Getting up early to go back to work today, I looked out of the bedroom window to be greeted with a light dusting of snow! I know it's been bitterly cold, but I wasn't at all aware that snow was forecast. What a nice surprise. ... read more
Working in the rain
Sunday was another WWA working party. After his operation Mr C wasn't able to join me, but after a few days indoors I was looking forward to being outdoors and doing some physical work. It was chucking it down with rain, so there were only four of us there in the end - should I read anything in to the fact that it was four women braving the elements??? This week we were clearing out an area next to the bird hide on the edge of the butterfly garden. The plan is for this to be an area full of Michaelmas Daisies, but at the moment it's rather overgrown with various other plants and ... read more
Outdoors on a grey November day
It's quite a typical grey November day here in St Albans. Mr C and I headed out, armed with cameras to the local WWA reserve in the hope of spotting something interesting. Despite all the bird watching tips picked up from watching the BBC Autumnwatch this was the sight that greeted me whenever I pointed my camera in the direction of the bird feeder! Very wet underfoot from all yesterday's rain - but at least it gave me another excuse to wear my wellies! ... read more
Let’s grow!
I don't normally get drawn in by the various TV adverts that we are bombarded by during most TV programmes, but tonight I did see one that made me go to the internet to look up more.I'm very keen that we teach children more about healthy eating and where food comes from and hence I really like the sound of Morrisons' Let's Grow campaign. It works in a very similar way to the way the other big supermarket chains have their vouchers for schools campaign, but in this one schools can exchange the vouchers they are given for gardening equipment that the children can ... read more
Swans on the Mere
As I've mentioned before Mr C and I don't have a garden ourselves and so we make as much use as possible of our local nature reserve. We went down there this morning and were treated to a huge amount of nature.When we were down earlier in the week we found one swan swimming on the Mere, but today we found that the one had been joined by four mature cygnets. The Mere was a busy place this morning though as alongside the normal array of coots and morehens there was also a heron keeping an eye on things and we caught sight of the resident kingfisher going about his business. Mr ... read more
An evening at the seaside
After a day at the River Cottage Festival Mr C and I headed south to the coast and Lyme Regis. Dark clouds were beginning to surround us, but luckily it remained dry for long enough for us to explore the sea front. It was lovely to see a couple of young lads enjoying a hobby that many would associate with people much older. As we explored this part of the beach we found a large number of rock pools to explore. A couple of small fish were spotted, but sadly not much more. This beautiful piece of what I guess is seaweed on a rock really caught my eye. The shades of purple were fantastically ... read more
Visit to River Cottage – part 3
A few final bits from our day at River Cottage HQ. Part of the grounds at RCHQ were used for some rural craft demonstrations and one stall that particularly interested me was that from wilderness survival skills who run courses that teach people, as their names suggests, wilderness survival skills. Having heard all about the various courses they run I'd be really interesting in going on one and might have to work on Mr C to see if he'd be interested in coming with me. Their ten day intensive bushcraft course sounds fantastic, but I'm just not sure I'm ready for ... read more
Visit to River Cottage – part 2
In addition to the demonstrations at the River Cottage Festival there were also various other things going on and we were able to wander round part of their grounds to see the various animals that they have on the farm and the fruit and vegetables that they're growing. One of the first animals that we met was Blossom the pig. In his latest UK television series, River Cottage Spring, Hugh challenged a group of families from Bristol to grow their own food on allotments in the city. As part of this exercise they also kept chickens and pigs for food. Blossom was one of those pigs and is kept ... read more
Visit to River Cottage – part 1
There's so much to say about Sunday's trip to the River Cottage Festival that I'm going to have to split it into multiple posts. It was just such a fantastic day that going through all the photos again brought back some great memories.The Festival was held in the grounds of the River Cottage HQ at Park Farm between Axminster and Lyme Regis and had a variety of stalls and demonstrations covering the range of things that the River Cottage series encapsulates. Mr C and I tried to make the most of the demonstrations that were going on throughout the day. The first one that we ... read more
Lacock
On our way down to Somerset to visit the River Cottage Festival Mr C and I stopped off at Lacock Abbey which is a National Trust property in Wiltshire. I have to admit that we did choose where to visit somewhat at random from the guide book as we headed down the motorway, but as soon as we got there we were certainly happy with the choice we'd made.The Abbey itself is now a country house that was originally a medieval abbey and was the home of William Henry Fox Talbot, the pioneer of photography. One of the things that the Abbey is best known for nowadays is ... read more