Brancaster beach and blackberry crumble

Had a lovely day at Brancaster beach which is basically a long expanse of sand and dunes on the edge of some tidal marshes. Owned by the National Trust who are happy to warn you that the beach gets cut off at high tide when the road in floods. Very good. Quick check then needed with the car park man re. tides and we were good to go. Now then the challenge with long expanses of sand in Norfolk appears to be the wind.....it was like being in a sandstorm so not really conducive to a long walk with a toddler who was finding it difficult to hold onto her bucket and spade. Few runs needed by mummy down the beach to rescue it.

But nothing as dramatic as daddy who decided to have a go at flying his new stunt kites (for the kids he said.....despite the fact they were nowhere near it....). The kite twirled and twirled and then whoosh it was off, blowing down the beach with Peter sprinting after it. I laughed so much it almost made me cry.

Anyway, after the dramatic kite experience we headed off for a walk to Brancaster Staithe along theq coast path. The trusty maclaren made it yet again. It is truly a wonderful pram.

Did some foraging for blackberries on the way back which allowed some more baking now that the bake off is over! Blackberry, apple and pear crumble was made. Peter loves a nice thick crumble but each to their own when making it. Basically, the crumble needs about 3 apples (we had eating apples but they were quite big) and one pear (conference this time but Comice is also nice) which I sliced into thick slices then stewed slightly with a bit of water for about 10 mins. No sugar added as wanted to keep some of the fruit to wean Arty. Then add the blackberries and simmer for another few minutes, think we had about 600g so it was quite blackberry heavy. Crumble mixture made with 75 g or so of butter rubbed with about 200g flour and then a handful or two of porridge oats and one handful sugar. Baked in oven for about 35 minutes at 200 degrees. Yummy. Isobel loved it and so did arty though he was restricted to just the fruit.

Close up to show the depth of crumble to keep Peter happy!