START AND FINISH AT THE LITTON!

For today's walk Belinda, Jenny and I started at The Litton, a great pub/hotel which is open all day for drinks and eats - a good place to end a walk!  It is situated in Litton, a pretty village not far from Wells, which is full of lovely houses...

It was a grey morning with moisture in the air - great for the skin, but not so good for hair!  There were plenty of footpaths to follow.  We had instructions issued by the pub, but I think they were rather old and access had changed since they were issued!  We did get a bit lost, but found some interesting woods and expansive landscapes...

There were plenty of signs of Autumn with loads of seed heads and berries, especially blackberries.  I remembered to take a container to collect some in.  There is nothing like foraged food!

It was a relief to find our way back to The Litton and have drinks, sitting on comfortable sofas, in a relaxed country house atmosphere that mixes old with new...

WILD GARLIC & BLOSSOM!

It was great to be out walking again.  Conditions not ideal - chilly and showery, but we didn't really notice as we had plenty to talk about!  We went on one of our favourite walks on footpaths near the Charlton Viaduct.  One of the first things we noticed was this tree (top left) with its beautiful blossom.  No, Jenny isn't trying to eat it - just looking!

Something that you can eat is wild garlic, and there is plenty around this time of year, in woodland areas.  The lush, fresh, green leaves (see left), are the easiest thing to forage, as you cannot mistake it for something poisonous! There is the overall garlicky smell and if you still have doubts crush the edge of a leaf in your fingers to get a big hit of garlic!  We noticed the flowers - pretty, white, and star-like are starting to come out. They are also edible, but the leaves are at their best for flavour, before too many blooms appear.  There is a short window to pick wild garlic - by June it has disappeared...

Wash the wild garlic leaves before eating and they can be used raw in salads, sandwiches or as an omelette filling, (it goes really well with eggs). It can also be added to soups, stews and stir fries at the end of cooking.  There are plenty of recipes on the internet - try Riverford. I still get a veg box from them every week - and this season they will sometimes include some wild garlic in the box, with recipes.  A wild garlic risotto or pesto sounds good - I picked some today so may well try to make them later in the week.  I am also going to give some of the leaves to a friend to see whether his tortoises appreciate their pungent taste!