Here's an upstairs through-the-dirty-window photo of our mostly-Holly hedge - it turns to Ivy on the right, and is beloved of the insects. Our neighbour did a very good job of trimming it.
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As I had the oven on, I made a batch of Chocolate Chip cookies - haven't made them in years, but Morning's Minion mentioned them recently and I just had to make some. Doubles up as treats in case the children at the cottage next door come trick or treating tonight. I don't think they will, but they are staying the weekend (parents not together any more) so just in case. Shout out if you would like recipes for the cake. The CC Cookies are from the BBC Good Food listings on line. I think they called them old fashioned ones or something.
I am really so pleased at the farmers helping us out. Gosh, the awful one we lived next door to in Carms wouldn't cross the road to spit on you if you were on fire, and there were a couple of extremely disrespectful things he said to me about our daughters, which had I ever repeated them to Keith, he'd have killed him. Truly. Everyone is just so friendly and helpful round here. I walked down into town this morning (it's about a mile and a half) to get Keith's paper, and was dreading the hills-all-the-way on the return journey. Would you believe that the same neighbour who gave me a lift the other day, was passing again, but before I'd left town, and brought me back home again. Talk about good timing!
I have just about decided on one of the blocks for the cushion covers, so will go and do some cutting out I think. Watch this space.
Love the look of those cakes - recipe please.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that you have some help with house and garden maintenance
Alison in Wales x
I'll put the recipe up tomorrow. It's a light moist cake. Yummy.
DeleteGood to have some help now - not so good having gotten to the stage where we need it. . .
Aw that is lovely of the Farmers. Sounds as if you have landed in a friendly community who help each other. The cakes look lovely - would like the recipe please. Garden looks a lot more manageable now. Glad you are settling in. Looking forward to seeing your patchwork cushion. Take care Tricia x
ReplyDeleteIt's a lovely community. We lived in a nice one at our old home, and had some lovely friends there, and everyone looked out for each other. Next Door was the only fly in the ointment.
DeleteI am considering putting a small veg plot down in that triangle as it's actually diggable and has a good layer of leaf mould.
I am so glad that you have your wonderful neighbors. Kindness makes life much easier doens't it? A good reminder for all of us.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I am very fortunate. All the neighbours are pleasant. We know which workmen to avoid now though, which isn't so good, having found out the hard way! Like the chap who tidied the two paddocks for me last time - was here 3 hours and charged a day's rate for the work (nearly £200!)
DeleteWe were once told there there's always one nice farmer next door to one not so friendly. It's been like that whenever we've lived in the middle of farmland. Glad you have a good neighbour now.
ReplyDeleteThat's probably the balance of it. The lads up the road couldn't be more helpful.
DeleteGood neighbours are worth their weight in gold, aren't they. And I'll bet they appreciate your baking. I'd like the recipe for that cake/loaf please. My husband is in the throes of university finals marking and needs lots of treats!!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. They see it as their duty to offer help when it is needed. Recipe up in the morning - I see your husband is much in need of treats!
ReplyDeleteGood neighbours make all the difference. We also feel very blessed here. Yesterday though I left my comfort zone of a cycling radius from my house and we ventured to the Hampshire/Wiltshire borders to visit Roche Court, an art gallery and sculpture park showing the work of 20th and 21st century artists. It was a glorious golden autumnal day and our day was crowned by our first visit to Figsbury Ring, high up in the Wessex Downs and almost next to Porton Down. This has a double ring of earthworks with causeways radiating out and recent finds and geophysics date it to possibly 3000BC, that is older than Stonehenge. There was so much energy despite a fine mizzle and we will return perhaps during orchid season next summer. The site is looked after by the National Trust. Have you visited BB. It is not far from Danebury Iron Age hill fort. It was a wonderful day out and a memorable birthday. My mum died on my birthday so nowadays a bittersweet day for me. On the way to Roche Court we stopped in Stockbridge on the river Test for our picnic lunch and made a spontaneous purchase of a softly coloured kilim from the rug shop, receiving wonderful service from Masoud the Iranian owner, and of course we had to buy a piece of Hampshire Hog from the butcher for roasting tonight. Hope I managed to transfer some energy over to you yesterday. It was three hours driving by me in total so I was definitely needing an energy boost from the Ring to get us home safely in the gloaming. I see there is lots online about Figsbury too. Did you get J up the ladder to clear the gutters? Simon did ours this week while I was grass cutting but thankfully our gutters are all just above ground floor window height. Even so I am thinking of getting one of those very stable tripod ladders. I have spotted Monty using one on Gardeners World and I noticed one in the orchard at Parham the other week. Wishing you a good week as we move into November. Sarah x
ReplyDeleteWell, that sounds like an excellent Birthday Day Out. I'd not heard of Roche Court, but can see it offers a wonderful venue for the sculpture park. Our nearest art gallery was the one just outside Presteigne where we saw the Aboriginal exhibition last month.
ReplyDeleteFigsbury Ring looks quite intrigueing, with its capturing an earlier Neolithic site like that. Definitely worth a summer visit for the orchids and other wild flowers. I've not been there, or to Danebury, but did study Danebury in some depth, with its strange Iron Age ritual burial practices involving animals etc. It had a light/dark composition. It was also on the farmland belonging to our old Pony Club DC for several years and we had rallies up that way sometimes. I am so sorry that your mother died on your birthday. Keith's mother and her brother both chose to die on mine, some years apart. It's many years since I was last at Stockbridge - can still remember a stuffed racehorse, Robert the Devil, who was in one of the pubs there - a reminder that there used to be a racecourse at Stockbridge, many many years ago.
The Kilim sounds wonderful and will look so good with your lovely furniture. I trust the Hampshire Hog chunk went down well too. A long drive by the sound of things, but worth it. I did feel quite energised - enough to walk into town anyway (then fortunately friends spotted me and gave me a lift home).
Gutters left, but all the other jobs done. A friend has one of those Tripod ladders and swears by it. You know what men can be like - a bit gung-ho!
Still very mild here, but cold weather forecast . . .