do you mind if i knit

Fowberry Mains Open Garden

Hello! Aren't the Delphiniums above GLORIOUS! They are in one of my favourite Open gardens, and last Sunday was the second time I've visited this garden.

The photos I took last year are quite different to the photos I took on our most recent visit, they show the spectacular views from the garden, you can see last years photographs here.

Last year I went on my own, Hugo was busy, but this year we went together, en famille, with the doggies. I was so looking forward to this return visit, and sharing it with Hugo. Not all gardens welcome visitors taking their dogs, but surprisingly, quite a few do. We're always very careful to check on the Open Garden website, to see if dogs are allowed. If they aren't, it isn't a big deal, we just leave them at home, or with their Auntie Anne. This garden had nothing about dogs not being allowed, and Hugo double checked. So it was with some dismay that on walking up the drive to this house, the man who owned the house marched up to us, and I really mean MARCHED, and informed us in quite an aggressive tone that dogs are not allowed in his garden. Well, we did say that we'd checked the website, and there was nothing to say dogs are not allowed, whereupon he insisted that there was. We remonstrated that honestly, if there had been, we would have left the dogs at home. So he strode, or marched, over to his desk, leafed through the Open gardens booklet, and then let out an "OH!" And admitted that nothing was there to say dogs aren't allowed. At this point, his Mother-in-Law stepped in and tried to smooth things over. She would take the dogs no trouble at all, they couldn't be left in our car because it was a hot day, and she asked Mr. Officious if she could walk them across the yard, to which he did not look pleased, infact seemed very unwilling. We ended up tying them to the desk, paying our entrance fee, and heading straight for a cup of tea, and cake.

Whilst we were sitting eating the delicious cake (and this was the best we've ever had at an open garden, the food was better than delicious!), the wife of Mr. Officious came over to us and apologised profusely, said we could have the dogs in the garden, and generally made us feel much better. Infact she was really very lovely, and was worried that they had neglected to state there was no disabled access, as well as no dogs, in the info on their garden.

But you know what? It was difficult to enjoy the garden after that initial little encounter. We felt very ill at ease. These Open gardens are meant to be relaxing and enjoyable and happy occasions. We left the dogs tied up at the desk, and could hear Douglas crying to be with us, which was a bit embarrassing. Hugo ended up carrying him around in his bag, whilst leaving Ellie tied up. It was all a bit ridiculous really. I did manage to have a quick wander round the garden, feeling uncomfortable, but enjoying the beauty of the garden, and it really is fabulous, I love it.

What I'll do is let you wander through my photos, enjoying the abundance of flowers, the touch of wildness, the exuberance and joy that's gone in to making this garden.

Hugo lurks with Douglas, above.

I was rather taken with this Rose in the picture above, and apparently it was getting a lot of attention from visitors to the garden.

Let's have a closer look shall we..............

Although this Rose is more puple in colour it's called "Rhapsody in Blue", from David Austin, you can find it here. I've had a Rose die on me in one of my pots, so this could be a contender as its replacement.

So there we go, a beautiful garden don't you think? I hope you enjoyed your little saunter through the garden....................... Have a lovely weekend! Love Vanessa xxx

 

Tyninghame House Open Garden

Hello !!!!!! D'you have a bit of a wet and watery weekend like us? After the dazzling summer days, all the rain we're getting has come as a bit of a shock, even though it's familiar weather.

STILL! In the great British tradition of tally ho, we did not let a bit of rain prevent us from going to an open garden on Sunday. Saturday was spent working, Sunday was spent guzzling cake, slurping tea, and wandering round the most exquisite garden I've seen in a long time.

(The Jack Russell in the above photo is Cuddy, who we're looking after for two-and-a-half weeks, he's the running machine I mentioned in my last post).

(Notice how his Royal Highness has his eyes closed above! He's actually asleep as he's being carried around in the bag!!!!!!!).

Sometimes, I think a series of pictures is nicer to wander through, to conjure up an experience, rather than my ramblings.

We've visited this garden once before, but there must have been some changes made, and lots of new planting, because on this visit, the garden was breathtaking, truly beautiful, and we don't recall having this reaction to it on our last visit.

I didn't take any photographs of the extensive house, but you can see an assortment of  photographs previously published by other people here, to get an idea of how grand it is.

And if you've got a bit of "loose change" in your pocket, you could buy an apartment in Tyninghame House, have a private view here (it's fascinating!). (I don't know how long this link will be active).

There are two pairs of Pigeons sitting in the tree over-hanging our garden, we're guessing they're two couples. It's very sweet.

Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

 

 

Levens Hall's Garden Topiary.

Hello! Who's counting the days till (what I've heard described as) "The Wills and Kate show"?!

I'm not exactly counting, but I am thinking about Kate Middleton, and how her world, whilst becoming one of great wealth and privilege, will involve the sacrifice of the world she has known so far. It's not that I feel sorry for her, not really, I just find myself hoping she's o.k. and coping with it all. She looks quietly confident, carries herself well, and is a model of propriety, but inside it might be a strain for her.

I've been thinking of her from time to time over the last couple of days, as I hear the world of news hotting up about the big event, and I so want her to be o.k. you know what I mean?

Anyway, I'll be enjoying watching the show on the t.v. along with family, more about that closer to the time.

So! Levens Hall's Garden!

This garden visit was part of our holiday in the Lake District, but I didn't include it in my last post, because there were so many photos to take in, in that post, and I felt this garden deserved a blog write-up all of its own.

This garden was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A link to the website of Levens Hall is here.

I'm a huge fan of topiary, most of my garden's planting is made up of topiary.

After seeing Levens Hall's garden, my garden looks a bit boring and unimaginative in the topiary shapes department.

But then Levens Hall has had a few years more than me to develop, more than three hundred years infact, as it was first laid out in 1694.

Aaaahhhh, what I could do with my topiary if I had three hundred years growing time.

There is one tragedy that is affecting this garden at the moment.

Box Blight.

This is a terrible disease, it's airborn, and kills in a matter of hours. Box plants literally go black and die in a few hours. Terrifying.

The disease was brought in to the UK by a collector of different Box species, and our indigenous Box has no defence against it. The only thing to do is rip out all the dead Box, and re-plant with a type of Box that has resistance to Box Blight. Not something you want to do if most of your garden contains 300 year old Box hedging and shapes.

Apparently large areas of hedging has been taken out, but as we'd not seen the garden before, it all looked lovely to us.

The garden also had an orchard, and round the base of each tree trunk was a circle of bright red Tulips, the effect was lovely.

The house was open to the public, and it was very interesting (no photos allowed), but it was the garden that wowed me.

I was speechless when walking round the garden, I've never seen anything like it before, how were the shapes determined.................. how did this vision come about.

The thing with box is that it is very slow growing, so when you shape it, if you make a cut, and it looks dreadful, that's a decision you have to live with for a few years until growth covers the mistake. It's a plant that demands patience, and long-term vision. So Levens Hall's garden is a miracle of patience and vision. Each shape has had a lot of planning. It's an amazing garden, not just for the slight eccentricity of vision, but for the three hundred years of patience. I love it. I hope you do too.

I'm going to wish you a happy Easter for Sunday, and I hope the Bunny is good to you. Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

 

Please leave Miss Marple alone.

Hello! Have you heard the latest?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was on the radio this morning, after the topic of the tragic closure of some of our libraries, which is bad enough, the presenters were talking about the probability of a Miss Marple film being made, with Jennifer Garner playing Miss Marple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can see a news report here.

Miss Marple is not, under any circumstances, sexy. Neither is she any other age other than a very wise sixty/seventy year old.

There are no if's or but's about this, it is just a fact.

I surprised myself by feeling more outraged by a sexy Miss Marple, than about the closure of our libraries, which is very perverse, and I should stamp on this abberation immediately. Our libraries are more important than a sexy Miss Marple. And to put all that into perspective, there are terrible natural disasters occuring around the world, destroying people's lives, let me remind myself.

Still (and I am gagging myself here, so my words are sort of muffled), Miss Marple played by an attractive actress? Joan Hickson was the best Miss Marple. She had white hair, wrinkles, a girth, and she was very, very English.

Grrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of my first posts on this blog, back in 2007, was titled "I wish I was Miss Marple".

Another post I did in August 2009, was titled "worthy of Miss Marple".

I occasionally sigh and say to Hugo "I wish I was Miss Marple". Which is very silly of course, but I've built up a romantic and very fixed idea of the famous sleuth in my mind. I love the life she lives as created by Agatha Christie, and how it was portrayed by Joan Hickson. Plus, I love the idea that a little old lady is the heroine of the plots, not some young get-up-and-go thing.

Anyway, let me show you something that I know for a fact Miss Marple would be in to. An Open garden, as seen by Hugo and myself back in June of last year.

I was keeping this for a rainy day!

The day we went on this little outing, it was to a village called Gifford, in Scotland, where about ten of the inhabitants had opened up their gardens for charity. So these photos I'm showing you are a mish-mash from about three of the gardens we visited.

The garden I was most impressed by, was the one with the walled garden. Within that wall was paradise, made by lots of hard work.

You see the planting in the photos above? The Irises in amongst the grasses? I've not seen that combination before, and thought it was very original, and exquisite.

The weather that day went from bright sunshine, to being overcast, to pouring with rain, lastly settling on a grey damp dullness. So the colours in these photos are all over the place. The grey skies made all the colours in the gardens look bright and garish, especially the greens.

At one point, we had to huddle in a greenhouse with lots of other visitors and tomatoes and grapes that were being grown by the owners. In that very British way, no one made jolly conversation. Or maybe we were just looking in awe at the torrential rain and thanking our lucky stars there was a greenhouse to shelter in. It was the sort of downpour not even an umbrella could protect against.

One of the gardens had a summer house at the bottom of the garden, overlooking a stream. The little building was on a circular runner, so the whole thing could be turned to catch the sun as it moved during the day.

Another garden had the most eye-catching little house for a dog, set into the hedge.

We didn't make it round all the gardens in the village unfortunately, what with the weather playing up, and the small, but anxious matter of getting a cream tea.

The teas were served in the village hall, not in any of the open gardens, and one thing Hugo and I remarked upon, was that a cream tea in a village hall is nice, but it is not as charming as sitting in a grand garden, admiring the abundant borders, and luxuriating in it all, with a slice of cake and a cup of tea to hand.

Miss Marple would be very at home amongst all this. She might even have spiced up the day a bit by happening to come across the demise of some ghastly character who no one liked, in the herbaceous border.

I'd have sat and done a bit of knitting with her whilst we sipped our tea, and mulled over 'who did it'.

Well, goodbye for now, and a cheerio! for good measure. Love Vanessa xxx

A grand day out.

Hello! We had some sun today, we had some sun on Sunday, but I can't remember the weather as far back as Saturday. SUN! Sun, sun, sun, sun sun!

SUN!

It's exciting because we've been having long periods of grey skies, not good for any one, least of all things like seedlings on window sills, they get "leggy", like they're desperate to reach sun.

Not only did we have sun yesterday (Sunday), but we had a little outing to an open garden. The first of the season! Hugo spent most of the car journey exclaiming that he couldn't believe we were going on an outing. I suppose it has been a while since we've been out for the day, I have been spending all my weekends working lately.

I was a little sceptical as to how good a garden could be at this time of year, but as Hugo repeatedly said, "there will be tea and cake" in a very insistent way, I realised that it was important to him we go.

I'm so glad we went. It's a wonderful garden.

It's Shepherd House Garden, the website is here.

I've heard and seen Auricula theatres (see some amazing ones here), but never come across Snowdrop theatres.

Have you heard that some Snowdrop bulbs exchange hands for thousands of pounds? For people who collect Snowdrops, the subtle differences are very noticeable, and obviously very valuable.

I always think that to create a garden that is beautiful in the winter months is a tremendous achievement.

This garden isn't an enormous garden, but the way the space has been used is very clever, and you wander around through different "rooms" being entertained by the imaginative layout and planting.

I can't wait to return to this garden later on in the year.

 

There's another reason I want to return to this garden, and it's not just because I know it will get more abundant and exquisite as the year progresses. It's because there is a little dog, (the same breed as ours, Miniature Wire-haired Dachshunds), called Katie, who lives there. I was so busy stalking her, to try and get a cuddle, I forgot to take her photograph. Hugo says I looked like a dog snatcher, and the reason she looked so nervously at me, was that she was thinking the same thing as Hugo. I just wanted a cuddle. Actually I did get one in the end. I followed her all the way to her Dad, who picked her up and offered to let me hold her. As long as I didn't run off with her.

"Did I really look like a dog snatcher?" I asked Hugo incredulously, as we drove off in the car later.

"Yes," said Hugo forcefully, "everyone visiting the garden probably thought you were a dog snatcher too".

We've not had a day out for a while, and have lost our stamina for it, because by the end of the day we were both exhausted. Crazy isn't it.

Well, I'm off back to work. Cheerio! Love Vanessa xxx

A chair isn't always just a chair.

Hello! Nice day for a cup of tea.

That'll be a cuppa  infront of the wood burning stove I'm talking about. Turning a grey day into something positive is good for morale don't you think?

It's like the other day, when we went out for a coffee, and Hugo bought a huge slab of of carrot cake to go with my drink, I found myself saying "that'll be good for my curves". A positive way of looking at an enormous, almost intimidating, slab of cake. I ate it all of course.

Anyway, I had planned to wax lyrical today, about my drive back from Edinburgh on Saturday night, after going to see the film 'Little Fockers' (which left me with lots of feel good factor for the entire hour drive home). I was going to go on about the deep dark sky, full of charcoal smudged clouds, and the beams of the headlights carving through the black night, with barely another car on the road. But then I found these photos I've never shown you, these chair photos, and I got very excited.

These garden chairs were in the grounds of an Open Garden we visited last summer. I remember obsessively photographing these chairs.

Such shapes!

Such curves!

So improbably comfortable, but once sat on, very nice for the back.

Like works of art.  All that swirly whirly thing going on, and the big bulgy, curvaceuos back. Lovely.

I vaguely recall a short debate with Hugo, about the proportions of these chairs. The legs are quite plain and delicate, whilst the top half bulges with abundance, and I think Hugo thought they were too top heavy. My argument would have been that they're just so fantastic, maybe a little too top heavy, but charming enough to be perfectly adorable.

No, they're perfect.

The chairs were part of a beautiful garden, and as usual, we were in awe at being allowed into the private haven of the owners. I can't remember the name of the garden, but apparently it's opened up for charity over two consecutive weekends. I think that's incredibly generous of the owners. To have complete strangers traipsing over your beautiful garden, (I saw the appalling sight of a man with a pram forcing his way along a narrow path, trampling plants along the way, when there were plenty of other paths he could have taken), not once, but twice, is the epitome of generosity don't you think?

I love that such a simple thing as a chair can be a thing of beauty.

Well, I must pootle off, to work on a paper mache pig, her name is Louise. I'm also creating some more Evangeline's, she's too much of a character to leave at just the one figure. Cheerio. Love Vanessa xxx

Is that a smile on Douglas' face?

Hello! From a dark grey day in the north of England, pelting with rain, you know the sort of thing. Now I've got the weather report out of the way we can skip back in time to a beautiful sunny day. I find it's quite useful to keep these sunny sort of posts for a rainy day.

These photos would have been taken around June time. We were visiting an open garden, and it was blissfully warm. That is, lovely for us, but uncomfortable for the dogs, they really don't like having to walk in the heat. Douglas (with the smug little smile on his face above) sits down and refuses to walk. Point blank no budging teeny weeny doggy. So Hugo pops him in the 'dog bag' (bag for leads, clean-up bags and dog biscuits). And he stays there contentedly, whilst we get amused looks.

Yes, Douglas does have us wrapped round his little paw.

Meanwhile, Ellie, who is independent of thought, finds things like Lavender bushes to shade her.

Ellie, you're so little.

Maybe you'd like a look round the garden we went to see? It was beautiful. I loved the walled garden, the gate through which you can just glimpse it, you see above. I think we'll step through the gate and have a look.

 
The walled garden was on a slope, and someone said there had been terrible flooding earlier in the year, causing a lot of damage. You wouldn't have known this, looking at it. The owners must have worked very hard to get it looking so fabulous.

A garden tour is always thirsty, hungry work isn't it?! Time for a cup of tea then.

Through the door surrounded by roses, doesn't get much better than this does it? So idyllic, so romantic.

So quaint, so welcoming. So just what we needed, as I recall.

There's nothing like a cup of tea and a scone to rejuvenate one is there?

Shall we have a few more pictures before I head off to my Wednesday night knitting group?

Look who's still in the bag!

Just before I go, I'd like to mention that I deleted my 'zombie fun' post from Monday. The reason for this is that it offended some people, and whilst I did that post with only fun and light-heartedness in mind, my blog isn't about offending folks. Rather than saying nothing about why that post suddenly isn't there any more, I thought I should explain.

Well, I'm off to my beloved Wednesday night knitting group. The sleeves on my stripy dress are finished, and all that remains to be done is finish the neckline, sew some sections up and the sewing in of a few ends. Then it's on to my next project, so exciting! Love Vanessa xxx

I never leave cake on my plate, but there's a first for everything.

Did you get a but of sunshine this last weekend? I hope so, it's good for the soul isn't it? Today is Monday, and it's a bit of a bedraggled day, so I'm turning to my photos from the weekend to give myself a bit of cheer.  We visited another open garden on Saturday, and the tables were set up beautifully. It's grey and lumpen outside and I'm in the mood for colour and sunshine, so here we go, a bit of indulgence on my part.

I don't know why, but when I look at pictures like the one above, I feel happy, excited, inspired, happy, this sort of image is pure escapism, simplicity, cheeriness.

A splendid red-and-white striped marquee had been set up in the garden, infact, a lot of effort had been put intop setting up the event.

We did our usual first port-of-call, the tea tent. My Mother-in-Law, Susan, visited the garden with us, and Hugo and Susan went to get the teas and scones, whilst I chose somewhere to sit from a group of empty tables. I thought it was a bit strange that there were so many empty tables. Beautiful, but very empty.

We all sat down in eager anticipation of our yummy looking scones and cups of tea.

Oh dear. I've never left a scone in my entire life, I love scones, and Hugo will eat anything, but he couldn't eat his either. What a shame. Still, the table decorations made up for the scone incident, they were glorious.

 

 

My gaze did waver from the tables and tea cups a couple of times, like to this coconut shy. There's something very old fashioned about coconut shy's don't you think? That's why I like them.

And we did have an amble round the garden, which was pretty, mainly full of flowers intended to be cut.

  There were some more open gardens on Sunday, but I worked in my garden all day, apart from when I was taking two baby Seagulls who had fallen out of their nests, (and wouldn't have survived without my intervention according to the vet), up to the wildlife centre. They were small and covered in fuzzy grey down, and very helpless. One flapped it's wings, and I was amazed at the wing span on such a small a bird. They're safe and sound as I write this, getting all the love and care they need to grow into great big fat Seagulls, like the one's on all the roofs of the houses around here. The mother wasn't very happy about me taking the babies away, but the vet insisted they wouldn't survive if I left them there, there was a lot of squawking and cries from the Seagulls circling above us.

I've started on the first sleeve of my knitted dress, ripped that out, and started again. Sorry, no photos just yet, but there will be more on Wednesday.

I must love you and leave you know, I'm itching to do some knitting. See you Wednesday! Love Vanessa xxx

The passionate gardeners of Fowberry Mains Farmhouse.

Aaaahhhhh it's Friday evening, the beginning of the weekend.

Lovvvvvvverlyyyyyyy.

At this time of year we go open-gardening, every weekend if possible. Even Hugo, who isn't into gardening at all, enjoys accompanying me on these little outings.

The whole open garden thingy is run by this organisation. 

I'm always amazed we don't see more people our age, in their thirties with their children, visiting these open gardens. It's an absolutely brilliant day out, and cheap too. All the gardens are big, with large expanses of lawn for the children to run around on. Tea and cake are served, and more of the owners are clocking on to the importance of the teas at these events. It's unusual not to see vintage mis-matched china cups and plates, tables covered with cloths, and jam jars filled with flowers picked that morning from the garden, sitting pretty on the tables. On average the entrance fee is £3 per adult, with children often allowed in free. The tea and cake is charged on top of that, but you always get value for money, with a tea and three cakes of your choice offer usually being the norm for about £3. Some garden owners even do free refills of your tea cup!

There is almost always a plant stall, and most garden owners allow dogs on a lead.

Even if gardening isn't your cup of tea, these gardens are of the highest standard, (judges inspect the gardens to see if they're good enough to get into the scheme), so having a cup of tea and cakes in these sublime outdoor spaces, is like taking refreshments in the glorious garden of a splendid tea room. Hugo likes to take the weekend paper and have a little relax.

Hugo and I agree that this year the gardens are particularly good. The owners seem to be putting an extra effort in with the teas, they must have realised that the tea and cake is a large part of the attraction for some people (!).

The owners of this garden at Fowberry Mains Farmhouse got everything absolutely spot on. The work that must have gone into preparing for this event! We were even treated to bunting, and got the full vintage china and jam jars of flowers experience, like a Country Living magazine photograph coming to life.

This was my first cup of tea, before heading off round the garden. I couldn't face the three items of baking that were included in the fee for the tea. I chose this tea cup and saucer specially. Like you do.

This garden was heavenly, it was beautiful for it's setting, its planting, the relaxed feel to it, (though this relaxed feel involves a huge amount of work for the gardener), the colours. Heavenly.

The garden sprawled in to different areas, from relaxed and romantic, to more clipped and formal. I liked the relaxed, overflowing, romantic areas.

The couple who own the garden are garden designers, they own "Country Garden designs". I learnt this at the end of my visit, and suddenly it became very clear why this garden was so exquisite, they know their stuff.

We were made to feel very welcome in this garden, with chairs and tables dotted around the garden, beckoning us to sit and contemplate our surroundings. The sofa under the trees was a very special touch, I spent quite a bit of time sitting on it, listening to the birds tweeting and the sheep in the field over the wall behind me, baaing away.

Those views! To be able to sit in a garden with those sweeping vistas surounding the garden and house, it felt like an enormous privilege.

Even the vegetable patch was beautifully designed.

Such artistry, such a pleasure for those of us wandering around.

From my past experience of having a large garden, and not being able to keep up with the tending it required, I know just how much work goes into a garden like this. The creation of the garden must have taken years, maintaining it must be a labour of love. The owners must live and breathe plants and gardens, especially as its the way they earn a living. Hard work, back-breaking work, but good food for the soul.

Talking about food for the soul, I have to mention my current dish of choice, the fair isle dress I'm knitting.

It's progressed from this stage, when you last saw it, but I don't have any photos of it's most recent state.

I put the live stitches on a length of yarn, took out the circular needle, and tried the dress on. It needs some more length, till the pattern reaches below my knees, but not too long. I'm not too far off finishing the skirt section, and moving on to the arms, which  I "have a little plan for". You shall have to wait for the reveal on the arm plan I'm afraid.

Tomorrow, Saturday, there's an open garden to visit, I look forward to these little jaunts enormously. I get ever so excited infact.

Well, if I carry on any longer, there won't be much of Friday left, and I'd like to use some of the Friday that's left to do some knitting, on my fair isle dress. So I'll bid you farewell for a few days, wish you a good weekend with lots of nice weather, and hopefully see you on Monday. Toodle-loo. Love Vanessa xxx

 

I'll move in tomorrow thank you.

This teacup. This teacup, I want it! The saucer is lovely, but I want the tea cup!
Sorry! Hello there, just launching straight to the point today.
I suppose this tea cup sums up the garden we visited on Sunday. Beautiful.  We did have high hopes for this garden and the tea, because the house and garden are owned by Jane Lovett. 

By the time we arrive at the open gardens we visit at weekends, we're often gasping for a cup of tea. While everyone else heads for the plant stall, we head straight for the tea and cake table. (We have to refresh ourselves for a leisurely stroll round the garden you understand). As Jane Lovett is a professional chef, we thought it might be well worth tasting her cakes. Those cakes. Delicious. Hugo paid for the option of a cup of tea, and a selection of three items. I paid for a cuppa, and one item, plus a taste of Hugo's three items.

This garden contained a series of 'rooms'. Whilst ambling around the garden, we stepped through a gate, or an opening in a hedge, into yet another immaculate 'room'. The garden was big, but not so big that it was daunting. Very liveable in, I thought, very gardenable. Very, very covetable! If we lived in that house, which would be nice, Hugo would have to have one of those lawn mower tractor things, and he wouldn't be able to work, he'd just have to spend all day, every day, mowing the lawns.

I'd be happy to tend to the borders. That is, whilst I wasn't sitting drinking tea and doing a bit of crochet. The garden was full of little places to sit and read a book, or, as I say, do a bit of crochet, or knitting.

This arbour has a nice little bench to sit on. Very secluded, very restful.  Could see myself sitting here. Crocheting. Or knitting. Probably crocheting, whilst listening to radio 4. And watching Hugo mow the lawns.

There are two benches to choose from the other side of the hedge in this photo, above. They were very popular benches. There was a moment when one of them was empty, and beckoning to us. Hugo thought it might be nice to get the paper from the car, and sit on the bench to have a read, and enjoy the view. Then he noticed two little old ladies who were looking 'determined'. Determined they were going to occupy the bench. Short of running at break neck speed towards the bench and pushing the ladies aside, there was very little we could do to occupy it. We knew we didn't have a hope in hell of securing one of the benches, so we slunk off, and found a bench that had a bit of a view, but was very exposed to the wind, and the noise of a car alarm that kept on going off.

Despite the bench disappointment, we could appreciate the views, we didn't need a bench for that. The views were uninterrupted. For miles and miles. How often do you come across a view like this from a garden hey? Not that often!

And the colours! The colours Jane Lovett had chosen for her garden were beautiful, just the right amount of zing!

I felt I fitted in to this garden! With my bright orange pumps, and Cath kidston bag. Yes, I felt almost at home.

My shoes even matched the chard growing in Jane's vegetable garden. Not often you can make that sort of claim, is it?

Matching shoes and Chard aside, I still hanker after owning that tea cup. The solution to that, my dear readers, is for me to do a little painting of it, don't you think? Then I'd have a reminder of it forever.
I'm off to my weekly Wednesday night knitting group now. Wednesday has come around again quickly, hasn't it? Good thing too, I love going to my knitting group. Ta-ra lovely readers, and see you tomorrow. Love Vanessa xxx