Mr C and I are now home from a wonderful weekend in the West Country. The highlight had to be the visit to the River Cottage Festival on Sunday. Much, much more on that when I have the time.Luckily the weather stayed dry for us on the day, but I gather that those attending on the Saturday were not so fortunate. Certainly the amount of mud underfoot meant that the wellies that we bought before leaving St Albans were a necessity! ... read more
Chelsea Physic Garden
Thursday lunchtime I joined the "women wot lunch" from work and visited Chelsea Physic Garden in London. The gardens were founded by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in 1673 and is very much hidden away in Chelsea. In fact, until F suggested going there I have to admit that I hadn't heard of it! Entry price could be considered a bit steep, but luckily F had found some vouchers in a local pub that gave each of us a £2 discount.Apparently the gardens used not to be open to the public, but in 1983 a charity took over the running of the gardens and opened them to the ... read more
Exciting Times
I've got some exciting times coming up over the next month or so.Firstly, Mr C and I off to the River Cottage Festival this weekend. Unfortunately the weather forecast isn't looking too good, but fingers crossed. I'm a bit fan of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his various television programmes and accompanying books.The week after next I have managed to get myself booked on to a Rowan beginners crochet course that is being held at a local John Lewis. I've been wanting to learn to crochet for ages and am really looking forward ... read more
Weekend with friends
Mr C and I have come back from spending a fantastic weekend with our friends C and P who live in Hampshire. It was great being able to spend time with friends (H and D also joining us down there for the weekend) and reminded me of just how important these friends are. On Saturday we were treated by fantastic weather and spent the afternoon outdoors. As we don't have garden ourselves eating lunch outside is quite a novelty. Time was also spent collecting apples from the many fruit trees in their garden. C's plans for apple chutney should certainly be met - although if she uses all ... read more
Canons Ashby
On our way back from Bruntingthorpe on Saturday Mr C and I visited Canons Ashby in Northamptonshire. Here there is an Elizabethan manor house, gardens and the Priory Church of St Mary, all that remains of the Augustinian priory from which Canons Ashby takes its name.The interior of the church roof was a fantastic wooden structure that I completely fell in love with. There's something about things made out of wood that give them a lovely warm feeling that somehow seems so homely. Out in the grounds of the house is an orchard and also several apple and pear trees along a ... read more
Working Party Sunday
Another working party Sunday at the WWA this morning. Quite a lot of work to do as the whole site seems to be springing up in front of our eyes. My efforts today concentrated on removing nettles and brambles that were starting to overhang the paths in the Orchard. Others worked on clearing more of the butterfly garden and removing overgrowing plants and weeds from the channel between the River Ver and the Mere on the reserve. The summer heat made working conditions very different from the May working party but equally difficult in their own way. The refreshments (cold apple juice and homemade ... read more
Land Girls and Lumber Jills
I'm always fascinated about the what life was like living in Britain during the 2nd World War, especially for those women left at home whilst their husbands and brothers fought in the military overseas. I was therefore pleased to see a couple of articles on the BBC News website today about the Land Girls and Lumber Jills receiving official recognition for the role that they played during the War. It is sad that they have had to wait for so long, but better late than never. The stories of some of these women are fascinating. I found this photojournal online, but I'll certainly be looking out ... read more
Birklands Meadow
At last week's Earthworks Summer Fair Mr C and I found out about a place called Birklands Meadow on the outskirts of St Albans. We'd not heard of the place before, so when we decided to go out for a walk on Sunday afternoon we thought we should go and explore. We set off on foot and decided to call in at the WWA en route. Here we were lucky enough to see one of the remaining ducklings taking a trip on the water with mum. Sadly, I think the rest have all been taken by the heron that seems to have set up residence on the water's edge. We then carried on on foot to Birklands Meadow which is just ... read more
Earthworks Summer Fair
Today was the Earthworks Summer Fair here in St Albans. Earthworks is a local charity that offers trainees, often with learning difficulties or mental health problems, work experience and training in horticultural and land-based skills. They have a site in St Albans where they manage it on environmental principles and they use it to grow fruit and vegatables that they then sell at the monthly St Albans Farmers' Market. Mr C and I were helping out on the WWA stand and took a nice walk down the Alban Way to get there this morning. Unfortunately the weather hasn't been kind to us today and ... read more
Outdoor Summer Fun
Yesterday was the annual summer event at our local nature reserve. Mr C and I were helping to organise the pond dipping. A couple of years ago the whole mere at the site dried out. Since it re-filled with water we have seen evidence of several different bits of wildlife and thought that the summer event would be the ideal opportunity for us to see what was living under the surface and to teach some of the local children about what they can find living in the water. Armed with some fishing nets we started to explore under the surface and we were quite amazed with what we found! Not only did ... read more