Princess Anne's daughter, Zara, is marrying on Saturday and has beendiscouragedfrom selling photos of the nuptials to 'Hello!' a celebrity magazine. What with William and Kate and the goings on in Monaco, marriage is not only popular but an expensive activity.

In the old song 'Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer, do, It won't be a stylish marriage, We can't afford a carriage, But you'll look sweet, Upon the seat of a bicycle made for two', the groom makes his financial position clear. Nowadays, he would probably be shown the door ifthat was all he had to offer.

Iwas in the IvyBush, Carmarthen today, having a baked potato with my mother.Two men wereinconversation, one of whom was flying to Los Angeles in the next few days for his wedding. His wife was English, from Hertfordshire, andthe in-laws were accompanying them. The groom-to-be enthused about bungee jumping and 'helicoptering' during the honeymoon. He made it sound as though the main point of the wedding was to have a great holiday and perhaps it was.

IfI could have given him one word of advice about weddings it would be:'Think simple' and the same goes for the dress. I would tell the bride that, if marrying in church, try to rememberyou're not in a nightclub. If youlike bare shoulders and lots of cleavage keep it forthe reception, if you must.

My daughters and I chosesilk for our wedding dresses, which fades over the years butwe're never wearing them again, anyway. Actually, Emmacouldn't, even if she wanted to.They moved house a fewyears ago. Her husband was 'sorting'the bags.Ie wir, yes, indeed. Hethrew his wife's wedding gown away. By mistake.Never mind. They'restill together.

Everyone's wedding memories differ. At ourreception, the photographer wanteda photo of us cutting the cake. A waitress broughta hugesilver knife,which we both held, angled at the cake. When the photographer had finishedPeterfrowned at the cake.

'I can't rememberthe number of guests', he whispered. 'How many slices do we have to cut?'

He couldn't understandwhat I was laughing about

St Mary's Church, Fishguard, has an exhibition of wedding and christening gowns dating from the early 19th century and I went to see it this afternoon. Run by the 'Saints and Stones' group, donations go towards the education of young people in the Congo.

Fifteen hundred years ago pilgrims arrived here from Europe andfounded religious communities. The 'Saints and Stones' group was formed in Pembrokeshire in 1995toretrace their footsteps.

'Pilgrims from the Sea' and 'In the Shadows of the Preselis' are two of the routes taken. There are Pilgrimage days and an annual supper and Pilgrim Evensong in St David's Cathedral. (Two pilgrimages to St. David's equals one to Rome).

Pilgrimages were meant to be spiritual journeys but Chaucers Pilgrims, on their way to Canterbury,were a very mixed bunch. In the 'Age of Saints' pilgrimages were akin to package holidays, though more dangerous but, if you did not feel up to the trip, it was possible to send someone instead of you. In1352 a London merchant paid a man twenty pounds to go on pilgrimageto Mount Sinai for him.

Pilgrimsoften wrote theirwills as a safety precaution before setting out, because they were likely to be away for months, if not years. St Mary's Church, Haverfordwest, has an effigy of a pilgrim witha scallop shell on his bag. This shows that he journeyed to Sant Iago de Compostella, in Spain.

In his 'Description of Wales', Geraldus Cambrensis described miracles said to have happened in St Almedha's Church, in 1195, where people appeared to becured of St Vitus's Dance, an uncontrollable twitching of the limbs.

Whereas 'All roads lead to Rome', many pilgrimages lead to St David's Cathedral and I was interested to know that 'The American Friends of St David's Cathedral' are highly supportive of the work of the Cathedral.

Harry has been on Poppit Sandslately, on Lifeguard duty.

Close by is Gwbert and flicking through the 'Nita Sybil Evans' cookbook, I found this recipe for 'Gwbert Cakes'. It was written about 1940 and is very plain, probably because it was war-time. These cakes aresimilar to 'Welsh Cakes', but without the currants and spices.

Gwbert Cakes

Ingredients:6 oz- (150 gm)SR Flour

2 oz - (50gm) sugar

1 oz- (25gm) butter

1 egg

Pinch salt

Method: Rub butter into flour. Add the rest of the ingredients. Roll out and cut into circles. Fry in a little butter. Serve sprinkled with sugar.

Now try some Welsh cakes:

Welsh cakes: (War-Time Recipe)

Ingredients:

8 oz (225 gm) SR Flour

3 oz (75 gm) butter

2 oz (50gm) sugar

A few currants

1 egg,

Milk to mix

Pinch of spice

The method is the same as for Gwbert Cakes.

('Frimpan' is whatI call the frying pan in Welsh).

The writer, T. Llew Jones, died in January, 2009. In his book, 'Lawr Ar Lan Y Mor', I read the story of a famous smuggler.

Cwmtydu issituated on the coast between Llangrannog and New Quay,Ceredigion.It was here, to a derelict cottage overlooking the sea, that the man known as 'Sion Cwilt',came, bringing with himtwenty or more ponies.

Visitingone of the innsclose to the beach, he confided that he was expecting a boat from Roscoffto arrive within a few days. He neededmento helphim unload the cargoquickly, under cover of darkness, in order to avoid the government's 'Excise Men', whopatrolled the area.

One afternoon in September, 1797,a luggerfrom Roscoff dropped anchor in the bay.When night fell, the boat drew closer to the shore, where Sion Cwilt andhis menwere waiting with the ponies.By daybreak,the French boat had sailed away and the kegs of brandy werehidden incaves.

Soon, storiesbegan to circulate that smuggling was taking place, but no-one in Cwmtydu, when questioned, was prepared to speak to the Excise Men. Sion Cwilt's activitiescontinued, untila man named Daniel Ifan tried to sell brandy in Llangrannog.Daniel Ifan's capture and subsequent hanging brought an end toSion Cwilt's reignin Cwmtydu and he left the area.

I spent the afternoon in Llansteffan,a small village a few milesfrom Carmarthen. Llansteffan inspired much of Dylan Thomas's work andhis grandparents livedhere.

Preparing blackcurrants for a sorbet earlier in the day, the 'Pears and redcurrants' in 'Poem in October' came into my mind.

As a child, weholidayed ina B@B overlooking the beach.People cockled hereand I haddonkey rides every day. There was a mockmayor-making ceremony, too, dating since 1875.

Llansteffan's Norman castlelooks out to seaand my mother remarked that, at night, the castle is floodlit, 5 donations paying for the electricity.

In 1200, King John granted Llansteffan a Charter, which allowed fairs and markets to be held, essentialfor trade. There were two fairs a year, Ffair Fawr and Ffair Fach, a Big Fair and a Little Fair.

It was sultry and warm today, so we decided to sitoutside the beach cafe, under a parasol. There was a good selection of homemade cakes, including coffee and walnut sponge,and we had ice-cream and chocolate.

I told my mother about thesummerwe took the bus from Sant Agata, Sorrento, to Marina del Cantone, the dancer Rudolf Nureyev's favourite beach, though I didn't know it at the time.

Marina del Cantone has apebbledbeach and a cafe thatjuts outto sea.Sitting at a table there, I saw the sea below the boards as weate chocolate and ground almond cake, rich and very sweet.

In a lemon grove in Sorrento, a few days' earlier, we'dsampled Limoncello and Maudie had been given a large lemon, which she kept a tight hold on.This lemon was beginning to resemble a prune, but Maudie, three at the time, included it on every jaunt we had.

When we left the cafe, we stood on the beach, marvelling as thewater crashed on the shore. My daughter seized her opportunity, suggesting that Maudie throw the lemon in the sea and let it bounce all around the world. Surprisingly, she agreed.

'Who will help me plant the wheat?' asked the Little Red Hen.

Not I, because I'vebought a bag of 'Strong Flour' witha high gluten content, good for bread making. I don't have to plant the wheat, wait for it to grow, cut it, take it to the mill and grind it into flour, fortunately.

Most household bread is made from wheat flour, like the little hen's but with salt, yeast, sugar and water added. During the nineteenth century many foodstuffs were adulterated. Chalk was often added to flour to bulk it out. Some bakers used salt water to save buyingsalt.

Cannes, in the south of France, is one of my favourite holiday destinations. I stay in the same hotel each year, but inthe restaurant,a croissant, conserves, coffee and juice is 40.Instead, I eat atone of the pavement cafes on theCroisette, where much the same, includingbeautiful bread, is about 10.There is one particular boulangerie, run by a lovely family, where the bread is divine (andI stop to eataubergine quiche at least once when I'm there).

My bread may not beas good as the French, but it's quite good.

I buy fresh yeast from the local bakery but dried yeast is a good alternative and it stores well, so you can keep somein thehouseandbake a loaf whenever you feel hungry.(Yeast used in bread is the same as that used to brew beer.)

I've heard many good cooks saythey cannot bakebread andhave given up trying. It can be tricky.

Just remember to keep utensils and the roomwarm. Draughts are to be avoided at all costs. Knead and knead,don't rush the 'proving' time. Weigh everything accurately. Here we go:

White Bread

Ingredients:

1 lb of strong flour (450 gm),

1 oz (25 gm) of fresh yeast or 1 tsp. fast-acting dried yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 rounded teaspoon salt

1 oz (25 gm) butter

13 fluid oz ( 375ml) of warm water

A largeloaf tin, greased

Oven temperature:Gas 6,electricity180 degree in a fan oven, 200 degree in a regular oven.

Method: Sieve flour and salt into a warm bowl. Rub in the butter. Cream the yeast and the sugar and add most of the water, but not all. (This is because flours vary in their absorbency. Too much water produces a heavy loaf).

Pour the liquid into the flour and mix well. If the mixture is on the dry side, add the rest of the water, but you shouldn't need to add more than the 13 fluid ounces. The dough should be elastic.

Kneadfor ten minutes, longer if you want to and your hands aren't tired. Cover the bowl with a damp teatowel and leave in a warm place forone hour to prove. Knock the dough down and knead again for ten to fifteen minutes. Leave to riseunder the cloth until it has doubled in size. This will take about an hour.

Place in a greased loaf tin and put in a hot oven for about 45 minutes.Tap the top and if this produces a hollow sound, it's ready.

Tocyn o bara? Slice of bread?

Bread has been baked and eaten for around thirty thousand years. Pliny the Elder noted that the skimmed foam on the top of beer produced a lighter type of bread, so yeast was recognised as a raising agent, even then.

The art of the baker is a long and honourable profession. In ancient Rome and Athens bakers plied their trade, selling bread to the citizens. Bread making beinga time consuming task, housewives were glad to be able to buy it ready made.

In Pompeii, a few years ago, we saw the remains of the devastation. Domestic details, like the bakeries, added a poignancy.

I didn't eat any bread I can remember in Sorrento but, inFlorida I ate ciabatta with rosemary and ham. In Minorca, we had bread smeared with olive oil, tomatoes and cloves of garlic.

Oftenabroad,olives and bread arrive unbidden to occupyyou until the main course arrives. Idon't like starters of any sort, but that's what happens.

With my daughters and theirfamilies arrivinghome from Disneyland, Paris,Igota few things in for them today, including bread.

In the supermarket, somelarge loaves were1.20 each,others, same size, hot as well, were 60p each, so I bought two.

Gluten-free loaves were 2, though they can cost32 a loaf. No, Icouldn't believe it, either.If I needed gluten free, I'd find it hard to swallow at that price.('The cheaper the grapes' . . . you know the rest of thatKenny Rogers song, I expect.)

It's possible to have gluten free bread on prescription, apparently.

Sourdoughs sell for 5 in local delis. A knob of sourdough is kept from batch to batch, as a starter.

The breadhas a coarse, bubbly texture and it's best to eat it on the day it's bought, because it doesn't keep too well.

Wehave tried a loaf of black rye bread, but it was not liked by either of us. It looked interesting, but it was heavy as a stone. I suspect it is an acquired taste.

When M@S was selling potato and rosemary bread, Ifound itdelicious.I'd heat it in the oven for five minutes and, like a cat we had, I didn't like to be disturbed wheneating it.

In St Clears, years ago, farmers wives keptbread for three days after baking,because when staleit did not get eaten so fast.Enjoyment was not a consideration. The government, too, during the last war, advised that bread shouldnot be consumed when fresh. My aunt, who made her own bread, thought it indigestible when eaten hot, though that was how I liked it.

At the start of the twentieth century, the rich ate white bread, the poorer people brown. According to a study, the trend has reversed.

I don't like brown bread. It gives me indigestion and I lost an expensive fillingto a granary loaf.

I eatspelt bread now and then.Spelt is an old variety of wheatand it has a higher proportion of protein than the usual wheat. It makes a change if you can getit.

The price of food has risen by about forty per cent in the last few months. (This has been noted in the Morgan household, though it's nothing to do with bread. I rarely eat it and Peter has only two small loaves a week).Yet the price of bread isused by the government as an indicator of the cost of living.

I'll give abread recipe tomorrow. It's not necessarily cheaper than buying, but it's fun and the house will smell like a bakery or a brewery.

It was cool in the garden this afternoon. Yesterday, in Carmarthen, we were drenched bya sudden cloudburst.Theseare the so called 'Dog Days', the 'dies caniculares' of summer, when the sultry weather makes uslanguid. The ancients believed that Sirius, the Dog Star, was close to the sun between July 6th and the end of August, bringing us hot weather. Alas and alack!

I did whatI always do when a summer day disappoints, I baked a cake, a Ginger-bread cake.

In Florida Iasked for 'Boston Pie' andwas disappointed to find it was a sponge, expecting something puddingy.Ginger 'bread' is a misnomer, too, becausewe don't use bread to make it nowadays, but it wasn't always so.

Duringthe fifteenth century Ginger-bread became popular, especially infairs. White breadcrumbs,mixed into boiled honey and spices, was cooled and shaped intocakes.

(If I were to make this concoction, I would add two ounces of butter and anegg. I would bake it, but onrice paper, in orderto remove it from the tray.)

There is no mention of ginger in the old recipes, but Jamaicapepper is often listed as an ingredient.

This is not pepper as we've come to think of it, but allspice, a mix of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

Gingerbread crossed social boundaries, popular with the hoi polloi andthe upper crust, who used gold leaf to gild it sometimes.

This is my recipe for Gingerbread.I use syrup or molasses,plus honey for the sweetening. Lard was often used instead of butter in ye olde times.

Gingerbread:

Ingredients: !0 ozs SR flour, 2 ozs Porridge Oats, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp mixed spices, 1 tsp powdered ginger, 4 ozs butter, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon of marmalade, 4 ozs honey, 4 ozs of either molasses or syrup. Finely sliced crystallised ginger.

Method. Melt honey, syrup (or molasses)and marmalade. Cool a little, then add the butter. Mix well before adding the beaten eggs. Mix again. Sprinkle in the spices, then fold the oats and the flour into the mixture.

Have ready a large greased loaf tin. (You could line it with parchment). Pour the mixture into the tin. The oven should not be too hot (whatever temperature you use to bake a big fruit cake.) The top is liable to scorch because of the honey and syrup, sobest tocover it with foil for the first twenty minutes, before removing it to finish.

The gingerbread needs about an hour and a quarter to bake. Test with a skewer to see if it's ready. (The skewer should be drywhenremoved from the mixture.)

I squeezeorange juice into icing sugar to make a glaze. Chopped crystallised ginger on the icing adds a tangy touch.This recipe keeps well in an airtight tinfor at least a week, but eat it and enjoy it right away, then you can make another one.