Owl Family Diary

Birthday Camping

2011-09-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

I have been camping again.
Not my own choice this time, but the choice of youngest son who requested a camping party for his 7th Birthday. Ahhh, a boy after my own heart, how could I refuse? He has taken on board my love of the outdoors! We decided to keep it small and only invited 3 - one couldn't make it, one was happy to come to the party but not sleep over and only one was willing to embrace the whole experience. I was happy with that!
I'm so glad I didn't let the weather reports put me off! There were severe weather warnings for heavy rain over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If it had been correct, the party would have been a wash out!

I decided to go a day early and set up the Izmir on Friday while the boys were at school. It was a glorious afternoon - at the last minute I decided to forego EHU and go right down by the lake.

I chose a spot right amongst the trees - just incase the bad weather hit, it was nice and sheltered.
So once set up, I took the dogs for a blast around the woodland walk, then returned to the tent, made myself a coffee - an hour of peace and quiet, sat in the sunshine - ahh, one of those moments that are to be savoured as they don't come along very often!
All too soon it was time to go and pick up the boys from school.
We had tea, hubby went to work on his last night shift, D had football practice so it was 7pm by the time we headed back to site. It did rain while I was at home, but it had stopped by the time we got back to camp.
Got the lanterns lit, firelog in the firepit, got the boys showered and into PJs and dressing gowns, hot chocolate all round and we had a cosy evening by the fire. Another one of those blissful moments - just the three of us, cupping steaming mugs of hot chocolate, watching the flames, under the stars. Sounds a bit Enid Blyton doesn't it?
We had some rain throughout the night and the wind got up, but nothing the Izmir couldn't cope with. We were all warm and cosy inside.
I didn't have the best nights sleep - a couple turned up after dark and pitched a tiny tent just the other side of the trees. No problem with that, but they were still chatting at 2am and sound seems to really carry through a tent! Also a group in the next field were partying until the wee hours. Again, not a major problem as we were well away from them, but just enough to stop me going straight off to sleep again.
Saturday dawned wet and windy, so after letting the dogs out and making more hot chocolate, we all went back to bad to read for a couple of hours. Once the rain stopped, the dogs were walked again, then I pitched the second tent ready for our guests. D was very helpful - holding poles together for me and helping me to gaffer tape them together!

Once up, I festooned the fairy lights over both tents and set them to recharge in the sunshine.

Unbelievably there was no more rain, the weather stayed dry and sunny if blustery.
Party guests arrived and instead of ball games, we spent the afternoon kite flying!
My boys find it a little boring now, but their guests loved it! I keep a wooden box full of tent toys and games that always comes away with us and ensures that there is always something to do in adverse weather - luckily there were two kites in there.

I love kite flying - there is something uplifting and exciting about those brightly coloured bits of cloth swooping and soaring in the wind. These are very simple kites which fly in even the slightest breeze and are very easy for little hands to manage.

After that it was time for tea. We barbequed on the Cobb - sausages and burgers on buns to suit the boys, lots of ketchup, all shared with the hounds.

I took some homemade cakes and let them decorate their own using chocolate spread and plain white icing, plus loads of sprinkles and chocolate stars.

Even the strawberries got dunked in the icing!

Then there was some tree climbing

And finally we lit the fire and did toasted marshmallows and played charades. The wind dropped and the evening was still and calm. We even had some clear sky and managed to do a bit of star gazing.

We were a bit nervous of letting the boys all sleep alone in a seperate tent, so little M and his friend slept in their tent with Dad and D joined me in the big double bed. They did try to stay awake, but very quickly succumbed - they were exhausted!
A and I had a peaceful, grown up, 10 minutes by the fire before A also had to turn in (well he had just finished his night shift). After another 10 minutes on my own, I was also ready for bed. This time nothing kept me awake! And having little D in with me meant I had a built in hot water bottle! Poor A didn't fare so well - a big man on a narrow camp bed and his quilt kept falling off (his own fault as he doesn't like sleeping bags!)
At 7am I was wide awake and refreshed. Let the dogs out and admired the rising sunlight over the lake.

Breakfast this morning was sausages done on the Cobb followed by pancakes. I used one of those pancake mixes where you add water and shake, and did those on the Cobb as well. They were all eaten, but I didn't get to try them myself - should have bought two! Worked very well, even if they didn't brown as much as they do in a frying pan.
The weather stayed gorgeous while we packed up both tents. Got home about 2pm, then the heavens opened and the threatened downpour finally hit. Perfect timing! Not a wet canvas in the house - just the sort of camping I love.

The Manky Cabanon

2011-09-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

So are you wondering what happened to my summer project? The old cabanon tent that I'd bought for £35? Lovely looking tent! We used it for a 4 day camp at our local site. Didn't bother with the bedroom inners after all as they were too small for our airbed!

It certainly looks nice from a distance doesn't it?

Nice and spacious inside, although there wasn't really room to cook in there once we'd spread our beds everywhere, so the cooker stayed outside!

I was given a lovely wardrobe unit by my friend. Much neater than bags of clothes all over the floor, and ideal in a frame tent. Won't be much use in the pyramid though!

But look a bit closer and you'll see the problems! Oh look, is that window taped closed with insulation tape??

Ooh yes, nice!!

Because the insect mesh was so perished it crumbled at the slightest touch. I had to tape the window down to stop a gale whistling through the tent!

And is that a large repair down the side of the window? Yes - it is cotton webbing used to patch a large tear, but the fabric is so perished that it is tearing where it has been sewn!

I think one strong gust of wind would have shredded the tent!

Another hole? Yes, but a large piece of gaffer tape rendered it waterproof.

Somehow we missed getting this canopy pole into it's pocket. Which lead to another hole as the canvas ripped when we tried to sort it out.

It was mostly waterproof. Except around the bottom edges where it soaked through and wet the airbeds.
To cap it all, when we were taking it down, the poles bent. I think they had been bent and straightened in the past as it didn't take much at all to bend them!
So sadly, the now renamed Manky Cabanon has been recycled. The poles were claimed by a colleague of my son who wanted them for some project or other.

The Canvas walls are too weak to be used for anything else so will be binned, but the roof material is still good and strong so will be utilised for windbreaks.
The curtains have been sent to a friend so she can use the curtain hooks for her newly acquired Cabanon.
The inners have been cut up to make smaller groundsheets and the roof lining made a great dust sheet for decorating. And I have all the clips and guyropes in my spares box, so nothing has gone to waste.
So worth a punt, but sadly not to be and at least it wasn't a complete waste of money, after all we got 4 nights accomodation out of it!

2011-09-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Well the babies are growing nicely! They moved out of the dining room into the greenhouse until I could sort out a run for them. They have been sleeping in the dog crate in the greenhouse but go out into a run on the lawn during the day. They enjoy this tray of compost!

I finally managed to find a house that I liked. The wood looks nice but all those gaps and cracks are a haven for redmite so it needed modifying.

Several coats of undercoat, polyfilla and gloss, a roosting bar added, and it is now habitable.

They can move out of the greenhouse at last!

Don't look too impressed do they?

New Babies!

2011-08-25T00:47:00.000-07:00

Of the chickeny kind that is! Meet Miyun, Liulimiao and Changping, the Pekin Babies: (they will be known as Mimi, Lulu and Ping for convenience sake!)
Here they are on arrival - looking a bit stunned!

I am down to only 5 large girls at the moment so definitely needed more! A friend found out about a supplier who was selling up and getting rid of the last of his stock at a discount price - well it would have been rude not to, wouldn't it? I have been thinking about getting something different for a while, and one day I would still like to do some hatching under a broody. Pekins are supposed to make good pets and are more friendly than hybrids. Not bad layers, but prone to going broody. They sound ideal!

I still need to sort out housing - at the moment they are living in the dog crate in the dining room. I am planning to split the large run into two and give them their own quarters, but they will have a couple of weeks indoors, in quarentine, first! The oldest (Mimi) is 10 weeks old, the other two are only 8 weeks. They are so tiny! And cute!

They have adjusted very quickly and have already trashed their quarters! They bustle about cheeping and scratching. I'm not sure what colour they are yet - Mimi, the largest, looks to be too dark for a lavender but too light for a blue. Lulu is darker still, but has lots of white feathers on her chest. It also looks like she may develop white feathers round her face. Possibly a mottled or splash? And Ping the tiny one looks like an explosion in a paint factory! Black, white and buff feathers in no discernible pattern. I am keeping my fingers crossed that she may be a Mille Fleur as it is such a pretty colour.

I have ordered a small wooden house for them and am hoping it will arrive today as I have a day off so I can get on and start building them a run!

Family Holidays

2011-07-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

When we started camping it was as a means of enjoying cheap family holidays. At the time I didn't anticipate that it would also give us a lot more holidays! We have just returned from our 4th 'holiday' so far this year (OK, some have only been a couple of nights, but that is still a break isn't it?) And we have at least 3 more breaks planned, no doubt we will find a few more through the summer as well!

Anyway, this time we had a whole eight days in Wales, and for once the weather was wonderfully kind to us. We have now sold Connie the Conway (she took too long to put up for short breaks and I needed a trailer to get all our gear into. No room on the drive for trailer and trailer tent!). We have bought a bigger canvas tent (more of that later) but for Wales, it had to be our favourite tent, the canvas pyramid.

We camped at Nantcol Waterfalls - a stunning site, near Llanbedr, with the Nantcol river running through it. The day we arrived was wet, and the roaring waterfall was a bit of a pain initially!

But the damp didn't stop the boys doing what boys do best - getting wet and building dams.

They spent hours in that river. And we could see them from the tent, so very relaxing for us.

When they weren't in the river, we were on the beach. Harlech and Barmouth have stunning beaches, and we had the perfect beach weather.

There was a lovely walk up from the campsite alongside the falls.

And stunning views from the top.

We did the obligatory train ride up Snowdon only to find the peak in the clouds!

We did lots of relaxing round the campfire.

Met some adorable baby pygmy goats. The boys even managed to catch one for a cuddle.

We really wanted to visit Shell Island, but were reluctant to pay £5 just to have a quick look round. Then we got talking to a local lady who told us that the beach at Llandanwg, which was opposite Shell Island, was even better, and free! She was right - it was beautiful! Lots of rock pools, very quiet, lovely soft warm sand and lots of shells!

We used the proceeds from the sale of the trailer tent to extend our normal tent equipment. A pop up tent from decathlon made a very useful kitchen area and removed clutter from the front of the tent.

At the end of the week we were joined by some friends from the UKCampsite forum. Cue lots of sitting around the fire and nattering.

Watching the sun go down and drinking wine. It was bliss.

There was no rush to leave the site on the last day so we went for a walk, following the river downstream this time. I came across this tiny cave and mushroom. It reminded me of Iggle Piggle's cave - from the children's programme 'In the Night Garden'

It was a glorious week and an area of Wales I would love to go back to - there was so much more to be seen!

Onto my 'new' tent! It's an old Cabanon frame tent that needs a bit of TLC - it needs new mesh windows and springs and rubbers replacing. May also need some patching. But for £35, it will be worth it!

It has these lovely, migraine inducing, curtains and roof trim. Quite by chance I spotted an advert on preloved for a set of inners and curtains in more modern colours, for the same tent. Hm, although the more I look at these retro curtains, the more they start to grow on me! Watch this space, it is to be my summer project!

Street Parties and get togethers

2011-05-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

I love getting together with friends don't you? It's been a great Easter break for doing just that this year.

Our neighbours held a bit of a last minute street party for the Royal Wedding. How lovely to get to know the people on our street a bit better over a few glasses of wine and some burgers! I'm afraid I led the party astray later on by encouraging the menfolk to throw a few logs onto the spent barbeque and use them as fire pits! This idea was warmly embraced and the marshmallows on sticks came out and everyone got suitably smoked! A great evening all round!

We didn't have anything planned for the bank holiday weekend, so when a friend suggested a couple of nights at our favourite local campsite, we jumped at the chance! Chance to get the lovely Relum Izmir tent out again and try the new, high level airbed in it. Was a snug fit, but just about worked!

Pale green seems to be a popular shade this year and it is a colour I love (I'm not normally keen on green!) Treated myself to a few bits and pieces. The colour looks very nice with the purple tent.

Get a tent nice and tidy and it's invaded with kids. They had a great time though.

I wondered why Ruby was suddenly so interested in my company until I realised she had spotted some food in the bag behind my chair. She stared at it for ages, but it didn't jump into her mouth sadly.

I also picked up a firepit from Dunelm, so we had to try it out. Although the weather was nice, it was very windy. The windbreak helped block the wind so we had a nice sheltered area to sit in.

We sat round the campfire, drinking wine and watching the sun go down. Very peaceful.

It got a bit chilly in the evenings still so the fire was very welcome! Another good time spent with good friends.

It's that time of year when all the trees are blossoming. I only managed one picture in the woods before my camera battery died!

My favourite campsite - a bank holiday weekend and I have never seen it so busy. I like this kind of busy campsite!

Our set up. A pleasant couple of days. Now back to reality and a few more weeks of work before we get to go away again!

Catching up again!

2011-04-26T02:49:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, I seem to lurch from one catch up post to another these days! Just goes to show how busy life is - I hope!

We've done some more camping - tried out the little canvas Java tent - small for 4 of us, but fine for just 2 nights, and easy to heat (this was early April before the nice weather kicked in). We forgot the hose to connect the cooker to the gas bottle, so had to do all our cooking on the Cobb barbeque and boil our water using the Kelly Kettle!

Used our new airbed - a Coleman double height, queensize bed. Layered with loads of blankets and a flannelette sleeping bag liner - you can't get much cozier than this!

We than had a full week away at Wellington Country Park. A lovely site in the forest and on the edge of the country park itself. A fabulous week, very relaxing - in the trailer tent this time.

Some of the deer in the adjacent deer park. The trip was mainly to visit Legoland as we had been given annual passes for Christmas (brilliant!), but in between those hectic days, we just chilled by the tent - the boys had a great time.
We are now home and after a quiet easter weekend are already trying to decide where to go this weekend for another short camp!

I'm back!

2011-03-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

I am back at last! I have had a short break away, to have a much needed operation and recuperate. That was 6 weeks ago and I am feeling fitter than I have for a long time! Dogs are being walked properly again, the neglected allotment has been tackled, and even unfinished sewing projects are being finished off!

As you can see, 6 year old socks finally got made! I also managed to make a pair for a friend, but forgot to photograph them before sending!

One wall hanging - finished!

One patchwork quilt for a friend - finished!

Hat and scarf made from donated yarn - started and finished!

I have a Recycled Bag Lady bag commission to finish next, then I am free to work on my next project - revamping a tent! Should be interesting!

Eggs for Christmas!

2010-12-07T14:47:00.000-08:00

Yay! My girlies are growing up! They have all matured nicely, but especially Daisy who has now started laying pretty Farrow and Ball green eggs. Sage has also come back into lay so we are back up to two eggs, most days.

The others can't be far behind Daisy - Marigold especially is getting more and more confident.

I've had to clip their wings as they keep using the trampoline as a take off point to reach the shed roof!

Candy remains fascinated by the hens. She has managed to land amongst them once or twice, but hasn't managed more than a mouthful of feathers before being scared witless by the whole experience and freezing. But it doesn't stop her watching them however she can.

Sewing and general craftiness has been severely reduced recently. It is so frustrating not to have the time to make things myself, and I have resorted to buying some things that in the past I would have made. I was however, determined to make this advent calendar for the boys. I bought the kit last year, so it really did take priority. I finally added the finishing touches the evening before it was needed. You can't see it clearly here, but the pockets are all embellished with beads and glitter. Very rewarding to make - and very much appreciated by all three boys!

And I've managed to knit one pair of boys socks! (with an orange toe as I ran out of wool right at the end). But he hasn't noticed and is delighted with them. Socks for an 8 year old are much quicker to make than adult socks! Now to quickly make some for 6 year old before he gets jealous.

The snow has finally gone here, but the cold hasn't. The temperature hasn't been above 0 for several days. It caught me out yesterday when I couldn't defrost the car quick enough and was late for work.

It's so beautiful though! Everything is glittery white, and we have had sunshine and blue skies to really make it all sparkle.

I can't resist taking photographs of it all. It transforms everything.

See those fabulous cobwebs on the side of the shed? And the wonderful pattern of those leaves on the left?

The pond pump is keeping an unfrozen area on the pond, but it is surrounded by icicles.

The fish can be seen moving slowly under the ice.

Look at these leaves!

Had to do a late walk with the dogs today - work, then pick up the boys from school, so a quick change and a race to the park to let the hounds blow off steam. The setting sun was washing everything with a pretty blush pink.

So lovely - but blooming cold!

It was good to get home and get the fire on and the curtains drawn and hibernate for the evening.

Some didn't feel the cold! Ruby had to do roly polys down the hill. And run with her mouth open and close to the ground so she scooped up mouthfuls of grass and ice. Silly moo!

And a frozen skatepark is still fun - instant slides on the frozen slopes!

New Chickens!

2010-10-30T01:14:00.000-07:00

Well I finally managed to get round to collecting some new girls. I really wanted some pure breeds, but there are very few suppliers near me, and even fewer with POL hens at this time of year! I spotted a newish supplier of hybrids and went to have a look, and hopefully to buy 3 new girls.

No your eyes do not deceive you - there really are 4 in there! A ranger - Marigold, on the left, 2 columbines (blue egg layers), Daisy and Daffodil and underneath them all is Lily, a whitestar and white egg layer. The columbines were so pretty and came in such a variety of colours, I couldn't choose just one!
Daisy

Marigold

Daisy

Lily

The old girls glaring at the new girls in the run!

Daffodil

I have a tried and tested method of introducing new hens. It only works because they have space and height in the run. I start by putting the new hens into the cube and shutting them in for a few minutes.

Then I let the old girls out of the run to free range, and I shut them out. The new girls are then allowed out of the cube and into the run. They get a few hours peace to find the food and water and settle in.

I then allow one or two of the older girls back into the run, with the newbies. There is often a bit of chasing, but the new girls soon find the high perches and once up there the old girls leave them alone. I leave it as late as possible before allowing the old girls back in to roost - they then have very little time to harrass the newbies before going to bed. They are let out to freerange again first thing next morning.

For 5 days I make sure that the old girls get shut out of the run to freerange for several hours a day. This gives the newbies chance to fly down for food and water. I also scatter lots of treats in the run during this time. The new girls will often fly down to investigate whilst the oldies are distracted.
After 5 days they are all let out to freerange together.

This time I was introducing 4 to 7, so safety in numbers. But I've used the same method to introduce 2 or 3 to 10 and it still works.

Marigold and Lily were first out.
Daisy and Daffodil were a little more wary.

But the lure of green grass soon took hold.

They are so funny compared to the old girls. The oldies just pootle around the garden. These girls jump and skip and flap and get quite giddy with the newness of it all. They are so funny to watch.

This picture was taken when they had been with me for 7 days. They are all out freeranging together. No hassle at all from the old girls. So I am now back up to 11 hens. And not one solitary egg for 2 weeks! I am just praying that at least one of my new girls starts laying before christmas. We had to BUY eggs this week :0(

Short break ... Part 2

2010-10-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

Yay, I made it back again! Be honest, you didn't think I would did you? :0)

Anyway, here is part 2 of our little jaunt!
The food at Biggin is delicious - there is only a limited menu, but it is all beautifully cooked, tasty and plentiful. Braised Lamb was on the menu, followed by dessert, cheese and biscuits and coffee served in the lounge in front of a roaring fire. We were exhausted and stuffed so an early night was called for! Even the dogs slept well!

Next morning dawned very bright and clear - a total contrast to the day before! So after a huge breakfast we checked out and headed for Dovedale. The frost was still on the grass and the day was sparkling.

We decided a short walk was in order, so that we would have time to do a bit of touristy (childfree) shopping before heading home.

Just a shame that the sun was so low still that the valley was still in shade, and perishingly cold!

A short half hour walk brought us to the famous Dovedale stepping stones. Now bear in mind that the dogs have already been in and out of the river, crossed it and back again several times before this point. Ruby follows us nicely across the stepping stones.

And back again.

But not Candy. Those stepping stones might eat her. And she cannot wade across, because we didn't.

So A does the manly thing ...

... and carries her across, much to the amusement of other walkers! Daft dog!

Then we hit the sunshine.

Glorious.

I never tire of these autumnal colours.

Typical Derbyshire, with those outcrops of white limestone. As soon as I see white stone walls, it takes me back to my childhood - they are such a familiar sight around these parts, and I grew up just north of here.

We didn't go far. Just far enough to appreciate the beauty of this spot. Then it was time to head for home.

We walked back down the 'rough' side of the river.

This would be a lovely place to bring the children in summer, for a picnic and a paddle. But as A pointed out, it would probably be heaving then!

Following a quick browse around Bakewell and the obligatory purchase of genuine Bakewell tart (still too much icing and pastry and not enough almond sponge) and gifts for the boys, we set off home. Back to reality. And already planning next years visit - it seems such a long time away! xx

A Short Break ... Part 1

2010-10-22T02:17:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, I've just seen the date of my last post! I really must try to do this more regularly LOL

Anyway, the tents are now packed away for the winter. But we had one last break to look forward to. A celebrated a rather important birthday this year and our lovely stepdaughter booked him a surprise break to our favourite hotel in Derbyshire. So the children were duly packed off to the Grandparents for 4 days and we enjoyed some grown up time together. We enjoy walking so decided to take the dogs with us - a walk just isn't the same without the hounds for company!
We had a lovely room - and the hotel geese like to sit on the lawn outside our window. Which kept the dogs entertained!

We only had one full day to do a really good walk - no need to worry about whether the children would cope with it, so I planned a route about 7 miles/3 hours walking. From the hotel door a round route taking in the village of Hartington and then following the River Dove before heading back up Biggin Dale and home. After several lovely sunny days I was really looking forward to it. But the weather had other ideas.

It started raining as we left the hotel, and continued unabated. So bear with me as I show you lots of dripping foliage and grey skies. I didn't even attempt to get the camera out until we had passed through Hartington and were heading down to Beresford Dale.

It was slightly better under the trees!

We started off wet, and got wetter, and wetter. A commented that we must be crazy to be doing this for fun! But it was fun, really!

Despite the awful weather, it was quiet and peaceful. And around every corner the scenary changed revealing new delights. I loved this little bridge! It was very narrow and Candy was very wary of it! She could have paddled across the river here as it widens and is shallow as it is also a ford, but no, she had to cross the bridge with us.

Ruby demonstrates the depth of water.

So does Candy. Paddling across would be easy.

But Ruby thinks the narrow bridge is more fun!

Candy doesn't think so, but we walked across it, so that must be the way! Eventually she plucks up the courage to follow us across. Just look at that hang dog expression on her face!

I love the glimpse of history - at some point in the past, the stepping stones were the main crossing point for foot travellers. Horses and carts would have used the ford.

The bridge marks the end of Beresford Dale and the start of Wolfscote Dale - a very picturesque part of the route.

Limestone cliffs with caves. We didn't venture up to them though - we were so wet, it was easier to just keep plodding along!

Despite the rain, this was a very pretty walk. And lots of easy walking pathways.

Despite waterproof trousers, gaiters, coats and very good boots, the rain got through. Even the rucksack got wet inside. I picked the wrong one for the walk and should have taken the time to get one of our proper rucksacks out of the loft.

At least we still had reasonably good visibility. It would have been very frustrating to climb a hill only to find the view obscured by low cloud.

I have decided Derbyshire stiles are designed for very slim people only. Even the dogs struggled to squeeze through them!

Eventually we left Wolfscote dale and turned up Biggindale. We left the river behind us. Luckily it was a very gradual ascent - by this time we had been walking for over 2 and a half hours without a break and the old legs were beginning to feel it!

A realised that he could get phone coverage (there was none in the hotel!) and decided to do his daily phonecalls (Mother, teenage son left at home to chicken sit)

There was a lull in the rain - and suddenly a patch of blue sky appeared. What a welcome sight!

Another cave. I contemplated exploring, but it would have meant climbing a wooden stile and when I tried climbing, the water started running down inside my jeans. I decided it wasn't worth it!

A bit farther on and the sun finally shone on us. Time to take a short break and eat something!

The hawthorns were glowing with berries. Autumn is a wonderful time for seeing the countryside at it's most beautiful.

The final walk up Biggindale was lovely, warm and sunny. Our clothes began to steam!

When we got back to the road this had appeared - it wasn't there when we set off! No wonder we got wet.

The welcoming party - the geese outside our room window.

The walk took us 4 hours in total, not bad considering it is many years since we walked that distance! We hobbled into our room and the first thing I did was run a hot bath and have a soak. Ahh that was bliss! I will finish off in another post - better go and feed my children now! xx

Sort of disappointing day ...

2010-08-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

... because I really need to get another couple of chickens. Our nearest supplier has recently stopped selling, so hubby offered to take us to West Lodge rural centre where they have had some lovely pure breeds in the past (brown and exchequer leghorns in particular). But no, now they are only selling hybrids - speckledies and bluebells. And I so wanted something a bit different. So to assuage my disappointment I decided to play with the new tent.
I wasn't sure it would fit in the garden, but once the poles were up, I realised it would. So the canvas went on and it was pegged out. Ta dah! My £20 tent - isn't she a little beauty?

The emphasis however, does have to be on little. This is not a 4 berth tent at all!

See those bedroom pods? They will comfortably hold a single airbed! A double is just too wide.

But despite that, it is a very lovely tent. Nice thick groundsheet. And you can just see the little kitchen section to the right.

This is it from the outside.

I love the way the canvas can be pegged out nice and tight - it feels very solid!

But of course, now it is up, the boys want to sleep in it. Thats how I found out it was too small for all 4 of us. I managed to squeeze our large double airbed into one pod for the boys, and I have to put up with the single airbed in the other pod. There is definitely no room for a 4th person though!
Never mind, I will keep it for those times when it is just me and the boys - and invest in a smaller double airbed for them!
Will try to track down new chickens tomorrow.

More Tentage

2010-08-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well since buying Izzy, it has been possible for us to go on more, short camping trips than before. Izzy is very simple to pitch, but a bit of a faff to fill - but that is my fault because I don't do simple camping! Here is Izzy's luxury interior - lots of rugs and blankets, extremely cosy.

We spent a couple of nights at a local campsite with friends and had a lovely time - real campfire and starry nights!

Izzy was ideal because the weather was nice so we cooked and ate outdoors and just slept in the tent.
We also used it for a couple of one nighters, joining a group of friends for campfires and friendship.

This is Izzy with homemade awning, in case of rain!
But the other night my hubby spotted an advert in the Co-op - large canvas frame tent for sale, £20.
Well, I just had to go and look didn't I?

It is about 20 - 30 years old, in immaculate condition. Made by a german company called EA Camping, and it is a Java. Looks like a bungalow style tent. Somewhere in size between the TT and Izzy. Just look at those retro orange and brown stripes! I am very frustrated now as I have no room to put it up and no time to nip away for a weekends camp!

I will instead keep getting the canvas out of it's bag and lovingly unrolling it in the kitchen, and rolling it back up again. It has some rather unpleasant looking gold, nylon curtains so I am dreaming of colour schemes and new fabric!

A New Tent

2010-06-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see, I've really caught the camping bug this year! Loving the trailer tent, but it's no good if I want to go somewhere with just me and the boys (or even just me! Huh, chance would be a fine thing!) So anyway, I started looking for another tent - just a little one, that I would be able to put up with very minimal help. And I bought this one from Aldi - £60. Very nice little tent, went up with no help, good instructions. Great! But no, not great - it is polyester. And on a warm day it is hot - very hot. And thin and rustly. Not a patch on my thick, solid, cotton canvas trailer tent. About the same time I had seen dutch pyramid tents being mentioned - canvas, small and put uppable by one. And when a lady mentioned she was selling hers I casually enquired about it. And she sent me the following picture:

Oh dear - I fell in love! Isn't it lovely? It is a Relum Izmir, made in 1994, cream and lilac cotton.
So I bought it. Hubby was not impressed, so I have to sell the poly tents - no hardship there then!

Couldn't resist putting her up in the garden - it was a bit of a tight squeeze. She has rather an ample behind! But I did it all on my own! She is called Izzy by the way.

Isn't she pretty? I've decided she will look nice with some lime green accessories. Those bedroom pods look a bit snug though.

So I took them out and covered the whole of the floor with groundsheet. And the boys and I camped in the garden. Although I had showered her with the hosepipe and no water had come through, I did have a slight wobble in the night when I was woken by a roar and we were hit by torrential rain!

Not a drop came through! Dry as a bone - and felt very solid around us. The boys slept soundly, nothing woke them! Then this morning when the sun came out, this was the view from my bed. Isn't it just gorgeous? Somehow I don't think it would have been quite the same in the Aldi tent.

Half Term Glamping

2010-06-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

Well we had our little holiday, but it's taken me all week to get round to writing about it! Back to work all too quickly and then the tiredness sets in and the days fly by! But work is now finished for this week and it's time to relive the holiday. Apart from the much longed for trip to Legoland, it was a very unexciting, laid back type of holiday. Lots of time spent just sitting and crocheting and reading while the boys ran about and climbed and played and made friends. Ideal really! But I also had time to play with Connie. As you can see above the bunting looks very effective.

And once the light was fading, my little tea light holders added a lovely glow to the tent. Sadly we lost one to breakage on the way here - I shall improve my packing next time!

Trailer tents are wonderful with there rugged steel pole construction. Very useful for hanging things from. See my lovely french market basket? Perfect for wash bag and towel for the shower trips. And yes, that is my stetson - much better than an umberella in the rain!

Our bed was fabulously cosy with the addition of the airbed and my charity shop bedding. We did actually get one night that was too warm for blankets so to be able to throw off the sleeping bag but still have a cool cotton cover was bliss.

Hm, all those rugs are a bit of a hotch potch aren't they? But at least very comfortable underfoot! That tartan blanket was another charity shop find - £2. We had some additional 'junkshop' finds to add to our tent but not so pretty as to show you! An aquaroll container for fresh water (we have a little pump tap on the kitchen unit, so running water - what luxury!) and another container for waste. £3 from a carbooty thanks to my Dad. All hidden nicely away under the kitchen unit.

After a day at legoland we spent a pleasant sunny day on the Thames and wandering round Windsor. I must say we were very pleased to get away and head north again. The campsite was lovely, but it was next to the M4 and I hadn't realised just how noisy it would be! Next stop was Sibbertoft, not far from home. My friend and her family came to join us so we had a trailer tent commune. She joined us straight from work and had been given some plants that she had ordered from a colleague. Well what else could we do but decorate the tent with them?

It looked very effective and the campsite owner was impressed! But we did very little here other than laze in the sun, drink wine and watch the sun go down, then throw a couple of logs on the barbeque and sit around the fire. Saturday we were treated to a rather spectacular thunderstorm - very daunting from a tent! But it felt surprisingly secure. So now it's over and I am suposed to be refreshed and relaxed *sigh* Must start planning my next trip!

Off on holiday!

2010-05-31T01:43:00.000-07:00

The boys have been helping in my attempts to glamp Connie the Conway. They painted these little desert pots for me, I added the gold and silver embellishments. Don't they look great? I have some vanilla scented tealights to go in them. But I need to find a way of hanging them now!

We are off today for the week, firstly to Windsor to a site near Legoland as we have been promising thte boys a trip there for a while. We were supposed ot eb coming home on Thursday, but the weather next weekend is looking very promising so we will be moving to a site nearer home and setting up camp again! Hubby will then have to come home as he is back at work on Friday, but i will be joined by a friend and her family in their trailer tent. Am looking forward to some very lazy, reading and crocheting time!

See you all next week! xx

As I walked in fields of gold ...

2010-05-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Our favourite walk has been transformed this week. It doesn't matter how grey the skies, the fields are glowing with golden rapeseed. It cannot fail to uplift your mood.

The girls enjoyed it too, flushing pheasants and rabbits from cover and bouncing high to see their way out. But it took it's toll on their coats - Candy is now wearing green eyeshadow and Ruby is just coated with a layer of sticky sap.

Camping ... or Glamping?

2010-05-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

I have discovered a new term - glamping, or glamorous camping. And it's become strangely appealing. Somehow I never had the urge to glamp the Vango - it was a big blue dome, with nowhere to hang anything. Cosy, but basic.

I have seen a couple of references recently to a more appealing form of camping and suddenly I am viewing Connie the trailer tent in a whole new light.

It started with Lucy over at Attic24 Lovely pictures of some very funky campers and caravans! And a trailer tent is almost a caravan isn't it?

Then I saw some pics of bell tents! Oh wow, now I want one of those - can't have one as have just bought a trailer tent, but oh my goodness, the possibilities that are opening up!

Bell tent

So, my head is filled with lightweight yet comfortable soft furnishings; fairy lights; bunting and lots of colourful accessories. But my wallet is empty - as ever! So yesterday I decided to trawl the numerous charity shops in our local town.

Purchases so far: 2 cotton rugs (£2.50 and £3), plus 2 packs of tulip red dylon.

Purchase no 2: unused Ikea bedding set for £4 - opened and hemmed around the bottom opening to make a sleeping bag liner. OK, I know it won't be seen much, but I'm sure I will be able to feel all those hot colours!

Purchase no 3 was a lovely thick, wool, tartan blanket in reds and yellows for £2. Ideal for throwing over a chair, or over a bed. I also have fairy lights and scented candles planned.
So then I dug out some of my fabric and started the bunting. Husband took one look and asked "where are you planning on hanging those?" I replied "do you really want to know" he just rolled his eyes and walked away. Te he, he knows when he is on a loser. Not sure how it will all look, I can't wait to get the tent out again - half term, we will be going to Windsor so will get chance to try it all out then.

This was my final purchase. Totally not for the tent, but they were half price and are the perfect colour for the dining room - and chickens!!!!

Another weekend away ...

2010-05-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our trial weekend camp last week, we were well prepared this weekend for the awful weather that we had! The tent was cosy and dry; we used an airbed on top of the foam mattresses so the beds were warm and cosy and the tent easily withstood the howling wind and rain that assailed us at night! But someone forgot the heater (doh) so we were more than a little cold at times! But there was plenty of sunshine and we had plenty of lovely long walks on some of the most beautiful beaches in Norfolk!

First walk of the weekend was Saturday morning, we headed to the coast and stopped at the first beach sign we came to. It was Snettisham. A bit unprepossessing - narrow strip of shingle, but venture a bit further, and go off the beach and there is a beautiful nature reserve. Hundreds of little tracks through gorse and goose grass. The dogs and the children loved it, but I left my camera in the car.

Short break for some fairground rides and chips in Hunstanton, then we drove on round the coast. These were taken on Brancaster beach in the afternoon. Stunning! The sun shone, the sky was blue - we just lay back on the warm sand and watched the kites overhead. Candy tried joining in the game of football and burst the brand new ball - but then she carried it around for ages! The boys found some friends and played games up and down the sides of the dunes.

That blue sky makes such a perfect backdrop to colourful kites doesn't it?

The dogs were content to sit on the sand (or on Dad's knee) and observe all the beachy activity. I think they really wanted to go and join in but were very restrained!

We drove a bit further along - to Thornham, where we found a farm shop with a fish van. And a delightful little shop - Vintage Home and Garden where I treated myself! It's a fabulous little shop if you love that vintage, shabby chic, seasidey look (which I do!)
Back to the campsite for tea of barbequed tuna and trout for us with a lemon and thyme dressing, organic beef burgers for the boys, with some fresh salad and noodles. We stayed at the Sandringham campsite - expensive, but great facilities, dog walks from our doorstep into the forest and plenty of play equipment for the children.

Oh yes, and this is what I bought - a funky red enamel teapot for the tent, plus 2 blue enamel mugs. I just couldn't resist! I also bought a lovely woven, french market basket with leather straps - well it's just what I needed to take my clothes, towel and wash things to the shower block. And it looks very pretty hung on the back of a door. So I was told. But I daren't tell my husband that bit :0)

Sunday was sunny, but freezing. And the boys wanted to go on a train!! 2 hours sat in an open carriage - erm, no thanks. So I volunteered to walk the dogs while hubby took the boys on the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway. If you ever find yourself on the railway carpark, they also do Alpaca treks, and the sandwich van makes real, proper sandwiches! Anyway, just across the road from the railway carpark there is a path across the fields to the sea. So the girls and I went that way and got very windswept and very muddy. But it was a darn sight warmer than being on that train!!

After a delicious sandwich lunch, we set off again. This time to see Holkham beach. We managed to walk out to the main beach and back through the forest - it was very beautiful, but so cold by then that we just wanted to get back in the car and get warm. Sadly things didn't improve and the tent was so cold (I hadn't adjusted my storm flaps properly) that it was warmer to go to bed. At one point I was wearing a tee shirt, a sweatshirt, a micro fleece jumper, a fleece jacket, a kagoule, a woollen shawl and had a blanket across my knees!

Despite the cold, it was a lovely weekend, and we missed far more than we saw! I can't wait to go back again - but maybe when the weather is just a little warmer.

Connie the Conway's Maiden Voyage ...

2010-04-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

Well Connie the Conway turned out far better than I anticipated. Until it went up, I was having nightmares about the canvas being in a terrible state. But it was fine! Two small holes in the roof, but it rained in the night and no leaks (except through a zipper that hadn't been properly covered when we were setting up, so our fault).

The nasty paisley cushions look very smart in their blue check covers and I even found co-ordinating blue and orange blankets for the bedrooms! It is now fully kitted out with our own equipment and ready for it's next outing - off to Sandringham for a short break next weekend. I just have a little shopping list for this week - pegging and window rubbers, metal buttons and replacement springs for the poles and fabsil to lubricate the poles.

My only gripe was the beds - I am used to a comfortable airbed and layers of blankets in my tent. And fairly level ground. We didn't check just how level the tent was last night and it wasn't - Al and I ended up slithering down the bed in the night, with the boys nearly slithering out of their own bunk! I know he thingks it a bit obsessive, but I am taking a spirit level with me next time. And some thin airbeds to go underneath the foam mattress - boy was that bed hard!

My latest project ...

2010-04-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

Oops, is it really that long since I last blogged? *blushes* Well if you are reading this you deserve a medal for persistance in the face of very negligent blogging!

We discovered camping a few years ago and you will have seen previous posts showing our fabulous, huge tent. Well due to various factors (creeping age, need to take more short breaks instead of fewer long ones, need to include two mental spaniels on our hols etc) we started looking at the possibility of 'upgrading' to a trailer tent. Well we found this one on ebay, got it for a reasonable price and got it home. It needs a bit of work and TLC - hence it is a 'project'.
This was what we collected:
Decent canvas, green manky storage box (containing a broken fridge)

The trailer cover is ripped and holey and the kitchen unit was dirty, mouldy, with broken brake lights. I forgot to take a 'before' picture of the kitchen. This is it now cleaned up and bleached, with new brake lights. Ideally it needs new formica tops cutting, but that will have to wait a while.

The fabric is a pretty blue and orange/terracotta, but see that little strip of greyish paisley? That is the seat cushions, they have been recovered at some time in the past. Not a good match is it?

Work is in progress already - kitchen cleaned, new trailer cover arrived today, seats have been recovered, that manky storage box has been scrubbed to within an inch of it's life. Providing the weather holds we will take it to a local campsite this weekend and have a go at setting it up. More pictures will be taken and you will hopefully see it in all it's glory, rather than this sorry state! And 'it' needs a name. I don't know why but it does.

The Snow is back!

2009-12-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

Oh I have been so bad about keeping this blog up to date! I do apologise if you do happen to venture on here for updates occasionally!

Anyway, we have had a new addition to the family. We enjoyed having a new dog so much, it seemed a shame not to find some company for her - especially as she didn't like being on her own at night. So we registered with some springer spaniel rescues (we had to be a bit more careful with this one - it is one thing bringing a single dog into the house, but a second dog has to be family and dog friendly!) At the beginning of December we heard about Ruby, went to visit, and 2 weeks ago she came to join the happy family.

She is another liver and white girl, 6 years old - 2 months younger than Candy! Very different circumstances to Candy's - Ruby was a much loved pet whose owner made the sad decision to part with her as she was having to work long hours and Rubes was being left alone far too much. In 2 short weeks she has become part of the furniture and has gone from a little pudding to a pocket rocket!

She sure likes her food - she has not learnt to be gentle yet and the boys have to watch their snacks (and their fingers!)

They get on very well together - lots of playing and racing but no overt affection. Two girls together was always going to be a bit touch and go! Hopefully that will improve with time - I can't wait till the day they actually snuggle up together!

She is far more spanielly than Candy - which just makes me think even more that Candy may actually be a sprollie! They are very different - but equally as gorgeous. Feels like we have had them forever!

It is nice to go on familiar walks and watch how they respond to their surroundings. Today it was Ruby's first time at Wistow - perfect on a sunny, snowy day. The ancient church of Wistan:

Across the fields to the canal - which was frozen!

Candy surprised me - she is the least confident of the two, but she braved the ice!

The boys had fun finding things to throw onto and trying to break the ice.

Finally managed to break a little bit at the side!

Making snow angels had to be tried as well.

Great way to tire out two boys!

We were very fortunate to be given a super duper dog crate when we collected Ruby. Very handy for the car, otherwise they climb about all over the place! Two bonny girls after their walk:

Butlins!

2009-10-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

Now normally Butlins is not my idea of a good place to holiday! I hate slot machines, I hate Bingo and I hate 'organised' entertainment! Purely because I do like to get back to 'non' man made when I holiday - beach (for walking rather than lazing), forests or hills do it for me every time.

But Butlins at half term was a gift from Grandparents to the little boys and as hubby was working, I got to go too! It was actually much better than I thought it would be! So bear with me while I show you Butlins!

Firstly we had a gold appartment. Highly recommended! Having stayed in silver and standard appartments many years ago and vowed never again, this was very pleasant for a short break. And the pastel painted, clapboard chalets with planted areas even looked quite quaint! We got to dine in the Yacht Club restaurant - very good value and excellent food.
The boys obviously had a great time! They met some of their heroes and spent loads of time on the Bob the Builder rides! And the swimming was a great hit with the water slides and bubbles and waves. We even saw a couple of the shows, and very entertaining they were too!

But I had to drag us all to the beach at least once during the week. It was dry and sunny but incredibly windy - fabulous for beach walking! And Skegness does have rather lovely beaches.

The boys were not in the least bit bothered by the lack of entertainment - they dodged the waves; made sandcastles and beachcombed; running and hollering into the wind like mad things! It was wonderful! They did stop to admire the windmills way out at sea (we even managed a short lesson on electricity and wind farms!). I didn't take my camera when we visited Skegness itself, but there is another lovely beach there as well. I didn't manage to completely avoid the slot machines and bingo. But it didn't matter. We all had a lovely time. Thank you Mum and Dad! xxx

Autumn Glory

2009-10-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

We bunked off church today! It was such a glorious day, there was only one place to go. Bradgate Park. After spending half term at Butlins with the boys, I needed to get out into the wide open spaces again!
The air had that semi crispness of autumn, the sky was blue as blue and the colour in the trees and bracken was stunning! The boys appreciated it too - they spent ages running and climbing up and around this rock.

Candy had a good run! When she is first let off the lead she really races around - then she settles down and starts to investigate the scents. Can you see her disappearing up the path?

We visited the ruins - the childhood home of Lady Jane Grey.

Sat on a bench by the river, soaked up some rays and admired the colours.

"OK, time to sit wiv me Dad"

"So what we lookin' for den?"

She did manage to play in the river, but I think she just prefers to be with her humans!

We have decided to look for another dog to keep her company, so on the way home we paid another visit to a couple of the rescue centres. Lots and lots of staffies and rotties but no gundogs. Maybe we are being too fussy, maybe we should consider a pup. Decisions decisions!

Dog walking and Hedge scrumping

2009-09-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

I am rediscovering the joys of dog walking. Dennis was never one for long walks - and he was a monkey, preferring to run away from us rather than with us! And for the last couple of years he has hardly done more than a quick walk around the park under duress!
With Candy we are rediscovering old walks that we used to do with the retrievers. We are so lucky here to live within a 2 minute walk of open fields in any direction. And a 2 minute drive takes us to even more possibilities - rivers, canals and woods.
Candy investigates the bridge, not sure how to get across it yet:
Typical springer lollop - tail flying, tongue lolling, ears flapping - so much to see and so little time!

Time for a quick cool off in the river - just the feet, she didn't venture any deeper.

Have to check out the trough as well.

She is a joy to walk! Not brilliant at coming when called, but she doesn't run off far and although she loves to say hello to other dogs, she doesn't want to be seperated from us.

This evening though she blotted her copybook by sliding into a very fresh cowpat. Most of it got scooped up into her collar, the rest was smeared down her side. Lovely!! However she redeemed herself by standing stock still whilst I hosed and shampooed her in the garden. My own fault really - I was engrossed in picking sloes and blackberries and she got bored!

On the plus side, I have a huge haul of sloes ready for gin ( I would never have spotted that bush if it hadn't been for Candy!)

Dog Days ...

2009-09-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

I have become very lazy in my blogging recently! I do apologise! I came to post about recent goings on and realised I never did share the finished pictures of Dans bedroom!
Anyway, here it is - although not quite finished (I never did get round to making bunting for his window - I might one day!) but his lighthouse is finished.
And we have the Normandie Express ferry racing across the wall as well. He has moved in and loves his new room. One day he might even get it finished!

Since then, we have had some rather sad happenings. Our little westie dog Dennis had to be put to sleep the other week. He had been slowing down for a while, back legs looking very stiff, and I just assumed it was a touch of arthritis. But then he deteriorated really quickly and was struggling to walk in a straight line and becoming incontinent. The vet diagnosed nerve damage and put him on valium. This cheered him up no end, but he still couldn't walk properly and was really beginning to struggle so we made the hard decision to let him go.

I was quite looking forward to the freedom of being dogless, but hubby had other ideas and so we did a tour of the local rescue centres last Monday.

I'm very pleased we did, because we found this little lady and brought her home with us.

Candy is a 6 year old Springer and she is adorable. She is an angel with the children - likes to sit and shake paws for a treat, and is very gentle. When in the house she just wants to be a couch potato! But get her out in the fields and she goes into full Springing mode and is great fun to watch.

However, she is also very fond of the chickens so we do have to keep them segregated. I don't know if she will ever be safe to be around them, but we will wait and see. In the meantime she spends many happy hours trying to figure out how to get into fort knox to play with them. Luckily their run is Springer proof, and they are very laid back about her attentions.
So it's back to daily doggie walks. Oh well, I suppose at least it will keep me fit!

Moving on, growing up and memories

2009-08-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well the time has finally come to redecorate the nursery. I was quite excited at the prospect of a bit of redesigning, but didn't realise until we emptied the room, just how sad it would make me feel as well! As I started taking things apart it brought back so many happy memories of those days just before Dan was born - setting up the nursery, and then after the birth, long hours sat in the sun, rocking my newborn. At the time it felt as though those days would last forever, but suddenly it is 6 years later - and time to grow up!

But I loved that nursery - the changing table was below that little shelf on the right. I had all the nappies and wipes and paraphernalia on that shelf, and there were clothes pegs glued to it with cuddly toys hanging from them for entertainment. The room faces south west so gets a lot of afternoon sunshine. I had mini glitter balls hung in the window and Dan would spend ages just lying in his cot, watching the reflections of light dancing across the ceiling. I had a rocking chair in there and would often sit there and doze myself.

But back to reality, and moving forward, not back. It hasn't been a nursery for over a year now as the boys share the larger room. It has been a playroom (or rather a dumping ground for too many toys). But Matthew starts school in a couple of weeks, and Dan goes into year 2, so space and a bit of responsibility are required. As the owner of the cabin bed, it makes sense for Dan to move into the smallest room, and he was a willing volunteer.
He was very keen to get started - how often do you get the chance to legitimately peel off wallpaper?

Two willing helpers in fact! As the border came off, it revealed my first attempt at decorating - a handpainted border! Replaced by the pretty Mamas and Papas Zoofari border when it appeared in the sale bin! Dan said he would have preferred the wavy pattern - maybe I should have saved my money! See that washing up bowl? I used it to soak the wallpaper and wash the glue residues off the wall. But at lunchtime the bowl disappeared.
By the time I found it, it was too late - they had 'borrowed' it to wash their bikes, and then Dad's car, along with all the neighbours children. Ooops. Dad was not impressed and had to go out and wash all the glue off the car.
But back to decorating. Dan wanted a red bedroom. Well he is manic at the best of times, so I wasn't keen to go with that idea. So suggested maybe a neutral theme with red accents, how about something nautical? He like that idea, and then I started to get ideas. A couple of coats of white paint later and I had a blank canvas.
Yeah, I got a bit carried away! Anyway, that is enough for today. I have a few finishing touches to add to the paintwork, then I can start on the soft furnishings!

Allotment Booty!

2009-08-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well we have been home for just over a week now, and I am beginning to catch up with the 'news'!
First job (apart from the mountain of washing) was to visit the allotment. I couldn't wait to see what had changed! I'd already been out to the greenhouse and found the tomatoes bearing masses of fruit and these little lemon ice cucumbers!
I took the tubtrug with me as i thought there may be a few broad beans left to pick, and I needed some potatoes for tea. This was only half of it - it was overflowing by the time I dragged it back to the car. It held potatoes,squash, carrots, broad beans, peas, onions and shallots. We had a delicious frittata for tea using home grown eggs with some french salami and shallots and squash from the allotment. Yummy!

I couldn't carry everything! Look at these beauties! The squashes had escaped onto my neighbours patch and into all the beds adjoining theirs! I had to pick them, although I now wonder if I shouldn't have left them. They have since been utilised into soups, casseroles and rissottos, and some given to friends! They are lovely - very sweet and tasty, much nicer than courgettes.

The growth on the plot is amazing - what a difference 2 weeks makes! I have runner beans and brassicas (not sure what yet, there appear to be at least two cabbages, several sprouts and some purple leaved things, probably purple sprouting broccoli)

Huge onions - pulled up the biggest ones and took them home to dry on the greenhouse staging.

I can't tell where my fruit patch and next doors weeds begin and end (although we have new neighbours now and they have been very busy clearing the weeds!) My marigolds look gorgeous!

I can't believe how much everything has grown!

The sweetcorn is the best I've ever grown - there are loads of cobs very nearly ripe! There is some lovely looking chard there too. Sadly the beetroots and radish have disappeared underneath the marauding squash.

Carrots and parsnips amongst the marigolds. Only a couple of carrots with very minor carrot fly damage.

The whole site is looking amazing - and to think we didn't think we would be able to grow anything but potatoes on it this year!

In and around Brittany - a few more pics!

2009-08-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

As well as spending time at the farm, we also got out and about a little (only a little because of car problems, but we are keeping this a positive experience, right?) LOL
Anyway, Brittany is full of picturesque little villages - Locuon is a short walk up the road from Belle Vue. We found these pretty cottages down a little grassy track. They were deserted. There is so little employment in the area that this sight is becoming more and more common. I could have moved in straight away - the thought of the commute back to Leicestershire put me off a little!
Just round the corner from the cottages we came across this beautiful shrine to the Virgin Mary, built in an old quarry. Again a common sight around Brittany - we spotted another in the middle of a field while we were out riding but I didn't have my camera on me.

A short drive from the farm is the Nantes a Brest canal. Another historical monument - built for military purposes and completed just as military use was no longer required. It would be perfect for longboat holidays, but the road bridges have been built with just enough headroom for a kayak, so it sees very little use. But the paths are wide and even and lovely for walking and cycling. Good for pond dipping as well.

Around the coasts of Brittany are some beautiful beaches. We discovered the Quiberon peninsula and the little town of Saint Pierre on the eastern side. We spent a lovely day taking in the quaint architecture and soaking up the rays - soft white sand between the toes is a lovely feeling!

Excuse the pale legs - they did get a little browner! I just loved the look of lilac crocs, aqua toenails and pale sand! I had a lovely time, sat playing in the sand while the boys went rockpooling!

Belle Vue - Camping a la ferme in Brittany

2009-08-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted for so long - what with craft fairs and holidays, I am only just beginning to see the light again! I have so much to tell, but want to start by telling you a bit about our holiday destination. We have just returned home from one of the best holidays I've ever had, and the boys would say was definitely their best holiday ever!

We travelled to Brittany, to a fabulous place called Belle Vue. Situated on the Locuon road, just south of Mellionnec, Belle Vue is owned by Tony and Kay Moss, an English couple, and their children. They try to live a self sufficient lifestyle by growing their own vegetables and meat (chickens, pork, beef, lamb and rabbit). In addition they provide holiday accomodation via an old breton farmhouse and grenier (converted barn I think), two static mobile homes, B&B, and traditional camping pitches.

However, Belle Vue is more than just somewhere to sleep and eat. It is in the centre of the beautiful Breton countryside, very green and lush (when it rains, it really rains, but when the sun shines it is glorious!) and surrounded by miles of quiet lanes and tracks. It is wonderful for children!
There is so much for them to do - but not a slot machine or computer game in sight. Mine spent all day, every day, swimming, playing ball games (boules, table tennis, swingball, badminton, table football), or just generally playing in the sandpit and wendy house.
Around the main house and the gites there are lawns and flower beds. Hardly any traffic passes (apart from the odd tractor!)
And visiting Belle Vue means socialising, not keeping to yourself (although you can do that as well!) Two or three times a week Kay and Tony rustle up a meal or barbeque and everyone gets together over a few bottles of vin rouge and cassis. The children play together and the adults can have a good old chinwag and a laugh. It also means that you don't have to cook every night! Food is always home grown - superb pork sausages, lamb or free range chicken from their own flocks!
Although the camping field is on a slope, don't be put off. There are pitches cut into the slope, all well spaced apart so you are unlikely to hear even your closest neighbours! Our huge vango diablo 900 fit very nicely on the pitch at the bottom of the field.

Horse riding is also available at very reasonable prices. What better way to explore the countryside than to lollop around the lanes on horseback? Or get rid of the children for an hour or so - the little ponies Branston and Ondine are very well behaved.
I haven't ridden for around 8 years, but this gentleman ensured I had a very pleasant ride!
If you ask Tony nicely, he may even let you (or the children!) have a go on the tractor!
Not forgetting the solar heated pool. It doesn't take much sunshine to entice the children into the water, and the poolside is a perfect suntrap if you don't fancy getting wet!The farmhouse and grenier from the poolside.
What a view to wake up to every morning!
Have a look at their website here: Belle Vue Farm

New chickens!

2009-06-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit busy this week, what with work and sewing and new chickens, the time has flown by! But before I get to new chickens, here is my lovely rose again, with more blooms on now (hopefully as it grows it will disguise the ugly outline of the chicken run!) It's also a pity it has to be partly hidden behind the netting - that's the joys of chickens for you!

My greenhouse is doing well - it is a bit like a jungle in there now! And everything is growing bigger by the day!

Anyway, here are the new girls. I had decidedto try to keep the numbers down to 10 or 11. 14 is really too many for my garden to cope with. When we lost Florrie,Pom and Cinnamon it was a relief in a way, back to a more manageable number. Then I had a phone call. A lady I know was having trouble with her chickens - could she bring them round NOW. Well what could I say? So we are back up to 14 again.
There are 2 speckledies, Sage on the left and Poppy on the right. Poppy is a real maran throwback with lovely cuckoo colouring and magnificent feathery feet. They have both continued to lay and produce lovely dark brown eggs.

The third chicken on the far left is Anise. She is a cream legbar hybrid and had been broody. She was badly infested with red mites so had to spend the first night in isolation. She was underweight, anaemic, bald and very smelly. This was her on her first night with us.
One week later and she is no longer broody. She also has a bit of colour back in her cheeks!

Sadly these chickens have also picked up the feather pecking habit. I need to get some bumper bits for them - I hate seeing all these chickens with bare bottoms!

Extreme Eggs

2009-06-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

We are having an extreme egg week from the hens!
First we had a dinky little blue egg from Bambi weighing in at 19g. Then today poor Pepper laid a whopping 110g egg. Here they are with a 'normal' 65g egg in between them.

I've had a painful few days - after standing on the nail on Saturday, I went to A&E on Sunday morning and got a tetanus booster. So my arm has been aching as well. But things are much better today - I can finally weight bear again!

As well as being a full time Mum, sewing and gardening, I do still do occasional 'real' work, I am an occupational health nurse in my professional life. Last night was one of those occasions when I worked - 11pm until 3am. I know what you are thinking - why is she telling us this? Well it helps to explain why I was out driving at 3.30 this morning! I just wanted to tell you how beautiful it was - and how sorry I am that I didn't have my camera with me. This is the perfect time of year to work those hours - there is still a hint of light in the sky as I go to work, and it is just getting light as I drive home. This morning, the sky was a dark, brooding lilac - it was reflecting off the mist lying on the fields either side of the road. It looked like a scene from a fantasy film, all hazy and ethereal, wonderful! And then when I got home I had to stand outside the house for a few minutes to listen to the dawn chorus. How those birds didn't wake up everyone in the street I will never know!
It almost makes me want to set the alarm for another early morning serenade tomorrow.

Almost, but not quite. xx

My Trusty Steed ...

2009-06-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have rediscovered an old pleasure these last couple of weeks. I used to do a lot of cycling, purely out of necessity (to and from work and to feed my horse), and later on to keep fit, round the country lanes. Last year oldest son wanted to start riding more to keep fit so I invested in a new bike (my 20 year old racer was on it's last legs), but son's keep fit enthusiasm waned and I didn't get much chance to ride it.

But just recently, things have changed again - smallest son has finally learnt to pedal properly and rides a small bike with stabilisers, and middle son has just disposed of his stabilisers. And they are mad keen on taking the bikes everywhere - down to nursery; to the shop; to the allotment; to the park. As well as up and down the road outside the house (we are fortunate enough to live on a fairly quiet cul de sac). And I love it! I haven't used the car all week! :0)

This is her - isn't she lovely?

Down on the plot, my purple podded peas have gorgeous, dark purple pods!
My frost eaten courgettes have been hoofed out and replaced with the squash plants. They have little flower buds on them now!

I have been hearing about bumper broad bean harvests, but no sign of any pods on mine,until I parted the leaves! And lookie here - little bitty pods! Won't be long now!

My italian neighbour is growing all manner of weird and wonderful things that I would never have thought of trying! Here are her artichokes. I've never tried them, but am determined to give them a go this year.

That's it for today - going to have an early night as I have a poorly foot. I stupidly did the old 'trod on a rusty nail' down at the allotment this evening. I can confirm that crocs are no protection at all - the darn thing went straight through. So I am bandaged up and will be off to A&E in the morning for some tetanus immunoglobulin. What a wally! xx

Zephirine Drouhin

2009-06-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

My lovely rose has flowered! I've not grown roses for a long time, but someone recently asked if I could recommend a scented climber. I remembered that many years ago I had a cottage with this rose climbing around the front porch, and realised that I had the perfect spot for one now. So when I spotted it in the garden centre last year, I treated myself.
It is planted by the chicken run and is already nearly at roof level. We only have 3 flowers at the moment, but there are loads more buds - I'll show you the whole thing once the rest of the flowers are out. This is just a taster - isn't she beautiful? Only a simple rose, in a fabulous bubble gum/barbie doll pink with a yellow centre. But the scent is stunning - already I can catch drifts of it as I walk by. It's a really deep and heavy rose scent - nothing wishy washy or delicate about this flower!

Allotment Update

2009-06-06T01:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday was lovely, sunny weather and both children at school or nursery all day. What luxury! I decided to make the most of it and do some digging! Took some water down to the allotment - we still have no water there, although we have been told it will happen in June. In the meantime we are all having to find inventive ways of keeping our crops going.
I had a lovely surprise when I got there - water pipes being laid! Hurray! (We are to have a self filling trough or something like that!)
I haven't managed to clear all my plot yet, and the grass was getting a bit long. I took the hand shears down and gave it all a good haircut. At least it won't be reseeding itself everywhere. Unlike my neighbours plot (you can just see all the grass seedheads next to my compost bin above). They have only cultivated half of their plot, the rest is just growing unchecked.

I managed to dig over a bit more of the large bed and planted some brassica seedlings (not sure what they are, I was told cabbages,broccoli and sprouts), and sowed some yellow podded dwarf french beans. My runner beans are just poking through under the canes at the far end. I just have this corner of the bed to sift through and a few more brassicas to plant in it. I did wonder if they would take as they had got rather limp, but I nipped back yesterday with some more water and they had perked up and were looking good!

Sadly my courgettes didn't fair so well. I mulched them with the grass cuttings last week, but it obviously wasn't enough with the lack of water and they had all shrivelled up. I gave them a good water, but next day they weren't looking any better so they will have to come out. Luckily I have 4 squash plants in the greenhouse that need some space, and some more yellow courgette seeds, so I will put them in there. The potatoes are suffering on some of the plots - leaves are looking dry and curling, but so far mine are doing well - considering I haven't watered them. Must be all that manure I put in with them! I've also had some peas - the dwarf Kelvedon wonders have all podded, they just need to plump up a bit more. The rain has finally happened today so that will do them good!

Finally in this pic you can see the carrot and parsnip bed in the foreground, with carrotfly deterrant marigolds planted around the edge. All the parsnips seem to have germinated!

The green bed on the left has sweetcorn in it. I have some more to plant in there.

My onions have started to produce flower heads. I think in response to lack of water. I've nipped them all off so hopefully I will still get some useable onions from them. Looks like I have a little lawn at the front of my plot now!

Finally, I like to walk around the other plots on my way home. Look at these runner beans in their pretty willow obelisks.

And look what I spotted nestling on the ground on this plot! I hope he picks it soon or the slugs will beat him too it!

I love this salad bed - what lush lollo rosso!

And finally back to my bike, parked by the school plot - how lucky are we to have a school gardening club? Doesn't it look fab?

As I'm writing this now, the rain has set in, so no more trips with the aquaroll for a few days at least! And hopefully that digger will have done it's job and the waterboard connected us up. I can't wait to see the plot again in a couple of days - there is nothing like a bit of rain to really get things growing!

Oh yes - if any of you are wondering about the fate of Sugar the naughty chicken, she has been sorted. But don't worry, she is still alive and kicking - I managed to grab her and Al clipped her other wing. She had already had one wing clipped but it obviously wasn't enough. I wasn't sure whether or not clipping both wings would work but it's done, and so far it seems to be working. Either that, or I shrieked at her so loudly the other day that she has learnt her lesson! I've seen her pacing the perimeter, but so far she has kept out of the veg patch. Phew!

Nooooooo!!!

2009-06-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

Beaten by a bloomin' chicken! I am so hopping mad!!!
Sugar has defeated my anti chicken defences and got into the veg garden - the children's sunflower seedling, and all my radish and lettuce seedlings have been scratched up. If she weren't so scrawny she would be seriously considered for the pot - I am that cross with her :0(

Chicken Challenge!

2009-05-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

I am very proud of my little greenhouse area. As you may recall, I removed two of my raised beds to fit in the greenhouse. I kept one of them to use as a 'salad' bed. But the chickens had other ideas. Everytime I tried to tidy up the area they made dust baths in the bed and kicked all the soil out again. Drastic measures were called for. I created a lovely little fenced off area complete with gate. A little chicken free spot where my salads could grow and flourish. I even attached that bit of green trellis to the climbing frame to deter them from using the frame as a take off point.

But Sugar the naughty whitestar had other ideas and decided that the boys sunflowers were far better eating than the lush green grass now flourishing on the lawn.

Drastic measures were called for. An extra layer of chicken wire added to the top of the almost invisible green fencing.

Ha! That did it! A fully chicken free zone! Not quite as picturesque, but effective. Today I finally felt confident enough to sow some radish, spring onion and lettuce seeds in it!

And inside the greenhouse - my fabby raised bed! Tomatoes, chillis, peppers, cucumbers and melons!
And finally a gratuitous shot of my baby cuddling Dad. My smallest boy will be starting school in September and it won't be long before cuddles like this are a thing of the past. What a shame that they have to grow up!

Holiday time!

2009-05-26T14:39:00.001-07:00

I should really remember to update this more regularly! Now I find I have so much to tell, and you will all get very bored with it LOL

Because of A's shiftwork, he gets 18 days off every 3 months. These days off are fixed and typically very few of them coincide with the childrens school holidays! We were planning on going camping last week, but the weather was miserable, so we cancelled and had a holiday from home instead - lots of decorating done (I'll post pics of my sparkly painted porch in due course!) and just a coupleof days out with the boys.

So now it is half term and I am home alone with the boys and A is back at work.

So today we went to West Lodge Rural Centre. I was able to cuddle some tiny 6 day old goat kids - soooo gorgeous! And there were lots of chicks and some tiny piglets. I didn't take many pics sorry - I was too busy cuddling!

The weather was perishing! Sunny but a biting wind, so we didn't stay too long, but the boys were nicely worn out!

My Dream House ...

2009-05-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

Do you have a dream house? One where you like to imagine yourself living one day? I certainly do! However, as it is my parents house, I am fortunate enough to be able to visit and play at living there sometimes! Sadly, they have taken the hard decision to relocate to somewhere a bit closer to all their grandchildren. So the house is now for sale - and we are in no position to relocate there.
I've just spent a lovely day there, with my husband and children and my parents, enjoying a lovely roast dinner and relaxing in the conservatory while the boys coloured and played trains with grandad. So I took a few pictures of the house and gardens - would you like to have a look around it with me? OK - but bear with me, I took lots of pictures and am likely to ramble a bit!

This is my favourite room, and the place where I spent most of the day. The weather has been wild today - heavy showers interspersed with glorious sunshine, and very windy. But in here it was warm and snug.

I sat and finished knitting my socks, then did a bit more work on my hexagon blanket. The boys got very creative with pens and pencils:

I watched the comings and goings on the birdtable:

There is actually a Great Tit on that feeder, and a shy sparrow making his getaway. Minutes earlier there were 2 pairs of Goldfinches! Beautiful! I also had a good view of part of the garden:

And could still join in the conversation going on in the sitting room (although they were watching football, so not a great deal of conversation was forthcoming!)That is the room to be in in winter. That woodburner throws out an incredible amount of heat!
And the room is open to the kitchen, where Stanley works. Not only does Stanley cook delicious meals (roast potatoes are his speciality) but he also heats the water and runs the central heating. He is no ordinary aga! No heating on in the house today, but with Stanley cooking the roast dinner, everywhere was warm and snug!

The kitchen may only be small, but it is perfectly formed! There is certainly plenty of space for small boys to help!

The kitchen is situated between the sitting room and the dining room, and fully open to both rooms, so it really is the hub of the house. You can be working in the kitchen, and still be chatting to those in the sitting room, or the dining room. No need to be shut away from your guests or family! But it is rather small I hear you say. Where are the appliances? The pot and pans and paraphernalia of a working kitchen? I'll show you!

The dishwasher is just round the corner from Stanley, and opposite the dishwasher is this enormous cupboard. What is so special about that you may ask? Sadly, I didn't think to photograph the inside of the cupboard, but if I had, you would see rows and rows of pull out wire baskets. Every pot, pan, cup, saucer and plate you could ever need is in that cupboard. Emptying the dishwasher is an absolute joy!

And see that door, next to the cupboard? That is the pantry. Yeah, OK. But no, not 'OK', this is an amazing house! This is a pantry and a half! Look at all the cupboards - and you can't see the ones behind me! There is the microwave, and there is a floor to ceiling wine rack. But the best bit? Just to the right, there is space on the worksurface for the food mixer, food processor and more! THEY NEVER NEED PUTTING AWAY! They just sit there quietly, ready and waiting to be used. No need to get them out of the cupboard and tidy them away again afterwards. What bliss!

There is yet another small room off the dining room that houses two tall freezers AND a utility room with washer and dryer, sink, boot space, and a downstairs loo and shower room.

But that brings us to my second favourite room! This room was added to the house after my parents moved here. It was designed by my very clever step mum, and most of the building done by my dad and brother. Originally it was a cluster of outbuildings behind the garage. There is room for a huge dining table - big enough to seat all the family. And room for that beautiful dresser you see at the back.

This beautiful stained glass window was made by Mum (on the other side is the dishwasher and the enormous cupboards). The ceiling is cathedral style, with wooden beams across, and the whole end wall is windowed so you have a lovely view of the gardens while you eat.
This is the dining room from the outside.And this was the view we got today. How amazing!
As if all that space were not enough, there is also the front room. This is the quiet room, seperate from the rest of downstairs, and often used as a guest room (by me!) There is an open fire in here, and the piano (with my mugshot on top!)

And there is another lovely view - you can just see the neighbours house on the far left. Did I mention it is in the middle of nowhere?I'm not going to show you the bedrooms, but rest assured, they are equally as beautiful as the rest of the house. But let me give you a glimpse of the gardens. Yes, that is right, gardens, plural.

There is the front garden - your standard, lawn, drive and flower beds, Then there is the garden to the right of the above picture - large drive, large lawn (good for camping on as obscured from the road by a large hedge),

the vegetable garden,

with drying area and raised strawberry bed in the background.
Going back to the front garden, here is the little archway into the best bit of the garden (so my boys think anyway!).
They will really miss this!

In the summer this area is a real suntrap, it is lovely to sit and soak up the rays whilst the boys play trains around you. But why sit in the middle of the railway, when there is an inviting little step, up through the railings, and the lavender and thyme
to the beautiful 'hidden' garden. This is a paved area, surrounded by raised sleeper beds - even more of a suntrap than the railway garden!

It looks amazing when everything is in full flower! All purples and blues.

This a gardens of secrets and surprises. See the water feature? It is an insulator from an electricity pylon! Looks very pretty when switched on and the water is trickling down onto the pebbles below.

And there is the decking behind it - we have come full circle to the outside of the conservatory.

See the little details that make this house and garden so special. These glass lights are reclaimed paving lights, they have rope lights underneath them, so they light up the garden at night. It is so pretty!

I love this house, just as it is, I wouldn't change a thing if I lived here. Ah, except for this bit. This patch is across the road (track) from the house and it is a patch of land between the lane and the dyke. It is just scrubland at the moment. But just imagine how many chickens you could keep on there! Or goats even!

Ah well, I can only dream. Thank you for sharing this with me. I love this house, and what my parents have done to it in the last ten years. I really hope that whoever buys it will lavish the same care and attention on it that they have, and that it won't be changed too much.

And in case you get the urge to relocate to Lincolnshire, here is the link to the estate agent details:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-12364113.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E15931&minBedrooms=3&maxBedrooms=3&minPrice=230000&maxPrice=240000&pageNumber=1&backToListURL=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Ffind.html%3FsearchType%3DSALE%26locationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E15931%26radius%3D0.0%26displayPropertyType%3D%26minBedrooms%3D3%26maxBedrooms%3D3%26minPrice%3D230000%26maxPrice%3D240000%26maxDaysSinceAdded%3D%26retirement%3D%26partBuyPartRent%3Dfalse%26_includeSSTC%3Don%26sortByPriceDescending%3D%26primaryDisplayPropertyType%3D%26secondaryDisplayPropertyType%3D%26oldDisplayPropertyType%3D%26oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType%3D%26oldSecondaryDisplayPropertyType%3D%26newHome%3D%26auction%3Dfalse%26x%3D79%26y%3D12

Sorry it's such a long link - I don't know how to shorten it!

Shoe Extravaganza!

2009-05-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

I don't normally spend much on myself (unless it's wool or fabric and that doesn't count!)
But today I just had too. Crocs £10 a pair (and they are the real thing). I just had to have two pairs. My old pair are worn so thin they are positively dangerous!

Aren't they pretty? Candy coloured crocs! Although I think I should've bought a third pair in celery - that would've looked wonderful!
Just look at our allotment site now! No more a field, but a patchwork of little plots, every one different!

When I finish on my own plot, I walk away from the car park, towards the hedge you can see at the far side, up the side of the field, and back along the top path. That way I can have a nosy at everyone else's handywork!

We had a cheeky visitor yesterday. We were in the shed when smallest boy said "Mummy there is a mouse". I didn't expect to see said mousey INSIDE the corn bucket, with the lid firmly on! I released him well away from the chicken run. He deserved a head start, for his cheek!

I am now suffering from a mixture of excitement and disappointment. We were planning to go camping tomorrow - lo and behold we get severe weather warnings. I feel as if we are destined not to get a holiday this year - again! Every time we have had time away, the weather has turned bad on us. The excitement is because we decided to give up our plans to camp in Yorkshire in July, and instead head back to France. Although the last time we went there it rained. At least we have a decent tent this time! I don't care what it does - I'm just delighted to be going back!

This is where we are going (again) http://www.farmholidaysinbrittany.co.uk/camping.html

It is a wonderful place - in the middle of nowhere! I can't wait!! *big grins*

First Harvest!

2009-05-10T09:01:00.001-07:00

My first harvest from the allotment! Some lovely, crunchy radishes! (I know, I know, very simple to grow, but very rewarding to pull up a couple to munch while I was digging!) These are Mirabeau - a long variety. They don't seem as peppery as the globe variety, which suits me as I've never liked radishes! I'm developing a taste for these little beauties though!

Here are the latest pics. The onion and Broad Bean bed with the as yet unplanted, other big bed in the foreground.
The other end of the broad bean and onion bed. The radishes were sown in between the broad beans. The bed in the foreground with the canes on it has been sown with various carrot and parsnip seeds in the little sections.

Beyond the carrot bed - 2 small beds, one with manure on ready for the courgettes, and one with newly sown peas. I have more pea seedlings in the greenhouse, ready to be planted out here. You can just see my potatoes before the compost bins of my neighbours plot.

It looks quite tidy from this angle. I still need to take the couch grass of my paths and put down more weed suppressing membrane and wood chips. The black bin bags are full of couch roots. Hopefully Dad has a little incinerator for me so I can burn the stuff.

Broad bean and onion bed again, with the row of fruit bushes along the left hand border.

As I was about to leave, I got chatting with my neighbours and subsequently came away with some sprout, broccoli and cabbage seedlings! Bartering at it's best - I will take them some eggs as a thank you.

Busy Busy Busy!

2009-05-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

I've just realised how long it is since I last posted anything here! I do apologise :0)
Well in my defence I have been working hard - several days of 'real' work this month, combined with trying to get the greenhouse up and running, the allotment, hen parties and a craft fair this coming weekend and I have been busy indeed!

The allotment is coming along slowly but nicely. Not as well as others on the site, despite my early start, I have lagged behind. But I've noticed that those who have dug over the whole plot in one go now have couch grass reappearing. I have been adding raised beds slowly as I have obtained wood. My Dad has also been building me smallmetre square beds and bringing them over when he can. As I put them into place I dig them over and go through the soil literally with a fine tooth comb to grub out the couch roots. This large bed in the foreground was dug over, thick layers of newspaper applied, then a layer of compostible material, then a layer of topsoil. It is currently growing onions and broad beans. The idea is that by the time the newspaper has composted, any couch roots wll also have died.

The large bed on the right is waiting for some rain to soften the soil so I can tackle it. The deeper bed in the background on the right has also had the newspaper treatment and just topsoil added. It has now been planted with carrots and parsnips.

There are three more small raised beds in that area that are in the process of being dug and sifted. One has already had manure added ready for the courgettes.

At the far end, in open ground, are the spuds - coming up nicely. That was the first patch of ground I manured and I planted the potato tubers in two trenches. I noticed that the other plot holders have also used trenches for their potatoes, but theirs are planted in the ridges, rather than the furrows. Hmm, I wonder if I'm doing it right!

Down the right hand side is another manured strip which now houses raspberries and gooseberries and a rhubarb. I still need to work on my paths - the ones between the raised beds are done, weed suppressing membrane and bark chips, but this side still looks messy.

As well as making some bags for commissions lately (see the Recycled Bag Lady blog!) I have been busy with some projects purely for myself. This was a mystery quilt project posted on the Omlet forum. I love how it is turning out! I still have to back it and add hanging bits, but for now it is sellotaped to the wall so that I can enjoy it!
And this is a new cushion cover from a piece of fabric I bought on ebay. No technical skill required here - just a simple envelope flap on the reverse. But it does look lovely in my lounge!

On a sadder note, I had to make the hard decision to part with a couple of my hens this week. Pom was one of my original Omlet hens and much loved, but she was an old lady and had gone off her legs :0( Cinnamon was younger, but was a feather pecker and had developed a massively impacted crop that would not shift. RIP little ladies.

Rare Garden Bird ...

2009-04-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

OH thought he'd spotted an unusual bird on the bird feeder this afternoon.
But on closer inspection - guess who?

"I was just checking the feeders were full Mum, honest!"
"OK, I've been rumbled, I'll take a bath instead"

"Look, I really am too pretty for you to be cross with me"
Little Madam!

Grand Greenhouse Opening!

2009-03-22T10:01:00.001-07:00

Hooray! It's finished!

Well OK it's not quite 100% finished, more like 99.9% finished. It still needs a few more nuts and bolts to make it really secure and it needs bolting to the base (A ran out of screws). In the meantime there are a couple of surplus bags of sand holding it down.
I have dismantled my mini greenhouse and split it into two to make the staging, but I do need some a bit bigger to make better use of the space. There will be a small raised bed down the left hand side to grow tomatoes, peppers and melons in. We have a couple more slabs to put in as well to make a walkway down the middle.

I have to say it's been a pig to put together - I'm glad we didn't pay full price for it. But it will serve it's purpose for now.

What a great Mother's Day present!

Strange Egg Season

2009-03-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year for egg collecting - it seems to be the time when egg production peaks and we often get the biggest eggs, and often double yolkers. But we had this strange little offering from Little Bo yesterday.
This is it next to her offering from the day before - a hefty 75g compared to the miniscule 7g. I wouldn't mind but the poor girl laid another 70g egg later the same day! Bless her, she had a day off today.

I've never had one of these eggs before, but they are not uncommon. Known as wind, fart or witches eggs, they often only contain egg white. I haven't cracked this one yet, so contents unknown!

Greenhouse news - the roof is on! The doors are half built, we had to finish as tea time was calling. Looks like my Mothers Day present tomorrow will be the grand greenhouse opening! Watch this space!

I make no apology!

2009-03-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

I make no apology for yet another post rejoicing in the arrival of spring!
But first let me show you what I did today, when the sun tempted me to outside jobs:

Last year we had to have the porch rebuilt, and we laid a new slate tile floor. There were only two tiles left over, and being the good recycler that I am, I managed to find a use for them. They have been on the front of the porch for a while now, but I couldn't think what to put on them. I knew I wanted our house number, but not what style, or what to put on the other tile. Then I spotted LilyMosaics http://www.lily-mosaics.co.uk/index.html at a craft fair. She makes beautiful mosaics, a lot of it from this pretty sea pottery - shards of old china washed up on the beach. Well I do love the sea, and miss it, being so far inland! So this house number was perfect - then I had a brainwave and asked her if she would make me a chicken to match! And she did! They finally got glued to the slate tiles today, and I love them. I am not so keen on the state of our porch windows and front door however, I might just get my paint brush out tomorrow.

Anyway, another glorious sunny day to tempt me outdoors! Small boy was fast asleep after a busy morning at the swimming pool so I managed to get some seeds sown, then decided to have my lunch al fresco! The cover came off the table and chairs and I happily sat in the sun eating my cheese and pickle sandwich and drinking tea.

The chickens were very curious, even the normally shy Sugar was tempted by a bit of brown bread crust.

Nutmeg kept her distance, being lowest in the pecking order, but still managed to get some to nibble.

Bella has no qualms about standing at my feet shouting until I cave in and throw her some crust! I was a bit worried that she might jump onto my knee at one point! (not that I'd mind, but I was enjoying my sandwich)

So after dining, I reclined the chair and with my eyes shut, I could feel the sun beating down and hear the trickle of water into the pond and the chortling of the chickens. Bliss! For a short while I could forget the surplus, no longer played with and homeless toys that I really must sort out and get on freecycle, as they are blocking access to the shed (along with various bits of netting, bags of compost and bamboo canes that need putting away)

I could forget the tatty lawn, vainly trying to recover from the attentions of 14 chickens and two young boys.

I could forget the half finished greenhouse.

OK, so my garden is as messy as my house - I make no apology! We will sort it all out - one day, when there is nothing better to do!

Another gorgeous day!

2009-03-15T12:18:00.000-07:00

Spring is well and truly here! A and I were out first thing this morning to recommence work on the greenhouse. The frame is built but it needs cladding. The neighbours must think we are barking, starting work in the garden at 8am on a Sunday! It started off quite chilly, but as the sun spilled it's beams into our corner of the garden, the temperature rocketed. I actually had bare arms at one point!

We managed to get the sides onto the greenhouse - what a pain it was! Very fiddly - it has clear polycarbonate glazing that fits into all these little channels, but as soon as you get one in, the one next to it pops out. We could've done with 8 pairs of hands never mind two! But it's done - next stage is to get the roof on. But A is back at work tomorrow, so a few more days before we can start again. No pictures today - the greenhouse looks exactly the same as it did, even with the glazing added!

Tea was a scrumptious leg of lamb in moroccan spices, done in the slow cooker and served with cous cous. Deeeelicious!

Chickens on the Allotment!

2009-03-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

What a difference a couple of months makes! Our site is really beginning to look like allotments now, rather than just a field!
This is Plot no. 10 - we have raised beds!

Looking from No 10 back to the car park. You can see 2 large mounds of wood chips - our second job today has been to barrow those chippings around the site to cover the paths. The first job was to add some rabbit proof fencing - we nailed chicken wire all around the site, pushed it down into a ready dug ditch, and backfilled all the earth. Allotmenteers 1, rabbits 0!

Looking from the car park across the whole site - and the view across the fields. No 10 may be a small plot, but it has a lovely view! You can just see my plot - the one with the green dalek composter.

I finally plucked up courage to take Florrie and Pom with me today. They were very well behaved. I chose them because they are the only two who do not run away when I try to catch them! (and they are very efficient and enthusiastic diggers!) They had lots of admirers! It was lovely digging and listening to their contented little cluckings beside me. They were doing a very good job as well, until Matthew got too close to the fence with his ham sandwich and they mugged him through the wire!

Finally managed to get things planted as well! The bed in the foreground has been 'lasagned' - dug over and as much of the couch roots removed as possible; 3 layers of newspaper; a layer of compostible material (from the bottom of the chicken run and veg peelings); topped with a layer of topsoil. I've planted onions and shallots and broad beans. I've heard that birds like to pull up onion sets, hence the old net curtains over the bed to protect them.

I can't believe how much I am enjoying this - it's been a lovely day!

Greenhouse Progress!

2009-03-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

Hurray! The greenhouse is finally taking shape! There is still a lot of work to be done - it has to be glazed, the slabs inside need cutting to size, a raised bed building down the left hand side and some staging putting in. Then we need to clear that plot in front of it that the chickens and children have been digging in! It will be lovely to have somewhere sheltered to do my sowing (and it will be nice to have the garden tidy again!)

Dig dig dig ....

2009-03-02T12:04:00.001-08:00

What a blessing of a day! No work for me or A and lots of sunshine! Apart from the start of a stinking cold for me, the day couldn't have been better for our planned garden modifications!

The plan went something like this: 1. Clear raised beds, 2. Transport all the soil from beds to allotment, 3. Move wooden beds from garden to allotment, 4. Erect greenhouse in place of raised beds.

Very good! Except that the chickens wanted to help. They were not content with their fenced off corner of the garden. Some of the more intrepid ones squeezed through the fence and came to help. They did a very good job, but I ended up spending more time watching their antics than actually clearing beds. But they did have a lovely time.

First Nutmeg came to help. As fast as A filled the buckets with soil, she jumped in and scratched it out again.

Then the others spotted the fun and came to join in. They are fascinating when they do their left foot scratch, right foot scratch, step back and peer at the soil carefully to see what's been uncovered.

Florrie is an old hand and an expert slug destroyer. Scratch, scratch, step ...
That looks like a tasty morsel!

Bella is the talkative one and chats away to whoever will listen while she rummages around.

Scratch, scratch, step ...

Is that a worm I spy?

A couple of months ago I though Pom was at death's door. She was quiet and withdrawn, thin and suddenly went right down the pecking order. So it was lovely to see her back up to her old antics and looking fit and well again. Scratch scratch step ...

Anything interesting here? A woodlouse maybe?

Some synchronised scratching and soil flinging from Bella and Roley Mo. Kick those heels!
This is the chicken version of the barn dance. Scratch, scratch kick, eyes down, four steps forward ...

And round again, scratch scratch kick ... Mo you are not meant to overtake!
But eventually I did have to put the camera down and get on with the task in hand. Result, one cleared bed. One full bed down at the allotment (I promise to take my camera tomorrow).

I will have that greenhouse up by the end of this week!

Spring is in the air ...

2009-02-22T10:05:00.000-08:00

.... and isn't it lovely to be able to spend a bit of time outdoors again? Today the boys were outside such a lot - playing on bikes (overwintered tyres to be pumped up and saddles to be raised for growing legs!) and bouncing on their fabby freecycle trampoline. So I amused myself by stripping down the mini greenhouse and washing all the pots. Very satisfying - all ready to start planting again!
I've bitten the bullet and ordered myself a greenhouse. My raised beds are lovely, but not very practical when I can't get to them because of all the chicken wire. So two of them will go (the wood and soil will be reused on the allotment) and the greenhouse will go in their place. It is a nice sunny corner of the garden so should be more productive than the mini greenhouse which is on a north facing wall. Not sure what I will put in the remaining bed yet, but it will have to be chicken proof!

So yesterday we cleared the root crop from the largest bed. Here are the last of the carrots and parsnips. Not a very good crop this year.
I dug manure into the bed last winter - and the parsnips rebelled! I did have a fair few usable ones, enough to give me a big bag of frozen parsnip cubes ready to add to stews, but there were also a few of these monstrosities!

I also discovered that carrots aren't keen on a manured bed either. The few we did have were tiny. The first time I grew carrots, I interplanted with marigolds. I didn't bother last year as I wasn't sure if it was really necessary. Hmm. The result - VERY wormy carrots. Grrrrr! Hardly any were usable. These looked the best but after peeling ....

This was all we had left.
Although I am assured that they were very sweet and tasty (the purple ones went down especially well!) Don't let those glum looking faces fool you - they were rather worn out after helping Dad to wash the cars and had come inside soaking wet and freezing cold *tuts*
Half term week is always a good time to get on with some baking. I'm taking a lot of inspiration from Attic24's blog this month, and the baking was another filched idea from Lucy. I measured the ingredients into the bowls and left them too it. Very nice biscuits it produced as well (not that I got any more than a nibble)

And finally I cannot let the girls efforts this month go unrecognised. Egg production is on with a vengeance! Look at all those lovely shades of brown and cream - so gorgeous compared to those insipid supermarket eggs! Most days now we have 8 eggs, and only one hen not yet back in lay after the winter. Little Bella the campine hasn't yet graced us with one of her dainty white eggs, however she did crouch for me today so it won't be long!

Treasure Trove!

2009-02-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a free hour in the house,with nothing urgent to do, so I thought I would have a rummage in the loft. I've been given some fabric that would make good boys clothes and thought I may have some old patterns for trousers.

So I dragged my old pattern box downstairs and had a lovely time unearthing forgotten treasures and UFOs!

Patterns for some ball gowns I made many years ago! (In fact I think the dresses themselves are still in the loft somewhere!)

Some wonderful old fabric - antique red satin from an old curtain that was used as the skirt for yet another ball gown (see, I was recycling 20 years ago!), and some purple offcuts from a suit I made. Don't they look lovely together!

The start of a crochet blanket that never got any bigger!

A bag of wool. Fantastic - some of these are perfect for a pattern I have just obtained for a crochet chicken.

Scraps of fur fabric - I can't remember what these were for!

Pages of calligraphy practice sheets - I had a very steady hand then!

A whole box of patterns - most of them used. Very 80s! (no childrens clothes though)
Some pretty pastel card that I bought because I liked the look of, but never found a use for!
An unfinished craft project - picture frame decorated with felt flowers.

Pieces of felt, bought to make an elephant mobile for a baby (that baby is now 17!!)

My first and last attempt at freehand embroidery

An unfinished, quilted cushion panel. Sadly with a big stain in the middle so will need to go in the bin.

What a lovely afternoon I had!

Still more snow!

2009-02-07T13:07:00.000-08:00

It's official - I've had enough snow! Never thought I'd say that LOL It's certainly put paid to any ideas I may have entertained of joining my brother in Canada!

Sugar the whitestar is most definitely not white! It doesn't help that she has been dustbathing in woodash. The snow has bowed the fence to their run - so she just flaps out and walks up it to get back in!

School was closed again on Thursday. So we made a snowman - but they couldn't wait to demolish it!

Even the teenage son eventually succumbed and joined Dad for a snowball fight.

I thought it was finally going yesterday as it turned to slush, but this morning it was all frozen over again. We walked down to the church for breakfast - first time we've made it for at least a year! Dan wanted to walk up to his friends house and from there it was a short walk across the fields to get home. I'm just sorry I forgot my camera - the thick snow and isolation was wonderful! By 9am we were back home having done more than we sometimes do all day! And we still managed a trip into town for new wellies and plimsolls for school.

And I bought my first allotment goodies! Onion sets - Red Baron, red skin shallots and two types of onions - one tall and one fat (I can only remember the name of one - Stuttgarter!). And fruit bushes from Aldi - red and green gooseberries; blackcurrants; tayberries; two varieties of raspberry. Now I really feel like spring is on the way - just need this dratted snow to melt now and I can get back on the lottie!

More Snow!

2009-02-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

Why do we get so excited about a bit of snow? LOL It is cold, wet and brings everything to a standstill!

But yesterday, with school closed, both myself and Mr Owl off work and the sun shining, we just had to get out in it!

It obviously wasn't cool enough for 17yr old son as he just grunted and went back to sleep,but the little boys couldn't wait! We dug out the sledges that were last used when big boy was little, and set off for the fields (only a 5 minute walk from our door).

What a fabulous day! We met up with friends on the field with their children, and found a little hill, just perfect for sledging

Daniel was the daredevil - I told him not to slide down where there was a hollow in the ground, but he wouldn't rest until he'd done just that, discovering that the sledge physically left the ground and jumped through the air before crashing down and scooting to the bottom. He loved it.

Matthew started off a little reserved, but was soon sledging down the steepest bit like a pro!

Trudging home for tomato soup and crusty bread for lunch. What a wonderful day - one we will remember for many years!

Chicken Transport

2009-01-29T11:15:00.000-08:00

Freecycle is wonderful! Following my request for a pet carrier, I was gifted this fabulous one! All I need now is some nice weather and I will be choosing the 3 best behaved chickens for a trip to the allotment :0)

UFOs!

2009-01-18T03:27:00.000-08:00

I have managed some more time at the allotment now that the ground has thawed. I was a bit worried that it would be impossible to do anything though with all the rain, but that was not the case. The allotment field is on a slight slope, with my plot on the slopiest bit in the middle. It must be well drained as the soil was lovely to work and only a bit heavy. Be interesting to see how it fares throughout the year. Plots at the bottom end of the slope were not so fortunate, very boggy and muddy.

So now all my beds are dug and I have moved as much couch grass onto the paths as I can. I will worry about those at a later date if they cause a problem! Dad turned up yesterday with some scaffolding planks and a compost bin for me, so we took them down along with a small storage locker. I'm not sure if that will be allowed on the plot yet, but it's light enough to move if I have to!

Then last night we had the high winds and rain. And I began to think about my locker and compost bin sitting in the middle of a field with no shelter. Ooops! Rushed down this morning to confirm my fears. The locker had blown onto it's side, but the compost bin was in the hedge of a neighbouring field!!! Luckily the lid hadn't gone far. So all has been reassembled and a load of clods of grass put in the bottom of the bin for now. Hopefully last night was the worst of the weather. And luckily I was down there before any of the other plot holders arrived to have a good laugh at my expense!!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

2009-01-10T13:24:00.001-08:00

Gosh it's bloomin' cold!! As fast as I defrost the chickens water, it freezes up again! The glugs have been frozen solid - not just on top! This one had just a small ball of water in the centre of the ice.

So we haven't been to the allotment this week - other than to drop off a bucket of compost from one of the bins. Even the compost bin was frozen round the sides!

So here are a couple of pics of new chook, Nutmeg. Nutmeg is an amber star, or a Merrydale Sweetie. She is proving to be very friendly, and loves nothing more than a cuddle. She should be very popular on my Hen Courses! While I was cooking christmas lunch, she jumped up onto the windowsill to see what she was missing, then jumped onto the mini greenhouse! I was a bit worried that she would then head for the shed roof, but she decided that she'd gone far enough and came down again.

But she doesn't always look so pristine and clean. She's rather partial to a good old roll in the dust as well! She has started to lay again and lays a lovely little chesnut egg with white speckles.

Snow day!!

2009-01-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

What a lovely day! First snowfall this winter! Doesn't it look pretty?

The boys made the most of it and have been playing outside all day - I think we have left a trail of toys down the road!
The chickens were decidedly unimpressed - when I let them out they just stood in the doorway and muttered. Eventually a couple of the braver souls ventured out - they spent the rest of the day trying to eat it :0)

Allotment Day 2

2009-01-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

Spent another couple of hours at the lottie today with the boys! There were a few more there today so plenty of good company! The boys were more interested in helping out everyone else, rather than me. Think I'll hire them out by the hour.

I managed to get all my beds laid out and dug the long, narrow bed down the right hand side and along the front edge. It's beginning to look like an allotment now! I was worried that the plot would be too small - but now, looking at the beds, I think we will get a fair amount in! OK, so I would like to have space for a proper fruit cage, and maybe some fruit trees, but it will be a good start!

New Year - New Allotment!

2009-01-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

First of all - Happy New Year!! Hope you have a good one!

Second - we finally got access to our allotment! Hurray!
We went for a walk to have a look and met up with some of the others holders - we had a group photo taken to mark the occasion (but I forgot my camera so you will just have to imagine that one!)

So today, I loaded up the car and took the boys down for their first dig. Looks like we were the first ones to give it a go - a couple of plots have had string tied around them to mark them out, but no one has started digging yet. This is littlest son digging the first sod!

It's not a very big plot - only 10m x 5m, but the ground is so rough, I think it will be enough for now! (hopefully some of the others may be put off by this and we may get a bigger plot! ;-)

In this picture, middle son is standing at the far end of our plot and I am standing at the nearest edge. You can just about see a couple of pegs in the ground either side of him which mark the sides.

We got some string around ours. I decided to start digging at the far end - I figure if I can clear a strip at the end and get some chicken poo in, then I might at least get some potatoes in this year.

After a couple of hours, I'd managed to clear most of the couch grass into a hummock at one end of the strip and dug chicken poo into an area about 3' x 3'.There was a big pile of wood offcuts for communal use so the boys helped me to use them to mark where we had dug. Phew! I'm shattered - but feel very good. Hopefully I will be able to do more as I get fitter! Think I need a soak in a hot bath tonight. The boys will definitely sleep well - they didn't want to come home!

Too much chocolate .... and new eggs!

2008-12-28T14:59:00.000-08:00

Well christmas is over for another year. We have had loads of family round and some lovely company. The lounge - redecorated and new suite in place just in time for christmas - has disappeared under a coating of lego and playmobil and we are all sick of chocolate (well I am, the children are planning on eating nothing else all year I think).
This is our lovely, cosy new lounge.

The new chooks have settled in well. They don't spend as much time up in the branches any more and are more often than not, in amongst the old girls when food is offered. Their sore, bald bums are looking much better. The redness and swelling has gone and they are getting new feathers through now! Two days ago I started finding unknown eggs - so they must be laying again, although at the moment I can't tell who is laying as I haven't yet caught them in the act! I think they need an extra nest box as a cuople of times I have found an egg in the run - the nest box in the cube only accomodates 4 max, it could be a bit of a squeeze when all 14 are laying in spring! I went outside today to find some wood to make one - but it was perishing so I quickly came back in again!

The good news is that we have access to the allotments from 1st January! Hooray! Nearly a year after being offered one! We have only been given a half plot (as has everyone else), but that may be enough to start with.

Happy Christmas!

2008-12-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone who reads this!

We've had a lovely family day - boys actually had a lie in, and we spent the rest of the day doing the presents and dinner thing. Missed church as Dan still has raging chicken pox, but at least he was feeling better today, although still spotty.

Family descending on us over the next few days, so back to bedlam! Hope you all manage to have as good a time as we have had.

New Girls have names and sore bums!

2008-12-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

We've managed to choose names for the new girls now - carrying on with the spicey names, this is Nutmeg. She seems like a lovely little chicken and looks as though she has just been through a moult. I don't think she is laying at the moment.

The copper black hen is Cinnamon. She seems a little nervous and has a bit of a baldy bum. The all white sweetie is Pepper - she has a very bare bum!

The Pied is Clove. She has a very bare bottom and a swollen abdomen. I've had three eggs off them today, I can only assume that it was nutmeg who has not laid, so Clove's tackle must be working OK.

As a precaution I've been out in the dark and given all their botties a good spray with ukadex - a foul smelling, tar based spray that deters pecking. Luckily for me they were all sat on the branches with their backs to me so I just squirted them while they slept! I got a good scolding for my efforts!

What a day - paint and chickens!

2008-12-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

I'm shattered! Today has been a bit crazy. We are waiting for a new suite to be delivered, and as usual have left redecorating the room until the last minute, so it had to be done today!

We couldn't find a day when the boys were at school to do it, so had to grit our teeth and let them help. They didn't do too badly in the end though, and I now have a gorgeous red wall. Just waiting for my nice, new conker brown leather suite to arrive and I'll be cosy as anything!

While we were getting ready to decorate, I had a call from a lady who was struggling with her chickens and could I take some off her hands. Could I! I now have 4 lovely new girls. She has only had them a few months and they are laying.

There are 2 sweeties, or amber stars. They haven't got names yet!

A copper black maran hybrid
And a pied suffolk

They have very pecked bottoms, but I'm hoping that being in a bigger crowd and plenty of distractions will cure them of their naughty knicker pecking habits!

Mad Sewing Days!

2008-11-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

I think I'm drowning in sewing!

The quilt is taking shape. I only get chance to do any work on it on Wednesday evenings - it isn't a priority when I'm at home! The colours are looking lovely - very rich and autumnal. I just need to get my lounge redecorated so that it will match when it's finally finished ;-)

I found some lovely fleece fabric on ebay - I wonder who might appreciate a nice warm hat and scarf with Thomas on?

And I struck gold on Wednesday night at Patchwork class - someone getting rid of two large boxes of offcuts of curtain fabric. After a donation to a cancer charity, it all came home with me! The timing is perfect - my Folksy site is doing well, I've sold 4 bags this week from there. Plus I sold a couple of bags at the last two craft fairs I did. I've still got 3 days of fairs before Christmas and my stock is running dangerously low! Despite a huge bag of fabric in the dining room, there is nothing currently in there that is calling me to make something with it!

This little stash however, was just crying out to be made into bags! As soon as I got it home I spread it out on the dining room table and started to drool. Silk, satin, chenille, damask, brocade, cotton prints; and lots of lovely autumny/wintery shades - perfect!!

Some fabrics just demanded to go together and in no time I had a stack of cut material that now just needs sewing up.

And these are the first ones to come off the production line! At the rate of two bags a day (if I'm lucky!), it is hardly a speedy line though!

Craft Fairs & Patchwork

2008-11-24T14:24:00.000-08:00

I've just had a lovely weekend! Did two fairs - one at Wolvey on Saturday and the other at Wansford on Sunday. Both fairly quiet affairs, but I did steady trade, selling a couple of bags and lots of the little items - scented pomanders, crocheted flowers and beanie hats.

There is a lovely atmosphere at these little fairs - plenty of chat between stall holders, I've met some lovely people! In between times, I've had peace and quiet and been able to sit and crochet with no interruptions from husband and children!

On top of the fairs, I've had some good sales via the Folksy website. The more expensive bags don't sell as well at the fairs, but I've sold at least 4 this last week, with another one commissioned. I've been making messenger bags from discarded jeans. Each one is unique. I have one myself and it is great to use - and all my own design! I'm quite pleased with myself!

The patchwork course is going well! I found some lovely autumnal fabric on ebay and have a beautiful quilt planned, full of reds, golds and russets. Watch this space!

My Boy is a Beaver

2008-11-06T23:54:00.001-08:00

I had a proud mother moment last night - middle son was invested as a beaver!

He stood in the centre and said his promise out loud, word perfect! He looks so tiny next to the others, in his outsized uniform.

Last week he also came home with the Best Beaver cup. I can't wait until he gets to go camping and doing all those boy scout activities! (I think I'm more excited than he is)

Finished Patchwork

2008-11-06T23:49:00.000-08:00

Finally managed to get a picture of the finished article!

Destined to be a Christmas Table Runner. I didn't like to take pictures of the projects completed by the rest of the class - but there were some beautiful items. Mine looked quite uninspired in comparison!

Busy Half term

2008-11-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well it seems that we had our half term the week before everyone else! At least we were fortunate with the weather - we had some glorious days. I managed a child free day out with step mum to Blickling Hall in Norfolk. The Norfolk Craft Guild were holding a craft fair there so we had a good browse, I managed to get some christmas presents bought, and we had lunch in the tea room. A beautiful place, well worth a visit.

The boys decided to do some DIY. They designed and built a bench to sit on. (Dad did the crucialbit with hammer and nails). Then they painted it. Took them all day and now we have a lovely and practical piece of new furniture!

The chickens are also enjoying the last bits of sunshine. Bertha took advantage of the warmth to lose her feather duvet and grow a new one. Looks a bit oven ready at the moment though!

Japanese Folded Patchwork 2

2008-11-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

OK, I haven't quite forgotten about this! This is the next stage - each circle of fabric is wrapped around a triangle of wadding, tacked in place, and finished with decorative stitching.

The triangles are then stitched together to make your quilt, tablerunner, placemat or whatever you want. Now I have actually finished the tablerunner. But I left it at class - I forgot I needed to take a picture to put on here!! I'll take one next week, promise!

Japanese Folded Patchwork

2008-10-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

As if I don't have enough sewing to do, I thought I'd try my hand at something different and enrol on a patchwork and quilting workshop. It's great fun, as well as educational. Our tutor, Jenny, is lovely, but I keep getting told off for talking in class!!!

Anyway, we are learning about Japanese Folded Patchwork. The end result is a complete unit of fabric and wadding, decorative on both sides. The individual units can then be stitched together to make the finished article, no extra quilting or wadding to be done. We start off by cutting circles of fabric, running a gathering stitch around them and pulling it tight around a circle of card (above).

The fabric is pressed and the card removed. This circle shows two colours of fabric pieced together and pressed.

Here is my pile of pressed circles (above) and below is the start of the end product. You will have to wait to see the rest!

It's a bit of a departure for me - all hand sewing! I thought I'd miss my machine, but it's quite therapeutic to sit with the family and watch TV in the evening and still be able to do some sewing. Trouble is, I'm like a dog with a bone - this is upposed to be a long term project, to be done in spare moments. Instead, everything will now be neglected until I finish it!

Look what I won!

2008-09-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

I'm not one to enter competitions, do tombolas and raffles or anything of that nature (I think that normally I'm just too tight to part with the dosh, or just to lazy to make the effort with no guarentee of success!), but when Izabela asked for comments on crochet I just couldn't resist. I also enjoy crochet, but Izabela's crochet really is beautiful! Anyway, she had a competition to win one of her pretty crocheted butterflies - and I won! (won is used loosely here - my name was picked from a randomly generated list, but hey, who's complaining!). And this is my butterfly - isn't it lovely! It's on a keyring so is now decorating my house keys. Thank you Izabela!

See Izabela's blog here: http://mojezmagania.blogspot.com/ or click the link on the left ...knit and crochet ...

It's Conker Time!

2008-09-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

What a gorgeous day its been! We drove out to Rockingham Castle to have a look at the Craft and Food Show. After we'd paid the extortionate amount of £10 to get in, we had very little left to spend in the craft tents - obviously someone is making a profit, but I don't think it was the crafters!

So having spent all our money on 6 minutes on the bouncy castle and a drink each, we went for a walk round the grounds. Here we found the real treasure - a grove of horse chestnuts dripping with fruit! Best entertainment ever for two little boys!

Very handy that there was a table and straw bales under the tree. The drinks cans were not ours by the way - I think the tables and straw bales were left over from a party that the stall holders had had the night before!

Several hundredweight of conkers later: they've all been rolled down the stairs and scattered around the kitchen floor to foil Dad's attempts at cooking tea!

Now we just have to decide what to do with them all. Ideas on a postcard please

More sewing!

2008-09-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

After building up all my bag stock for the Preston Craft Fair, and only selling a fraction of it, I've been getting itchy fingers! Pointless making anymore bags just for the sake it - better to wait for inspiration to strike.

I've had some lovely chicken fabrics sat around for a while, so put them to good use as Kenwood Chef mixer covers.

Then I managed to make another Jean Genie bag out of some old levis - the denim is lovely and soft. But I wasn't happy with the top stitching, so I kept it for myself - all in the interests of product testing you understand! I'm glad I did because I've realised the handles are far too long! So now it has a knot in it as a temporary measure while I decide how to make adjustable handles!

I've also started a patchwork class in the evenings - run by a lovely lady called Jenny and based at East Carlton Park, near Corby. Jenny not only teaches patchwork, but is a font of knowledge on all things fabric related. She's taught me so many little tips and wrinkles - even how to find out whether a fabric is man made or natural by setting fire to it! (I had great fun experimenting, I can tell you!). So far we have done some hand pieced hexagonal patches and have now started on some Japanese folded patchwork. I'll post pictures at a later date!

As if that wasn't enough, a friend sent me a pattern that she couldn't get to grips with, on the proviso that I made the first lot for her! It was for chicken pot holders. So I had to invest in some decent wadding, and voila! More chickens! Must admit I am really pleased with them, despite them needing a little more hand sewing to really finish them nicely.
These will be winging their way to my friend, and I've put a pic of them on my shop website - I may do them to order only, unless I am desperate for something to sew again!

My Baby is Seventeen!

2008-09-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

Well today has been oldest son's 17th birthday. His birthday present was driving lessons (his licence only arrived yesterday, so they had to be arranged rather hastily!) and a meal out at a local Cantonese restaurant. We took his two little brothers as well - I am determined that they will learn how to behave in public! Actually they weren't too bad, despite eating enough prawn crackers for 6 adults and tipping a glass of water over the table, we left the restaurant relatively unscathed and still on speaking terms with the managers. Although I am not in a hurry to repeat the experience.

Anyway - Happy Birthday to Number 1 Son, Love you Loads! xxx

The Definition of Tired ...

2008-09-11T23:09:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the saying "he/she could sleep on a clothesline"? I have, but never actually met anyone who could do it. But youngest son is in practice.

It started on the floor:

Then he tried upside down:

Not quite a clothesline, but getting there:

LOL I've never known a child like him for just falling asleep wherever he is!

In the meantime, middle son has started the after school clubs this year. Church Adventurers on a Monday night, then we had a call on Tuesday - did he want a place in the Beaver Troop! First meeting was last night and he had a lovely time!

And oldest son has started college. Well supposedly. He started on the 8th September but has done 2 days so far! The college studios have not been sound proofed properly yet, so they cannot start work. I hope they get on with it soon - he needs to get out from under my feet!

Great Day at Preston

2008-09-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well I had a lovely day at Preston yesterday. Despite the miserable weather, there was a great atmosphere in the hall and I met some lovely fellow crafters. I was happy with my sales considering the poor turnout, and I got lots of ideas for improvements to my stall. Roll on the next craft fair - Rugby on 11th October. Watch this space!

Getting Nervous ....

2008-08-28T03:26:00.001-07:00

Well it will be the craft fair at Preston Presents this Sunday, and I am now officially getting nervous! I've done a couple of village stalls, very low key, more jumble sale type things, but this is in a different league!

I've been working hard trying to get a professional looking stall and have settled on this - dark chocolate velvet on the table with fuchsia pink on a small stand. My wonderful Dad knew that I was looking for a hat stand and found me the perfect one - in a skip of all places! I found a prettyfruit stand in Homebase to display my little chickens and gift bags. Finished off with a small bowl of pot pourri and some pink Ikea candles to add interest. Had a trial run today - glad I did as I've managed to tweak a few things. I'm quite pleased with it!

I'm just panicking about stock levels now - I know I have enough bags, I don't expect to sell that many! But I wanted some little, less expensive items to encourage people to browse. With christmas coming up (I know, I know! It's still only August!) I decided on some of the little chickens stuffed with fresh lavender from the garden (they smell divine!) and some little gift bags made from satiny fabric with ribbon and bead drawstring ties. I've also discovered that people like to see you 'crafting' rather than reading a book, so I've dug out the crochet hooks and some pretty tapestry yarn and have crocheted some little flowers. I'll put them on the stall for 50p, purely so I can be making them on the day. Trouble is I don't know if they will sell or not - if they do, I need back up stock to refill the stand! Aaah - need to get sewing!

Christmas Chickens

2008-08-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

I've just finished making some little chickens for a customer. It's the first time I've made them in a christmassy fabric - I'm really pleased with them!

Might have to make some more for my craft stall.

Northampton Balloon Festival

2008-08-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

What a fabulous day we had yesterday - I was too exhausted to write about it last night!

We went to the Northampton Balloon Festival. Brilliant value for money - £4 per adult, children free! So me and 3 children got in for £4.Even with the £5 car parking fee it was a bargain! Loads of stalls, entertainment in the central arena, a circus tent and a stage with live music. And the wonderful people in the John 3:16 tent serving free refreshments - a lifesaver when I ran out of cash!

But the highlight had to be watching those awesome balloons go up!

Even the boys were stunned into silence as we watched them slowly filling with hot air from the burners, then suddenly leaping into the air as they were freed from the ropes. Then as fast as they rose, more were inflated on the ground to take their places.

Magical!

Northpole Nonsense

2008-08-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

Well it's 6.30am, Saturday morning, and I'm sitting with my early morning cuppa contemplating the past week.

It's been hectic, I'm shattered but the children have had a fantastic time! What was it? North Pole Nonsense - our church's annual Holiday Club. From 10 - 12 every morning, hordes of village children have descended on the church for 2 hours of games, songs, crafts and general fun led by the wonderful Paul Wilmott. Paul is a brilliant Holiday Club leader - the only human I know who can keep (and hold) the attention of 80 primary school children single handed! The highlight had to be Custard the shark threatening to eat the children for lunch! Anyway, this was the result on my youngest son. It's not quite sleeping on a clothesline, but you get the picture!

The other highlight (apart from Custard), was the fact that the helpers all pulled together and made this a success. It's been a brilliant atmosphere all week, with many new friendships forged. Topped off by us all going out for lunch after the final session on Friday. Ultimately it has been a testament to the power of God in all our lives. A great week!

Flippin' Chickens!!

2008-08-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

Aaaah, I give up! I thought my veg patch was now chicken proof, but it appears that one little madam sees it as a personal challenge to attack my veg patch at every opportunity. Yesterday I noticed that she had been in again and this time scratched up all my patches of new seedlings - beetroot, chard, rocket, mizuna and lettuce!!!! Thankfully, everything that was growing well has not been touched. It is Bella that is the culprit, she isn't even laying any eggs at the moment. Luckily for her she is the prettiest chicken - but looks will only get her so far. If I catch her in there again I will not be held responsible for my actions! :-( :-(

New Chicken!

2008-07-31T04:31:00.001-07:00

I was given a McCall's pattern the other day - various soft toys, book covers, bags and things. As soon as I spotted this chicken cushion I had to try it as soon as possible! It's quite large - 13" nose to tail and the body is soft and squashy. The wings and tail are also quilted, although that doesn't show well in the picture. It was a bit fiddly, with the head, wings and tail having to be handstitched to the body (I always end up with several pin stabs when hand sewing). I also messed up the comb a bit, but managed to get it looking OK.

I don't think I could make them to sell, too fiddly and faffy. But it was nice to make something different!

Preston Presents

2008-07-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

I will presenting my wares at the Preston Presents Craft Fair on 31st August. Preston is just south of Oakham. This will be my first 'proper' craft fair and I am simultaneously excited and terrified! Click on the link to Preston Presents on the left to see more about it and see what other craft stalls will be there. And if you are in the area - come and say hello!

Ebay Bargains and Caterpillar Wars

2008-07-23T07:37:00.001-07:00

I've just realised how long it is since my last post!
Just goes to show what a boring old life I lead!! LOL
Anyway, this is my latest ebay bargain, £72 for a set of garden furniture in need of some TLC. Well it is surprising what a bit of TLC can do for wood! After plenty of elbow grease, some wire wool and a couple of litres of teak oil, this is the result. Looks even better when the green parasol goes up and the green cushions are on the chairs! It was well and truly christened on Monday when I had some friends over and we all sat round the table eating pizza, drinking coffee and having a good old chinwag in the sun!

Although there has been some activity down at the allotment site (grass is cut, an area of hardstanding has been created and there is a proper gateway), we can still not get on as the parish council and the allotment association are in negotiation as to who will pay for the shed *rolls eyes*

So I've dug up all the potatoes and used the space to plant out my cauliflower seedlings. I was hoping to get them onto the allotment, but I don't think that will happen this side of christmas. So we are into round one of caterpillar wars. After eating half a caterpillar in last years broccoli, I'm determined they won't get to these brassicas!!

The Saga of Dora the Dove

2008-05-05T13:09:00.001-07:00

Poor Dora (or it could be Dougie but it looks too pretty) flew into our bathroom window yesterday evening and fell onto the back door step. To add insult to injury she was then set upon by 10 angry chickens determined to finish her off!

Alan caught Dora whilst I shut the velociraptors back in their run and we inspected the damage. Poor thing had a nasty looking wound over her breastbone - either from the impact or chicken damage, I'm not sure which. Plus she had lost all but one of her tail feathers. We both agreed that it would be best to put her out of her misery, but gutless cowards that we are, neither of us had the heart to wring her neck. So I made her a nest in a laundry basket, added some mealworms and a bowl of water with poultry tonic and shut her in the shed for the night.

This morning I opened the door expecting to find a dead dove, but no - she seemed to have rallied a bit! Her wound looked a bit dryer and she was standing and looking quite bright eyed. And she had eaten some mealworms! Thinking that she may be getting stressed shut in the shed, I took her to the birdtable at the bottom of the garden and put her there under the cover of the trees. She seems to have gained strength throughout the day and by evening she was motoring round the garden, pecking at bugs and drinking. I went out as it was getting dark and she was hiding under the shrubbery. I caused her a bit more stress as I had to catch her with a fishing net (big improvement over this morning when she just sat and let me pick her up) and I parked her on a branch in the conifer tree at the bottom of the garden (don't want next door's cat to finish her off!). I've just been out with a torch and she has managed to climb a bit higher and is now roosting.

What a little fighter she is! I really hope she makes it!

Happy May Day!

2008-05-01T14:50:00.001-07:00

The last two weeks have been quite stressful - to cut a long story short, my husband lost his job two weeks ago. He has worked really hard and starts a new job on Monday. It is such a relief that he is in the kind of job where his skills are in demand. Although it has been stressful and worrying, that is nothing compared to those who have lost jobs and are unable to get another. I have several friends whose partners are in IT and who have been out of work for months. I can't imagine how that must feel.

Thought I'd share this picture with you - chickens going back to their roots! As the weather is now a little warmer Bella and Ruby have taken to roosting in the branches of their run. You wouldn't think it, but they do look quite cosy don't they?

Warm and Sunny at last!

2008-04-22T12:06:00.001-07:00

Isn't it lovely to have some warm weather at last! I got home from work, rushed upstairs to get changed and went straight out into the garden. I haven't felt like doing that for ages now! Just a pity we don't have the allotment yet - it would have been lovely to take the family for a group dig before tea!

The lawn has dried out so I raked all the bark and stone chippings off that the chickens have scattered over the winter - lo and behold, I do still have a lawn! It survived the ravages of chickens and children and is not looking too bad at all!

I did a bit of tidying on the veg patch (I did manage to brave the elements a couple of weeks ago and did most of the work and planted some seeds, but it has been abandoned since then) I didn't realise how lovely broad bean flowers smell until I got close to them!

The children and the chickens appreciated me digging up a few weeds from the flower bed as well. I did take a picture of the children poking dock and dandelion leaves into the run, but blogger has now gone on strike!

And after moaning to friends about the children bickering, tonight they went straight into the garden after school and played together like little angels until bedtime! Typical LOL!

What to do in the School Holidays

2008-04-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

I know it's a couple of weeks late, but some are only just ending their 'Easter' holidays!

We took the boys on some great days out! First trip was to Thomas the Tank Engine Land at Drayton Manor. Expensive, but worth every penny just to see their excitement!

Oldest son took me on the roller coasters for a treat!?

We took a picnic that we ate in the car, but the weather stayed reasonable and we all had a great day out.

Next up was the Butterfly Farm at Long Sutton. We visited with my Mum and Dad who had great fun teaching the boys how to use the zip wire LOL

This is a great place to visit - great value for money and loads to see and do. The childrens playground is wonderful, with three great slides, a wooden fort, the zip wire and lovely, solidly built and well maintained climbing frames. I recommend taking a picnic, even if it is cold and wet - they have two long polytunnels kitted out with picnic tables. Lovely and warm on a chilly but sunny day!

There are loads of exotic birds and animals, including a racoon family; the indoor tropical butterfly house is amazing and the real treat - a demo of the birds of prey. We had a beautiful owl sat on the seat next to us and the buzzard nearly took my Dads hair off, clipping his head with it's wing tips!

Snow and Allotment pictures

2008-04-06T05:20:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the weather! We woke up to snow again today! Now normally I'd be the first to get excited about snow, but this is pushing it - what I would really get excited about now is a spell of nice hot weather!

But I have to admit it looks pretty - these grape hyacinths were outside my neighbours house, they look lovely with a frosting of snow.

After church we went for a wander to the allotment site. There is no access to the site yet - once that is sorted, I think we can start work on our plots. At the moment, this is the site. There will be 20, 10m x 10m plots. I am stood on the edge of a ditch bordering the north side of the plot. You can see the fence of the south and east borders. Just out of shot to the right is the west border - a tall hedge between the field and the road. Although you can see houses from this viewpoint, what you can't see to the left of the picture is open fields as far as the eye can see! (although I am sure that will change in the future).

The place I stood to take the picture is a plot of land between the allotment site and a bridle path - it is owned by a friend and is likely to be built on one day. I asked her this morning if she would be averse to renting some of it out for me to keep chickens and possibly pigs on. She sounded quite keen - it is just lying fallow at present. Haven't a clue how I'm going to go about this, but it's a plan for the future! Watch this space!

Allotment News!

2008-04-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

So excited today - I've just found out I will be allocated one of the new village allotments when they open, hopefully in May! I won't be able to put chickens on (I was hoping to keep a few broilers there) but no matter, I will finally have space to grow all the larger crops that I can't fit in the garden - potatoes, brassicas, onions. And hopefully some fruit bushes as well. I can't wait! (can you tell I'm excited?)

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T00:20:00.001-07:00

Well what a sight to wake up to on Easter Sunday! It was trying hard to snow all day yesterday, and we did have a few flurries, but I didn't expect it to stick like this! The children can't wait to walk to church in it!

The poor chickens were in darkness as the snow had covered their run roof. So I let them out - normally they race out, but they look a bit bewildered today don't they?