"Oh dear, I'm afraid you're got a soggy bottom, but otherwise it's a lovely bake." If you have heard these nail biting words time and time again, you may have similarly gotten hooked on Great British Baking Show. It is a British baking competition for talented home bakers, who are challenged to bake increasingly difficult creations. The challengers who have not baked up to snuff sadly leave the camaraderie of their fellow baking family and must leave the big baking tent forever...
I count myself as a recovering baker (nothing more complicated than pie crust...). All those years behind a mixing bowl and rolling pin don't jive well with a mainly gluten and sugar free lifestyle (I said mainly..). And I am not a fan of competitions where people are cast off the island. But this is mostly a feel good show in which the contestants compete, while gradually bonding over baking rounds.
The increasingly complex baked goods require skill and artistry. The fruits of their labors are then presented to an entertaining duo of judges. How do they manage- oh the pressure! What a nice break from the "I can't take anymore" of the daily news.
Now about that big baking tent.....all the action takes place in a large white tent on the grounds of the beautiful estate in Welford Park in the Berkshires, North of London. After one particular episode, I suddenly remember another beautiful English estate- This one was discussed nearly 20 years years ago and then frankly,-forgotten. "Where did that photo album go, Jon"? It an old fashioned leather bound album, one of many that Jon's mother lovingly made. In it's pages lay a few photos of a mysterious family estate distantly connected through 12 generations in England- the one with the moat?
Margret Ligon Mitguard, Jon's mother, made only one visit to Madresfield Court, in the Malvern Hills. Visiting the distant relatives was not a matter of giving a ring on the telly. One had to prove one's linage to a vetting committee to join the multitude of English/ American Ligon's at the ten year reunions. Since the reunion was some years away, she joined one of the frequent tours, a common way for some estates generate income for to keep those large expensive properties in the family. The photos Maggie took on her visit with a disposable Kodak camera are blurry and the grey skies made the estate look dark and foreboding. Maggie hoped to return for the next reunion. Sadly fate intervened and she passed away unexpectedly the following year.
Here is Madresfield Court on a more cheery day.
So It is with great pleasure that we will find ourselves for the first time entering the fine halls of Madresfield this September for another family tour, nearly 20 years later. It is a fitting sense of a circling back of Ligon DNA. Molecules briefly rejoined.
In preparation for the trip, I am looking into all things British including what I can only imagine as a very vibrant flower scene. This is the home of the cottage garden, floral decorator, Constance Spry and David Austen Roses.
While checking out checking British floral designers,I stumbled upon one one who is fun and really inspiring.
Meet Fiona Haser Bizony, owner of Electric Daisy Farm. Besides event work and workshops (-sadly I can't make one) she and her family and team create calendars and prints.
They are awesome! There is a series of portraits of pets and owners bedecked with flower garnishes. Another series plays with men patiently bearing floral crowns flowers. There are a lot of people doing this kind of floral headgear work on both sides of the pond, so to speak; I think hers is really special. Cheerio!
Check out more on her website.
/https://www.electricdaisyflowerfarm.co.uk/
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