Hi!
Today we had to be up and out quite early - we had to leave the apartment by 10am. We went and got some breakfast before heading out to Tintagel castle. It turned out to be a really nice day - but there were so many steps up and down!! I loved it lol.
There was not much of the actual castle left. But whilst we were looking around - I finally decided what my super power would be if I had one lol. I would love to be able to see back in time - not necessarily travel in time - but to be an observer. I got to thinking how awesome it would be to see the whole castle and the people that lived in it...then started thinking - imagine Rome! Or our house in 1790 - and especially how it looked inside - the decor and the people - the land!! In the end I just got really pissed off because I can't do any of these things and will never be able to!!
Anyway...we left Tingagel at around 2.15pm to head to the tree house we had booked for the night! We eventually found it down the most narrow country lane I've ever witnessed! We met with Shona, who had been working making lavender oil - and the smell was amazing! She led us into a field - along a line of trees and to our tree house! It looked awesome - with a little table outside and a rope/tyre swing outside (which I was told was 17 years old so not really safe to swing on) - so when she had gone I had a go! lol
The tree house was up quite a few steps - 18 foot high I believe - and inside was small! It was quaint and sweet but you couldn't really spend more than one night there! Outside (back down steps) was basically a shed with a porta-loo and a shower. Andy was NOT happy about the loo because, he explained, as a bloke his dangly bits touched the bottom as it was so shallow (he explained how he had to use sanitising hand wash on his bits lol).
Basically it felt like camping!
So - at 4.30ish we made our way back to where we met Shona - in a wooden building - full of jars of stuff, and spices and all sorts of things! She explained that they make candles, perfume and gin - and that making perfume was not too different than making gin!
There were four Swedish ppl joining us but they were late - so she took us around - what looked like overgrowness - but she knew exactly what every plant was! We picked lavender, chives, roses...oh god I am so rubbish - we picked loads of things - all of which could be added to the gin!
Then she explained to us that Gin is basically made from Vodka - as Vodka is basically just alcohol with nothing added! It was 60% Vodka however as you lose some alcohol in the distilling process. To that we added juniper berries, cinnamon and angel root? Then we could choose what other ingredients we wanted. The Swedish people arrived at about this point - and caught up with us.
Here are some of the things that I chose for my gin (on the paper) I tried to go for a floral flavour
Then we all took turns distilling the gin - it was simmered - the alcohol would come off first - followed by the water. I was weird because you tasted the gin and then the water - and then you mixed them. Everybody tasted each others gin - so it was really interesting - but because you didn't taste them all side by side it was difficult to really compare. They were all awesome though!!
Andy's turn....
After a really good educational time - that left us determined to buy our own distillery stuff - we went back to the tree house and very soon after we were brought lots of yummity food!!
We then got cozy in the tree house - and drank gin and tonic whilst we had a game of snakes and ladders lol...then I kicked Andy's butt at cards!
We went to sleep quite early - and had a great night sleep!! The next morning - very soon after I woke up - we heard a 'Hello!' and we had been brought a full English breakfast!!
We polished that off - got packed up - and headed home!
:-)
