Winter lunch at Woolmers

It's winter, the perfect time to think of hearty soups and enourmous, cheerful log fires, and that's exactly the reason I had lunch today in the "Servant's Kitchen' at Woolmers Estate near Longford.

Let me set the scene - the room is redolent of a bygone age with ancient flagstone floor and lime-washed walls. The view, between two towering pines takes in the Western Tiers in the distance and they are bluer than at any other time of year because they actually turn a deeper shade of blue, when the weather gets colder. You look out over the Macquarie River toward a patchwork of fields divided by hawthorn hedges. It's easy to see why the early settlers named the broad valley the Norfolk Plains, so much does this region resemble the English countryside.

In days long gone the "Servant's Kitchen' is where a convict cook or serving woman would have been slaving over that huge log fire - big enough to roast an entire beast and taking up almost half the room. In fact this whole scene has set me off wondering what those long-ago convict women would have been cooking in this very place, and I've resolved to enquire further into this.....

But back to my present-day lunch - I chose (from a choice of three) the delicious sweet-potato soup and it came to me with hot newly-baked damper - the perfect winter warmer.

These days Woolmers is open every day right through the winter, huge logs are added to the fire each day and the soup is freshly set to simmer away! Yum!