Cool dawn air, fresh floral notes that I haven’t smelt in over a year, happy little faces turning towards the sun.

We’ve been away for a week by the sea on Yorkshire coast. A much needed family holiday after what ended up being a very different autumn and winter than we expected. Days spent on the beach, going to watch a seal colony and always on the look out to see a whale. Spring is much further along in England than it is here in Scotland, lots of daffodils have already gone over, tulips are in full bloom and the leaves on the trees and hedges are open and starting to make everywhere look green again.

There is something magical about walking through your garden after being away and noticing all the changes. At this time of year the garden is changing daily so getting to glimpse what a whole week of growth, new blooms and scents. I am always amazed by how quickly things can change in just one week. I walk through my garden everyday so I am always aware of daily changes but it feels like a privilege to see a week of change.

After a week of sea air the first thing to hit me was the smell. The earthy floral smell of spring. Our carpet of narcissus pheasants eye has burst into full bloom. They are most fragrant a dawn and dusk which makes my early morning walks through the garden so much more of a sensory sensation than we have had for months. Being away when they first came into bloom also means that I got to see all of their beautiful faces and long stems before the children run through them and inevitably end up damaging them. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it would be an accident, but I know my almost three year old all too well, and he would happily stamp on all of them if he is overtired and looses his impulse control.

In addition to our carpet of narcissus pheasants eye, in the autumn I planted 100 narcissus bulbs of varying types, from small multi-stemmed to big blousy single stem varieties. They are all in flower now and has added so much needed colour to the top garden. This autumn I need to continue to plant more as I only managed one section of it and would love to continue this all the way along the wall, if I can remember which varieties I planted!

The tulips outside the bothy have opened their dainty cream heads bringing much needed beauty to the stone building. This year I am hoping to add more and more pots of flowers to make it into a truly stunning floral display. The tulips definitely suffered a little from the hot weather and not being watered though, as their leaves are slightly yellow round the edges but they have now had a seaweed feed and water so hopefully they will continue to bring joy for a couple more weeks.

The apple trees have the first leaves appearing and the tiniest notes of pink round the edges where the blossom will be in May. The apple trees peak with their blossom in the first week of May. However the plum blossom is here, reminding me of what is to come later this year. I always get nervous that a hard frost will hit when the blossom is here as that can damage some of them and result in fewer plums later in the year but it looks like we might avoid a frost for the next week so fingers crossed we will get a great harvest later in the year. The current bushes are all in full leaf and budding up ready to start forming their wonderful soft fruit in June.

I’m filled with joy and optimism for the year ahead after seeing such wonderful changes in the garden this week.

Recipe

E A S T E R S I M N E L T A R T

With it being Easter at the end of this week I thought I would share an easy yet really delicious bake that me and the children made this week. It has the elements of a simnel cake, marzipan, dried fruits, spices and orange but in tart form. I have used marmalade at the base of this tart but apricot jam would also work really well if you don’t like marmalade.

I love making tarts and I haven’t made one for such a long time. When I was at university I wanted to start a baking business that made only tarts which I wanted to call ‘Jurassic Tarts’ as I was studying for my BSc in Geology at the time.

Ingredients

FOR THE PASTRY

• 250g plain flour, plus extra to dust

• 125g cold vegan butter, diced

• 75-100ml cold water

FOR THE FILLING

• 100g soft vegan butter

• 100g caster sugar

• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds (optional)

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

• zest and juice of 1 orange

• 100g ground almonds

• 30ml oat milk (may need more)

• 3 tbsp marmalade or apricot jam

• 75g dried apricots, roughly chopped

• 50g currents

• 50g marzipan, diced (plus 90g for the balls)

• 30g icing sugar, sifted

Method

1. To make the pastry, pulse the flour, diced butter in a food processor, or mix rub by hand until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Slowly add the water until the pastry comes together, you might not need all of the water so add it gradually.

2. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin and use to line a 35cm x 12cm rectangular tart tin or a shallow 23cm round tart tin. Trim the edges of the pastry but allow for a slight overhang. Chill for 30 minutes, until firm. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4.

3. Cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer, until pale and fluffy. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and orange zest. Mix in the ground almonds, flax seeds, orange juice and oat milk. You want the mixture to be smooth and easy to spread out onto the pastry case so add some more oat milk if the mixture is too firm.

4. Spread the marmalade over the bottom of the pastry, then scatter in the diced marzipan, apricots and currants. Spread the frangipane over in an even layer. Bake for 25-30 minutes for the rectangular tin, or 35-40 minutes for the round, until golden brown and just set. Leave to cool on a wire rack, still in the tin.

5. Once the tart is cool, mix just enough orange juice into the icing sugar to make a pourable glaze. Drizzle over the tart and top with the marzipan balls. To make the marzipan balls use about 8g marzipan per ball and shape with your hands, then space evenly apart.

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