Exploring the County - RAF West Raynham

I've been really into urbexing (urban exploring) for about 10 years now; there's just something so fascinating about finding the forgotten and exploring the abandoned.  Discovering new ways to capture a moment of a beautiful building that may soon be destroyed completely, feels so vital to me.  People move on so fast that places often get left behind to rust, decay and fall prey to the grip of nature. But I love that - the feeling of being somewhere that's forbidden and simultaneously forgotten.  You know you're not supposed to be there, but the beauty and intrigue is just too much to resist.

RAF base West Raynham is quickly being converted into business parks, kids playgrounds and pubs.  But before the re developers got their hands on it, TVs 'Most Haunted' team were the last to visit, finding evidence of several resident ghosts on the site, including a Polish pilot shot down in World War Two.

I decided to take a trip there before it was all gone and see what I could find.  

There was a lot to

see; aircraft hangars, the control tower, barracks, houses and plenty of admin buildings, including the old bank!  I loved all the old dials we found, there was something beautiful about the combination of the rust and the delicate parts.

 Some of the buildings were in a pretty bad way, rotting had made ceilings cave in and we didn't venture too far into these bad boys in case of asbestos!

Part of the control panel in the control tower, it was pretty cool up there as there were so many buttons and dials to play with!  Great views too!  All in all it was a fun day of discovery and I'm really glad I got a chance to look around before this part of our history is turned into yet another McDonald's or Starbucks!

Homemade Plum Loaf

In our garden we have BEAUTIFUL plum trees, they were already really well established when we moved in - sort of like a free gift with the house!  Last year they produced a ridiculous amount of plums. more than we knew what to do with.  So we gave lots away to friends and family, then froze the rest until we could figure out what on earth to do with what felt like several tons of plums!

Fast forward to this year and a lack of tasty things to toast (we have a bit of a thing for teacakes and hot cross buns in this house!) and to the bright idea of making plum bread!  Plum bread is super easy and super yummy!  Plus if you're using home grown plums like we were, then it's got an organic edge to it!

Ingredients

• 375g self raising flour
• 450g plums, stoned
• 2 large or 3 small beaten eggs
• 225g melted butter
• 200g sugar
• little warm water if too stiff

Melt butter then place in a mixing bowl and add sugar, mix.  Add all other ingredients, if the mixture is too stiff add the warm water..  Mix then remove and knead.  Grease a 900g loaf tin and pour in ingredients.  Cook on 180 C / Gas 4 for 90 minutes..  Towards the end, add a little covering of butter and sugar.  Serve warm with butter and jam and ENJOY!

The plum bread lasts about a week if you keep it in a tin and will feed about 10 people if you slice it right! 

Product Review - Neal's Yard Seaweed and Arnica Aromatic Foaming Bath

What Is It?  A foaming bubble bath.  Neal's Yard describe this as 'A delightfully fragrant bath to bring a sense of well-being.'

What Does It Do?   It's primary design is for relaxing and soothing you tired folks and returning you to a restorative sense of calm.

Key Ingredients?   Seaweed - has heavy duty detoxifying properties.  Arnica - helps muscle aches, acne, sprains, bruises.  Lavender extract - good for anxiety and restlessness as well as insomnia.  Geranium extract - relieves stress and depression, improves skin health and circulation, among other benefits.  Marjoram extract - good for sleeping problems, back ache, head ache, muscle spasms and bruising.  A great combination of some wonderfully beneficial plants!

How well does it work?   The foaming bath doesn't create lots of bubbles, like some more synthetic varieties of bubble bath might.  But it does smell wonderful and make the aroma and atmosphere in your bathroom feel very relaxing.  Plus it leaves you feeling like you're floating on air!

What We Like About It?   The completely natural approach of this company, with 54% organic ingredients this foam bath is super green!  The smell is so relaxing and  and the way it makes you feel is like you're getting a big fluffy hug!  Plus it's a vegan product - yay!

Dutty Moonshine - Living Room Tour

So I've mentioned previously on here that I've been training up to work on the radio.  I used to produce and present a show in 2008 and finally having settled in one place I'm getting back into it again.

My first interview happened last Saturday night, a group of friends who run the Pond Farm Party Collective entered and won an exclusive gig night with Dutty Moonshine.  For those of you who don't know (tsk tsk) Dutty Moonshine are to swing what cups are to saucers, without them it's all just a little bit pointless and silly really.  With cleverly mashed up beats and vintage swing samples they create tracks that make dancing quite simply, as essential as breathing.  Pond Farm Parties usually put on all sorts of themed parties, privately mainly, but they do also get involved with some stuff at the ever amazing Boomtown.  Dutty being the nice boys that they are, had decided after a while gigging at festivals and all over the world, that it would be nice to do a few private gigs for their fans.

 

So they put out a shout on Youtube.com (which you can watch above) saying that they had a two week house party tour where ANYBODY could apply, as long as you gave them 250 for the gig.  Now I don't know what you think, but to me 250 for travel, set up and a night worth of entertainment is a pretty sweet deal!  So of course they had a lot of applications, from fans who'd desperately wanted to see them play in their own house!  Pond Farm Parties sent over a ton of photos of their previous efforts for party set ups and won a pretty prestigious Saturday night gig.  So I decided to interview them!

What fantastically grounded, down to earth, nice guys!  I was a little surprised, don't get me wrong I didn't expect them to not be nice, it's just you so often encounter people who've made it big and got a bit of the big time arrogance about them.  None of that though with these two legends.  Not only did they give me a really meaty, interesting interview but they kicked out some seriously FAT tunes for about five hours afterwards!

I have to admit I'd been pretty nervous, despite the pre interview gin!  Listening back I could hear my voice wobbling ever so slightly on my intro, but Dutty Moonshine didn't seem to notice and we even had a few laughs during the interview.  It felt less like interviewing big time DJ's and more like chatting to a couple of mates, if your mates were the sort of people who toured the world playing to crowds of thousands!

I can't wait to put the interview on air and hear what the audience thinks, some pretty exciting exclusive news tucked away in there too!