Despite having six children and running a farm business my mother baked regularly.

She baked all the traditional Irish baking favourites such as fruit soda, wheaten bread soda farls, a variety of scones, potato apple bread for Halloween, rich fruit cakes for Christmas and Simnel cake for Easter.

Traditional Irish Baking

In autumn we had Apple tarts with first the Grenadiers and then the Bramley Apple – The Best Cooking Apple apples, rhubarb tarts when the rhubarb appeared in spring and gooseberry tart when the gooseberries ripened in May. All fruit from the garden.

She made rose hip syrup from the wild rose hips in the hedges, we collected wild mushrooms from the fields and made strawberry jam (always before the Twelfth of July!) with local outdoor strawberries.

Granny Blaker’s Soda Farls

My mother’s mother, Granny Blaker baked soda farls practically every day in life when baking your own bread was a necessity.

We use the best local ingredients highlighting the wonderful produce we are lucky to have here in Northern Ireland.

From an early age, I loved baking and luckily my mother taught me all of her recipes and I continue to make all of these today having added sourdough bread to my repertoire.

Traditional Irish Baking Classes

In my Traditional Irish Baking classes you can have a go at making your own breads and scones in a fun and relaxed environment while enjoying the beautiful view of the County Tyrone countryside.

The beauty of soda bread is that it is very quick and easy to make when you know how!