THE VLOG (V'S BLOG)
6th March 2020
Virginia – or just ‘V’ – is one half of Moss Wood’s new warden team along with Miles, who are joining seasonal wardens Sue and Dave, along with the rest of the team. We thought it would be great to share this unique inside view into the comings and goings of the award-winning Moss Wood Caravan Park…
V ‘s Blog 6 March
Hello again my fellow Mossers, I’ve met even more of you lovely people this last week but it’s been so busy I haven’t had time to chat with you as much as I’d like. Roll on the light warm nights when the days are longer and I will be out walking our dog Falcon with Miles. Time for more chatting then!
I’m keen to learn about the local lingo. I went to a few bakeries recently, sourcing the very loveliest of bread and cakes (which we now stock in the shop for you I can’t be expected to eat them all!). I quickly learned that round this neck of the woods, you get buns or barms. Buns where I come from usually have butter cream in them or icing on the top. What do you call your small cakes then? And a barm, what the heck is a barm? Where does that come from? Can anyone tell me? If we want a ‘bun’ or a barm in Yorkshire we ask for a bread bun. In Pilling fish and chip shop (recommended!) they even have Chippy Barm on their menu…. We have Chip Butties on the Menu on t’other side o Pennines.
It’s actually quite funny listening to Henry mimicking Miles’ accent when he says ‘Morning, Alreyt?’ One thing we have picked up though, very very quickly, and willingly adapted the Lancashire twang when saying it is “Do you want a brew?”, “Are we having a brew?” and “Is it brew time?” Never have we used the term before, we had ‘Cuppas’ but we are happy to now partake in ‘Brew’s’ 😊 Even Neil in the office says “brew” with a twang (and I don’t know if any of you have noticed but he’s actually speaks quite poshly. I don’t know yet if he’s actually posh or just speaks poshly. I will keep digging and update you accordingly when I’ve sussed the situation out!
Speaking of Posh. One of my little quirks is the need to know and learn where phrases come from, so if any of you know the origins of sayings I’d be delighted to hear them (especially why you call bread cakes Barm cakes and buns lol). I’ve a couple of little ….’well, I never knew that ….!’ for you that you may not know the origins of. The word posh is derived from when everyone travelled by ship. If you were wealthy enough to pay the premium ticket price for Port side Out, Starboard Home, you were P O S H! 😊
Getting back to us settling in and learning the lingo and the local ways, I’m also delighted to report that a lot of places we’ve eaten at have Lancashire Cheese & Onion Pie on the menu. It’s as rare as rocking horse manure to find them on a menu in Yorkshire and is offered in abundance around here 😊 My favourite cheese and onion pie sampling far was at The Patton Arms in Winmarleigh (on the way to Garstang) and my favourite takeaway eat at home later (well actually it didn’t make it all the way home before I ate it) was Hamlet’s (yes we are still stocking their pies!). I love cheese. I love cheese so much I have a cheese encyclopedia! I used to work in a deli near York and I grew their cheese counter that much with my love of fab cheeses the owner had to re brand as a cheesemonger! (Now there’s another interesting word, Monger, but we will leave that for another time!). All for the love of cheese. Maybe it’s because my maiden name is Wallace and it’s the whole Wallace & Grommit thing. Actually that’s probably it as my other passion is Gin and that’s in my name too …. VirGINia ! I haven’t figured out why my affiliation with wine yet thought! (Miles may have an idea – he says I’m always whining about something! and I’m beginning to suspect Henry may be onto me too!)
Getting back on track, we’ve got ooozes of Kick Ass cheese in the fridge now and over the weekend I’m going to open some for anyone who wants to taste. I’ve some charcoal cheese in which is black in colour and actually has charcoal crushed into the cheese making process. You need to try it! Nom nom This weekend will be your chance!
Great to be into the Mossing Season!
V 😊