Glastonbury

Back in July 2018, Finn and I had a trip to Glastonbury for a hill walk.   (I've since been back to Glastonbury on a sunny Sunday morning and I can confirm that it's absolutely heaving with people, so I now realise how lucky Finn and I were to walk up the tor seeing only a handful of people.)

On the way up to the tor, Finn was very much on lead as we were surrounded by sheep.  However, on the way down on the other side, he was off the lead as there were no sheep and the steps were so steep that I was worried he'd pull me over!

The views from the top were magnificent - such a fabulous day and so lucky to have it all to ourselves.

It was a very warm day, so we were very pleased to see that we had a shady walk back to the start of the walk.

A fab walk, but I would definitely recommend a week day outside of school holidays for this, unless you want to be hemmed in!

Other People's Gardens - January 2020

As I type this, I'm waiting for the ravages of Storm Dennis, following Storm Ciara last week - no doubt I will be out in the garden later trying to rescue bins and plants, but for now, I'm looking back at the very few photos I took of other people's gardens back in January.

I'm always really intrigued by this tree - it's like the biggest bay tree you've ever seen!   The branches are fabulous and I'm almost sad it's an evergreen so that I can't see the tree's structure without its leaves!  It's easily ten feet tall - I will try and get some photos to show the perspective and real size of it- I've actually taken this photo merely by standing underneath it. 

In this same garden, the hellebores were about to burst through - sadly I haven't been back to see them as I'm sure they're in full flower now.  This plant has made me think I need to research hellebores more - in some gardens I work in, the flowers are above the leaves and I can't work out if that's because they're different varieties, or whether I should be chopping the leaves back to show off the flowers.  More homework needed.

This obviously isn't a garden that I work in, but these are the fields next to the house and garden I work in so it sort of counts!  It's certainly part of my commute anyway!

Seeds and Stuff - January 2020

I am typing this on the day we have Storm Ciara - and she's a devil!  Finn and I are hunkering down and staying safe and warm, although I have had to go out and rescue my wheelie bins as they were flying up the road.   I've lost the lid of my water butt out in the front garden so I will just have to get some wood to put on the top and weigh it down with a brick, but, so far, we've lost no plants or fence panels!

The garden actually isn't looking too bad at the moment - plenty of greenery out there.

I've been ordering seeds and seed potatoes.  The potatoes are chitting away nicely in the outhouse and I have seeds growing away on windowsills - the tomatoes and leeks are doing really well, but the carrots and lobelia are doing nothing.

I've been tidying and chopping back in the garden.

I filled up the brown bin with passion flower which revealed a bird house I had forgotten that Andy had made for me by hollowing out an old log.

I'm pleased to see it was definitely used last year - I can just see some of the grasses inside it - exciting stuff!

And while I've been prepping for this year, I've also been harvesting last year's crops and eating - I am going to grow my Pink Fir Apple spuds again this year - they are so tasty and not a variety that you can buy in local supermarkets either.

Feeling very excited about the garden this year!

Odds and Sods - January 2020

2020!  And I'm typing this at the beginning of February!  How is this happening?  I wish time would slow down a bit.

It's been a grim old month - as you would expect for this time of year - but I've been out and about, doing some walking and garden visiting.  And I've already worked in other people's gardens as there's plenty to do out there.  When I've not been outside, I've been hunkering down with Finn, doing lots of knitting.  I got a new 'phone just before Christmas and, while I know I need to buy a screen protector - having dropped my previous 'phone too many times - I made a sparkly sock for it instead!  This will protect it from nothing!  So I still need to buy a screen protector, but this is a pretty alternative for now.

I have been making - and now finished - a feral scarf for a birthday present.  I'm thrilled with the way this has turned out as it's been made from all the scraps left over from the Christmas present mittens.  Gorgeous.  

I've also done some sewing up - a repair job on these two scarves which are so well worn, it's fab!  I was handed these back just before Christmas by the two owners (aged ten and six!) and asked very politely if I could mend them.   I love that they wear them so much that they need mending.

We've had some beautifully sunny days, but it's been very cold too - but it is January after all!  This is one of morning views on my walk to work.

Finn is OK, getting old now bless him and quite stiff and not so active.   But we still have our walk each day - only around the block nowadays, but he still seems to love going out and gets quite grumpy if we don't go for any reason - fireworks mainly.  They have made me so cross this autumn and winter - there have been way too many of them and it's heartbreaking to see Finn getting so upset by them.   We even had some Friday and yesterday - presumably for Brexit.  As if that hadn't made me cross enough!