On the brew......

What an amazing day out here in the countryside, was a sunny but cool day here allowing for fun and laughter picking elder flowers to make elderflower champagne was the mission today. The kids and the dog really enjoyed hunting for our flowers, and even Stewart joined in after being told he must and it wasn't and option not to. He ended up enjoying it and really getting into getting the best flowers possible, with a bit of manly force involved. Summer here at the cottage is starting to get into full swing with BBQ's every other day and the veg patch starting to provide excellent crops, as today was the first day potatoes from the veg patch were on our menu, they were fantastic like small balls of thick cream with next doors mint and a garnish. I don't think I have ever had potatoes so fresh and it has ended the worry that the veg patch is going to be a disaster, everything is coming on just fine. and I have also made a few villagers jealous with how good it looks as a raised bed rather than just dug into the ground.




As for the recipe for the elder flower champagne that was from here...............http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/elderflower-champagne-recipe_p_1.html

lets just hope it goes as well, as ever being thrifty I am using old cola bottles, there is no way this year I can afford the fancy swing top bottles, but instead I plan to check it and for the first 2 weeks maybe keep the caps slightly unscrewed to let any over fizziness out.

With warmth in the heart......

Summer is here, I haven't done a posting in a while so here is a giant catch up.

The garden is looking stunning, the veg patch is starting to feed us if even a little at a time with the radishes and early lettuce leaves, the rest is growing and at amazing rates, the potatoes and broccoli's have gone bonkers and the carrots are at about 2 inches long. every thing is going great though I did have to give in and buy some strawberry plants I just don't think mine will be anywhere near ready till next year.

The Wisteria and Laburnum were beautiful but now past there best are making way for the Delphiniums and Roses of which have come into full bloom, smelling amazing climbing up the house and hiding the sparrow nests from sight. We have 3 nests on our house all making a noise and chirping away unfortunately we have had 3 dead babies on the ground and meg caught an already injured fledgling that I had tried to save a few times over. We have also had an influx of bunnies they are doing well, to well really and have out grown the horse field and are getting to close to my garden for my liking, but still really cute to watch the babies run up and down the drive, until they hear meg thundering up to them. The wildlife in general has been fantastic to witness and when someone asked "Are you watching spring watch this year?" my answer was " I am living it!"



For a photographer I couldn't think of a better environment, And the children are really healthy and happy and also learning about
the world around them. Everything is lovely here even if I do get a bit lonely in the day times, I don't even get to window shop anymore, there are no shop windows to look in. And I cant remember the last time I went to a cafe with a friend, But I get visitors people want to come and spend time here at this house which is lovely, I don't think our last place was so inviting.

As I sit here and listen to the evening bird song, I think about where I have been in the past and where I am now and where I might go, I just hope I don't ever end up back in a council estate and carry on witnessing such amazing things. I hope no one would ever consider me ungrateful but I feel right now in mid summer that this is a piece of perfection very few have the opportunity to see with such detail as I am doing now.

The scaring of crows.......

Yesterday was the village scarecrow competition, and I had been asked to be the photographer for the day. I was extremely happy to do so, it meant I met quite a few people I hadn't met before and got to see some of the lovely houses here that are tucked away, some of them you wouldn't know were even there.

The scarecrows themselves were fantastic, only a few, I had expected a bit more, but we had 11 in total not bad for a little hamlet of houses, you couldn't even really call it a village. They were all very different, some very humorous with boobs, and bling, skeletal forms, and fatties, more modern designs, and traditional. Ours is guarding the veg patch now, and has become affectionately known as jack. The winner was one that had been made to traditional specifications and was actually quite a handsome scarecrow.

The seedlings are doing so well in the green house, and some of the early potatoes are planted for salads in the summer, I will soon be planting/potting things on and making room in the green house to put the melons in the grow bags.

A nice spring visit......

This Easter weekend has been awesome, everything at this house seems to be at a more relaxed pace, and people hopefully enjoy themselves as much as they appear to. My cousin came down and stayed for her first time at the house, it is nice to finally be able to have people stay over in a place they actually want to be, and enjoy my house with me. Liz has been a best friend and faved family member all my life, just like a big sister to me really, and the boys both call her auntie Liz and I wouldn't have it any other way. They love her and get her to do loads of drawings just like I used to when we were kids ourselves. We had fantastic Easter egg hunt in our huge garden, that went down a treat and was another dream come true as I watched the kids have all the room they needed for finding and running. The Easter feast was also awesome the meat was beautifully tender and the veg's well tasty, I was also pleased with my chocolate cake, even though it did try falling apart more than once.

My raised veg patch is built, the soil I think has been the biggest cost, it isn't as full as I would have liked but will do for this year and will get more full as the years go on. Though even saying that I don't think it would have been built at all with out the kindness of my neighbours that donated some scaffold boards.

Things are finally coming up in the green house, beetroots, carrots, broccoli and onion have all sprouted, and I have also planted my first batch of chitted potatoes for first early baby news.

The photos today have been pinched from my cousins flickr pages....cheers Lizzie, lovely to see ya hun xxxx

http://www.flickr.com/photos/staticgirl/

It hurts.....

Oh gods I am in pain today, I ended up digging the whole 8sq meters of veg patch over and pushing hard before the rains came in, it is getting there though, and by next week should be fully built with all it's nice new soil and fertilizers in. The garden is looking very pretty right now, all the daffodils are out and the fruit trees are beginning to have some lovely big shoots, the raspberry bush I planted last week has done really well, it looks like it is taking and has new growth on it.

Zack has been a little better today, at least he was awake all day. He is still very tearful at times, and still has spots on the inside of his mouth which is making eating most things really uncomfortable. I phoned the school today apparently they have 4 children off right now with it and a few have just come back from having it a few weeks ago. He wont be back to school this term. so it is a mega holiday for Zack, and to be honest it is lovely to have him at home for once.

Hope the weather gets better tomorrow it is so rainy and windy right now, all I want to get on with right now is sorting this garden out, so I can then enjoy it and relax a bit more.

The bee photo is one I took the other day after saving the poor thing from megs water bowl.

The first turf.....

...of many, I dug a patch up 4 meters by 2 meters It took all day but was easier than I thought, I didn't think I would get it done on my own in one day before I had started, but just as Stew pulled into the drive I was getting the last line of turf done. Just in time for a slap up fry up, just what was needed after a hard day in the drizzly rain. But it is done now, I have to dig it over still and I am hoping the bad weather forecast is yet again going to pass us by in the day time, even though we have just had a thunder storm tonight. Still some of my seeds have not turned up, it is the potatoes I am missing and salad veg, also delphinium and other pretty flowers. The melon seeds seem to be doing really well, I can't wait to sample some of them home grown, they should taste amazing and so much lovelier than the shop bought ones.

Zack's spots are looking like they are drying, he slept most of the day again though, but made an appearance just before Josh got home, got dressed and came out in the garden. I hope he is back to his bouncy self soon, he hates having chicken pox he tells me he "doesn't want chicken pox". Maybe tomorrow he will feel much better.

Seeing spots........

Zack's spots have spread today he now has hundreds all over his little body, even in his mouth and hair on his feet and hands. He has been quite poorly with it sleeping alot, and not really wanting to do much. Needless to say I haven't done much with the garden today, I have been making sure Zack is as comfy as possible.....I was however a good little house wife, and made a home made sausage roll for dinner with Yorkshire puddings, which was very yummy, well just four working days to next week then a lovely long weekend with my cousin from Watford staying over. I am looking forward so much to this Easter the egg hunt is gonna be a good one, here's hoping for good weather.

I thought I would upload a photo of my Dad, as I said I haven't done much today, but it gave me chance to go through some old photos and edit them, this was taken in the summer last year at a local wildlife conservation park......looking forward to summer days again, they will soon be on their way.

The weather forecast over the next few days is not great I don't think much outdoor stuff will be happening, I think I will just try and stay warm inside my lovely house.