Last October, whilst cruising on the Thames, our boat stalled, which was pretty scary at the time and the problem seemed to be related to mucky fuel. A bit of a surprise as we'd had the fuel polished in July. Once we reached our winter mooring in Newbury we heaved a sigh of relief, little thinking it would be mid May before we could cruise again, due to the red boards on the Kennet river.

A problem with our Webasto heater led to us calling out an engineer, who discovered that we had an exceptionally rusty fuel tank, compounded by a quantity of water in the tank, more than could be accounted for by condensation alone. All pretty depressing really but once Joe emptied the tank, cleaned it thoroughly and replaced the newly polished fuel along with the fuel filters, we felt a renewed confidence in restarting our cruising.

Obviously, keeping the internals of the boat in good repair makes all the difference to how the boat runs, but so often you don't realise there's a problem until it's a bit late. My other half tells me the fuel got all joggled up when we were on the river stretch of the Kennet, resulting in the dirty fuel on the bottom getting mixed with the clean fuel above. Regular servicing helps but it can't mitigate everything, so suddenly you find yourself in a bit of a fix.

That's rather like life. Unless we keep our internal self in good order we can find ourselves sinking rather than swimming through life. Negative emotions stop us from living well. Holding onto anger, bitterness, disappointment hinders our ability to get up in the morning and just enjoy the day. The less burdened our mind is from stress and worry, the better we can function.

It isn't always easy to do this in our own strength, especially if we facing some seemingly impossible situations. Sometimes we need a helping hand. Some people use therapy, or mindfulness or finding someone they can trust to share their burdens with. Personally I choose to pray to a God I believe in, who loves us unconditionally, and wants to be our helper throughout our earthly life. Not only is he there for us in our ups and downs, but he forgives us when we screw up, a bit like cleaning the fuel tank. The crud is removed and clean fuel replaces the muck so our internal being runs smoothly.

We often live with the belief that we require no extra help from anyone. This is especially the case when all is well and living feels easy. However it's when the hard times come along we realise life is not so simple. Negative thoughts and feelings from previous years may get mixed into the present, often the case when someone is bereaved for a second time. If they have managed to bury their feelings of grief, without dealing with them on the first occasion, the second bereavement stirs up all the previous emotions and the new bereavement is doubly hard to cope with. In addition to this, we don't want to run on an empty tank or run out of fuel!

We may be good at helping others and not so good at self care, so we end up depleted of energy and zest for life. Now that summer is hopefully around the corner, find opportunities to enjoy nature more, go for walks, chat to your neighbour or just relax in a sunny spot, watching the world go by.

We could all do with a bit of a recharge after this wettest of winters so I hope the sun chooses to shine!

People often ask us how we manage to live on a narrow boat; what qualities are most important to maintaining an equilibrium and peace of mind?

For us, it’s flexibility of both mind and body…let me explain.

We ascended the Wigan Flight (of locks) on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal towards the end of February, planning to spend several weeks walking in the Yorkshire Dales. We’ve been to this area many times before in our caravan when we lived in a house, but never by boat.

We were taking our time heading towards Gargrave, so we’d arrive in the area as the weather improved. We hoped to base ourselves between Gargrave and Skipton to have easy access to the Dales and lots of walks.

As often happens on the canals, we received a notification from CRT that River Lock in Leeds would be closing from the end of May until the end of July. We didn’t really want to be ‘stuck’ on this canal until August, so we curtailed our time around Skipton and got a bit of a wiggle on to get to Leeds sooner than we’d planned.

We had thought about trying to tackle the Calder and Hebble Canal, but as our boat is 60ft long, we decided we couldn’t face the risk of getting stuck in the locks which are not designed for boats that long!

In the meantime, CRT reversed their decision to close River Lock, so we’re now heading back the way we came and hoping to do some walks in the summer sunshine after all.

The best plan to have when living on a boat seems to be no plan and having an open and flexible outlook to life helps to eliminate stress; after 3 years of living on the boat, we’re now getting used to just going with the flow.

As a former yoga teacher, I’ve tried to maintain a 3 times a week yoga practice, which isn’t easy with the unpredictable weather.

We’ve done yoga on the towpath, on lock landings, in children’s playgrounds, pub car parks, even a graveyard!

Despite the challenges of boat life, we’re managing to maintain flexibility of body and mind…long may it continue 😀

Meet Charles Garven, who has been a Waterways Chaplain since 2021. He used to spend a long working week as a lorry driver but took early retirement during lockdown and, as life began to return to normal, re-evaluated his time.

Having served inside the church as Lay Reader for over 25 years, he wanted to take his faith out into the community and becoming a waterways chaplain was one way of doing just that. He and his wife have been live-aboard boaters since 2005.

Currently, they have a mooring near Saul Junction on the Gloucester and Sharpness canal, which is a wide ship canal bypassing the dangerous sandbanks and huge tides of the River Severn.

He is Senior Waterways Chaplain for the Severn and (Stratford) Avon, and his team covers Sharpness through to Worcester and also cross to Stratford. They can be ‘on call’ for the Monmouth and Brecon and for the upper Thames and one of their members covers the Penarth and Cardiff Bay marinas.

The waterways chaplains minister to anybody and everybody they meet on the towpath – boaters, walkers, fishermen, canal staff, local businesses, etc. etc. There are no boundaries. He says that the root causes of many problems stem from loneliness, poor health or financial poverty.

He relates that, a few months ago, he met a boater who owned only the clothes he was wearing that day. He was unwell with a long-term condition which made him unemployable, and his medication gave him depression. His income support was mostly spent in the pub, which did in fact help with the depression, but sadly only contributed to his ill health. Charles asked for help through the local church news sheet.

Within three days, he was able to deliver five large bags containing clothes, some of which were brand new and had been bought especially. This gentleman must now be one of the best dressed people on the towpath!

Another man he met lives on his boat with his wife and family. He was a jobbing boat builder and had done some work for a client who hadn’t paid him. This brought hardship to the whole family. A couple of visits from the local food-bank was enough to put them back on track. When he saw them again, they were overjoyed. “They even gave us Easter eggs for the children!”

I asked Charles if the problems of those he tries to help depresses him and were there any upsides. He said that he was well supported both at home and by his local church and local waterways chaplaincy. So, he doesn’t really get depressed, but he does feel for the people he meets and shares their concerns.

He added, “Yes, there are upsides, of course. There is happiness to be shared when a friend comes through a difficult patch. And having 100 people on the towpath for a carol service at Christmastime is a joy!”
​
I asked him why he undertook this ministry. He said, “Quite simply, to offer practical, emotional, and spiritual help as it is needed. If you try and ram Christianity down someone’s throat, they will choke on it. But by being a friend and trying to help, and perhaps reminding someone of things that were important when they were younger, I am planting the seed of evangelism.

And, of course, I enjoy it!”

Despite being brought up in Norfolk during the period of the 1953 floods all along the East  Coast, living on the Dorset coast for the past fifty years and undertaking my boating activities both recreationally and with the Portland Coastguard patrol boat mainly in the English Channel, until very recently I had given scant attention to the implications of climate change on our inland waterways.

My attention to the very serious implications of climate change on our inland waterways was brought home to me very forcibly as a result of my wife Lois and I relocating our boating activities to the Norfolk Broads a few years ago and my subsequent involvement as a member of the Norfolk and Suffolk Boating Association and Lois’s membership of the Broads Society.

Given the exceptionally wet weather over a period of six months and more since October 2023, coupled with several named storms and some exceptionally high spring tides it was hardly surprising that the Broads river levels including those on the rivers Bure, Ant and Thurne all “over topped” the quay headings in several places and that as a result lots of moorings including those at several large boatyards were inundated and in some cases became unusable.

Management of the waters of the Broads, especially as regards navigation, is actually quite complicated, involving the Broads Authority, Anglian Water, and the Environment Agency, with the added complications of there being several lifting and swing bridges operated under the control of the Highways Agency or Railtrack!

These complications are exacerbated by the fact that the Broads Authority is a actually a National Park but is unique amongst the UK’s National Parks in being responsible for navigation in addition to the normal responsibilities of the other National Parks. This is a unique situation whereby the Broads Authority is required to cater for the needs of people engaged in boating (both in privately owned vessels and in hired craft) and to cater for the needs of local residents and for the needs of the thousands of holidaymakers staying in hotels, guest houses, campsites etc! These two fairly distinct groups are known locally as “Navvies” and “Parkies”

Currently the most vexed problem as far as boating on the Broads is concerned is the recent increase in the annual tolls levied on local boat owners and hire boat operators alike; legally, according to the Broads Authority/National Parks remit these tolls are to be used exclusively to maintain the Broads navigation, including such matters as dredging, weed cutting and clearance, quay headings at public moorings, but there are suspicions being voiced lately claiming that a proportion of the tolls revenue is being used to subsidise non-navigational activities within the Broads area, arguably at the expense of the provision of mooring facilities, adequate dredging of those Broads used for yacht racing and other navigational matters, and that this problem has been exacerbated over the past eight months as a result of the extremely wet weather and increased flooding.

The future of the UK’s inland waterways, and the Broads in particular, at a time of very significant climate change is the subject of an interesting strategy document produced by the Broads Authority called the “Broadland Futures Initiative”

It's getting hot in here
Like sitting in a furnace
We're both in our under gear
Why did no one warn us?

We've gone one log too many
It's 3000 f'fing degrees
We've got everything wide open
and we can barely breathe

Our spuds are near cremated
We fear we will combust
Hotter than the earth's mantle
Or Mount Vesu-vius

We're worried about our firebricks
Concerned our glass will crack
Our temperature gauge on overdrive
Our stove fan on full whack

You'll probably find us melted
A pool where once we sat
Mines the chair with pants and bra
Not y-fronts and flat cap

Where to begin? I suppose some bright sparks idea to change the gas bottle sizes meaning if I wanted gas, I am going to have to earn one the hard way. I needed to raise the tank sides by at least 25 cm to accommodate the bottles. I did get a quote to do this in situ without disturbing the tank but sadly where it sat meant the extra size bottles wouldn’t clear the deck beam so nothing else for it. Time to remove the gas tank, its drainpipe, and half the cockpit with it. Oh yeah, the quote! £400 hmm. Now before we go much further there is a quaint term used when I am busy doing something that many have neither the skills nor aptitude to try - it’s called tinkering! How lovely... let’s get started.

First tank hasn’t been out in forty years so plenty of rust treatment – I use the Hammerite rust convertor. That done, order £50 quid’s worth of 3mm steel plate cut to size and a pack of 5mm welding rods – we going to have to get it hot. An hour's tinkering later, and the tank is now 25 cm higher. Next - which I hadn’t bargained for - replace the rotten ply it sat on. Tank painted yellow with a large gas sign, and it can go back in if I could find a 28mm Metal to copper fitting for hull and a small length of 28mm tube.

After a week searching (something has gone wrong post Covid: no one seems to stock anything) I found a second hand one on E bay. Always remember copper olives for anything gas never brass. Tank back in and guess what - it fouled the water pump locker and worst the door... OK, two foot of water pipe later and pump is moved; mercifully the boat was so badly built there was enough of a gap around the door to move it across by half an inch and I made it fit properly.

Now for the hard bit: the gas bubble. This came with two shocks: first the cost for what is a safety device and secondly the fitting. OK in the UK we tend to still use imperial pipes so in my case 3\8th but the bubble is made by our French cousins, and they don’t, so its 10mm. If you are a non-tinker and clueless on the gravity and severity of most situations, that’s a 0.5 mm gap – big enough to blow me and boat to Valhalla. There are no 3/8th to 10mm fittings and my tame gas engineer (or rather fitter, as an engineer makes things work) promptly shook his head and said he couldn’t or wouldn’t do it. Hmm ! OK. With years of old bikes, Morris 1000s and even a Morris Ital, one learnt to flare brake pipes – a process whereby they are stretched slightly, I used a proper hydraulic type to get an even flare to 10 mm – sorted.  Tool of the year - small pipe benders, remembering you can fail on unnecessary fittings.

Time for some gas which mercifully fitted the locker snugly, put fluid in bubble tester and try. I have never felt so deflated, mentally exhausted and down-hearted as it looked like a glass of champagne. Rowlocks now what the heck do I do? Worse still, where is the leak? One thing many can’t do is think laterally, start at cooker (the furthest point) and turn off its tap. Hey presto bubbles stop and why? because I ran out of gas this time last year and the cooker knobs rely on high melting point grease to seal them – that’s quite frightening when you think about it.

OK - magnetic tray at the ready and dismantle the gas rail and get the knobs out , if you have ever done this you will see what the magnetic tray is for, as the springs try and fall out the moment they are unscrewed. Cleaned, greased and re try and no bubbles even for three minutes- ooh we are winning. But not only that, the gas “ engineer “ was happy with everything including the pipe clips .

Next kettle de-scaler through the water heater and wait for leaks – the stuff that came out of there and shower was amazing !! Another bubble test and all is good. The engine bay has its own fire blanket because the outboard is probably the biggest risk, it also has a spill kit (not that that’s in the safety, but ought to be). We have two co detectors because of the fumes from boats in locks, and three extinguishers whose job isn’t to put the fire out but shove it back whilst I escape.

Day of the test and a heart stopping moment when gas pressure dropped because we left cooker slightly on (I think bubble is a brilliant idea) and she passed with one advisory. Wait for it ……………. Ventilation in the door - which if I hadn’t spent hours making it fit properly the gap alone would have sufficed. Still you can't tinker it all .

The morning was pure summer as depicted on postcards and chocolate boxes. Blue sky, candy-floss clouds and warm sun of the kind that umbrella manufacturers secretly pray will not last long. After feeding the remainder of a hearty breakfast to a group of ducks the couple, just hours away from being a week married, were under way again. Their destination was the limit of navigation on the river to spend some time looking around before returning to the canal system for the first time since the odyssey that brought them together. The locks on this part of the river were manually operated, smaller than before, but still big by canal standards and all were manned. The ones lower down the river were worked by a hydraulic mechanism of some kind, apart from a couple that still had an earlier, and possibly experimental, electric system.

The channel too was much narrower with shoals to be avoided as they rounded the many bends. During the afternoon they came across a rather large hire cruiser, named Clearwater Sky, that was firmly lodged on one of these sandbanks. The initial effort of trying to plough through the obstruction, or reverse out under engine power had proved completely futile as was the use of the more ornamental than useful boat-hook supplied with the vessel. The family, having failed to work out quite how to deal with the situation, had decided to wait for further inspiration.
“Can we help?” Amanda shouted as they approached.
“Thanks, but you won’t have the power to lug this thing off. We’re well aground,” the captain, otherwise known as “Dad” replied rather despondently.
“We can try,” Amanda said as Jim brought the bow of the Mayfly round towards the hopelessly grounded cruiser.
“No harm in that surely,” the first mate, otherwise known as “Mum” answered, gratefully accepting the offer.

Mayfly, being of much shallower draught than the centre cockpit wooden hire boat, was able to edge in alongside to a point where Amanda was able to hop aboard with a length of rope, one end of which was tied around the centre thwart of Mayfly. As Jim gently edged the craft back, and turned to face it down river. Amanda, tied the rope firmly at the stern of the hire cruiser and headed off to the cockpit.
“Right,” she said with such authority that nobody questioned her youthful appearance. “I’ll reverse whilst you rock the boat, I mean really rock it. Once Jim's taken up the slack, we go.”
As the line tightened, Jim heard Amanda’s barked orders. “One, two, three, ROCK!” He gently applied more power until the little outboard was at full throttle. Gradually the hire cruiser started to move, Jim reducing the output of his own motor as it did. Once she had judged they were at last floating free, Amanda instantly put the motor of the hire boat into neutral to stop the line from fouling the propeller. Jim then cast the rope off for Amanda to retrieve.
“Pick me up at the lock, it’s only a short way,” she shouted. “It’ll save us getting stuck all over again.”
Jim waved in recognition and continued as Amanda set to aiming the cumbersome cruiser to avoid any further shallows.
“Pretty niftily executed,” Captain Dad said. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“Bit of a long story,” Amanda replied.

“Go on, tell us,” the younger of two girls, pleaded. “Is that your mum and dad’s boat? Or did you hire it like this one?”
“Don’t be so nosey Emily,” first mate Mum said to her eight year daughter.
“Actually she belongs to Jim and me,” Amanda smiled. “That’s a long story too.”
“Will you tell us. Please,” Emily insisted.
“You’ll distract her and we’ll be aground again,” her eleven year old elder sister intervened.
“She won’t do that Debs! She's an expert she is!” Emily persisted.
“Enough from both of you little tykes!” Captain Dad said firmly, feeling rather worried about the chance of hitting another shoal. “And thanks, are you heading for the top of the river this evening?”
“Hopefully,” Amanda replied.
“Then we’re buying you two a drink as a thank you, and before you say no, we insist. Our daughters won’t forgive us if they don’t get some of these long stories out of you!” he smiled.
“Then thanks, we’d love to,” Amanda answered for both Jim and herself, noticing a raised eyebrow from the first mate.
“We both like telling our stories so prepare to be bored to death. By the time we’ve finished you’ll wish you were stuck on the mud again,” Amanda smiled.
“Is he your brother?” Emily chirped.
“That’s another long story,” first mate Mum, having seen the rings on Amanda's finger, replied. “Or at least I think it may be?”

At well over twice the length and a good deal wider than Mayfly, Clearwater Sky wasn’t blessed with best of handling characteristics. Where Mayfly answered almost instantly to a small move of the tiller, Amanda found herself waiting for replies to her commands as cables and pulleys moved an undersized rudder. Once in the lock she switched back to her own boat as soon as the water level in the chamber allowed. The family in the hire boat assured them that they would be fine after their short course in avoiding mud and insisted that Jim and Amanda go on ahead. The politeness was partly due to pride on the captain and first mate’s part, but was contested by the two girls who, as minor crew members, were overruled.
“I may have landed us in for some serious interrogation,” Amanda said as they were back under way.
“As long as they don’t use thumbscrews, I really don’t like thumbscrews very much,” Jim replied calmly.
“They asked us, out for a drink. They were pretty insistent, so I accepted. Hope you don't mind,” Amanda smiled.
“We knew we’d have to explain ourselves at some point,” Jim kept the deadpan tone.
(© 2024 Michael Nye)

I've got boater's feet
And I think I know why
Mostly kept in moist conditions
Now they need to air dry

Flip flops are quite breezy
But I don't like them in wet grass
And sliders and boats don't mix
You end up on your ass

Rubber boots are not conducive
To keeping your digits dry
And tights pulled up to kingdom come
Just cause a rising tide

That sock and croc combo
Encourages sweating beneath
With athletes' foot and fungal toes
What I need is two webbed feet

Mum and I had a wander on the Caldon Canal from Etruria Junction to Emma Bridgewater Factory in May 2022.

The Caldon Canal is 18 miles long and runs from Etruria, Stoke on Trent, to Froghall, near Uttoxeter. The canal also branches off to Leek, a town in Staffordshire. It originally was one of the branches of the Mersey Canal Company, at the time, and formed part of the said canal. Opened in 1779 and despite not being officially closed, the usage of the canal declined in the 20th Century and subsequent restoration took place. In 1974, the main line to Froghall was completed and the Leek branch soon after.

We started on the Trent and Mersey Canal at Festival Park in Etruria, and we walked to towards the junction where the Caldon Canal begins. There we continued on until we reached the Bridgewater Factory Shop. It is a pleasant place to stop and have a drink, admire the grounds’ gardens and buy some earthenware.

The two miles or so stretch on the canal is calm and green with the canal running through Hanley Park and its cast iron bridges. This was enhanced by the sunny and warm weather we had that day. We walked back from the Bridgewater Factory shop to the park. The park is nice and spacious though lacking in facilities. The Pavilion, the main building at the park, was empty and there probably was a café in there but closed a long time ago. It is a pity as the Pavilion is a beautiful building and the current state sadly resemble the emptiness and its lifeless ambiance.

It was a pleasant walk along a small stretch of the Caldon Canal and we plan to explore more of this interesting waterway on a future trip.
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The photographs in this article are of multiple exposure using the Snapseed App on my mobile device and the App enables double exposure of photographs and the use of filtering.

By Dawn Smallwood
Facebook: Dawn S Art
Instagram: artwithdawns
Etsy: artwithdawns

Spring for boaters is an optimistic season and a time when we emerge from our winter hibernation, looking forward to longer days and enjoyable cruising. Many of us will be planning our Summer travels and hoping for some drier weather at least, sunshine a bonus! Picture those days when the sunlight streams through the boat and the condensation disappears.

Once those double figure temperatures return we will soon be cooking outside again and our Cobb barbecue will be back to full use, not just for barbecuing but so much more! For now I am enjoying some wild garlic pickings and soon the hawthorn buds, dandelions, nettles and elderflowers will be abundant.

We are all much more conscious about cutting down on food waste, using every part of fresh produce where possible and packaging must always be minimal. I used to buy food bags for storing dry foods, baking and chilled items, now I recycle bakery produce bags and if anything should happen to be in a plastic carton I will use it to keep leftovers in the fridge, or seed trays for my Spring plantings.

Try to wash and scrub root vegetables instead of peeling, there are many nutrients in the outer skin, use the outer leaves of greens for soups, the inner part of the stalk end of a broccoli stem is tender and tasty too. If I do peel the veggies, the skins make lovely oven crisps, tossed in a little oil and seasoning and baked on tray in a hot oven.

If bread looks a bit past it for a sandwich, make into breadcrumbs for stuffing, burgers and patties, they make a great topping for macaroni or cauliflower cheese. Fry slices in a little olive oil and seasoning and cut into croutons for a soup or casserole topping or toss in a salad, or make a simple bread and butter pudding.

With Easter coming soon I have a few favourite recipes to share, ideas using the whole chicken, a lovely lamb recipe, some gluten free polenta recipes and of course an Easter sweet treat. I’m a fan of chicken thigh meat in place of breast fillet but sometimes there is a larger fat/sinew content, thus more waste and less value for money, although Rosie our dog enjoys any chicken discard treats. If you buy skin on chicken thighs, the skins can be used to make chicken cracking based on the pork scratching.

CHICKEN CRACKLING
Remove the skins from the thighs and pat dry with kitchen paper. Sprinkle them with sea salt and leave in the fridge overnight, this will help dry the skins and give a crispier crackling when cooking. Place on a tray lined with baking paper and season with black pepper. Place another sheet of baking paper on top and weigh down with another baking tray or tin to stop them curling during cooking. Bake in a hot oven for about 15 minutes, remove the paper, turn them over, cover again and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove the paper and check on the skins, continue to bake until crispy and golden, about 30 minutes in total.

These are delicious with a chilli dipping sauce or tangy lemon mayonnaise, simply add a squeeze of fresh lemon and some fresh ground black pepper to the mayonnaise.

A whole chicken is a much more economical buy. As there isn’t much meat on the wings, cut them off beforehand and use them to make a broth by boiling in a lidded saucepan with a little water, this then becomes a flavourful stock or a base for soups by adding onion, garlic, celery, carrots, seasoning and herbs, then add pulses or grains such as pearl barley and some leafy greens.

SPRING ROAST CHICKEN
Tarragon is a herb which compliments chicken perfectly and is readily available in the fresh herb section at larger supermarkets.

Pat the skin dry with kitchen paper and smear a little butter over the thighs and breast to protect from drying. Stuff the cavity with ½ onion. ½ lemon, 3 garlic cloves, 1 bay leaf, a small bunch of tarragon, sprig of thyme and a little butter. Roast for about 1 hour 20 mins, depending on size, if the leg is wobbly when pulled from the body and juices are clear, it is cooked. Allow to rest before serving. Don’t throw the juices away!

JERSEY ROYAL SMASH
This is a recipe using those chicken cooking juices, once settled, skim off the top fatty layer. Par boil new season scrubbed potatoes for about ten minutes until just tender. Strain and then very slightly break up with a potato masher. Heat the fat from the roast chicken in the base of a baking tray in a hot oven, then toss the potatoes in the fat and return to the oven, roast for about 20 minutes until crisped up and finish with fresh ground black pepper and finely chopped spring onions to serve.

SALSA VERDE
Perfect with roast chicken. This would serve 4, quantities can be easily halved.

1 small pack each of tarragon and flat leaf parsley
30g wild garlic (or 2 garlic cloves)
1 tsp sea salt
3 tsp Dijon mustard
40g capers (from a jar) drained, rinsed and chopped
200 ml extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp cider vinegar or lemon juice.

Chop everything finely and gradually add the salt, oil, mustard and vinegar. Leftover chicken is perfect tossed in salsa verde, chopped salad ingredients and bulghur wheat or quinoa. Quinoa is nutritious and a good gluten free substitute for couscous or grains.

My rolled leg of lamb roast recipe does have quite a long list of ingredients, dried herbs instead of fresh and less fruit (such as the dates) and nuts can be used if ingredients are in sparce supply. It’s worth the time and effort of this dish for a special Easter Sunday roast. The stuffing ingredients are ample and make a perfect combination to use in stuffed aubergine and pepper for non-meat eaters, top with extra chopped onion and feta.

ROLLED LEG OF LAMB ROAST
Leg of lamb, deboned and butterflied
Coarse sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 tbsp dried thyme
5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
4 tbsp oil
4 tbsp butter
Handful finely chopped dates, about 10
Handful chopped wild garlic or baby spinach
4 tsp chopped spring onions
3 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme
1 cup chopped nuts, mixture of unsalted cashew nuts and walnuts works
well ½ block of feta
Handful, about 15 dried apricots, chopped
2 tsp finely chopped chillies
10 pitted black olives chopped

Score a diamond pattern on the fatty side of the lamb, then rub in the salt, pepper, dried thyme, half the garlic, lemon zest and oil. Turn the leg over and using a sharp knife make 10 slits of 1cm deep and stuff the date pieces into each slit. Melt 2tbsp of the butter in a frying pan and saute the wild garlic, spring onions, half the rosemary and fresh thyme, reduce the heat and stir in the nuts, feta, apricots, chillies and olives. Leave to cool then spread the filling over the meat, leaving a small border. Then toll it up and tie with string, just tight enough to keep together.
Wrap in clingfilm and rest in fridge for about 3 hours.
Remove from fridge and bring to room temperature for a few hours before cooking. Heat the remaining butter in a pan to brown the meat on all sides , adding the remaining rosemary, thyme and garlic while you do so. Place in an ovenproof dish, cover and roast in a hot oven for approximately 1 ½ hours, roast uncovered for the last 20 minutes.
Lift out of the oven, cover and leave the meat to rest before slicing.

Polenta is a great store cupboard staple to keep in and is a useful substitute when short of fresh eggs, potatoes, butter etc. It’s made from cornmeal and is gluten free.

VEGAN POLENTA FRITTATA
½ red onion
1 small pepper or two halves of different colours
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp vegetable oil
½ fresh finely chopped fresh chilli or ¼ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp each of salt, pepper, paprika
1 tsp dried or fresh mixed herbs
1 small tin sweetcorn
Handful spinach or wild garlic (optional)
155g (or 1 cup) polenta
750ml liquid comprising of 2 parts veg stock and 1 part non-dairy milk

Line a deep pie dish with baking paper.
Finely chop and fry the onion, peppers and garlic until turning golden.
Add the chilli, paprika, seasoning and herbs, followed by the spinach or wild garlic if using.
Finally add the tin of sweetcorn and set aside.

In a separate pan bring the vegetable stock to the boil, turn down to simmer and add the milk, then sprinkle the polenta into the liquid and whisk, keep stirring on a simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes until thickens.
Add the fried ingredients, stir well and pour into the lined dish.
Allow to cool, then refrigerate for at least an hour to fully set. Bring back to room temperature and bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes, until firm and golden on top.
When cooked, allow to rest before slicing into wedges.
Can be enjoyed hot or cold.

LEMON AND RASPBERRY POLENTA CAKE
This is a delicious light and moist wheat free cake made with polenta instead of flour, which helps prevent the berries from sinking during cooking. The raspberries can be substituted for blueberries.
100g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
100g caster sugar
2 medium eggs, beaten
100g ground almonds
90g polenta
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp baking powder
100ml natural yoghurt
100g raspberries or blueberries
Preheat the oven to 160 fan, grease a 2lb loaf tin and line with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together until soft and pale, gradually beat in the eggs adding 1 tbsp ground almonds with each egg.
Stir through the polenta, lemon zest and juice, baking powder and remaining ground almonds, then stir in the yoghurt and half the raspberries.
Pour into the loaf tin and scatter the remaining raspberries over the top, pressing slightly down into the mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Allow to cool and slice to serve.

EASTER TREAT CHOCOLATE FRIDGE CAKE
200g digestive biscuits
100g rich tea biscuits
150g milk chocolate
150g dark chocolate
150g golden syrup
100g unsalted butter
175g dried soft fruit to your preference such as raisins, apricots, cranberries, glace cherries, I used Whitworths luxury fruit mix (for an extra bit of luxury soak in brandy first) 60g finely chopped nuts such as walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts...

Grease a shallow sided tin (I use 20cm square) and then line with cling film to hang over the sides for ease of lifting cake out later.
Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup gently in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, stir occasionally to mix together.
Crush the biscuits in a bag with a rolling pin, a mix of crumb and small pieces is ideal. Add to the rest of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and combine well with the melted chocolate.
Spoon into the tin, pressing firmly into the sides and corners. You could use a potato masher to help press firmly down.
Leave to set in the fridge for 2 hours. Remove from the tin by lifting out with the overhanging clingfilm and cut into squares.