Christmas has it's traditional flavours we all recognise and we admit walnut wine may not be one.  For us, alongside the mistletoe and cloves, there's something different.

In our house, the aromatic scent of walnut wine is a bit of a tradition.

It all goes back to France where we spent many Christmas holidays growing up.  There, Walnut Wine or vin de noix is more of a tradition. 

So much so that the French even have a specific day when they believe the walnuts are just right.  That day is June 24^th, Saint John’s day.  It's the traditional day across France  that walnuts are picked for walnut wine.

The reason being that the shells on the nuts have not quite formed - allowing the skins of the nuts to masticate beautifully - more often than not, just in time for Christmas.

This year for the first time, on a hot June evening, we decided to give it a go.

With a trug full of walnuts we went with the following recipe:

INGREDIENTS                                                               

6 liters of good red wine
1 liter of Armagnac 
40 green nuts 
1.5kg brown sugar 
2 vanilla pods 
1 cinnamon stick 

METHOD

Cut the nuts into halves or quarters with a sharp knife so that they enter the bottle.  If you are picking the nuts at the right time of year they should be soft enough to slice through.

Place them all on a demijohn and pour over wine, spirit, sugar and spices.  Stir well. 

Store it in a cool dark place. During the first week, stir every day and then about once a week for 10 weeks. 
 
At the end of 10 weeks, taste and if you think it's ready decant into bottles and wait until at least Christmas...if you can! 

Since moving back to Cornwall, one of our favourite things at the weekend has been sampling some of the amazing food that seems to be being served up at the end of every hedgerow.

Here's a few of the foodie favourites that we've enjoyed since moving back to Cornwall.

Inkies Somkehouse //  Golitha Falls // Cornwall

It was a misty late spring morning when we drove over Bodmin Moor in search of waterfalls but came across much much more as the sweet smell of BBQ teased our tatsebuds as we pulled into the car park at Golitha Falls.

A family run smokehouse that serves burgers the size of your head and shakes as smooth as the eddies rolling over the rocks in the River Fowey which runs next to the site.

All of their food is cooked using a unique process that creates what’s known as a “Smoke Ring” which develops along the outside of the meat and around the bones in their products.  We always like to think it's our little secret but with food that good, we can't see how it can stay secret for much longer.

Coombeshead Farm // Lewannick // Cornwall

There's not much to write that's not already been written about Coombeshead Farm.  The food that Tom Adams and the team dream up is mouthwateringly marvelous as you would expect.  

Our first visit was for their Mid-summer feast (pictured above) which exceeded our already high expectations.  We've been a couple of times and keep coming back, not just for the food but the company and welcome the whole team there give you make it a truly special place. 

The Market // Crantock // Cornwall

Normally on the first Saturday of every month, Crantock Village Hall transforms itself into a treasure trove of some of the best food and craft Cornwall has to over. 

We always find ourselves going back again and again to meet new producers like @onefieldfarm, @sunsetbrewing, @cornishchillies, @thecornishlarder, @rosabelles_baking and @doughnut_addiction and tuck into some mighty fine food and drink (our latest haul pictured above).

When we were setting up our farm shop, we wanted to come up with a name that represented our Cornish heritage but also was true to the site upon which our farm shop and cafe was built.

A number of long a slightly tempestuous discussions ensued with different names being put forward. 

It was when trawling over the old maps of Cornwall on wall at home that we realised how many towns and villages around the local area and across Cornwall, start with the prefixes Tre, Pol or Pen.

A spot of Googling followed and we discovered that the rhyme "By Tre, Pol and Pen shall ye know Cornishmen," dates back to at least 1602 when it was first recorded by Richard Carew in his Survey of Cornwall in 1602.

In Cornish Tre means a homestead and there seemed to be plenty of those dotted in the fields around the farm shop site from Trekenner, Treburley & Trebullet,  

Pol means a pond lake or well.  We have natural springs and a number of ancient wells on the farm which all feed the ponds and lakes we dug when building the site to support wildlife across the site.

Finally, Pen is the Cornish for hill or headland.  With the farm shop sitting on the brow of a hill on land locally known as Penscombe.

So after much discussion it seems the name was written in the place names and geology that surrounded us. 

Some things are simple when you take the time to look.