There is something quite magical about the Scottish Borders and I think that this panorama from Scott's View gives a fantastic example. With the Cheviot Hills in the background and the River Tweed running through the valley there is no wonder that this was Sir Walter Scott's favourite view. When ever he passed along the road he always stopped his horses so that he could take in the view. The story goes that his funeral procession also passed this way and that the horses stopped of their own accord to allow their master one final look. ... read more
Autumn oranges
Looking around the garden at the end of October there ere numerous different shades of orange to give it a very autumnal feel. Just a shame that yesterday's autumn weather seems to have been replaced by the depths of winter today. Torrential rain and gale-force winds. Hope it isn't a sign of what's to come over the next couple of months. ... read more
A wet weekend
After an incredibly wet Saturday we were woken in the early hours of Sunday morning by yet more rain. Looking out of the bedroom window the wind was raging, the road turned into a river and several rumbles of thunder passing overhead. We therefore headed down to the WWA this afternoon expecting to see some degree of damage from the weather. Luckily we were proved wrong. The butterfly garden seemed to have escaped the worst of the wind, and with only a couple of small exceptions, most of the plans were still standing proud. There weren't that many butterflies to be seen today, but the bees ... read more
Village cricket
One tradition Mr C and I have every summer is to pop down to Mr C's dad's local cricket club in Harpenden. It's a lovely way to spend a lazy summer Sunday afternoon, especially with a cold drink in hand.I wouldn't really call myself a cricket fan - I certainly couldn't even try to explain the rules - but any games that stops for afternoon tea has to be good in some way!Afternoon tea the last time we were there provided a great opportunity for a walk around the area and there can be nothing quite as nice as a field full of buttercups like this. Buttercups just ... read more
Bank holiday exercise
I'm sure Bank Holiday Mondays are supposed to be for lazing about. Ours turned out to be quite an active day. We met up with our friends S and A and headed out for a good long walk in the sunshine. Mr C and I often go walking with these particular friends and know that they're up for a bit of a challenge. Hence we decided to repeat a walk from our Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire walks book which took us from central St Albans to Harpenden and back.Now the book reckons this walk is 10.5 miles and should take about 5 hours. It's not a particularly challenging walk, but a nice ... read more
What I am, and what I’m not
It's strange, but at time I get this impression that I want to be some sort of power hungry business woman type. Going to work in my suit and high heels, chairing meetings, giving presentations and trying to run my project to deliver everything that is supposed to deliver. At the time I seem to think that I'm enjoying myself. Then it all gets a bit on top of me, and I realise that actually I'm not enjoying it at all.It's all too easy though feel caught up in it all and to forget what I really enjoy. I don't really want to be Mrs Corporate, but it's sometime hard working ... read more
A walk by the Ver
Despite the forecast for heavy showers, Mr C and I set off after lunch for a walk along the River Ver, from where we live in Sopwell, along to How Wood. We used to do the section of this walk down to Park Street quite often, but yesterday realised that it had actually been quite a while since our boots had taken us in that direction. Normally, we're fortunate enough to see one of the kingfishers darting along the river, but alas not today.In fact, one of the few bits of "wildlife" along that section was this cow that has obviously decided that the river was the right place ... read more
Birds, birds, birds…
We've had quite a quiet Easter weekend, but it seems that we've actually been quite busy looking at birds and making the most of our RSPB membership.On Saturday we headed into the centre of St Albans to Verulam Park where there are currently a large number of herons nesting on the island in the centre of the lake there. We read in the local paper about how the RSPB had set up a viewing facility there for the public to get a better view of the nests and chicks. Unfortunately the day that we went along this didn't seem to be operating. Still, with the binoculars ... read more
Pond digging
This morning was one of the monthly working parties down at the WWA and today we started work on the new nature pond that we are creating.Previous attempts had been made at digging the pond out by hand, but we soon realised that doing so would be a little bit more difficult than we first imagined. Instead we hired a mini digger for this working party so that we could make a real difference in starting the pond, rather than just the shallow attempt we had before. Mr C looked like a small child at Christmas when he got to use the digger and I'm pleased to say that he ... read more
The train triangle
It's been a busy couple of days this week. Work has taken me up to Scotland for a series of meetings and I had some wonderful train adventures in the process.It didn't start off so well though yesterday morning. As usual, I left plenty of time to get into London to go to Kings Cross where I was due to catch my first long distance train north to Edinburgh. I started to get worried as my little train from St Albans suddenly slammed on the brakes less than half way to London. I got even more worried when the driver came on the tannoy and apologised for the sudden stop and said that he was ... read more