA

Always a family favourite, with lots of animal fun, on Wednesday, 8th April, enjoy an Egg Drop challenge with Science Oxford. cogges.org.uk

Millets Farm, OX13 5HB

Mingle with the goats, rheas, sheep, cows, horses and alpacas. Over the holidays, try your hand at egg decorating, get puzzled in Farmer Carter’s Courtyard, burn off some steam at Sprouts Play Barn, go wild at the Falconry Centre and gallop on the magnificent Victorian Carousel. Call 01865 392 200 or visit milletsfarmcentre.com

WILTS

Crofton Beam Engines, Marlborough, SN8 3DN

Step into our industrial and social heyday when steam was king at the beautiful Crofton pumping station next to the Kennet & Avon Canal. Over Easter weekend, 11th-13th April, enjoy cracking fun including an Easter trail, craft fun including stained-glass window making and games, followed by a pit stop at the Engineman’s Rest Café fun for all the …

Cobbs Farm Play Barn, Hungerford, RG17 0SP

This bespoke wooden indoor play barn offers lots of fun without weather worries. Farms 2 Ewe will return on Easter Monday, 13th April, 11am-3pm, with some cute fluffy friends. There are also chocolate Easter egg decorating workshops (£14; crack on as these are selling out fast!) – booking essential on 01488 686770. Visit cobbsplaybarn.co.uk for more information.

Great Lydiard Park, Swindon, SN5 3PA

Hop into Easter with a great trail starting at the Coach House activity centre and hunt the clues around the lakes, woodlands and lawns to claim your (non-food) prize. Drop in any time between 10am & 4pm on Easter Sunday, 12th April. Call 01793 466664 or visit www.lydiardpark.org.uk

Highclere Castle, Newbury, RG20 9RN

Enjoy the Easter Egg Hunt and Bonnet Parade on Saturday, 18th April (11am-3pm) in aid of The Murray Parish Trust. Enjoy a spring walk, too. Call 01635 253204 or visit highclerecastle.co.uk

Bucklebury Farm Park , RG7 6RR

There’s always lots of fun on this charming farm, especially over the holidays. Over Easter, you can hunt for the Giant Easter Eggs or feed the orphan lambs on this lovely deer park. Call 0118 971 4002 or visit buckleburyfarmpark.co.uk

Marwell Zoo, Colden Common, SO21 1JH

Always a brilliant day out for animal lovers, plan in an Easter visit to admire the snow leopards, giraffes, hippos and more or book a sunset safari. Call 01962 777407 or visit www.marwell.org.uk

Farmer Gow’s, Longcot, Faringdon, SN7 7PR

Enjoy all the fun of this friendly farm, which hosts handling sessions at 11am & 2pm daily when you can bottle feed lambs, kid sand wriggly pigs and stroke the fluffy chicks and chirpy chickens.
Call 01793 780555 or visit farmergows.co.uk

The Vyne, Basingstoke, RG24 9HL

Uncover resident animals’ homes on the Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt or create a bug hotel or bird box. Or join the Ranger Rabbit trail to find out how the busy rangers protect wildlife. Call 01256 883858.

Gorgeous gardens

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What better way can there be to mark spring than to get out in the garden? Karen Neville gathers some inspiring gardens worth visiting.

Whether it’s your own garden in need of a little TLC or a visit to a stunning garden lovingly cultivated, there is nothing like getting out and enjoying one. In recent years, much has been placed on the physical and mental health benefits of gardening too, so get out there and be inspired…

CHOOSE YOUR AREA:

Spring clean your bathroom

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The Great British Spring Clean has been postponed until September but while you can’t do your bit for the outside it doesn’t mean you can’t focus on the inside so how about giving your home a spring clean instead?

Be realistic about it, don’t try tackling it all at once – especially if you’ve got other things that need your attention – do it room by room, perhaps even enlist the help of other family members at home with you and make it fun for the children to help out, after all many hands make light work!

Over the next week, we’ll share advice on all those essential tasks that can help give your house a new lease of life.

Let’s start with one of the most used rooms in the house:

Bathroom


Fresher smell

Make your bathroom smell fresh by simply adding a few drops of essential oil to the inside of your toilet roll.

 

Remove tile mould

One of the best ways to revamp your bathroom is to get rid of the mould and discolouration on tiles, try a mixture of baking soda, distilled white vinegar, salt and essential oils. Mix them up, spritz on to your tiles, wait 10 minutes and wipe off.

Clean the toilet

Baking soda and vinegar are also essential ingredients if you’d rather not use toilet bleach to clean the loo effectively. The soda and vinegar combination are effective at removing hard-water marks, and rust stains. More unusually, you can pour cola down the toilet – it’s thought to work well at removing rust rings.

 

Clean the shower head

Keep the baking soda and vinegar handy for this, fill a sandwich bag with the mix and tie it around the shower head with an elastic band, leave it overnight to soak. In the morning, use an old toothbrush to remove the scale and debris and you should find your next shower will be a much better, more refreshing one.

 

Wash shower curtains and bathroom mats

Shower curtains can get pretty nasty and are prone to mould. Put your shower curtain in the washing machine (along with the bath mat), then hang it back in the shower to dry – simple as that!

Make your own garden for wildlife 

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Photo credit: Adam Cormack

A new campaign launched today by The Wildlife Trust and RHS is asking you to pledge some garden space for butterflies and moths

This year’s Wild About Gardens campaign is calling on gardeners to get growing to help the UK’s falling numbers of butterflies and moths.

The new campaign draws inspiration from a new film adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic, The Secret Garden, starring Colin Firth, Julie Walters and newcomer Dixie Egerickx as Mary Lennox. The film will be bringing the magic of wildlife, childhood and gardening to the big screen this spring when it blooms in cinemas across the UK from Good Friday, 10th April.

The Wild About Gardens campaign, run jointly by The Wildlife Trusts and Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), looks at butterflies and moths as important pollinators, who, along with caterpillars, are vital food for birds like robins and blue tits as well as bats. However, their habitats have faced catastrophic declines and once-common species like the small tortoiseshell have dropped by up to 80% in the last 30 years in some areas.

An ideal butterfly garden has a wide variety of plants throughout the year to support their life cycles – for butterflies and moths emerging from hibernation, egg-laying females, caterpillars and then as adults. Early-flowering species such as dandelions, aubretia and native bluebells are good sources of nectar; these could be followed by buddleia and red valerian and, finally, ivy flowers which are a great late-season asset in the autumn. Many wildflowers and long grasses are also excellent larval food-plants. Whether your garden is large or small – or simply a flowering window-box – it could throw these declining insects a lifeline, especially in urban areas.

The Wildlife Trusts’ gardening champion, horticulturist and TV presenter Frances Tophill said: “Our garden flowers and plants provide a rich source of rejuvenating nectar for these much-loved garden visitors as they emerge from hibernation to herald the start of spring.

“Go wild in your garden and leave the dandelions and daisies in the lawn to provide a meal, aim for year-round flowers and include a wildflower area for egg-laying females as well as gardeners’ favourites like lavender, nasturtium and verbena.

“The Wild About Gardens website is packed with information and easy actions we can all take to support butterflies and moths throughout their impressive life cycle.”

The Wildlife Trusts and RHS believe every butterfly garden counts and want to know about every new wild area, box or border that’s being grown for butterflies. Each garden contributes towards the network of green spaces that nature needs to survive and they ask you to pledge a bit of garden for butterflies and put it on the map here www.wildaboutgardens.org.uk. 
In the story of The Secret Garden, the garden eases grief, heals rifts and brings the joy out in all who experience it. Make a special place for wildlife – your very own Secret Garden where you can replenish your soul, reconnect with nature and help wildlife to thrive. You’ve probably noticed how spotting butterflies or birds, or walking through woodlands, or alongside rivers and streams can help to lift your mood. Make some time for nature today and enjoy the restorative benefits!

Download or pick up a booklet 
The Wildlife Trusts and RHS have published a beautiful – free – booklet with colourful advice and easy tips designed to make our outdoor spaces more attractive to butterflies, moths and their caterpillars. Available here https://wtru.st/butterfly and on the Wild About Gardens website from today, 12th March. 
These will be available at special events during the spring including the Chelsea Flower Show and promoted through Wildlife Trust events, visitor centres and community action groups including the In Bloom network.

Find more

Find the full range of wildlife gardening booklets, advice and inspiration here 

Mum’s the word

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Here are some present ideas ahead of Mothering Sunday on 22nd March.

1. Rose expression gin & other gifts, Silent Pool Distillers

2. Cashmere socks & rose quartz face roller, The White Company

3. Card with gold flake detail, Juniper Stone

4. Geometric terrarium, www.theurbanbotanist.co.uk

5. Sleekster Luxe chocolates, Hotel Chocolat

6. B******* tankard, part of a rude & funny range from www.outlandishcreations.com

Enter our competition

We also have this amazing set from It Won’t Cost The Earth to win this month!


World Book Day

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Thursday is the annual worldwide celebration of books and reading that is World Book Day. 

The registered charity is on a mission to give every child and young person a book and champions authors, illustrators and books generally. 

This is the 23rd year of World Book Day which promotes a love of books and reading and gives children the opportunity to have a book of their own. Book tokens are sent to schools along with age-ranged World Book Day resource packs full of ideas and activities for book-related fun. 

Children just take their tokens to a bookshop and can use it for one of the new and completely free books or to get £1 off any book or audio book over £2.99.  

Among the £1 books you can choose from this year are Meet Amelia Fang, the tale of a young vampire by Laura Ellen Anderson; Evie in the Jungle by Matt Haig – meet Evie who can hear what animals are thinking; Chris Smith and Greg James’s Kid Normal and the Loudest Library; a murder most unladylike mini mystery The Case of the Drowned Pearl by Robin Stevens; teen super spy Alex Rider returns in Anthony Horowitz’s Undercover: Four Secret Files and Beth Reekles’s story of young love in The Kissing Booth – Road Trip among others for all ages. 

More info

To find out more visit

British Pie Week

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Never has the saying ‘nice as pie’ been so apt – who doesn’t love a tasty pastry pie and what better time to indulge than in British Pie Week. 

With so many great recipes to choose from all you need to do is decide whether it’s savoury, sweet, crumble or pasty – why not make a different one every day this week and get all members of the family involved in the cooking too? 

According to the most common internet search results, here’s our top 10, love them or loathe them:- 

1: Cottage Pie 

2: Fish Pie 

3: Shepherd’s Pie 

4: Chicken & Leek Pie 

5: Chicken and Mushroom Pie 

6: Steak and Ale Pie 

7: Meat and Potato Pie 

8: Pork Pie 

9: Steak and Kidney Pie 

10: Corned Beef Pie 

We asked our star baker Christine Wallace to share a pie recipe with us so why not put this on the menu this week? 

Left over turkey, leek and mushroom pie 

 

• You will need an 8” (20cm) Pie dish.
• 500gm block of butter puff pastry.
• 1 large leek – cut into large chunks
• 120g button mushrooms
• 300g cooked turkey meat
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tblsp oil
• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 1 pint milk
• ½ tsp onion salt
• White pepper
• Beaten egg for glaze

Method 

• Place the oil and butter in a pan and add the leek, gently sweat for 5 minutes but do not brown.

• Add the mushrooms and thyme, cook for a minute.

• Stir in the flour and gently cook for a minute.

• Slowly add the milk until you have a nice thick sauce, add the turkey meat and cook for a couple of minutes.

• Add the onion salt and a little pepper then pour into your pie dish

• Roll out the pastry and cover the pie, sealing well and fluting the edges.

• Brush with beaten egg and cook for 30 minutes or until the pastry is well risen and golden brown.

N.B. If you are making the pie to freeze, do NOT add the turkey meat until the leek and mushroom sauce is completely cold. Use fresh puff pastry if you are freezing, not frozen! 

Food, friends and fun

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Host a supper club on 7th March and raise funds for Eva’s Friends

If you enjoy food, friends and fun while raising money to change children’s lives then Eva’s Friends Supper Club is the event for you.

It couldn’t be easier to get involved – just invite some friends round for dinner on Saturday, 7th March and ask them to donate to Eva’s Friends what they would have paid if they’d gone out to eat and if you don’t fancy cooking, drinks and nibbles works as well.

Last year more than 40 supper clubs were run in aid of the Oxfordshire-based charity and they’re hoping for more this year which will also feature an online auction and competitions too. Chefs Tom Kerridge and Richard Bertinet donated raffle prizes last year.

Eva’s Friends works to fund research into rare neurological conditions in children and is currently helping to fund a gene therapy project to find a cure for Rett Syndrome which affects thousands of children, almost exclusively girls, leaving them unable to walk, talk or use their hands.

There is no known cure and it is thought to affect about 1 in 12,000 girls born each year such as Eva after whom the charity is named.

If you can’t make the main Supper Club event on the 7th, why not arrange another foodie treat in the week beginning 2nd March, how about brunch with friends, afternoon tea, cakes at work – whatever you fancy.

Simply register by emailing [email protected] to receive a fundraising pack and get cooking!

More info..

To find out more about the charity and how you can support their work visit

Journey of discovery

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Fi Harding tells us more about Chiltern Arts Festival 2020 which takes place at various venues between Friday 28th February and Saturday 7th March

As the world celebrates 250 years since Beethoven’s birth, Chiltern Arts is celebrating overcoming adversity in the arts, with its usual array of venues including those in Henley, Marlow, Wallingford and, for the first time, Princes Risborough.

‘It’s a busy year for Chiltern Arts,” says founder and creative director Naomi Taylor, “and an exciting one! I’m particularly excited to have a theme linking all events for the first time and I hope people will get on board and follow the festival as a bit of a journey of discovery. There are also lots of opportunities to get involved as well as sitting back and enjoying; a Come and Sing day, poetry competition and Youth Music and Art Day… come and join us for what we think will be a brilliant week!”

Chiltern Arts offers an array of concerts for all musical tastes: Septura Brass Septet celebrate the music of female composers; the Come and Sing Company invite you to explore Tippett’s Five Spirituals alongside Tippett’s biographer Oliver Soden; the Marian Consort uncover the Catholic music kept under wraps in Elizabethan England; the Phoenix Piano Trio present piano trios from Beethoven and Fauré, both of whom suffered hearing loss; pianist Danny Driver presents Beethoven and the loss of Vital Senses with music from Gabriela Lena Frank and Rodrigo partnering Beethoven’s impressive Hammerklavier; and the City of London Sinfonia close with Beethoven’s famous Septet.

One of the highlights is undoubtedly a mini-residency from eminent solo percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, performing with Trio HLK a piece called Extra Sensory Perception; and we’re thrilled to be commissioning a piece from Stephen Goss for Dame Evelyn and Matthew Wadsworth. The piece will be premiered at the Candlelit Lute recital in Great Missenden on Thursday 5th March. Dame Evelyn and Matthew both also precede their respective events with pre-concert talks.

Chiltern Arts’ popular concert and dinner event returns to The Gatsby in Berkhamsted with music from members of the Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, featuring cabaret and a seven-piece band.

Three outstanding young professional ensembles feature at the festival: the Salomé String Quartet, baroque quartet Ensemble Hesperi and wind group the Magnard Ensemble. The first entirely youth-focused event features music from several local young musicians and performers, including students from the Mary Hare School for the Deaf, Amersham Music Centre, Tring School and Chiltern Music Academy, as well as a massed choir led by the Marian Consort.

More info..

The poetry competition also returns, open to writers of all ages. There’s information about all of these events online, where you can also request a brochure, buy tickets and find out how you can get involved with Chiltern Arts. You can also call the box office on 01442 920303.