The Theakstons Crime Writing Festival is the largest event in Europe dedicated to the celebration of crime fiction. The Theakstons Festival crew had been tweeting us all up into a fervour for the past few months…and now finally it was happening and I was going.



As I stepped from the train onto the station platform at Harrogate my old Dutch mate from last year’s Theakstons Crime Festival Bo de O’Utline greeted me with a cheery wave.



But there wasn’t much time to hang around and catch up on crimes past. It was full steam ahead for the Old Swan Hotel and the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. The awards were hosted by the ever loquacious and always amusing Mark Lawson. We were introduced to a stellar (with apologies to Peter Theakston that’s stellar not Stella) line up of nominees with Mark Billingham kicking off the proceedings. But in the tried and tested tradition of classic crime writing I’m going to make you wait to discover who this year’s successful criminal mastermind was.

Mark Lawson and Mark Billingham


Next up was an award to PD James of an Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award. Mark Lawson and Val McDermid both sang the praises of the woman who Val fittingly described as the ‘Queen Mum’ of crime fiction. But no one could be left in any doubt that everyone in the packed-to-capacity room shared their regard for this icon of crime writing when her appearance on stage was greeted with a prolonged and heart-felt standing ovation. There was barely a dry eye in the house. But my personal stand-out moment of the Festival came as the room began to empty, when Val McDermid attempting to clear a path through the still buzzing audience to enable PD James to leave, flung her arms wide and uttered the phrase every crime writer must one day dream of hearing, ‘Legend coming through!’

PD James and Val McDermid


For some that might be enough excitement but there’s no room for slackers at the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival. It was on to the Festival opening party. Meet the Twitter gang who helped drink the bar dry of Theakstons at the Thursday night opening party! I have to admit to having drunk the last pint of Theakstons ‘Crime of Passion’, which had been brewed especially for the Festival. Lol!

David Jackson aka @Author_Dave, me aka @nic_ford, Pam Reader aka @Pamreader, Mel Sherratt aka @writermels, Rebecca Bradley aka @RebeccaJBradley.
Missing in frantic action, doing a great job taking snaps and notes are Maria Barrett aka @MariaBarrett and Keith Walters aka @keithbwalters.


Harrogate is a fabulous setting for the Festival. The old time elegance of its architecture and the presence of possibly the best tea rooms in the world in the shape of Bettys only add to the relaxed and leisurely ambience. The choice of the Old Swan Hotel, itself once at the centre of perhaps the greatest of all crime mysteries – the disappearance of Agatha Christie- as the new venue for the Festival was both inspired and inspiring.

Harrogate doesn’t just have a blooming great crime festival, it’s in bloom too.



Everyone goes to Bettys!


Friday night was just as star studded as the preceding evening with the charmingly suave Peter James, this year’s Chair of the Crime Writer’s Association, acting as our host for a gala reception in which the winners of five of the CWA Daggers & the nominees for the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards were revealed.

Peter James


Whether you’re a writer (published or aspiring), a crime fiction fan, a publisher or an agent Harrogate in July is the place to be. Where else would I have had the opportunity to chat with everyone from exciting new authors like Dave Jackson to international bestsellers like Peter James; meet top agents like Carole Blake and Jane Gregory or brush shoulders with crime fiction luminaries like Stuart MacBride and Lee Child. Oh yes that reminds me, Lee Child: the winner of this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.

Lee Child


Next year I hope to catch up with another of crime fiction’s rising stars Mari Hannah, we promised to meet up…but fortune decided otherwise! I hope we’ll always have Harrogate and Theakstons Crime Festival…

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Stonehenge: A Landscape Revealed
Residential Course: Urchfont Manor, Wiltshire from Friday dinner 3 June to Sunday lunch 5 June 2011



Stonehenge is an iconic prehistoric monument visited by millions and known worldwide. New archaeological research has transformed our ideas about how the landscape beyond the monument itself was inhabited and understood in prehistory. This course explores the impact of these discoveries and includes a field trip to some of the less well known archaeological sites of the wider Stonehenge Landscape including Durrington Walls, Woodhenge and its environs and the Cursus.



Spend the weekend with me, Dr Nick Snashall, National Trust archaeologist for the Stonehenge & Avebury World Heritage Site. I’ll reveal the very latest discoveries and the exciting new techniques that are being used to unlock the secrets of one of Britain’s most precious landscapes.


We’ll visit this site near Woodhenge where we recently discovered the large postholes of Neolithic mortuary platforms – I’m in the top left posthole!




To find out more information about the weekend you can download the course handout which gives more details of site visits, lectures and timings.


This English Heritage pdf leaflet describes the importance of Stonehenge as a World Heritage Site and provides a handy map of the area showing many of the monuments we’ll be exploring.


If you’d like to join me for this weekend of discovery you’ll find contact information and a booking enquiry form on the Urchfont Manor website.





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FESTIVE STOLLEN
MAKES 1 large loaf or 2 medium loaves
PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes plus rising
TIME: 30 minutes
TOOLS Dough Hook
INGREDIENTS:
75g (3oz) sultanas
75g (3oz) currants
50g (2oz) orange & lemon chopped candied peel
60ml (4 tbsp) dark rum
400g (14oz) unbleached white bread flour
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
50g (2oz) caster sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) ground cinnamon
7g sachet (1½ tsp) fast action dried yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
140ml (5fl oz) lukewarm milk
50g (2oz) butter, melted
50g (2oz) whole blanched almonds, chopped
50g (2oz) glacé cherries
225g (8oz) almond paste
melted butter, for brushing
icing sugar, for dusting


1 Place the sultanas, currants and chopped peel in a bowl. Stir in the rum and set aside to soak. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2 Sift the flour and salt into the Kenwood Bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon and yeast and stir to mix. Add the egg, milk and butter and using the Dough Hook mix to a soft dough. Knead for 4 minutes, on speed 1, until smooth and elastic.

3 Remove the Kenwood Bowl complete with dough, cover with lightly oiled clear film and leave in a warm place to rise for 1½ hours, or until doubled in size.

4 Using the Dough Hook, knock back and briefly knead the dough on speed 1 for 45-60 seconds. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 2.5cm (1 inch) thick rectangle. Sprinkle over the soaked fruits, almonds and glacé cherries. Fold and knead to incorporate the fruit and nuts.

5 Roll into a 23 x 30cm (9 x 12 inch) oval. Roll the centre slightly thinner than the edges. Roll the almond paste into a 20cm (8 inch) sausage shape and place along the centre of the dough. Fold the dough over to enclose it, making sure the top edge is set back slightly from the base edge. Press down to seal.

6 Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet, cover with oiled clear film and leave to rise in warm place for 45-60 minutes, or until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas5.

7 Bake for 30 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when the base is sharply tapped. Brush the top with melted butter, dust with icing sugar and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Either wrap loaf in foil, or put in a air-tight box and leave for a week or so, then dust again with icing sugar before eating.


ALMOND PASTE
MAKES 450G (1LB)
PREPARATION TIME: 10 MINUTES
TOOLS K BEATER
INGREDIENTS:
225g (8oz) ground almonds
115g (4oz) icing sugar
115g (4oz) caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
5ml (1 tsp) lemon juice
1-2 drops of vanilla or almond extract


1 Place all the ingredients in the Kenwood Bowl. Using the K Beater on minimum speed, mix together until the ingredients bind together to form a paste.

2 Transfer to a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar and knead into a ball. Cover until ready to use.


Cook’s Note: If you wish to avoid using raw egg to bind the ingredients together, replace with water.

We don’t like glace cherries so replaced them with candied peel – our own homemade stuff using the recipe from the Waitrose site. Also do note that the quantity of almond paste in the recipe is double the amount needed for the stollen recipe.

What do you think? It looks great, its just come out the oven. I tasted a bit of the almond paste, warm, yummy! Can’t wait to try it all….



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