Pastry Recipes for Pies from my Grandmothers Kitchen

Yes, this is me 'rolling' pastry in my Granny's kitchen at a very tender age, but that was many years ago. Learning to make pastry was fun and I still enjoy cooking; even more since I set up a guest house, Les Trois Chenes or 'The Three Oaks', in deepest, rural France.

My Grandmother, though, was brought up in the north of England and her recipes and cooking stem from those roots. She was the daughter of a professional cook who would provide fabulous food for the owner of great houses in the days of 'upstairs, downstairs', but my Gran didn't have the luxury of unlimited income. Instead, she produced much of her own food by growing vegetables and keeping hens and goats. The rest of her produce would have been grown locally and she made most of her bread, cakes, and savoury dishes including some marvellous fish, meat, vegetable and fruit pies. You can find the pie recipes below, but these are her pastry recipes. Enjoy reading them, but, you know, I'll forgive you if you decide to buy them ready-made from the supermarket!