This month saw South Lancashire Clandestine cake club visiting Cuerden Valley Park, a well loved local country park close to Chorley, Leyland and Preston. Our visit was hosted in "The Tearoom" in the Barn visitors centre,manned by volunteers we were warmly welcomed by Jean and her team.The barn is shared between Cuerden Valley Park Trust and Lancashire Wildlife Trust.
Set in stunning countryside the park hosts a very popular local farmers market and also an annual green fair and beer and cider festival. To support the important conservation work being undertaken the trust also has quality woodland products for sale,including firewood, traditionally made charcoal,woodchip and even rare breed lamb raised on conservation grassland which is available from time to time.
If you are ever in the area then please visit the park, the tea room is open every weekend (Sat & Sun) from 11am to 3.30pm, if the farmers market is on then they close at 3pm. The Farmers market is also worth a visit as some great local producers featured.
In honour of our location we choose a theme of "Park Life" for our visit and as ever our bakers rose to the challenge and were inspired to create a fabulous selection of cakes which particularly impressed our hosts, we were also pleased to welcome members old and new for this fun event in the countryside, even if the British weather choose to give us hail, rain and sunshine all in the space of 10 minutes.
Cake List as follows:
Neopolitan cake
Coffee Daisy Cake
Cherry Blossom almond cake
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Rhubarb, rose and cardamon cake
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Lazy daisy lemon cake
Rose cake with grass icing and chocolate ganache
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Bee-sting cake
Socially &Environmentally aware hedgehog cake (fairtrade and organic)
Sandpit cake (apple crumble cake)
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MacArthur Park lavender cake
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Squirrel cake (chocolate & Hazelnut cake) with extra special label
We all had a fabulous time and as all cake clubbers know there is always lots of cake left over at the end of the meeting so we invited all the hard working volunteers who where erecting the stalls ready for the next days Farmers Market to join us for cake, this proved a difficult choice for some.
Can't wait for our next event- Baking the books ! at a secret location soon, check out the South Lancs CCC page for more details.