OK, so I've finally got round to making some mead, or metheglin to be more precise. I found a recipe in my old Dorset Cookbook. It looks as though it's easy to make, and the maturing period is a lot shorter.

Metheglin Or Spiced Mead:

Ingredients:

5 lbs (2.25 kg) honey
8 pints (4.5 litres) water
Juice and thinly peeled rind of 1 orange
Two Sticks of Cinnamon (or a sprig or rosemary if you prefer)
6 pieces of clove (or a sprig of marjoram)
A small piece of ginger root
1/2 oz (20g) fresh baker's yeast

Optional (to make your mead more succesful):

1 1/3 level teaspoon of yeast nutrient

1 1/3 campden tablets, crushed

Sterilise the containers with sterilising agent.

Put the water, orage rind, cinnamon, clove and ginger into a large saucepan.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 mintues.

Stain the liquid.

Pour the strained liquid on to the honey.

Stir until the honey has dissolved.

Leave the liquid until it is hand-hot.

Add the orange juice, the yeast, the crushed campden tablets and the yeast nutrient.

Cover and leave to ferment for 24 hours.

Pour into a fermentation jar with an airlock.

Leave in a warm place to finish fermenting.

Leave in a cool place for at least three weeks.

Pour into bottles and store.