Catherine's Vineyard Cottages

The Lavender Harvest

superadmin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:05:51 +0000

Taken just last week just after I got home from Budapest. After the lavender has flowered for a few weeks, it is cut and then delievered to the Pannonhalma Monstery some 50km away to be distilled into oil. We had two such truck loads and made some 3litres of oil this year, which is then turned into soap, bathoil, shampoo, bubble bath, shower gel, body lotion and shampoo.

Have you heard of Nordic running?

superadmin — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:35:14 +0000

I was cooking breakfast one Sunday morning, when Dominic (a dear friend who was staying with us) appeared at our door (as he’d smelt the bacon) in his all-over-lycra-Nordic-running-suit complete with Nordic sticks - well, dymanic though he looked, he did look quite funny and I began to giggle, which was a tad mean as Dominic takes this sport most seriously, still I bet our hillside had never seen something quite like “Nordic Man!” before. Dominic, who very much enjoyed his bacon sandwhich, went on to say, that the top of our ridge was “perfect” for Nordic running. So there you go, who would have thought it? Oh and by the way, Dominic and his wife Andrea, very kindly presented us with some Nordic sticks should you get the urge to Nordic run (or walk!).

It’s a dog’s life or is it?

superadmin — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 11:20:56 +0000

Unlike most dogs in Hungary which live outside in all weathers, we Brits and Americans love our dogs to live in with us. I could not resist posting this majestic photo of Maggie who was staying at the Eco Haz with her American owners Amy and Sam. Actually, this particular weekend, Maggie was not the only whippet in residence, as there was Coco staying next door in The Kis Alma with her owners, some fellow Brits.

Riding up the garden.

superadmin — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:38:30 +0000

Here is my dearest mother (75), riding my dearest horse, Carla, up the garden to our house (the Sipoz Haz). Mum has been riding since the age of two, from when she first grew up in Hungary. She has an incredible “seat” as one says in the horsey world, and she said “I am happiest when sitting on a horse”

I actually bought Carla from Mum, when I was searching for a kind reliable horse and not some wild thing (it is a dodgy a job to find a good horse as it is to buy a second hand car) so in the end, having passed up various options, Mum suggest she would just give me Carla, but I objected “no Mum I will buy her from you – for a profit” by golly that horse was here in no time.

Jamming.

superadmin — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 15:39:02 +0000

Here’s our “jam stand” at the Mor wine festival, in October 2009. These stands are incredibly pricey at 100,000fts for 3 days (which is quite a lot of jam to shift), so we divided the cost with our neighbour, Eva Vécsei, she and her husband owns the hobby farm just down the road from us, which produces organic cheese.

Eva’s cheese was a real hit, our best selling jam was Ibi’s rhubarb variety. The lady “stand” judges were dying to award us the “best stand” prize but they could only award this to stands selling wine, so alas we didn’t win. Didn’t matter though as plenty of folks took photos.

Wines & Goulash.

superadmin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:37:54 +0000

Around the second Saturday in September, Csakbereny holds the Wine Day festival, many cellars along our road are open for visitors to sample local wines, and palinkas, as well as music, dancing and various entertainments for kids. Over the past couple of years, the organisers have included a goulash competition, as part of the day’s activities.

Last year we took part, I was keen to improve the style of outdoor dining, show my dearest villagers a thing or two (no plastic was my motto, forks, tables, chairs, bottles, plates) So between Karcsi, Ibi and myself we hauled down half our house down the road to our reserved spot, with some of the local “Baci’s” opposite us, chuckling and shaking their heads as we loaded off all our important clobber – still our spot looked the business.

Christopher prepared and cooked our English version of goulash (he’s the cook in our marriage), then a sample is taken from all the cooks, who then all assemble in a room above the main wine cellar and taste each other’s without knowing whose is who and vote on which is best, upon tasting Christopher’s they apparently mutterd “urgh too tomatey”!