It is spring

the sun is shining really brightly, and I have snowdrops in the house. The garden is full of green shoots, which has left The Hound with a spring in his step. So springy that he decided he might like to spring out of the garden and investigate a cat. Thankfully he is still carrying a little holiday weight, so just failed to make the 7ft jump.

I have had friends over, so flowers were in order, and I baked a lemon drizzle cake and lavender biscuits. If you are making a lemon drizzle cake, use a very small skewer to make the holes in the top. Mine resembled a sieve, so was sliced quickly before anybody noticed. Also make twice as much syrup as the recipe states, as most of it will end up on the worktop, and it is quite sticky, and if you happen to put your newspaper down it will get very sticky too. Just a little tip.

The lavender biscuits can be knocked up, and on a plate in 20 minutes.

Cream together 4oz of butter and 4oz lavender sugar,

add an egg and 5oz of self raising flour.

Bake at 170 for 15 minutes.

They go splendidly with a cup of tea, and a girly chat.

Boys probably won't like them, in the way that they don't really like Earl Grey Tea or Rose and Violet creams.