Rent Audit again

Once a year, usually on the Friday preceding Christmas, we entertain our "Tenant Farmers" to a rather good lunch in our magnificent Hall (familiar to some through the Harry Potter films).

I have explained the Rent Audit, when in earlier times the farmers brought their rents in to us, in previous years. If you want enlightenment, see the entries for Friday 17 December 2010: Rent Audit Dinner and Friday 14 December 2012: Cow!

My main picture here shows the scene in Hall just before the food arrives. I am seated next to the Dean's wife, and the Dean himself is immediately to my right. The Dean is seen here in conversation with one of my distinguished colleagues (Peter Oppenheimer). The guest opposite me is a farmer who cultivates sunflowers for their seeds, and next to him was a farmer who keeps a large (and prizewinning) flock of Roney Marsh sheep. I turned this interesting object (some kind of mechanism for consuming drink!) into a serviceable sheep bell ny striking the inside of the main body (bell) with a fork. But high-purity silver is probably too expensive even for a prizewinning flock.

Here is the company gathering for drinks before the lunch starts.

As you see, my photograph for last year carries the title "Cow", because that beast figures strategically in our feast. We are served wonderful roast beef from the Longhorn cattle (Aberdeen Angus X) that live in our meadow.

I think that I should show our menu here!

Here is one joint of beef before carving... The outside is so crispy and the inside so tender: perfectly roasted. And finally, the carved result gets onto my plate!! Christmas Pudding this year has made way for a new wonder: Bailey's crème brûlèe with plum-pudding ice cream.

Towards the end of the meal, we see our Treasurer speaking (after the port has circulated) to thank the farmers for attending our lunch (and, implicitly, bringing their rent promptly).

I've put some of my photographs from the lunch in a collection here.

Happy Christmas, farmers.