April in the garden…

The month opened with the Easter long weekend. We always planned to make this a productive few days for the garden, and in fact had a list of jobs to focus on, with the two main ones being more painting of the garden office wall, and the relocation of the compost bin. This was placed where it was when we first moved in as it seemed practical, but we fairly soon realised that in fact it took up more space than needed there and used a valuable chunk of the bit of the garden that gets the most sun - so the very area that I want for tomatoes and peppers! Three sacks of immediately useable compost were dug out of the bottom before we got to the stuff that would be moved across and put back in - those sacks will be used to fill our tomato pots for this year. The bin is now in a less intrusive location as well as being slightly nearer to the house - it will work little slower because of getting slightly less sun, but that isn’t likely to be an issue for us. 

Last year’s Calendula planting is finally giving us some joy- for some reason these did absolutely nothing last summer, but we left the plants in place to see what would happen, half assuming that winter frosts would see them off. Instead they have thrived on the cooler temperatures and we now have beautiful orange flowers cheering things up! I’ve sown plenty of seed for this year already - Calendula/Marigolds are a valuable companion plant as they encourage lots of beneficial insects so I’m quite happy to have plenty of them. 

 Trust me, the size of the rhubarb in the top photo is NOTHING to how it looked by mid-month, and indeed by that stage we had already harvested a full kilo of the stuff! We're concentrating on trying to take quite a bit out on the side where it's desperately trying to smother the redcurrant bush in the hope of at least slightly weakening the growth on that side. We've also started coming up with ideas of uses for it, as there is only so  much gently stewed fruit one can eat - looking at the progress of the strawberry plants though it does seem that some rhubarb & strawberry jam might be one option. 

The mini greenhouse is now back in use too - it’s been housing seedlings for tomatoes, courgettes, sweetcorn, cucumbers and various other things. We've had to build the second mini greenhouse we had for this year - we bought two at a bargain price when the local Wilko store closed, and the first did two good years before the cover split on removal last autumn. the staging from it is still going strong though and starting to prove extremely useful as things no longer need protection from the elements while still benefiting from being raised off the floor. One of the issues through this month has been that we’ve still been getting fairly regular frosts - so the balance has needed to be struck between getting seedlings started and keeping them as sheltered as possible. 

Meanwhile in the front garden things are filling out quite beautifully and we’re really beginning to get the look we’re after - we’ve added some more bulbs too which should give some added colour in the late summer and autumn. We’ve added various new plants over the last few weeks - mostly “hospital ward” rescues from the clearance sections in various places (that’s where most of our plants come from!), plus our home grown sunflowers and sweet peas have been added into the mix. In the front right of the photo above is the rather lovely “Sweet Tea” Heuchera which spent the whole of last year after we put it in there looking deeply sulky, and we honestly thought the winter would finish it off. Instead it seems that the colder temperatures made it buck its ideas up!

Until next month then! 

Robyn

Looking back...

 

This is the interior of the Italian Chapel on the island of Lamb Holm in Orkney, taken when we visited in 2013. Built by Italian prisoners of war sent to the island to build the Churchill barriers during World War 2 - a system of barricades originally put in place to close off most of the entrances to Scapa Flow to protect the home fleet, and now forming causeways joining up Orkney Mainland, Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm, and Burray.

The chapel is quite literally two nissen huts joined together, then embellished and decorated with anything the prisoners could lay their hands on. The interior decoration was largely created with paint - what looks like panelling or tiling is pretty much entirely painted on. one of the prisoners was a blacksmith - he created the ironwork from metal rods donated by construction company Balfour Beatty. Another was a cement worker - he created what now appears to be stonework also from Balfour Beatty.

It's an astonishing place - created out of almost nothing purely to allow the men who had been sent to what must have seemed to them to be an unforgiving island to have somewhere to worship - in the end it provided far more than that as it gave them a focus, something to spend their spare time working at. 

If you want to know more of the history of the Italian Chapel, that can be found HERE

Robyn

New wheels!

 

Did I mention my new wheels?  I’ve been thinking about a new bike for a while - I’ve been cycling semi-regularly since our old Neighbours gave me a Dutch-style step through commuter bike a few years ago, but I’ve found myself wanting to do a bit more, and the old bike wasn’t quite ideal. 

One of our local bike shops has occasional “scratch & dent sales”  which ai suspect are  mostly about stock clearance when they get new ranges in, but still, some excellent discounts to be had, so when they launched the last one I decided to keep an eye to see what was available. I knew roughly what I wanted - a hybrid sports bike which would cope cheerfully enough with both road cycling and some light off road trails too.  I settled on the one above - at a very reasonable price and so far she and I are getting on a treat!

So what of the old bike, you may ask? Well, handily a lovely pal alerted me to the fact that another local bike shop works with a charity that provides bikes to those who need, but can’t afford them. My old bike is off for a full refurb and will then be finding its way to a new custodian - maybe helping them to and from a place of work or study. As I was given her for free in the first place, that seems fitting, don’t you think? 

Robyn 

 

A cheeky weekend in Lincolnshire...

 

Spitfire AB910

As we have both a new tent and an extended camping trip over the time we've done before coming up, we decided that a trial run was a good plan, so last weekend saw us heading up to Lincolnshire for the weekend. A campsite was found at East Kirkby - which just so happened to be attached to a pub. Pure coincidence of course...well, partly! (Namecheck for the Red Lion pub & Campsite - which is excellent and comes highly recommended).

A new tent inevitably takes a while to get used to - so pitching takes a little longer than it used to. It's also at least half as big again as the old one, and although mostly the same style, just the sheer additional size means that it's taking a bit of getting used to. Up it went though, and within around an hour of our arrival at the site we had a fully fitted out tent and were cheerfully sitting outside it in the sunshine eating our lunch. We've gained a few extra odds and ends which is making packing the car fun - the way up was distinctly shonky, the way home much better, and I fully suspect that the next trip will prove even better - and preferably without the risk of either of us being brained by a kettle in the event of a sudden stop as could quite easily have happened on the way up at least this time! 

The new tent! 

Lunch consumed, we headed off to an RSPB reserve that we had last visited a few years ago, and would have greatly enjoyed on that occasion had it not been for the torrential downpour that struck half way round, leaving us completely soaked through. Thankfully both a set of dry clothes and facilities to change in were available or the journey home on that occasion would have been very unpleasant. This time the weather stayed dry through our visit, and RSPB Frampton Marsh was confirmed as a really lovely place for a walk - even in the exceptionally blustery conditions of the day. I left my camera in the car and had no regrets about doing so as a result of that wind. As the light dropped, so did the temperature, and after eating dinner back at the tent the evening was spent in the pub drinking very nicely kept pints of Batemans XB.

Artwork at RSPB Frampton Marsh

Saturday morning dawned beautifully bright and sunny, and thankfully that nasty wind had dropped, so after a quick bacon butty breakfast we hopped in the car and drove the short distance to RAF Coningsby where my pal Andy was taking one of the BBMF Spitfires up for a practise display or two. AB910 was the aircraft in question - a MkV machine, and Andy's personal favourite from the fleet - recently returned to the flight after several seasons away undergoing deep maintenance. We stopped first at the BBMF hangar where Andy was just conducting his walkaround - hellos were exchanged and we agreed to catch up after his flight, and after watching him taxi out Mr EH and I drove round to one of my favourite spots to watch/photograph the practise. As a bonus Claire was also there, so a great chance for a quick catch up with her also! A lovely display, and a nice chat, and all in fantastic weather too! 

Andy taxies out in AB910

The Blue Bell pub - Tattershall Thorpe

MrEH and I then decided to have a quick wander to Coningsby village before driving across to nearby Boston for a walk there (and a visit to a lovely Good Beer Guide pub!) before heading back to the campsite via the Blue Bell pub at Tattershall Thorpe - a pub steeped in wartime history and FULL of memorabilia. The picture above shows pennies left by airmen from the nearby bases in readiness to pay for their beer on their next visit. For many of them though there was no next visit, and the pennies remain, wedged into the beams as a very special tribute.  Another evening meal was eaten in the tent, and just a quick beer in the pub this time as we were both quite tired and conscious of the need for a fairly early start to get packed up the next day. 

St Botolphs Church - Boston

As with getting pitched in the first place, a new tent makes everything slower on take-down as well. One big change is that our old (smaller, far lighter) tent used to travel on the back seat of the car - the new one is simply too heavy for this as it would turn into a missile in the event of that sudden stop, so it has to go into the boot. The complication here as you might imagine is that this in turn  means that the tent needs to go into the car ahead of rather a lot of the stuff from inside it, which creates some logistical headaches! We got there in the end, and by 11.30 we were away.

Tattershall Church

First stop this time was back to Coningsby for a walk we hadn't had time for the day before - out to Tattershall Castle and church across the fields, then back via the river and village. A quick stop to grab some lunch and we were back in the car for the hours drive across to RSPB Langford Lowfields - another reserve we'd visited previously although not had the time to really do it justice. This visit we had far longer, and walked did the circuit right the way round the main part of the reserve with bird sightings including this cute little Sedge Warbler...

Sedge Warbler - RSPB Langford Lowfields

All in all a really enjoyable weekend - there should have been more BBMF flying on Saturday, but as is the way of things sometimes that was cancelled. While it would have been nice to see more, the lack certainly didn't in any way spoil the trip and we found plenty else to do. A few days in the tent with an objective eye was a good way of reassuring any concerns ahead of the longer we stay we have planned for a few weeks time, and overall we're still delighted with it, having proper headroom in a tent makes such a difference to camping! A few additional/replacement items have been identified as needed also, so we'll be sorting those before heading off again. 

Robyn

Looking back...

 

This is Mussenden Temple - part of the Downhill Demesne in Northern Ireland. I first visited when I had some spare time on the evening ahead of the Portrush Airshow when I went across in 2014 I believe it was, and was so utterly charmed by it I have been back several times since, including on a trip with MrEH a few years later. 

From the Temple itself - perched on the edge of the cliff with stunning views in both directions, to the fascinating ruined 18thC mansion, it's a wonderful way to pass a few hours at relatively low cost - parking is now chargeable for non national Trust members, but at a very reasonable £10 per day, and there are no admission charges for the estate itself as far as I know. 

We've been discussing the possibility of another short trip to Northern Ireland at some point, and looking back at this picture and others makes me want to do that sooner rather than later! 

Robyn

Gardening in the community...

 

In an area that I regularly walk through on my way from where we park the car, to the office, can be found a series of small garden areas looked after by a group called Wanstead Community Gardeners. A quick internet search finds their website too - a delightful, whimsical space where they go into more detail about their organisation (a group essentially for anyone who wants to join) and the areas they look after (far more plentiful than I had imagined - ranging from tree pits to surprisingly substantial garden spaces) and it was one of the latter that caught my attention this morning. 

An area of formerly neglected ground hugging the wall dividing George Green from the busy A12 has been transformed by the group - they use whatever they can get their hands on to form their garden spaces as well as digging flower beds and planting directly into the soil. This one incorporates an old metal water tank as well as a wheelbarrow. They also use reclaimed items to create their signs for the various planting areas - while walking around the area I've seen old childrens slate-boards, upturned spades, and on their website there is a picture of an old edging tool being used in this way! Probably the most commonly used ttem I have spotted is old roofing slates - you can see one of those in the top image. 

As well as the flowers there are also herbs scattered throughout - a good example being the lush sage in the foreground of the second photo, and by way of other edibles are what look to be fruit trees - I may stop for a better look at some stage as I pass by but what do we think (photo above) - apples? Cherries perhaps? 

The planting used to continue along the wall where the fenced are you can see in the background of the last photo there is - it appears though that since that area has been fenced off, the community gardeners no longer have access, which is a shame - that space looked far better with their input! 

If you want to know more about the Community Gardeners, have a look at their website HERE - sadly the blog doesn't seem to have been updated in recent years, but there is some nice info about what they've got up to previously, at least! 

Robyn

A very Good Friday!

 Although we do have an absolute mass of garden jobs to be getting on with this weekend, we had decided early on that we also wanted to fit in a day out - and had decided that one of our favourite RSPB reserves at Minsmere in Suffolk was where we wanted to head. Minsmere has been a favourite for years now - lots of different trails, a range of habitats from coastal and wetland through to heathland and wooded areas means there is always a likelihood of seeing a brilliant range of birds, and it’s a fabulous place to walk.

We headed off fairly early - treating the day like a normal Friday in that respect and leaving the house at the sort of time we would usually be going out for a walk from home before MrEH starts work. Traffic was fairly light, and we arrived at the reserve as planned at around 10.30am. Our RSPB membership means we get free admission, so we headed straight to the cafe to grab breakfast - which was a fantastic ciabatta style roll absolutely STUFFED with bacon and sausages, not cheap at £7.80 each but we both agreed actually really good value.

After polishing those off - MrEH had coffee and I had a generous pot of tea to wash them down - we definitely felt like a walk was needed! Our regular route sees us heading off towards the coast, then looping back towards the visitor centre before heading off through the woodland and out onto Whin Hill and back towards the centre that way. We call in at the various hides as we go to see what can be seen on the scrapes, and always linger a bit around the coastal section too. At this time of year you can’t walk up and over the hill, so we retraced our steps around the edge. A lovely walk - and the addition of some stuff to our birding year list too, Mediterranean Gull, Barnacle Geese, a lovely juvenile Kittiwake, Sand Martins and probably the sighting of the day, a Bittern.Sandwich Terns were also nice to see - we usually get Common Terns locally, and the Hebrides generally provides Arctic and Little Terns, but the Sandwich variant is one we see far less often.

There is a long-standing tradition that a trip to Aldeburgh follows a visit to Minsmere, and far be it for us to break with tradition, so back in the car we hopped for the short drive through. Ice creams first - from Ives - barely recognisable since the last time we were there as they’ve had a full modernisation. It used to be a classic ice cream shop - a long counter with the queue gently winding past so you had ample time to survey the flavours on offer that day and make your decision. Now the shop is - strangely - far smaller, and people queuing ahead of you block your view, making the choice feel a bit more rushed and last minute. We both agreed that we didn’t like it as much - and it feels like a negative rather than a positive step, although I imagine it works better for the staff. A walk along the coast to the marina, then on a new-to-us path between the River Alde and the creeks was a nice change - although in the blustery conditions also fairly hard going! 

Then a stroll in the other direction - towards although not actually as far as the Scallop Shell sculpture on this occasion - I absolutely love it but it appeared to be very busy with lots of folk using it for shelter from the wind! 

All even slightly regular visits to Aldeburgh know that a look at “Snooks” to see how he is attired is a must - we assume that local knitters take care of ensuring that he is dressed appropriately for the occasion, just look how pleased he looks with his Easter bonnet, bunny and chicks! 

Finally- and it’s another “must do” is of course Fish and Chips. We’ve never tested the theory but we think it’s actually illegal to go to Aldeburgh and NOT have F&C! Sadly far too windy this time to sit on the sea wall and eat them as we usually would, but a good compromise was found by driving the car along to the coastal car park and sitting in the car with them there instead. Delicious haddock - super fresh and always cooked to order, with lashings of salt and vinegar, SUCH a treat!  

The local gulls don’t miss a trick though - this Herring Gull kept his beady eye on MrEH throughout in spite of the fact that we were literally sitting IN the car, and was clearly MOST put-out that no discarded chips headed his way! 

Finally time to head home - via a quick stop in Ipswich to grab some diesel for my car at a price a fair bit cheaper than we would have got at home, right now shopping around and saving even a few pence per litre is all the more important isn’t it with the way prices have escalated - we are now paying over 30p a litre more than we were just a handful of weeks ago. Worth the diversion, and all in all, it was indeed a very Good Friday! 

Robyn