Three trolleys were laden with buffet lunch—beetroot, potato, and radish soup, brown wheat bread and cheese, dandelion fizz, followed by a dessert of elderberry pie with yellow summercream.

Half an hour before dawn the young mouse was roused by a shrew who gave him an acorn cup full of wild plum juice, a loaf of rough hazelnut and almond bread, and some tasty fresh roots he could not identify. By first light they were on the move again.

Would you like to join us? Maybe we'll have some of that dandelion, acorn, and celery-studded cheese and a summer vegetable pasty or two, with lots of leek gravy, of course.

Junty placed himself in charge of drinks. He made coltsfoot an' burdock tea, a cordial of honey and blackberry, and a great deal of strawberry wine.

Whilst the shrews made the raft streamworthy, the rest sat on the bank lunching on sage'n'turnip pasties and summer vegetable soup.

The Dibbuns were spooning in hazelnut'n'elderberry pudding and swigging blackberry cordial as if they had survived a seven-season famine.

Toasted damson scones with a smear of honey on 'em, now that's my choice, with a good beaker of coltsfoot an' honey cordial.

From its commencement at early twilight, the feast was a complete success; button mushroom and parsley turnovers, with celery and fennel stew with hazelnut dumplings, oat muffins, and a sweet seed and barley cake with mint icing.

I'd like a beaker of pale honey cider and a big pastie, a potato, mushroom, and carrot one; after that I think I'd go for a piece of hot honeycake, with sweet arrowroot and redcurrant sauce poured all over it.

The food was good, but not fancy: figs and russet apples, nuts and bilberries, hot oatmeal, soft hazelnut bread, cheeses, and comfrey tea, with flagons of cordial for those who wanted it.

They camped at the edge of the path that night. Seated by a merry little fire they had a good supper of bilberry scones, mixed fruit cake, and special pale cider.

It's called dandelion fizz. Very nice with snowcream pudding and cherries—go on, fill your plate.

Yurr, lookit ee gurt preserved plum and apple pudden! Oh, an see those likkle fruit tarts, they've got cream on top that looks like a twirl. Mmm! Have you tasted the soup yet? 'Tis full o' rockshrimp an' leeks!

He gathered up some food—a wedge of sweet seed and barley cake with mint icing, a hunk of nut cheese, and a small fresh-baked nutfarl.

The Abbey breakfast board was laid with blackberry and pear tarts, hot apple turnovers dripping with honey, oatmeal with apples, and beakers of coltsfoot an' honey cordial.

Bral Hogmorton sat by the fire and filled two mugs with freshly brewed October ale.

Dishes went this way and that from paw to paw, apple pudding, hot savory pies, colorful trifles, tasty pasties, steaming soup, freshly baked bread with shiny golden crusts, old cheeses studded with herbs.

The main course was followed by blackberry sponge, plum pudding with chestnut sauce, latticed pear tarts, and arrowroot an' almond biscuits with meadowcream.

There was white cheese with hazelnuts and carrots, apple dumpling, a latticed greengage tart with maple sauce, golden-crusted bread hot from the ovens, and a choice of gooseberry cordial or mint tea.

There was leek-and-mushroom soup, hot elderflower bread spread with a paste made from hazelnuts, a summer salad, and a huge apple and strawberry crumble. The crumble was a great favorite with the little ones, who spread it thick with honey.

That elderflower cordial looks nice 'n' cool. Pour me a beaker. Look at this, oatrose turnover, leek pasty, blackcurrant 'n' plum crumble, an' a bowl of rosecream. They certainly know 'ow t'feed us at this Abbey, mates!

I could do a spot o' damage to a dried apple and preserved plum tart right now. Wouldn't mind if it was hot or jolly well cold...

Soon everybeast was tucking into oat bannocks, flatbread, white cheese with sage, and one of Mother Buscol's honeycakes. There was herbal tea or elderflower cordial to go with it.

Soon everybeast was tucking into berries preserved in honey, sage-crusted bread, hazelnut and buttercup cheese, and one of Friar Soogum's woodland plum and spice cakes. There was herbal tea or elderberry an' rosehip cordial to go with it.

Tea in the orchard was extremely pleasant. Friar Bellows provided them with some honeyed plumcake, thin cucumber sandwiches, and hot motherwort tea.

I'd have a wedge of yellow cheese, the one with almonds in it, and one, no two, of Friar Skurpul's fresh wheat farls, straight from the oven.

The young hare helped herself to a plate of lettuce, shredded carrot, and white button mushroom salad and a hazelnut wafer spread with soft white cheese.

The evening meal included mushroom and onion gravy flan, dandelion salad, and mushroom and barley soup. Back and forth the delicious fare went from paw to paw amid banter, laughter, and animated conversation.

He cut a large wedge of celery-studded yellow cheese, arranging it on a platter with some salad, button mushrooms, and a farl of warm crusty oat bread.

Oh, well done! Nothin' prettier than an apple tart with a good crisscross lattice of pastry on it. Open the top ovens, I can smell that pudding, it's ready!

Friar Glisum produced a tasty seafood and vegetable soup and some scones and honey, with some bilberry an' apple cordial to wash it down.

Abbot Humble arrived with two pottery beakers of freshly brewed mint an' comfrey tea and a platter of warm hazelnut scones.

The two otters elbowed their way in beside the Badger Lord and began helping themselves to his almond scones. The big badger pushed a hot fruit pie and herbal tea in their direction.

Dishes went this way and that from paw to paw, blueberry pudding, hot fruit pies, colorful trifles, tasty dumplings, steaming soup, freshly baked bread with shiny golden crusts, old cheeses studded with celery and carrot pieces.

The kitchen fires burned late, heating the ovens as extra cakes, flans, and pies were baked golden. Bands of moles plundered the orchard, wheeled great cheeses from the storerooms, and lugged forward big barrels of dandelion ale and elderberry an' rosehip cordial from the cellars.

Oh, I say, Brother Melilot's done us proud! Apple pie with fresh cream, rhubarb 'n' blackberry crumble, wild garlic pasties, yellow sage-and-onion cheese, and mint an' lavender cordial. Hmm, I would have enjoyed a cup of tea, though. Cordial always makes me dozy at lunchtime.

From end to end the trestle tables groaned under the array of fresh breads, salads, cheeses, and dumplings at the outer edges. Further in, there were platters of biscuits, tarts, cakes, and pies, each with a different filling, most topped with whipped honey or rosecream.

Chestnut bread, hot and crusty from the ovens, with honey or damson preserves to spread on it. Muffins, acorn scones, and savory pasties were passed to and fro among the beakers of melon juice and hot pennycress an' comfrey tea.

Redwall's rosehip'n'apple cider, finest in Mossflower. Try it with some nutbread an' beechnut and hazelnut cheese.

Summer veggible soup, apple 'n' wild plum crumble, with damson tart an' coltsfoot an' dandelion cordial to follow. How'll that suit ye?

Oh, I say, Friar Bunfold's done us proud! Currant and berry pie, gooseberry crumble, shrimp'n'mushroom pasties, celery and onion cheese, and mint an' pennycloud cordial. Hmm, I would have enjoyed a cup of tea, though. Cordial always makes me dozy at lunchtime.

The Abbey breakfast board was laid with cranberry tarts, hot baked fruitloaf dripping with honey, panbread with preserved fruits, honey, nuts, and fresh berries, and beakers of buttercup an' honey fizz cordial.

Tea in the orchard was extremely pleasant. Friar Dubble provided them with some honeycake, thin cucumber sandwiches, and hot mint an' comfrey tea.

They had prepared a light lunch of late-spring salad with chopped acorns, hazelnuts, and wild celery and dried fruit oatcakes, eaten near the raspberry patch.

That daisy'n'dandelion beer looks nice 'n' cool. Pour me a beaker. Look at this, button mushroom 'n' parsley turnover, leek 'n' mushroom pasty with watercress, apple 'n' greengage crumble, an' a bowl of whipped honey. They certainly know 'ow t'feed us at this Abbey, mates!

There was a thick woodland stew with chestnut and acorn dumplings, warm oatbread, a deep dish of leek'n'carrot bake, and a woodland pudding with meadowcream. After the meal, they sipped rosehip an' mint tea.

They had prepared a light lunch of fennel, cloudberry, dandelion, hazelnut, dried fruit, and cheese salad and hazelnut rolls, eaten near the redcurrant patch.

Fresh-baked breads vied with vegetable salads, cheeses, dumplings, and custards, plus a huge cauldron of the moles' favorite deeper'n'ever turnip'n'tater'n'beetroot pie. There were hot herbal teas, cordials of all types, and a barrel of special mulled nettle ale on tap for the Elders.

There was white cheese and bread aplenty at the dinner table, with some tasty woodland vegetable soup, a selection of dumplings, a fine spring salad, plus pear crumble for dessert, with the option of damson'n'gooseberry pudding.

Take your friends along to the larder. I want two small soft white cheeses flavoured with chive, two large white cheeses with almonds and hazelnuts, and one of the extra large meadow cheeses with celery and onion.