Squee! A DOLLY

We then jumped in the car and drove to Highclere Castle in Hampshire. Of course I had to take the new girl with me please meet Avril LaBean.

It was a wet day for the most part, but I think that added to the atmosphere of the place. I think this is the best weather that Summer can muster this year. Here’s how Highclere looked for most of the afternoon. Grey skied, but rather nice in an imposing sort of way.

It might remind you of the Houses of Parliament in London (where Big Ben is), but that’s because it was designed by the same person. Highclere is the ancestral country home of the Earls of Carnarvon, the 5th Earl being the same Earl of Carnarvon who purloined unearthed the contents of Tutankamun’s tomb, and various other ancient Egyptian artefacts (that’s the british spelling, btw).

There’s actually a small museum in the basement ‘proudly’ displaying various relics from other shrines and lesser tombs including a sarcophagus that was discovered by the man, having been undisturbed for thousands of years complete with wreaths of cornflowers surrounding it in situ in the tomb in Egypt. Not only does the specially built tomb now lie empty, with the cornflower wreaths no longer there either, but the coffin was opened, and the poor mummy inside was unwrapped completely and the bands of cloth that carefully wrapped her up for all that time are now draped next to the coffin. As for the poor girl herself, there was a photograph of her next to  the sarcophagus and she’s now probably in a drawer somewhere. So much for a ritual burial.

Outside the weather cleared for a bit and we were able to enjoy the pretty gardens. The lavendar was out. I love lavendar, it’s one of my favourites, I’m going to plant it all around the garden when DrMr and I have a place of our own. I like how when you brush past it it manages to fill the air.

All the pretty summer flowers were out too….dripping in the rain, alas, but again it added to the charm.

But then the rain came down and we had to run under a tree for shelter. It was a good opportunity to all squeeze together for a family portrait though. This is definitely one for the memory album.

All in all, a lovely day out. And my birthday girl enjoyed herself too. We actually timed our journey home well, as the rain got heavier as we drove back. By the end of the trip it was POURING outside.

And my poor little bean *really* didn’t want to get out of the car.

But I managed to talk her around in the end. Besides, she wanted to meet the contents of the other birthday parcels.

More dollies   Meet Clemency and Winona.

And then we had cake. Following the ‘events‘ of my girly pink cake with fluffy pink buttercream frosting, I decided to avoid doing a sandwich, so I played it safe and made a traybake instead, a yummy wholemeal cake with fluffy yellow vanilla buttercream frosting and white chocolate buttons on the top.

Why wholemeal? Well it’s healthy of course, and when something is healthy, it means that you can eat LOTS of it without feeling guilty

I’m actually rather partial to wholemeal cake in general, as it has a lot more substance and bite to it, and isn’t so sweet. It really is delicious. It’s possibly one of my favourite cakes. Wholemeal flour is great for coffee cake too. A real savoury treat.

All in all a very lovely and delicious birthday celebration:D

(Hopefully tomorrow night there will be another cause for celebration too – it’s already too late, so I’ll catch up with my 365 then too…)

*******

PS A lot of people come to Peachy Hollow looking for a buttercream frosting recipe, so here is how I make it, it is actually very simple to make, with very simple ingredients:

Take 6 oz soft butter and 12 oz icing sugar (that’s about enough for a single layer 8-9″ round cake, so adjust accordingly in those proportions), and beat together with a hand mixer until very light and fluffy. The longer you whip it, the fluffier it becomes, and the fluffier it gets, the less sickly sweet it tastes. You can also add a splash of vanilla essence or lemon juice to zazzle it up a bit too if you like.

See? Easy! Enjoy, and happy baking!!
xo

© Originally published by Nin for |••• PeachyHollow •••| as A special day