May in the Garden...

 Another sketchy month that we were only around for part of, however also a very productive one indeed once we had finally returned from all our galivanting!

Inevitably we did lose a fair amount of stuff while we were away - my lovely Mum came round and watered things every few days but of course our travels did coincide with some almost unseasonably warm weather down here, and as a result some things struggled a bit. In the few days between trips we ran round like mad things potting on chillies and peppers, and as a result we have been able to plant a few of each on into their final containers. We also re-sowed sunflowers as although we planted about 7 of them out before we headed off the first time, the pesky slugs and snails got in on the act and we only have a few surviving now - even if one of those is a monster that appears to have ambitions to see over the fence to next door sooner rather than later! Although the additional seeds didn't seem to have done much while we were away - and had indeed dried out quite a lot - a good soaking saw them immediately spring into life and there are at least a couple more we'll be able to get into the garden shortly!

Potatoes growing in old compost sacks

Our kale plants also suffered thanks to molluscy appetites - and so a quick re-sow of these in the "between trips" gap was squeezed in - with luck we will have at least a few more plants now! Meanwhile the turnips and beetroot had fallen prey to the four-legged fiends known as next door's kittens using that bed as a toilet/digging spot - so MrEH sowed more in there and then we constructed yet another complicated network of canes which - so far - seems to be working as a deterrent!

The return from our second trip away was when the real activity started - as we got stuck in to sowing our tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, winter squash, assorted salads and herbs and various other things that it had been necessary to delay until then - later than we would ideally have sown, but we can only hope that the warmer temperatures mean that things will catch up, otherwise we are going to have a disappointing harvest! 

The strawberries are showing plenty of fruit forming, and the peas are flowering and starting to produce pods...meanwhile the rhubarb had apparently turned into a triffid with takeover ambitions...and another small harvest has been taken from that, plus a few stalks for Mum too. As it is only the plant's second year, we're not able to go too mad picking the stalks, but it certainly looks like we will be able to take a few more small harvests from it without causing it too much of a problem! (And frankly I'm getting a little nervous about how much of the garden it might want to commandeer next year!) Beans are now starting to reach up to the obelisk they are planted round - and I will need to think about building a frame for a few more of them too!

Rhubarb!

The little Clematis we bought from the supermarket last year is showing plenty of enthusiasm and is currently covered in flowers and making good progress in covering the first fence panel - the rather posher one bought from our favourite nursery is doing well and has given us a few flowers albeit rather oddly in two entirely different colours - so we're not sure what the story is there. Both colours are extremely pretty, so we have no complaints, and it could yet end up being "two for the price of one"! In the front garden it's one of the roses that is the star - absolutely covered with blooms! 

Clematis “Duchess of Cornwall”

In other garden jobs we have also started the task of rubbing down and re-painting the shed and office - this will be ongoing for quite some time we suspect, and it will be a while before we move from a patchwork of the previous dark grey to fully covered in the new shade - called "Cornflower" and a sort of dusty blue. 

Early tasks for June are going to be identifying where we have gaps and need to try for new sowings of various things, getting the courgettes in the ground, and successional sowings of basil and other herbs. 

Robyn

New island alert! 🚨

Regular readers (are there any left?!) will recall that we do like an island or two, and we particularly enjoy the chance to explore new ones, so being able to add two previously unvisited ones to our list recently was a bit excellent!

Appreciating the sunset from the top of the fort…

When our pal Laura mentioned a few years back that she had plans to book the rather incredible Fort Clonque on Alderney for a week for her 50th birthday celebrations, it took us precisely zero minutes to assure her that we were very much in for this plan - even before we looked at the photos of the place it sounded fabulous. Logistically for us it needed to work around our Hebrides trip, but planning that in was fine, and lead us to a 5 week period where I actually only had 6 working days too which was marvellous! The financial planning took some working in - but we were determined and in the end we diverted our usual “joint fun” budget for the last year, plus some extra diverted from monthly surpluses for the last few months to cover spending money as well, and we were all set. Having a good long run-in to the trip was helpful in this regard as it gave us time to ensure that the costs were covered - no nasty post-holiday credit card surprises for this household, thank you very much! 

The fort from the end of the causeway

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and the long awaited trip was finally upon us - so MrEH and I headed for London City Airport for our first flight - the 1 hour-ish hop down to Guernsey on Aurigny Airline’s ATR 72 aircraft. Being able to fly from City did add to the cost a bit but having never flown from there before we were both keen, and it reduced the travel at the “home” end a lot over the alternative drive down to Southampton too. We were fortunate with having gloriously clear days for the flights at both ends of the trip too - always a bonus and a good chance to play the game of trying to work out where precisely you are as places look very different indeed from the air! I did spot that we flew out over the coast over Beachy Head though - I have spent too much time in Eastbourne for airshow purposes not to recognise its distinctive pier and Martello tower!  A short break between flights on Guernsey so not too much time to explore but we did manage a short walk out to the coast before heading back to meet some of the rest of the gang in departures ahead of the short hop across to Alderney. This was a novelty on several levels - first another new-to-me aircraft type in the shape of the Dornier 228. Broadly similar to my favourite De Havilland Twin Otter in shape and style, this has a cabin head height of just 5’ - and while I could navigate this with barely a need to duck, our 6’7” friend Marc wasn’t quite as comfortable while boarding! This was also the shortest flight I had ever taken at about 12 minutes - and to add to that we departed early so actually taxied up to the terminal at Alderney Airport before we should technically have departed Guernsey! 

Alderney is a superb little island - at around 3.5 miles long and 1.5 across it’s just a great size for exploring on foot, which is a good thing as there isn’t actually any public transport available for the most part - and although you can hire a car, we opted not to. There IS an extremely helpful taxi driver - we made a lot of use of his services during the week, both as transport for those less comfortable with walking long distances and as a way of getting shopping to the Fort as well. There is also - 1 day a week and running just two return journeys - a railway, which of course we had to visit! An added bonus here was the fact that the two passenger carriages are 1959 London Underground Northern Line stock - complete with their maps etc in place! Rather wonderful and amusing to tick off a bit of “Hidden London” style tube geekery! 

Underground overground….and on an island! 

Probably the most notable part of Alderney’s history is that it was occupied by the Germans during WW2 and as a result the vast majority of the island’s residents were evacuated in 1940 for their own safety. The had just a few hours notice of this, and were ordered to arrive at the pier for the boats carrying just a single suitcase each, and pets were to be killed and livestock set free before they left, which must have been an incredible wrench for people already terrified of what was to come. Those evacuees did not get to return until over 5 years later - in December 1945, and when they did return it was to discover that their homes had been ransacked and in some cases destroyed completely. The German occupation has left huge amounts of history all over the island too which includes many of the Victorian forts which are to be found right round the coast bearing more recent (relatively speaking) German additions. There were 4 labour camps on the island too one of which - Lager Sylt - later became a concentration camp. All that remains now are the gateposts, but it was indescribably haunting to stand and look at those gateposts now, all these years later. 

S.S. Lager Sylt

While unquestionably WW2 buffs will love the island, it definitely has something for everyone - the wildlife is amazing - with flowers, birds and other creatures a-plenty. We saw huge numbers of Gannets from the Fort, and Gannets and Puffins from a boat trip round the island. If general history is your thing then the Victorian forts (there are forts EVERYWHERE!) will float your boat, and if you just like exploring then there is so much to see in spite of the small footprint Alderney has. 

If all else fails, fellow 70’s kids will enjoy the Womble connection - Elisabeth Beresford lived on Alderney, and so there are references everywhere which is rather fun. There is a Womble trail, a Womble display in the museum - and even rather fabulously a Womble covered ice cream van, and yes, you’d best believe that Laura, Tony and I did indeed agree that if one sees a Womble ice cream van it is the law that one must have ice cream! 

All in all we had an amazing week - we walked, we cycled (shout out to the fabulous Cycle and Surf Alderney crew who sorted us out with e-bikes for a brilliant day exploring!) we ate and drank, we enjoyed sunsets and relatively little rain (yes, what did fall did it as we were heading back to the fort one day and we got soaked, no I do not have photos of this!) and frankly we are all already planning when we are returning! 

Robyn