• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs
  • About
    • Press
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

A weekend at Littlecote House, Wiltshire

October 23, 2019 2 Comments Filed Under: Baking, Food, Gardens, Recipes, Travel, UK, Uncategorized

  • blackberry and liquorice steamed pudding pic:Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

Readers may recall that my parents had their diamond wedding anniversary earlier this year in Provence. The celebrations aren’t finished! Sixty guests, one for every year, were invited to a Tudor manor, Littlecote House Hotel, on the border between Berkshire and Wiltshire for the weekend.

Originally my sister and I were supposed to share a room; less than ideal as:

1 ) Both of us snore like trucks, being overweight with short necks.

2) My sister is both accident-prone and incredibly untidy, within minutes every surface is covered. She’s what I call a ‘spreader’. This drives me mad.

3) She likes dark, warm (stuffy) rooms and I like cold, airy rooms.

“I wouldn’t worry” said my dad.”I’m sure at least one guest will die before October and then you won’t have to share.”

When you are in your 80s, friends and relatives die with regularity. My parents’ main social life is attending funerals. And so it proved…we ended up with separate rooms.

  • Little Cote house, Wiltshire, UK pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

Littlecote is a two hour drive from London. The clientele is mostly quite old. You drive through five disabled carparks before you get to an able-bodied one at the far end. The birthday cards in the gift shop start from a sprightly 60 years old, up to full centenarian status. You can hire a Zimmer frame or an electric wheelchair. I had a go on one.

The house has a history: it’s where Henry VIII wooed his third wife Jane Seymour. The gardens are stylish and rather French, in the style of The Draughtsmen’s Contract, all conical topiary, autumnal pathways, trout streams, greenhouses, a pergola, sheep, a roman mosaic. Scarlet Virginia Creeper strangles the walls and leaded Tudor windows. I picked fresh raspberries in the kitchen garden: sweetly ripe and acidic.

  • Rodgers rifles littlecote, pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
  • archery at Little Cote pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

For the price of half board, there are free lessons in archery, air-rifle shooting and Nordic walking. I tried all three: my archery needs practice but the air rifles were fun. Nordic walking, where you learn to walk with two sticks, meaning there is less pressure on your knees, was a great workout. I’m doing the Camino de Santiago in Spain this November so it was good to discover more about walking with sticks.

  • the old house at Little Cote, pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

Entertainment in the evenings was cheesy but fun: a chubby white Jackson 5 with exhausting dance moves and a boy band, The Four Ds, with excellent harmonies. You just have to throw yourself into it.

  • Little Cote gardens and my dad in country gear pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

Food however was a disappointment. A dark brown badly-lit dining room and a buffet service. It was like bad cruise food. Dishes were tasteless, reheated, from catering pouches. There was clearly a no-salt policy meaning food didn’t even taste of itself. My niece tried the gratin dauphinois and it was off; the cream had curdled. All a bit worrying when the clientele tend to have lowered immune systems.

  • Little Cote house pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

Service was careless, many of the staff didn’t speak good English. Although my Polish waiter was honest: “Don’t order the pavlova”. My parent’s careful table plan for 60 guests, sent by recorded delivery, was first lost then ignored. So we never sat down together for a meal, it felt bitty and uncohesive.

  • gardens at Little Cote pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
  • birthday cards,  little cote gardens pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

On the Sunday, my parents wanted a champagne and canapé reception to gather everyone together. The card from the Queen and the Arsenal football team was stuck on the wall. But the private room was not set up properly. The canapés were changed into really badly made sandwiches, because the waiter said, and I quote, “canapés are a lot of work”.

  • The cake collapsing pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

My sister-in-law, niece and boyfriend (all bakers and chefs) decorated the home-made two tier 60th anniversary cake in their hotel bedroom, whipping up buttercream, with palette knife plastering and piping. As they could not chill it, it collapsed within five minutes after being carefully wheeled on a luggage trolley through the hotel.

My dad gave a speech: how he met my mum at Eel Pie Island at a trad jazz concert and asked her to dance. She said no. This made him like her more.

He asked a mutual friend what he could do to get her to go out with him: “Take off the sharp suits and wear jeans and a scruffy fisherman’s sweater” he was advised. This seemed to do the trick.

It’s a shame that the food and service are not up to the standard of the house and location. It cost my dad a lot of money and it felt like they couldn’t be bothered.

  • virginia creeper and secret gardens, littlecote house, pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
  • roman mosaic at Littlecote pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
    Roman mosaic in the grounds
blackcurrant and liquorice steamed pudding pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Print

Blackberry and liquorice steamed pudding recipe

This was one of the few nice items on the menu. So I've tried to recreate it. It's dark, deep and delicious.
Course Dessert, Pudding
Cuisine English
Keyword Blackberry, Liquorice, Steamed pudding
Serves 8

Ingredients

  • 250 g blackberries
  • 1 tbp liquorice syrup, https://www.souschef.co.uk/products/concentrated-liquorice-flavour
  • 1 tbsp black treacle, heaped
  • 2 tbsp golden syrup
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 175g butter, softened (salty or unsalted)
  • 175 g self-raising flour
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 stick vanilla, split and seeds scraped out

Instructions

  • Turn over the pudding bowl and cut a circle the size of the top of the bowl, with a large margin of 4 cms (2 inches) in both the parchment and the kitchen foil. Pleat both pieces of paper/foil down the centre, a centimetre (1/2 inch) overlapping.
  • Butter (well) a pudding bowl, size 36 or 24.
  • Put the blackberries, liquorice and syrups into a small pan and poach the berries for a few minutes, but keep them whole. Pour the berries into the bottom of the pudding bowl. Keep the liquoricey liquid aside.
  • Cream the sugar and butter together. Then add the flour slowly, then the eggs. Add the vanilla. Do not overmix.
  • Pour into the pudding bowl on top of the blackberries.
  • Cover the top of the bowl with the parchment paper, then the foil and cut a piece of kitchen string so that it fits the circumference of the bowl under the lip and has enough to make a handle.
  • Knot the string around the circumference and tie the extra string to the other side of the bowl to make the handle for lifting out the bowl.
  • Place a saucer in the bottom of a large lidded saucepan and place the bowl on top.
  • Boil a kettle and fill carefully until the water reaches half way up the bowl in the saucepan.
  • Bring to the boil then simmer with the lid on for 2.5 hours.
  • Check every so often that the water hasn't evaporated. If it's low, top it up.
  • When you put a skewer through the paper/foil lid and it comes out clean, it's ready.
  • Lift the pudding up out of the saucepan and,after loosening with a palette knife arouund the edges, up-end on a plate or cake stand
  • Pour the remaining liquoricey sauce over the top.
  • Serve with cream or icecream.

Recent posts

How to make Easter eggs

April 4, 2021

Learning with experts - baking course online pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

Online cooking courses: ‘Learning with experts’

March 11, 2021

latua pasta meal kit pic:Kerstin Rodgers/msmarmitelover

How hospitality has pivoted to survive the Covid lockdown: meal kits, zoom tastings and a delivery supper club

March 5, 2021

Previous Post: « Learning to sail in Porto Rafael, Sardinia
Next Post: Spanish Persimon Halloween supper club in pictures and recipes »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Margaret

    October 23, 2019 at 8:01 pm

    You have been unfair regarding the food. I dont eat meat but the various roast veg and deserts were excellent. Everyone who was not vegetarian said how much they enjoyed the food. Ir is traditional British fare. Being Vegetarian is still unusual as far as most hotels and restaurants are concerned.
    Where I agree wholeheartedly was the very poor show made by the staff for the important 60 years celebration in the Orangery. They had months of notice and ruined our day.
    It was an insult to us and our guests. Warners are let down by some of their staff.

    Reply
  2. John Rodgers

    October 23, 2019 at 8:03 pm

    The food in the dining hall was much better than you described and most guests enjoyed it. But it is true that the management did little to make our private celebration run smoothly.
    I did not meet your mother at Eel Pie island since I was not a lover of trad jazz at the time. I was a bopper and we met at the jazz club under the Mapleton Restaurant in Coventry St. London W1 which changed its name from Club M to the Flamingo depending on the night.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
A week ago in Norfolk, Wells next the sea, a row o A week ago in Norfolk, Wells next the sea, a row of brightly coloured beach huts. It was cold but bright. I wanted to forage samphire but the season hadn’t started according to locals. Today I’m in bed after having my second covid jab. So much to do, I need to edit all my photos, transcribe an interview, write my column, take stuff to charity shops now they are open, mow the lawn, write complaint letters to Notting hill genesis & Camden council, find a carpenter, get the roof fixed, but I feel like shit so I’m just gonna rewatch line of duty series 1 so I understand what’s going on now. I went for a drink last week now pubs are open but honestly it was so cold, the drinks cost a lot and the chips were burnt. #comingoutoflockdown #norfolk #covidjab2
Last night toasting marshmallows over a bonfire as Last night toasting marshmallows over a bonfire as snow fell, a special kind of flinty glinting snow. A trident of marshmallow, Easter in London.  #outsidedining #bonfire #easter #toastingmarshmallowsbythefire #snow #inmygarden #londongarden
Pistachio cream filled mini eggs. I made my own Ea Pistachio cream filled mini eggs. I made my own Easter eggs this year. You need moulds-a lint free cloth to polish them- some good quality chocolate like @guittardchocolate - a pastry brush. Melt the chocolate drops over a bainmarie or 30 seconds in the microwave. Brush the chocolate into the moulds trying not to go over the edge and put the mould in the fridge. Once hardened and chilled, use a teaspoon to drop in the pistachio cream. Return to fridge. Warm up a baking tray in the oven. Then take the mini eggs put of the fridge and pop them out of the moulds. Place the flat side on the warm baking tray then press the two halves together. #easter #pacques #minieggs #eastereggs #chocolate #chocolaterecipe #easterrecipe #makeyourowneastereggs #supperclub #msmarmitelover #easter2021 #easterbasket #easterchocolateeggs
Ok this is super simple. A tomato & sweetcorn sala Ok this is super simple. A tomato & sweetcorn salad. Always have tons of sweet corn in your house because they make an instant salad. You can combine it with cucumber, tomato, halloumi, feta, herbs, peaches, and obviously tuna. I dressed this with lime and olive oil, but you could use a mustard vinaigrette or mayonnaise.  #simplefood #saladideas #sweetcorn #tinnedfood #lockdownlarder #covidpantry #summerfood #supperclub #thejoyoftins #Msmarmitelover
Potato and rosemary pizza with tomato & parsley sa Potato and rosemary pizza with tomato & parsley salad. Potato pizza sounds strange, after all you are double carbing. But it works. Thin soft slices of potato ( cut on a mandolin, soaked in water, then carefully dried on a tea towel) layered over day old pizza dough. ( leaving your dough a day or several just makes it deeper flavoured). A few sprigs of flowering rosemary from the garden too. I used @pomoragoodfood flavoured olive oils: the rosemary on the pizza, and garlic flavour in the salad. I also love the lemon flavour. #sundaylunch #homemadepizza #potatopizza #doublecarb #salad #simplefood #supperclub
My daughters 27th birthday today. Her cake didn’ My daughters 27th birthday today. Her cake didn’t arrive this morning so quickly knocked up a 3 tier chocolate cake with blueberry buttercream & mint, rose & violet pieces. Also made my first hand tied bouquet from yellow roses, garden daffodils, rosemary in flower & palm fronds. She’s moving flat today so it’s not been too much of a celebration so far 🎉🍾🥂#chocolatecake #birthdaycake #flowers #floristry #bouquet #spring #27 #darlingdaughter #birthday #supperclubchef
Broccoli & mushroom donburi rice bowls for lunch. Broccoli & mushroom donburi rice bowls for lunch. Ready in 10 minutes. Steam rice, chop veg, fry, add teriyaki sauce, sesame seeds & spring onion. #bubblelunch #supperclub #vegan #vegetarian #healthyeating #japanese #donburi #donburibowl
Cheese box feast with wines, biscuits, my persimmo Cheese box feast with wines, biscuits, my persimmon fruit cheese (aged 2 years), my whole meal walnut & cherry loaf. From @thecheeseclubuk #cheesefeast #britishcheeses #bread #wines #sundaylunch #supperclub #picnic
Sometimes for dinner or lunch all I do is shove a Sometimes for dinner or lunch all I do is shove a load of vegetables on a roasting tin, toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh herbs (woody ones like rosemary) and roast. I cut the potatoes up fairly small so they all take the same amount of time. I cook on an aga which is a weighty cast iron oven where you are supposed to cook 80% of your good in the oven, and 20% on top, so this is an easy option- no preheating necessary because an aga is on all the time. Here I have aubergine, carrots, butternut squash & potatoes 🥔 . I have loads of roast veg ideas in my book V is for vegan. #vegan #vegetarian #roasting #easymeals #supperclub #aga #ovenroasted #visforvegan #msmarmitelover #londonchef
I was sent this incredible box of cheeses from @th I was sent this incredible box of cheeses from @thecheeseclubuk 7 cheeses including sheep rustler, blue Cheshire, Elric log, rachel, sparkenhoe Red Leicester, keens cheddar, Ayrshire Dunlop, 3 pots of piccalilli, chutney, onion jam. Crackers, biscuits. And a bottle of moscato d’asti. Really impressed. This will be a spring feast. £50 and you get a different seasonal on each month. They say it’s for two people but I’d say 4. A nice birthday gift. #cheese #britishcheese #cheesehamper #cheeseclub #cheesesofinstagram #hamper #gift #springsurprise #mealkits #cheeseandcrackers #wineandcheese
Aubergine rendang curry for lunch, an Indonesian d Aubergine rendang curry for lunch, an Indonesian dish. #bubblelunch #covidcuisine #usingupfood #dailylunch #supperclub #curry #rendang #vegan
Moqueca stew with butternut squash & jackfruit. Ma Moqueca stew with butternut squash & jackfruit. Many Brazilian dishes are African influenced & this is no exception, deriving from an Angolan stew. Usually it is with seafood, but this is a vegan version. I used palm oil which is also very Brazilian/Angolan. It’s red because of the high levels of beta-carotene. There are environmental issues around the use of palm oil- rainforest is cut down to access it. Like coconut oil it is solid when cool and liquid when heated. I spent a few months in the sertao region of Brazil & read the magical realism fiction of Jorge Amado . One of his novels: Dona Flor and her two husbands, contains recipes. She bewitched her husbands with her Brazilian cooking. #bubblelunch #brazilianfood #sertão #moqueca #vegan #stew #angolanfood #lockdownlarder #supperclub #covidcuisine #msmarmitelover #food #homecooked
Steamed griddled Savoy cabbage wedges with butter, Steamed griddled Savoy cabbage wedges with butter, poppy seed, citrus dressing. I used to hate cruciferous sulphuric vegetables like cabbage & Brussels sprouts but now I’m addicted. In other news after 8 weeks my air boot is off (from my broken ankle) but I seem to have forgotten how to walk. Really bizarre. I’m still shuffling & limping. Will I get better?  Bowl by @homesense.  #bubblelunch #covidcuisine #supperclub #vegetarian #recipe #cabbage #cruciferousvegetables #inulin #fibre #everythingtastesbetterwithbutter
Stuffed savoury persimmons. You can pretty much st Stuffed savoury persimmons. You can pretty much stuff anything: peppers, courgettes, aubergines, squash, potatoes skins, bananas, tomatoes. With enamel spoon and bowl. Cut the little hats off, set aside. Then stuff the veg with cooked rice, or freekeh or couscous or bulghur wheat, mix with finely chopped preserved lemon, some nuts or seeds, a fresh herb of your choice. Add a little olive oil & seasoning. Put the hats back on. Bake for 30 minutes.  #supperclub #stuffedvegetables #vegetarian #recipe #motheringsunday2021 #lockdown2021 #covidcuisine #enamelware
Yesterday I made tacos with refried black beans, h Yesterday I made tacos with refried black beans, halloumi, sour cream, Mayo with chipotle, guacamole, cucumbers & lettuce. It was the second half of a @hellofreshuk meal kit and I bumped it up with fridge foraging. You see that b & w round fabric pouch? This is a tortilla warmer. One of my best buys ever. It keeps them soft & warm, using the trapped heat to steam the tortillas. I bought this in New Mexico but I imagine you can get them online here. #mexicanfood #tacos #blackbeans #leftovers #lockdownlarder #bubblelunch #refriedbeans #supperclub #mealkit #fridgeforaging #msmarmitelover #tortillawarmer
Nothing like homemade freshly fried falafel. I’m Nothing like homemade freshly fried falafel. I’m doing the Syrian version: 50% chickpea and 50% fuul Mesdames( peeled) & plenty of sesame seeds. This makes them soft & fluffy on the inside. Served with made from scratch hummus, cucumber salad & home baked bread. #lunchbubble #falafel #syrianfood #foulmesdames #pulses #fromscratch #fromscratchcooking #supperclub #lockdownlunch #covidcuisine
Been baking up a storm over the last couple of wee Been baking up a storm over the last couple of weeks. I did a @learningwithexperts baking course taught by @richardbertinet I now have baskets of focaccia, olive & sundried tomato breadsticks, sesame plaits, poppy seed stars, pizza bases, walnut & sour cherry loaves. I’ve practised my white dough, pain de mine, olive dough & brown dough. Basic courses from £35. It’s a good moment to revise basics & enhance your skills during lockdown. Enjoyable & motivating. #onlineclasses #onlinelearning #onlinebaking #covidlearningexperiences #bakersofinstagram #msmarmitelover #breadmaking #breadbaking #breadlover #breadporn
Egg fried rice and steamed broccoli with sesame dr Egg fried rice and steamed broccoli with sesame dressing. Bubble lunch. #lunch #vegetarian #lockdownlunch #asianvegetarian #supperclub #pantrycooking #lockdownlarder
Today’s lunch: cauliflower & chickpea curry with Today’s lunch: cauliflower & chickpea curry with rice & carrot chaat salad. My bubble are here everyday working on their computers & I provide an ‘office’ lunch #vegetarian #vegan #5aday #supperclub #lockdownlife #covidpantry #curry #cauliflower #chickpeas #chaat
Today’s lunch was mushroom, garlic, cheddar filo Today’s lunch was mushroom, garlic, cheddar filo pie with poppy seeds. Warm Roast peppers with preserved lemon 🍋 & pistachio nibs. #lockdownlarder #pantry #supperclub #covidlunch #vegetarian #quick&tasty #filopie #warmsalad #internetcafe
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2021 msmarmitelover