Oh for a Big One

I mean a Pantry of course. Sorry Dawn I could not resist!

I am lucky in that I have a walk in Pantry small more like a cupboard (more what I would call a dry Pantry or Larder) and before I put the fridge in there I was able to walk in there too.  Fridge in the Pantry - well its logical really after all the Meat Safe used to be in the Pantry so why not the fridge.  My Aunty always did.  My Nan had a Meat Safe cited right at the back of her long narrow Pantry but then they did used to produce their own meat on their "smallholding" always keeping their own pigs - we always used to look forward to the arrival of the new ones and make friends with them.  They also used to keep chickens plenty of them but they had a big enclosed run with apple trees in.

Anyway I diverse we want a big one Dawn and I - I reiterate a big walk in Pantry.  Dawn are you going to have one built or is there room to extend your current arrangement?

On talking to my mum not long before she died she was talking about the Farmer's cottage in the village where my Nan lived which was their first home.  It apparently had a massive big walk in Pantry with room to put a big deal table in the middle.  Apparently there was wall to wall shelving and also cold slabs of slate and marble and lots of hanging hooks.

One of the best kitchen arrangements I have ever seen was at Llanydrock House in Cornwall that was something else.  Yes a big ancestral pile, but my Great Aunt owned one of those and the kitchens there were eventually turned over to my Aunt's flat - I would have loved to have seen them originally but I only knew it as the  Flat.  Next door was the Studio and then the Attic before meeting up with the Manager's House for the Stables.

The dream Pantry for me would be part of a suite of rooms.  The big walk in Pantry something similar to what my mum had at the cottage and then free standing shelving - I would like a big walk in cold fridge off of that (as some foods are better stored even colder) and then a freezer room.  In the main pantry area I would want a big white stone sink just to clean things off as well as a big deal table.  Probably never happen but one can have dreams and in the meantime you make the best of what you have and what's available to us individually.  Then I would want an area for Charcuterie/Meat Caves and Cheese Caves.  I am very intent on having a go with making home made cheese just the simple ones to start with but I would love to have a go at proper cheese too.  Oh and I would also need a store room for all the equipment to be housed and found readily. (Don't want much me!)

Now a few questions would you as individuals want a big one like Dawn and I, do you have a big one currently and would you change things or do you have very little "Pantry" space or storage space and would like more and how do you cope in-between times and make do with what you have.

A couple of things I really would like in the Pantry area are an area specifically for having a go at making home made cheese, yogurt etc and that is a rail/pole in which I can hang the cheese to strain through cheesecloth.  Equally I would like a jelly dripping pole for when I make jellies.  It would be good to have individual areas to keep things clean and also the cats out and away from things

I would love to hear your views. 

Catch you later on.

Pattypan

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