Um, ahem. Walking slowly and quietly back into the room in the hope that you won’t notice quite how long it is since I was last here.

Autumn’s here – and what a treat it’s been so far. The allure in early September as the trees start to waft a rousing woody, wet smell is followed by October’s hum of colour; a handsome palette of gold and rust that transforms with every fluttering cloud and flirtatious kiss of the sun. This is the season, I think, when I feel most blessed to live where I do, a landscape so elegant and enchanting that it sings its song clearer and prouder than I could find words to relate on this glaring screen. Dusk walks delight with fruits and flavours that demand simple and assured handling. Rosy apples make a sorbet so crisp and pure that caresses as it refreshes, juicy cobnuts crushed and churned with custard offer an ice cream far richer than their little fringed clusters might suggest. And as the season’s first frosts tickle the hedgerows I welcome the chance to play with some denser, richer flavours that in Summertime seem misplaced – an elderberry and apple crumble ice cream is almost obscenely moreish; a walnut and maple ice cream proves a challenge to resist a second, third scoop. Now is the time when cosiness wins out over lightness; the threats of exposed flesh and sticky heat are well behind us so the loosening of belts surely has been earned. I’m using this questionable rationale as a call to play with chocolate, liqueurs, puddings and grains after months languishing at the back of the cupboard. Gingerbread! Plum pie! Rice pudding! Delighted to see you all again, thanks for coming.

But I’m not here to eat into your valuable work time chattering about the joys of the fall – today I want to extend to you all an invitation. Tonight and tomorrow I will be selling from my van in the fabulous MsMarmiteLover’s front garden, as she again hosts her legendary Underground Farmers’ Market. No joyless old soaks peddling their chewy vacuum-wrapped faggots – this is an all out swooning celebration of the tastiest, naughtiest, sexiest food you might wish to lay your hands on, all in the comfort of Lady Marmite’s beautiful abode. Come! Have an oyster freshly shucked in the bath, washed down with a pint of Tunnel Brewery’s premium ale! Treat yourself to a kimchi slider before scoffing Paul A Young’s chocolates! Mauritian street food! Live music! Scotch eggs! Fireworks! Porridge! It’s all here. Whatever you do, make sure there’s room for a Peckpeckpeck ice cream. On the menu today:

Toffee apple
Walnut and bourbon
Plum pie
Ricotta with pistachios and heather honey
Mexican spiced chocolate
Pumpkin sorbet

With a couple of tasty cakes to go alongside, should you wish to really indulge:

Beetroot cake

Lavender snaps

Coconut macaroons

Tickets are available here and here, very reasonable priced. There will be tickets available on the door too, if you can find it. Just make sure you come. It will be a hoot, I promise.

When I was a nipper, no more than five, my sister and I were gathered up by my parents to join a troop of old hippies on a jaunt to a near-wasteland close to where we lived. The mission: a tree planting party – hordes of happy workers wielded forks and spades in muddied hands and by the end of the day’s toil a congregation of saplings inspired pride and hope. I didn’t know then that these were cherry trees, standing in what is now a beautiful nature reserve, a haven to get lost and found in, right in the centre of the city. Last week I decided the time was ripe to collect the fruits of that early labour and I set off with Ray and a pocket stuffed with tatty carrier bags to pick. Two hours, a leg full of nettle stings and a thirsty dog later, and we never found our trees. It is clear that my memory of that day is hazy at best, and for the life of me I couldn’t sniff out those juicy little clots. It was a nice walk – but as a foraging expedition a failure.

What perfect timing, then, a phone call from Catherine not 24 hours later, to tell me about Q Gardens, a new pick-your-own discovery of hers, where she had spent the previous afternoon filling punnets with the darkest, richest cherries – while I languished in the reserve. She took me there to see for myself these shiny globs that popped bloody liquor at the gentlest squeeze. Like a kid in a sweet shop I grasped and plucked until my hands (and lips – quality control) were purple and my cartons were heaving. This place, I am sure, is close to heaven – I haven’t seen such merrily laden trees escape pillage by pigeons before. (I do love a pigeon though, especially a handsome bright pink one like the chap above happily pecking away).

I came home with three kilos of cherries, the handsome deep purple fruits you see above dotted with the odd gleaming red fancy. So deeply juicy and proud were they that I felt to dull their flavour with custard would be a disservice, so after mashing and heating and making a royal mess I blended them with just cream and a touch of sugar. Half the charm of this ice cream is the colour: so vivid and bright that the softness on the palate comes as a comfort, a touch of nuttiness follows the melt and is ample reward for the hours spent atop the rickety ladders offered in the orchard. Ronnie arrived, perfect timing as usual, to sample the gorgeous goo squashed between two wafers for a dream summer sandwich.

This was one of the flavours I took along for my first appearance at the lovely farmers’ market at East Oxford Primary School – happily the first of many to come. Also on the menu, and all very well-received – coconut and lime, caramel corn, spiced pineapple, dark chocolate gelato, elderflower sorbet and a sensational rhubarb and rose sorbet.

The cherry-picking season at Q Gardens is over now, until next year, but wonderful summer still has much to offer, and for now I couldn’t be happier.

Don’t forget to give me a call or a tweet if you are local and fancy a pint – and I still have some availability for bookings to appear in my van at your event. I await your messages with baited breath and a freezer full of deliciousness.

After spring’s rains have nourished and indulged, and before the August sun parches all colour from the landscape, July is singing with energy and life. A thousand greens paint a beautiful backdrop for balmy strolls with Ray. And it’s not just a feast for the eyes: bramble hedges dripping with dust pink blossom tease with hints of what’s to come in the months ahead; the heady scent of chamomile fills the air and seasons the most divine ice cream. Elderflowers are over – but not before I stuffed carrier bags full of the frilly blooms for a sorbet so light and aromatic it is as surprising as it is refreshing.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog. Since I started trading in May I have found the balance of recipe writing, making, selling and admin harder to achieve. I have done festivals, weddings, farmers markets, fetes and parties, all of which have been a joy to attend, worth the hours spent elbow-deep in custard. Huge thanks to all the lovely people who helped me get to this point – you all know who you are, and where to come for unlimited frozen delights. The van is looking beautiful, cheerful, a suitable bearer for sweets and treats to tempt even the most somber of palates. After months of despairing at the shameless psychedelia that screamed from her bodywork I now feel an affinity – growing to a love – with the old dear.

This weekend I will be at the village fete in Combe – come and see me to choose from vanilla, white chocolate, spiced pineapple or strawberry and redcurrant ice cream, or taste the elderflower sorbet I’ve been raving about. My next post will come very soon, I promise.

This is Stephen, my lovely egg supplier, enjoying a little light hero worship from his bevvy of beauties. These are some very happy hens, the joys of whom sings through every custard that blesses my ice cream churner. Yolks rich and golden are a handsome foil to each fruity, floral and fantastical concoction I may dream up – and being just down the road means that these chooks help me to make Peckpeckpeck a truly rewarding local venture.

Flavours in my freezer this week:

Coconut
Spiced pineapple
Vanilla
Saffron
Date and honey
Lemon thyme
Goat yoghurt and maple
Mint chocolate chip
Rhubarb and orange flower sorbet
Pear and cinnamon sorbet
Chamomile
White chocolate

Fancy a pint? Drop me a line, I’m always happy to make any flavour to order.