I first met Sian when I was running late for work one day, the reason I was late is that I had forgotten some houseplants I had promised one of my colleagues and so had run back to get them and ended up on a later bus than usual. Although this in the short term Read more about Green & gorgeous (flower farm) and sculptural setting (Bothy Vineyard) with Sian[…]
I’m delighted to announce that more progress is being made against the house revamp. This weekend Jam managed to put down the Lino in the bathroom (it isn’t stuck down yet as it needs to settle). And as you can see above we also got painting this weekend, the front bedroom which is hopefully going to Read more about Progress![…]
Jam and I were down in Boscombe for a wedding (his cousins) and the reception was held in a mock Italian villa set in some of the Compton Acres gardens. What we saw of the gardens were so lovely we decided to go back the day after and look round the rest. So here is the Read more about A visit to the gardens at Compton Acres[…]
Tonight we went to the botanical gardens in Oxford for a guided tour given by the lovely and very knowledgeable Katherine French who is currently studying ethno botany at the university. In short it was fascinating! We started off in the poisonous bed Belladonna which has modern uses for dilating the pupil A Harry Potter favourite the Mandrake, Read more about People and plants at the botanical gardens[…]
what you see above is my nearly felted wild boar, since I took the above photo I’ve added his legs & the only things left to do to him is ensure all the felt is tight enough before dying him dark brown & adding his strings. The head above shows how I decided to do Read more about Puppet and garden progress[…]
To quote everyone else round these parts its been a bit of a funny summer so far, blazing hot one moment and high winds and shivery temperatures the next! I was worried this strange weather (especially the high winds) would have damaged some of our fruit crop (no veggies this year apart from our usual Read more about Growing in the garden[…]
So we returned from holiday hoping that all was well, alas it was not. Bellatrix (formerly the most aggressive of chickens but now the friendliest) was ill. She had a dirty vent and instead of pecking around with the others she was lying down, closing her eyes and generally not being her self. So off Read more about Back from the brink – a twosome tale[…]
Lovely Elsie over at a beautiful mess (here) has put together a list of things she will be doing this summer (here). I love lists at the best of times so what better time to write some goals and have something to aim for (whilst still allowing copious time for lounging in the sun and Read more about A list for summer[…]
As the weather has improved myself and the Jam have been spending some time at home, admiring the pair of red Kites that seem to live around our house and sorting out the garden. First it was the really tedious weeding/clearing bit (with Jam seemed to love but with which I will not bore you) Read more about Down at the bottom of the garden[…]
My mum now she has retired, has started a list of all the things that she wanted to do when she was working but didn’t have the time/money. Her Birthday is the 12 of May and I decided that instead of buying her the usual assortment of quite useful but lovely stuff (with which she Read more about Chelsea flower show – the beginning[…]