A collection of favourite recipes gathered by the knitters, parishioners and friends of six of the Wayland Group of Parishes - Breckles, Caston, Great Hockham, Griston, Stow Bedon and Thompson - to celebrate their Blossom and Yarn Festival of flowers and knitting in July 2015.
The idea for the Blossom and Yarn Festival was born when six of the villages in the Wayland Group of Parishes in West Norfolk decided to join forces in raising much needed funds for their six medieval churches.
Originally envisaged as a ‘flower festival with a difference’, under the artistic direction of award-winning floral designer Lois Gill the concept evolved to include hand-knitted displays and decorations in each of the churches along with the floral displays.
Over a period of almost 2 years, the “knit-ins”, as they became known, would see 20 or 30 people at a time gathered together in a village hall or someone’s sitting-room, busily creating life size sheep, bridal and Christening parties, vast numbers of knitted doves and teddy bears, and an incredible array of foodstuffs from beetroot to wedding cake. They even knitted a life size double of the Bishop of Norwich!
Of course, when a lot of people chat over their knitting for a couple of years, their conversation is bound to range across a variety of subjects. In our case, one of the most frequent topics was food.
Some of the recipes in this book are regular favourites at our village events; fétes, coffee mornings, whist drives and so forth. Others have been tried and tested on family, friends, children and grandchildren over many years.
We hope you will enjoy trying them out, and that some of them may one day number among your own favourite dishes.