At Your Service!

After the most lovely three weeks in southern England, Julie and I found ourselves in Yorkshire, only eight miles outside of the seaside city of Scarborough! We are currently being hosted by a wonderful couple who love to cater weddings, run a small B&B and organize and put on a large community event that includes music, drama, campfires and all sorts of other activities for all ages! 

Arriving in Yorkshire, we instantly took in a different landscape than we'd previously seen in England. Here there are miles and miles of fields slightly rolling off into the distance. There are some hedges, but most of the beautiful grazing cattle and sheep are kept in their respective pastures by fences with wire! The intense yellow of the grain fields truly look like gold under the sunlight! 

While we enjoyed taking in the views of the farming grounds, we were busy inside preparing for the upcoming wedding our host was catering. S, the wife, is the chef of the catering business and she put together an amazing Mediterranean and English menu. Julie and I were able to cut, slice, chop and whiz all kinds of ingredients for the different dishes. When using the food processor, our hosts asked us to 'whiz' whatever it was that needed to be pulverized in the machine. We whizzed chickpeas and amaretto biscuits for different recipes! I love to say whiz! 

Julie helped mix together the falafel mixture, fold spinach filling into filo pastries and cut beet root into matchsticks! I had the awesome job of accompanying C, the husband, to the grocery stores a couple times for food shopping! I love grocery shopping and thoroughly enjoyed walking the new supermarkets and filling up our cart! Back at the house, I washed up and did the dishes of all the bowls, pots, pans and utensils we used in the preparations. 

All of the dishes were made from scratch, so lots of work was needed to be finished before the big day on Saturday! It was lots of fun listening to music in the kitchen, chatting along to everyone as we did our projects and enjoying loads of tea throughout the day! 

Saturday started bright and early and after filling a big van and another car with the food and supplies, we were off on the road with our crew of seven! 

The wedding was at a beautiful old castle looking hunting-estate-turned-hostel two hours from Scarborough near the town of Richmond. It was set in the magnificent Yorkshire Dales; a wonderful setting with green pastures and white fluffy sheep dotting the countryside! 

With the magnificent landscape around us, we set to work finishing the dishes, setting the tables for the 100 guests and getting everything cooked and ready for the wedding meal in the evening.

Finally around 6:00p.m. we were really in business! Julie helped heap the appetizer platters with pastries, beetroot salad, flat bread I'd warmed up and falafel rounds. I carried out the three different sauces and the feast began! And what a feast?!

Julie and I easily went into 'get things done' mode and were quickly serving up seconds of appetizers and salad. The bride's family is from Germany, so I also was able to switch between German and English a bit while I served up the tasty food to the different tables. It was so fun to have German around us again!

It wasn't long before we found ourselves behind the serving table for the main course. Lamb, pork, potatoes and broccoli, along with an entire vegetarian spread was on the menu for the evening. The guests were so warm and friendly! I really enjoyed serving and interacting with the different people. Julie was happy to become a bit of a runner getting extra food for the chafing dishes as they became low or refilling the gravy bowls.

Dinner was served and the dishes needed to be cleared! The whole crew worked together gathering plates and dishes and delivering them to the dish room. It was officially time to start washing up! I was so thankful for the industrial dishwasher!

For the next three to four hours, Julie and I rinsed and washed and put away the hundreds of dishes used. We thankfully were assisted with the pots and pans! We really got a system down and also took breaks from washing to help serve the chocolate torte and cream for dessert!

It was a lot of work, but the team we worked with made it fun and upbeat! Finally around midnight the last cups were coming out of the hot dishwasher and we packed up and made the long way back! Julie and I were thankful for S's driving as we were passed out sleeping in the backseat!

I'm not sure I'll start up my own catering business when I return home or seek out serving jobs; but it was a great experience! Julie and I both learned lots and we did enjoy working with the others and had fun singing and listening to music as we got everything done!

Julie and I and the beautiful scenery around us! We were able to take a short little afternoon break and enjoy the views before serving began!

The castle looking hostel!

Final Week in Devon (for now)

As you can tell, Dana and I love Devon! We loved seeing all of the places our host has taken us to, running through the hedges and moving cows between them too, and just spending time with our incredibly kind, generous, and fun hosts. We were sad to go but decided that we weren't ready to say goodbye to this lovely area of England so we will be returning near the end of our trip!

Our last week (August 2-10, we're a little behind) started with a walk through the local village that has become our English home with our host family. We enjoyed strolling between the quaint homes, by the stream that runs through the village, and taking in the more rustic, woodsy area surrounding the village.

After evening chores, we headed to Sidmouth to see the festivities of Sidmouth Folk Week. This annual event brings loads of people to the small seaside village and we were excited to see the traditional Morris dancers. These dancers are decked out with bells on their shoes and often sticks or flags in their hands to add to the dance. The dancing is mostly performed by moving their feet up and down and circling around the others in a group of 4-8 people. We love seeing old traditions still carried on! There were other street performers and entertainment to enjoy as well as seeing people jumping into the frigid sea!

On Tuesday we visited a large manor home - Montacute House - with our host dad. This beautiful summer home, completed in 1601, is surrounded by meadows of sheep and cattle grazing. All the animals grazing anywhere and everywhere is one of our favorite things to see. We explored the ice house, wandered the gardens, and made our way through the home. It was so neat to go into the different rooms and envision life in the house. Upstairs there was a large gallery filled with paintings and historical information. This room was used for exercise when the weather was poor - Dana and I wished we had one! We gathered outside for a comical and informational demonstration on Tudor horsemen skills. A lord and his good wife showed us jousting, hunting, and other useful tricks. It was quite the show, even with a disgruntled squire and a horse who didn't want to cooperate (unless it was just the horseman)!

We continued our lovely day out with a picnic across from the Cerne Giant. The origins of this disproportionate man outlined into the chalk hillside is debated, varying from 1500 to 300 years ago. Enough on him, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Our hosts taught us how to make our own clotted cream so that evening for 'pudding' we had scones, jam, honey, and homemade clotted cream! We can't wait to make clotted cream at home!

Wednesday we enjoyed working on the farm with the herdsman. We dehorned and castrated calves, moved dry cows, and made the rounds to check on and feed all the animals in the surrounding pastures.

After a nice day at home on Friday, we walked to the local pub for supper. After ordering our drinks, the man told us that they couldn't serve us food as the pub was fully booked. We did get some chips (fries) and crisps (chips) to snack on. We enjoyed meeting and chatting with the sister and niece and nephew of our host before heading back up the hill for some leftovers! There was a brilliant sunset on our trundle back.

Saturday night we walked up the hill to another pub to experience our first carvery and scrumpy. A carvery is a buffet (not all you can eat but you really don't need more than one plate!) with multiple meats that are carved right before you with all the fixings. Scrumpy is strong apple cider! We were advised to be careful not to drink too much. Dana and I shared a half pint and that was enough for me!

After 'tea' we visited Blackbury Camp. This hillfort dates back to the 4th century B.C. It offers great walking, views, and grass for making whistles. Our host family and I are not to performance level yet but this was only our first practice!

Sunday was for packing and preparing to go to our new host. We said goodbye to our host family as they left for Cornwall for a few days. We were sad to say bye but are very excited to go "home" in a few weeks. Monday morning we loaded a bus and headed north!

Thank you to our incredible hosts. We can't wait to see what other fun we can have in Devon on our return. We hope the cat, Pudding, doesn't miss us too much while we're away!

A Day In Dartmoor

Dartmoor! Dartmoor National Park to be exact! Julie and I both think everyone needs to come here. All you must do is check out the photos below and we're nearly positive you'll want to come, too! 

Sit back, relax and enjoy the views! 

The beautiful rolling green hills! 

Amazing countryside and wonderful to see the sheep grazing about the fields! 

The stream in Postbridge where we enjoyed a fantastic and fun time! 

Pooh Sticks! Whose stick wins the race under the bridge?

Relaxing by the water with toes in the stream! 

I love the rock walls! They're amazing! 

Ponies galore! These beautiful creatures spend their days on this glorious green land! 

Awesome rocks in a new stream! We had such fun stepping over the rushing water onto these huge stones! 

Julie and I thoroughly enjoyed Dartmoor and loved being able to see this wonderful land with our super host! Such a beautiful day!