A day off work sick gave me the opportunity to pamper myself and catch up with a few things off our magic TV box. Quite a few people I know are currently enjoying Nella Last's War and it reminded me that I had the TV adaptation, Housewife 49, which I still hadn't got round to watching. I had thoroughly enjoyed both Nella Last's War and Nella Last's Peace, so I was a tad worried that the film version would not live up to how I had pictured everything in my head. I shouldn't have worried though as Victoria Wood had done a fantastic job with the script and playing ... read more
Victorian Farm
I was delighted to notice in the TV listings that BBC2 are repeating the Victorian Farm series starting tonight. I missed some of this when it was originally on, so it was great to start filling in some of the gaps. The first episode is still available on BBC iplayer and I believe that the rest is being shown over various evenings this week, although the listings on the BBC website are a bit confusing as they seem to split things into regions and repeat themselves a lot.If you have an interest in seeing how people lived and worked the land in Victorian times then this is the ... read more
Dig In Seeds
I was delighted to see this message when I opened the front door this evening. It seems like an age ago that I ordered by seeds via the BBC Dig In website after hearing about it on Gardeners' World. A shame that it took them so long to arrive, but I'm just glad that they are here. There's a useful little booklet accompanying the seeds that tells you exactly what to do with them. Sadly I think that when we get our garden in July it will be a little late to plant anything this year (mainly as we'll have to actually dig the beds first) but fingers crossed ... read more
Spring has sprung
If you're in the UK and like nature then you should definitely make sure that you watch the new series of Springwatch on BBC 2.I'm completely addicted at the moment, and am also loving the encyclopaedic knowledge of new presenter Chris Packham. The random nature related facts that he keeps throwing into every conversation reminds me so much of Stephen Fry on QI!As someone quite new to bird watching I loved the small segment that Simon King did on tonight's programme on identifying different woodland birds by their song. Fantastic! ... 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
Kirstie’s bathroom
After last week's episode of Kirstie's Handmade Home I tuned in again this week to see if the programme was going to live up to my expectations this time. I'm pleased to say that I loved some parts, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want Kirstie to be in charge of designing my bathroom!The focus of this episode was bathrooms and it seems that Kirstie wanted to make her three (yes, three!) bathrooms as opulent as possible. She went along to visit Anouska Hempel and was given the rare opportunity to take cameras into her bathrooms. The main ... read more
Kirstie’s Handmade Home
I'd been sort of looking forward to the start of Kirstie's Handmade Home on Channel 4, but after reading a few pre-reviews which had a bit of a go at Kirstie Allsopp I have to admit that I wasn't really sure what to expect. Some of the trailers described it as Kirstie showing us how to survive the credit crunch by showing how it was possible to do up a house by using old fashioned crafts and buying second-hand. Now, bearing in mind that Kirstie and her partner have bought a second home in Devon which required complete renovation, no doubt at great expense, I couldn't help buy ... read more
It’s not easy being green…
... but they seem to be suggesting that it is expensive and rather middle class!This evening I've caught up on episodes of the BBC programme It's not easy being green featuring Dick Strawbridge. Now, I have to admit that the first series of this programme really made me aware of all things green and made me start thinking properly about my impact on the planet on which we live.When I heard that there was a third series I was quite excited. Unfortunately though I'm now left feeling rather disappointed. The show has taken on a bit of a "magazine format" - ... read more
Jane Austen’s sock
After a morning and early afternoon viewing houses and shopping for a few bits and pieces in town it was lovely to be able to curl up later this afternoon and have some me time.Back in early December I recorded the tv adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park on our magic box and this afternoon I curled up with my knitting to watch Billie Piper's interpretation of Fannie Price. Now I have to admit to having not yet read this particular book so my views are very much of it as a stand alone piece of TV drama, rather than a version of the original ... read more
How to solve cryptic crosswords
Crosswords fascinate me, but I have to admit that I don't really know where to start when it comes to solving them. The regular arrangement of white and black boxes and initially nonsensical clues is like a secret language to those that are members of a special club.On Saturday night Mr C and I caught the BBC 4 repeat of the Timeshift programme How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords and it attempted to give the viewer an insight into this special club. The different types of clues were demonstrated as we were taken through a crossword that had been created especially for the programme. It was ... read more