Grandma & Grandpa's Garden of Goodness

This weekend I took some of my furniture to store at my grandparents' house (sob). They live in a traditional Suffolk thatched cottage that is over 400 years old and utterly dreamy. Beams and wonky floorboards and door frames so low that I have to fold in half to fit through and steep stairs and mysterious cupboards and perfect.

It has always been an adventure to visit my Grandma and Grandpa. Not only do they live in a magical house but they are also the most green-fingered people I know and have a garden that holds so many memories of hiding and seeking and mud-pie baking and tadpole hunting and chicken feeding and egg collecting and flower arranging and swinging and bonfiring and apple-picking and every-other-vegetable-under-the-sun-harvesting. And this weekend, as I visited to drop adult, grown-up furniture off, I got lost again in the childhood magic.

Before I had to leave I went out into the vegetable garden with a bag, to collect freshly grown runner beans and sun ripened tomatoes to take home. Sort of like a party bag from an amazing vegetable party. Last night I feasted on my haul - and it was utterly delicious.

Runner beans, sliced Buffalo, Chocolate Cherry and Sungold variety tomatoes, new potatoes, torn mozzarella and olive oil with balsamic vinegar = BLISS.

You can't see all the tomato varieties sadly but they were so amazingly sweet and delicious!

The beans just needed topping and tailing and snapping in half before part boiling, part steaming in a pan with a lid and about 1cm of boiling water. As if by magic they turn from aubergine purple to bright green whilst boiling and also leave the water absolutely neon green!

I can't wait to have my own magical house and garden one day and grow fresh vegetables like my parents and grandparents have done. For now, I'll have to continue to use it as one more excuse to visit Grandma and Grandpa's house of dreams.

JAM x