Autumn at Arthur Cottage

And just like that it is Autumn, as the Summer came damply to a close, Autum turned out to be increasingly, wet and windy. 

The misty mornings are beautiful in their own way, and I don’t think we have ever seen an Autumn with such spectacular colours!  

So, what has been happening at the cottage…

In Early September we had a very busy weekend of European Heritage Open Days, many visitors came to see the  Ancestral Home of the 21^st President of the United States. EHOD weekend provides a wonderful chance to get a free taste of some of the amazing visitor experiences available.  

We have had lovely groups visiting this Autumn, a local history group, Hillstown Rural Community group, a church group who travelled all the way up from Belfast, and The Causeway Coast Mini Owners Club, who brought with them a gorgeous display of Minis, it really was a fantastic sight.

Arthur Cottage is a regular visit for local schools and we welcomed many during the Autumn season. We were also happy to host a tour for students from NRC studying for their OCN level 2 Tour Guiding course, that tour was hosted in the evening and gave visitors a rare and beautiful opportunity to see the cottage in the darkness, which is just stunning.  

This Autumn seemed to be going by in a flash, and all of a sudden it was Halloween, that can only mean pumpkins!!

We hosted a Pumpkin Patch event at the Cottage, everyone, young and old seemed had great time. There was the pumpkin patch in the Orchard where you chose your pumpkin to decorate along with other arts and craft activities before you arrived into the Cottage to sample some Pumpkin soup by the open fire, visitors were given a recipe card to take home with detail on how to prepare their pumpkin and how to make soup and pumpkin popcorn, different but delicious!

Of course, in between all the visitors, groups and events we try to find time for the garden and orchard. There was a good (if small) crop this year of fruit, veg and flowers.  

This year without doubt the greatest garden success was the Rhubarb, so there has been a lot of baking with the Rhubarb such as jam, tarts and crumbles. There was plenty and we shared it out with the local community group.  

By the end of Autumn though we finally came to the very last of the harvestable Rhubarb, we made a special jam from an old recipe for Rhubarb, Pear and Ginger jam. That way the Pears could increase the yield from the last of the Rhubarb. It turned out to be gorgeous. The recipe is below if you want to give it a try. 

To end the Autumn season with a high, Arthur Cottage was highly commended at the Ballymena Business Awards providing a high service to all visitors. 

Now, just like Summer did, Autumn has gone and the foggy mornings are giving way to cold and crisp airs as we welcome winter to the cottage.