Deep clean begins

The house was eerily quiet this morning. I could hear the birds singing, happily tweeting away as the sun was rising and warming the air from the chilly night.

Our guests had left yesterday, so there was no urgency to get up this morning and begin our day, except we were both actually quite keen to start our deep clean of the kitchen and ground floor.

We started by clearing our big wooden bench. I love this piece of furniture, on the lower shelf I store all the day to day crockery, tea towels, baskets etc. Whilst the work area is used for a tea and coffee station or a serving area as needed.

When we first had it we were so keen to start using it we hadn’t fixed the top on properly, so we took the time for Brian to do a few little repairs. He fixed the drawers, which needed a couple of stoppers at the back of them, and screwed the top on. He then oiled the top, with food safe oil, and waxed the lower shelf. It’s looking very healthy, all clean and moisturised.

I then started on my open larder area, sorting out my herbs and spices, organising my homemade jams, chutneys and marmalade, ready to serve to our guests through the season. I get great feedback on my jams etc, so it’s always nice to have something new to share with returning guests, I definitely need to make some more apricot jam as I’ve only got one small jar left.