Allotment life

I haven't bored you with treated you to an allotment update recently, and really I need to before the gloom of winter descends and it's all just a distant memory.

If we ignore June, we had a pretty good summer here in the East Midlands, with plenty of sunshine and warm days. I'm not at all a sunbather, but I do love waking up to bright days and being able to wander around in flip flops and summer dresses. I hate having to wear loads of layers, and I miss the flowers in winter. I like swimming in the outdoor pool and eating supper on the patio, so although I die in the intense heat (after a lot of moaning), I truly do love summer best of all, with Spring getting a Silver medal and Autumn scooping the Bronze.

The blackberries this year were plentiful and delicious. Gentleman's Avenue, where the bigwigs of Nottingham had their plots. Our friend Dancing Dave has just landed one there. We're going up for a visit next weekend.

August/September was lovely so it seemed the perfect time to invite some friends up to see what it's all about, this allotment life. If I'm honest, I've hardly spent any time up there this year. I have two jobs and an unpaid role which take up most of my time and energy. Every year I say I'm going to do less work, but for the time being, it's just wishful thinking. Good job there's a man-who-can to keep things going.

So one weekend Serena and Claire came to see us. We hadn't discussed food or anything but great minds think alike. We took homemade scones, cream and jam made from the currant bushes up on Q's plot, and they brought wine and crisps. What a lovely combination that proved to be.

A surprise visitor. So beautiful!

A sudden downpour sent us scurrying into the shed Q has fashioned from some bits of wood he was given, including a child's Wendy House. It's still awaiting a finished door and windows, but hopefully by winter it will be watertight, so he can seek refuge and make himself a cup of tea. 

Then the following weekend Phil and Varanya visited. This time we had bread, cheese and a cup of tea. It's one of the rules of nature, that everything tastes better outside, so we really enjoyed it.

The allotment has a very special feel about it. It's easier to relax and unwind up there than anywhere else I know. There's the most amazing variety of wildlife, big skies, the wind blows and you feel free. I love it, much more than our garden.

I'm already looking forward to next summer when we can have some more friends to visit.

The Good Life

Looks like we've been on one of our trips out, doesn't it? To a nice country place, with lanes and cute houses.

It's easy to be fooled.

This is actually in the heart of inner city Nottingham. It's St Anns Allotments, the oldest allotments in the world and a grade 2 heritage site. We went before a while back and came away wanting to be part of it all. So we put our names down and waited.

When we took over the plot last October, we opened the gate and beheld a field of waist-high weeds. The only thing to do was slash and burn. I have pyromaniac tendencies, so spent many a winter day stoking the flames with my eyes streaming, going home smelling like a smoked kipper.

He's done most of the hard work. All the landscaping has been done using the bricks of a collapsed Victorian building found on the site. I wanted to rebuild it, but he's got ideas of his own. That serpentine path is a thing of beauty. My job is weeding. I take it very seriously. I have instigated a war on thistles. Brambles and rosebay willow herb are in my top secret dossier too.

Peas straight from the pod. So sweet. 

Flowers everywhere. Mother nature is kind. We've had wild roses, sweet peas, bluebells, forget me nots, ladies lace. The list goes on. But we also decided to plant a flower border as you come in. I did a patch of cosmos next to a patch of snapdragons. The morning glory hasn't really taken off, but really we can't complain. Practically everything else has.

Those are beans there, Trail of Tears they're called. They are a native American bean, delicious, they squeak against your teeth when you eat them. We've planted them in with the sweet corn, just as they do. 

We've been eating like kings. I think I've consumed more potatoes this summer, than in the last three years. We've had them every which way we can think of. Boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, roasted, sauted and fried, we've even had dauphinoise. Yeah, check us out!

Beetroot houmous, so delicious and the colour is amazing. That's broad bean pesto in the background. To die for. Seriously.

We have had to give courgettes away to anyone who crosses our path. Again, we have used every recipe we can possibly think of. Although he tells me I need to make a cake next. Haven't done that yet.

Kale with courgette and roasted cashews, with an olive oil, honey and lemon dressing. Heavenly.

Spinach daisy. We're turning into Tom and Barbara. Just need some pea pod wine...!

Apple blossom in spring and plums ripening in the sun. I like the life of a farmer's wife.

Great Dixter and a party

It seems such a long time ago that I took these photos at Great Dixter, this perfect little Elizabethan manor house and garden, most famous for its last incumbent, Christopher Lloyd. It's only actually three weeks since we visited, but goodness, everything looks so different here now.

Summer came to an abrupt halt after Autumn elbowed it to one side.

This was a family home for many years. The last inhabitant died 8 years ago, but lived here his entire life without any of the home comforts we find so indispensable.

I coined it Ascetic Aesthetic. It may not be quite right, but it's not a life of coffee machines and central heating. I am such a nosey parker, I love to see how people live on an everyday basis.

Everything is done in the best possible taste.

Oh look here, it's Top Cat. He marched straight past me, ignoring my pitiful attempts at small talk. That face has purposeful written all over it.

The very last of the summer sun. What a place to enjoy it.

Those are Oast Houses, very typical vernacular architecture found in that part of the country, used for drying hops out before they get used for making beer.

This to me could be the very place where the opening pages of The Portrait of a Lady are set. Quintessentially English.

Well of course, once all that beer has been produced, somebody's got to drink it. And that is what parties are for.

Another 50th. They are starting to come thick and fast now, even though I am still only a VERY youthful 47, who has years to go before it happens to me.

These are my girls from college. We have known each other since we were 18. It's always quite a raucous affair when we get together.

The theme was Hollywood glamour, so I wore a 1960s long chiffon evening dress described by the girls as 'very yellow, very booby and very glam'. They nicknamed me Canary for the evening.

'Nobody puts Canary in a corner.'

My last nickname from this group, after a conversation about my snaggle tooth, ended up as Tanny McPhee. Even now it makes me snort with laughter.

I've had a cold, but it's on its last legs now, so I feel ready to go out into the world again. Hmmm. I think I might go on a rail journey tomorrow...

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

Right then pop pickers, ready for the next installment of our escapade darn sarf?

Recognise this place? Yep, it's Prospect Cottage, previously home to Derek Jarman the film maker, situated on the slightly otherwordly place known as Dungeness. 

He managed to create a garden in an ostensibly barren and inhospitable environment. Now he's no longer with us, appearances suggest there is no longer the will to keep it up in the same way, but it still felt magical to see it in real life.

Dungeness is a very distinctive environment, apparently the largest open shingle beach in Europe. It's a weird mix of discarded fishing paraphenelia, massive moody skies and an ethereally utilitarian beauty created by the odd mix of Heath Robinson type buildings randomly dotted about. 

I found it charming and compelling. It reminded me of my idea of places like Newfoundland. Separate and romantic in a tough bleak way.

When Derek Jarman bought his place, it was just him and the fishermen, but now I get the impression that the money is moving in. We saw a very luxurious beach house being built. 

All the wandering around in the sea air did the trick. We took our appetites and repaired to the Pilot Inn for a massive plate of dinner. It was almost bigger than me. A great icebreaker. Several of the other punters engaged me in fish and chip based conversation. 

And no, that is not a load of codswallop. 

The other place we visited by the sea, was Hastings. That part of the country is so historic. They call it 1066 country, because that is the year the Battle of Hastings was fought. There is actually a little town called Battle, where the fighting took place. Loads of places are mentioned in the Domesday book, which was commissioned just 20 years later by William the Conqueror, the Frenchman who won the battle and became King of England.

I've heard mixed things about Hastings. I think it had become very run down, but it has had a lot of regeneration over the last few years and the Old Town in particular has been reinvigorated with lots of charming quirky little vintage shops. The buildings are amazing, a lot dating back from Elizabethan times.

I can imagine the narrow alleys and back street pubs filled with sailors and pirates in years gone by.

We only had a bite-size taster, but it has whet our appetite.

I do love it when a pussy cat throws itself at me whilst I go about my business. They always have the most interesting secrets to tell.

Chinese lanterns at dusk

I love to have flowers in the house, and my favourite kind are those collected from the garden.

So at dusk I set out to fill some vases. The nights are drawing in fast now, so by the time I had finished the solar powered exterior fairy lights and Chinese lanterns had come on.

I love twinkly lights outside. It's like dressing the garden with sparkling jewels.

He put up lengths of wire which run the width of our patio, and then we tied solar powered fairy lights to them. When all the lights come on, our back garden and patio look like Las Vegas.

Viva La Bling.

The vases get distributed around the house. This looks a rather holier than thou still life. Or maybe we're all just praying that the lovely late summer weather continues.

I look at Miss Wong and she looks at me. We never tire of one another.

A few weeks ago I had a craft day making this Vix and Dee style lampshade. I have the house to myself today, so I had better go and make the most of it!

In Hugh we trust

A while ago, we took ourselves off to our local Open Gardens. There were some beautiful homes adjoined by gardens with all manner of different styles of planting. Some natural and wild-looking, others more manicured and perfect.

Unfortunately this event has become rather a victim of its own success, with an expected turnout of 4000 people to look around 14 domestic gardens. In practice that meant lots of queuing to squeeze in and squeeze out and very little chance to properly see and appreciate the beauty.

I loved that romantic looking balcony and look, an authentic original Anderson shelter in a little suburban garden. It was tiny. I can't imagine what it must have been like for a family to spend the night in there.

We had our lovely friends Eloise and Patrick over for dinner. We relied heavily on Hugh for inspiration.

Rosemary potatoes, thyme and garlic tomatoes, broad beans with goats cheese and yoghurt, olives, green salad and an aubergine and chick pea dish. All washed down with prosecco, because it was Saturday night and it's summer.

I dressed as Huggy Bear's girlfriend with my 70's patchwork print flares and a halter neck top with a palm tree print, which makes me think of holidays...

Finally, Serena has tagged me on a blog tag thingy, where you have to answer some questions about what you would give as presents to someone who is on an exotic island

Book - Arundhati Roy, The God of Small things, 

Beauty product - lipstick

Favourite snack - roasted chestnuts, wasabi peas, homemade cheese, olive and paprika biscuits

Music album - forgotten the name of the album, but it's Gregory Isaacs and it has Loving Pauper on it.

Other item - I would say flowers, but there will be flowers there already, so it's got to be alcohol! Lots of alcohol. Well, it is a birthday after all.

I tag all of you!