WEEKLY BLOG EPISODE 147 | HAPPY EASTER

In this weekly blog episode, let’s talk celebrating Easter – including hot cross buns and Easter eggs, and a picnic and walk with friends and family.

I have to ask: What is all this talk of Easter baskets? Is that a thing now? Just in America? Or here in the UK, too? And don’t get me started on the Easter tree I heard someone talking about the other day.

Surely, celebrating Easter (aside from the very important Christian origin and meaning, which I’ll come back to), is about Easter eggs, hot cross buns, and a four-day weekend? Maybe a roast dinner with family? And some time spent outside because spring is supposed to have arrived?!

The Business of Easter

Easter has always been commercialised, certainly in my lifetime anyway.

Did you know that J.S. Fry & Sons produced the first hollow chocolate egg using moulds in 1873 – over 150 years ago? And Cadbury started manufacturing chocolate Easter eggs after developing a pure cocoa butter that could be moulded into smooth shapes in 1875 (I was listening when I went to Cadbury World!).

I’ve grown up being given Easter eggs by family members, and still receive them from my parents and mother-in-law even now (yes, in my 40s), which is very nice indeed. I do love an Easter egg. I’ve actually still got my little Zoe mug which came with an Easter egg in the top, not sure when exactly but likely sometime in the late 1980s.

Like Christmas and other festivals, there has always been a way to make money from Easter, and in 2024 that apparently means Easter baskets, Easter-specific home decorations, and even Easter crackers. And while I am very much a fan of using Easter as an excuse to get the family together around the dinner table, and to eat plenty of chocolate, I have definitely noticed a lot more ‘spend loads on Easter’ talk this year.

I could argue that Easter is (should be…) a bigger festival in the Christian calendar than Christmas, and so we should be making more of it than we currently do. But in my mind, making more of this festival doesn’t mean more commercialisation. Something doesn’t seem quite right about putting extra pressure on the bank balance by buying expensive gifts, or creating heaps of pastel-coloured plastic tat that will inevitably end up in landfill. Chocolate eggs and hot cross buns are one thing, but can we all agree to reign in the rest of it?!

My Easter Celebrations

If this is how observing Easter – or any other occasion for that matter – looks to you, then go for it. Please, make of this happy festival in which we celebrate life conquering death what you will. Easter is there to be marked with joy, and I hope you have been able to do that this weekend. But you won’t be surprised to learn that I have not adorned my house – inside or out – with Easter-themed bunting, trinkets, or lights. But then I haven’t put up a Christmas tree for the last few years, so maybe I’m not a good example!

I have, at least, done the ‘proper Easter’ thing this weekend. I’m writing my weekly blog episode having recently returned from our Easter Sunday church service. It was quite the upbeat affair, a most enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours on this special Sunday. I mean, you can’t beat a rousing chorus of Thine Be the Glory, can you?!

I have fond memories of going to Easter Sunday morning sunrise services as a child, being dragged up some hill or another for a short service at the break of dawn. There was almost certainly some complaining at the time, but there was something poignant and special about those gatherings and I remember them warmly. It helped they were always followed with Easter Sunday breakfast in the church – fried eggs seemed like a just reward when I was young! My local church doesn’t do anything like this so I’ve not been to one for a while, but maybe I should look around for one next Easter. Or just go for a sunrise walk on my own for a quiet moment to reflect.

Eating Easter

I followed our sensibly timed church service by eating hot cross buns, which seemed only right, and will certainly crack open an Easter egg at some point today. We also used Easter as an excuse to buy a box of delicious brownies from a local baker. I say delicious, but we don’t have those yet – we’re due to pick them up this evening. I guess using this important Christian festival as an excuse to eat sweet treats is absolutely fine by me!!

Talking of hot cross buns, anyone else been working your way through various flavours of these delicious doughy treats in the run up to Easter? I asked this very question on Threads the other day, and discovered that taste testing hot cross buns has been quite the sport in 2024. One of my friends even buys every version going and has a hot cross bun tasting party! Love that!

My local supermarket is a Tesco, and so it’s been theirs I’ve been eating in the main. The ‘extra fruity’ version remains my favourite – you can’t beat a classic. Although the apple and cinnamon ones and clementine ones were also good. The chocolate and salted caramel ones were a disappointment, I missed the fruit. Today’s hot cross bun was the Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference lemon and white chocolate ones, which had good flavour, but were drier than the Tesco ones.

I’m afraid I drew the line where the buns went from sweet to savoury, though; these cheesy ones were spotted by a friend who sent me the photo. Hot cross buns are meant to be sweet, aren’t they? Although a good number of you told me you really like the cheese ones, especially when made into a sandwich. I just don’t know.

Day Out at Ferry Meadows

Ferry Meadows is a large country park near Peterborough, within Nene Park. I’ve been here maybe a handful of times, but not in the last six-or-so years. We met up with some family and friends on Easter Saturday for a picnic and walk.

The country park is vast. There are meadows, lakes and woodland, and importantly for the younger members of the group, a couple of good-looking playgrounds and a large field for kicking a ball about. There’s also a water sports centre with kayaks and pedalos, fishing, an orienteering course, a history trail, and even a miniature railway.

After enjoying our picnic, a bit cold in the not-particularly-spring-like weather, we topped up on coffee from the kiosk, and went for a brisk walk. We did a loop of the country park, around 3.5 miles long, taking us a shade over an hour. It was a lovely walk, and much needed after a couple of days of not moving enough.

A Brisk (Accessible) Walk

Starting from the main Ferry Meadows car park, we first walked to Overton Station, which is part of the Nene Valley Railway. There is a volunteer-run café and plant sale on the old platform, a bunch of old train carriages, and the steam train runs through two or three times a day.

From the station we headed past the golf course to walk through the nature reserve and bird sanctuary. This part of the walk was quiet and peaceful; we saw Heron, Grebe and Cormorant, along with Swans, Mallards, and Grayling and Canada geese. Apparently, you can also see White Stork, Arctic Tern, Osprey, and Sand Martin here, amongst other birds, but no such luck for us. We also didn’t see Otter or Eel, as suggested by the information board, despite looking really hard – which I admit was a bit of a disappointment!

We continued along the River Nene for a while, reminiscing about canal boat holidays, and then walked around Overton Lake with its fishermen, Gunwade Lake with its water sports, and Lynch Lake, right back to where we started at the kiosk by the Visitor’s Centre.

It was all on flat, well-maintained path, with no steps, no stiles and no gates – completely accessible – which was great to see. And we could have walked further if wanted to; there are bluebell woods and more meadows to explore if you have the time. I plotted the route we took in OS Maps in case you want to use it as inspiration when you head to Ferry Meadows some time.

That’s Entertainment

Documentary Film: Head Above Water

I mentioned in Weekly Blog Episode 141 that fellow OS Champion Alex Staniforth was featured in a new adventure film, which was going on a mini tour around the country. The tour was a sell-out, but now the film is available for everyone to watch on YouTube. I just watched it while eating my hot cross buns, and thought it was excellent.

Head Above Water explores Alex’s journey of identity, discovery, and completing the Frog Graham.

Navigating ill mental health, epilepsy, and bullying since school, along with surviving two major disasters on Mount Everest, Alex is no stranger to overcoming challenges. The founder of mental health charity Mind Over Mountains, in 2020, Alex ran the National Three Peaks Challenge, covering 452 miles in 9 days and 12 hours. That’s just ridiculous, Alex!

While unable to pursue his goals as an athlete in 2020 thanks to Long Covid, Alex discovered the healing power of open water swimming. This ended up forming the basis for his ambitious comeback challenge, the Frog Graham Round. The UK’s ultimate swim-run challenge, competitors run roughly 40-miles, ascend over 15,000 feet, and swim two miles across four lakes.

Give it a watch, it’s well worth 25 minutes of your time.

Film: Wonka

I wanted to end this weekly blog episode by quickly mentioning our film night choice this weekend, because it’s one of the most fun films I’ve watched in a while.

We rented Wonka in Ultra HD from Amazon Prime Video for £4.99. After letting Disney lapse due to a combination of this year’s massive price increase and lack of new stuff we wanted to see, we have decided to rent new movies when we fancy them instead.

I know we are late to the party on Wonka, and I was sceptical, but it was so good, a really fun film. I thought the story was decent, the music great, and the nods to the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie were well done – including the musical cues and the silly walks Wonka does.

The music was predictable in its musical style, but I liked that about it – it made the film feel familiar. And I loved the steampunk-ish London set, recognisable but not specific. The film lent on the whimsy and wonder of the Chocolate Factory, and I couldn’t help but smile (and sing along). It’s one of the few prequels I think actually worked. If you are looking for a fun, sub-two-hour movie to watch with a takeaway this weekend, then this one comes recommended from me.

Have you seen it?

See You Next Time…

A shorter weekly blog episode this week, which is no bad thing, they’ve gotten a bit long recently. This post will go live on Tuesday morning so the long Easter weekend will be over by then and it’ll be April already. But hey, let me still wish you a Happy Easter, however you chose to celebrate it.

See you next time.  

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