Day 76. Normal service resumed and a recipe of sorts.

Vegetarians look away.

Sundays are all about family, so after yesterday's craziness slow roasted lamb seemed the perfect antidote. A quick trip to Dents, snapping photos of Egyptian Geese and the deer in the woods set me up perfectly for catching up with work later in the day.

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe and it never fails. Here it is for those who have yet to discover its heavenly delights.

Slow roasted shoulder of lamb

Preheat your oven to full whack. Slash the fat side of the lamb all over with a sharp knife. Lay sprigs of rosemary and garlic cloves on the bottom of a high-sided roasting tray, rub the lamb all over with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place it in the tray on top of the rosemary and garlic, and put some more rosemary and garlic on top of the lamb. Tightly cover the tray with tinfoil and place in the oven. Turn the oven down immediately to 170°C/325°F/gas 3 and cook for 4 hours – it's done if you can pull the meat apart easily with two forks. 

Day 37. Dirty carrots anyone?

This is just a small section of the fresh produce available at our local farm shop, Dents. There's a better range and quality of root veg here than you'll find at Tesco in Downham Market including 'Dirty Carrots' and 'Dirty Parsnips'. Rather than offering carrot batons or grated carrot, the farm shop goes to the other extreme and offers a straight from the ground option at a lower price than its washed and scrubbed neighbours.

Not only can we buy vegetables and fruit, much of it grown on the owner's farm, but it's also the source for last minute gifts, the place where we buy our Christmas tree and the garden centre we visit for annuals and hanging baskets. We buy local beer here, Norfolk honey and freshly baked bread. The staff at Dents are always happy to have a chat and because we're local (in a non League of Gentlemen way) it's a proper chat. Basically it's the good old days and I'm delighted that they're expanding so that by the summer we'll benefit from a deli, butcher, cafe and bakery too.

In a retail environment that seems to be defeating any business that isn't digital in some way, the independent trader is flourishing in our area and as you can see online is not top of the agenda for Dents. NFN? I'm not totally sure but we certainly know a significant number of people who don't rely on the big brand names for all of their spending activity.

Good old Dents. Pop in if you're in the area. I mean dirty root vegetables - more 50 shades of graded soil than 50 shades of grey granted - but it's got to be worth a look for that alone. You won't be disappointed.