Harry's Meadow

We had a brilliant little stay at Harry's Meadow last night arriving in the early afternoon after a short drive along some veyr narrow lanes which were a little bit disconcerting. The campsite is massive but great for the space you get as well as access to basic compostable toilets, hot showers and plenty of great walks. 

Having the two girls, as well as Maria, meant we were always going to be on call at all times and so it proved, especially with the new puppy too! However, we had a very enjoyable stay and lots of fun. Juno was excellent throughout and walked over a mile and a half down to the river which is a beautiful walk with stunning views. Tea was a pasta and bolognese sauce affair and the film was the Spice Girls movie. 

After breakfast we were soon off to Bournemouth to drop the girls off before home, lunch with Joy, a trip to the allotment to harvest food for the next trip and packing.

We are off to Pitton Cross on the Gower Peninsula tomorrow and staying for three nights, just Alison and I, whilst Bridie and Marie are off to Weymouth, with Jospeh too, of course. We will have Juno with us and are looking forward to more adventures! 

Good morning

Another early start to the day with a 5am wake up call from Juno. She did really well yesterday and is already starting to adapt to family life here, calmer and able to lie quietly for extended periods. Not too many accidents as of yet either which is great, and loving going for a walk. This morning we have gone down the track and would go further except she is yet to have her second vaccination.

I did get to the allotment yesterday and spent quite some time strimming the grass first but then also simply picking runner beans and french beans. There are so many we have started passing them on to family members and to blanche them prior to freezing so we've got some goodies for the winter.

At Joy's I got most of the strimming of the meadow part of the lawn done but not quite finished. Her beans are doing well also and I picked a good number for Sandra to pick up today when she visits her mum. I also met up with a guy quoting for cutting the hedges and it made me realise what a service I've been providing as the cost would be £420 for two people to do six hours work including VAT with all the cuttings taken away etc. 

Now our attention is switching to our forthcoming trips to Harry's Meadow tonight, the Gower Peninsula, Plymouth and Watergate Bay to come before the end of the month. Glen will be here keeping an eye on things and feeding the cat, as well as gigging.

Juno is learning

I was up at 5.15 with Juno this morning and enjoyed a coffee with her in the garden whilst she did her business. We have already had a few walks today, including with Rag, and spent a bit of time on the motorhome to start to acclimatise her to it before our weekend visit to Harry's meadow. 

The best thing is that Juno has learnt to settle down with us and the biting is already starting to subside, she is a quick learner. 

Maria had her acro exam this morning and she pulled out the backover first time after working so hard to get to grips with it over several weeks. Such a great relief. From here on in it will be allotment time and Joy's garden.

 

Juno

We continue to make progress with Juno after her arrival on Monday. We were up early to check her in the crate which she sleeps in overnight. I took her outside and she did her business very quickly and came back in to start the fun and frolics. With Glen and Harry staying overnight, that meant she also got to see Rag and they were soon playing in the kitchen.

Maria was at a summer dance class from 11 - 1 and I took her in the motorhome, as I did yesterday. On that occasion I had used the time for a 5 mile run but I definitely didn't feel like that today and so I got the mountain bike out and put that on the back of the van so I got a 10 mile ride in.

A play pen arrived today which we'll use in the garden to ensure Juno can't go under the hedges etc. and also for us to take camping over the next fortnight. It will be better for us all if she can have fun outside safely.

Juno

Having decided to get our new puppy at the start of September, we promptly went and fetched her on Monday instead which was largely at the prompting of Alison and Maria, particularly as the seller said that taking her on our travels in the motorhome would not be a problem. As it happened, our visitors had also been thinking about getting themselves a puppy with just their mum having some doubts which were overcome by the other three. They also collected a puppy, the one with the liver colouring.

Ours is the black markings puppy, Juno, born on June 17th and her sister has been Lilah, short for Delilah. Both did well last night settling and seeming happy in their new surroundings. Lilah has gone to her new home in Kent now, Herne Bay, and we are with Juno who has company in the shape of Rag, Glen's puppy.

We had a really good weekend with our visitors with the added bonus of a fantastic Vietnamese meal cooked by Nina. The children loved it too which was an added bonus. We got to use chopsticks too and Joseph and I had a go at the hot chilli sauce. God, it was hot, hot, hot!

Nina works as a nail technician and she did Maria's nails which Maria enjoyed enormously. 

I have still managed to get out for a couple of 4 mile runs and am getting back into the groove. 

The final picture is of Alison amongst the raspberries on the allotment. Lots and lots coming still.

Visitors

Saturday came with the promise of a clear morning, just the three of us at home until our visitors arrived later in the day. That meant I got into the garden with Alison and we got a good few hours out there, trimming and weeding, tidying and clearing away with the hammock now out and the fire pit readied for later.

Having got out running again, I have continued over the weekend as a whole, running over 3.5 miles on both Saturday and Sunday with warm ups and warm downs on both occasions. I am going to look after myself a little better until I get back into the routine more fully.

With all the football back on, I did end up having a few drinks at lunch time and then had a little rest in the hammock, without falling asleep! Good to see both Liverpool and Plymouth winning over the weekend, along with Celtic, it looks like with them two up at present.

Our visitors arrived just after 4 and we had a goo few hours getting to know them. Peter is my mother's half-brother, some 15 or 16 years younger than her. He has been in touch with mum over recent years and has called me subsequently. It has been interesting starting to get to know more about this side of the family. He came with his wife, Nina and their two children, Kenny who is 15 and Katie who is 13, just a touch younger than Maria.

After a late start to Sunday, Maria and Alison went shopping for school shoes in Wimborne whilst I got on with picking more veg until they joined me at the allotment. It is just amazing how much there is with loads and loads of runner beans, two more courgettes, a big crop of French beans, peas, more beetroot and various greens including spinach and chard. 

The evening beside the fire pit was great, it feels so long since we had an evening out there.

English Springer Spaniel

The big news for the family is that we are going to be getting a 9 week old puppy next week, a spaniel, and it will join Glen's new puppy in the household, at least for a little while. We can't wait to start training it up but also to get back into the habit going for daily walks. We could all do with it. 

The other photo is from last night when Alison and I went to the Lighthouse in Poole to watch the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra performing a range of popular classical pieces. Neither of us have ever attended a classical music concert before but I am happy to report it was fantastic. We loved it. One of the nice things was getting there early enough to have a drink before the action when usually everything is such a rush. However, the main factor was that the music was superb and feeling it physically in the audience was incredible.

I had no idea it could be so entertaining and there was always something to see whilst enjoying the music itself. They started with the theme from Star wars and encored with the theme from ET with a full performance of the 1812 overture, Finlandia, the theme from Schindler's List, the Dance Macabre, Spartacus and others.

We will definitely be going again.  

Harvesting again

I was up and out just after 8 this morning to cycle to the allotment, as there is just so much produce coming through at present I worry that much of it will go to waste which I'm not keen on after all the work getting it ready to flourish.

I started digging two roots of potatoes and they are doing so well, much improved on last year with lots of tubers on each. We are going to take a while to get through all of them. Then there are the runner beans which are in great abundance and some of them over a foot long. 

The courgette continues to provide at least one fruit every visit with two nice sized ones today which I got to before they became too huge and marrow like. I got a couple of beetroot and lettuces and french beans too. 

It is lovely to be able to turn up and spend 20 minutes selecting veg and then get on home without any other effort. I did the return leg in light drizzle at 14.5 mph and am looking forward to a feast later on.

Eype and South Perrott

I took a trip to Eype yesterday to catch up with Paul who is working there on a site for the next year and more. You can see from the two initial photos that the house itself is going to be effectively three stories high with up to 6 bedrooms with gardens containing a swimming pool, a reflection pool and a summer house which has fantastic views across to the sea.

From there we drove to South Perrott which is some 14 miles or more from the worksite. The views walking back to one of the nearby villages were superb in the evening sunshine and were given additional beauty with the presence of two balloons which were suspended in the blue skies decorating the scene. 

The church photo was taken at South Perrott. I was able to sleep in the car park at the Coach and Horses where Paul is staying three nights a week.

Down to the river in the woods

It's been perhaps the most normal day we have had in a while with no trips out, just the four of us and some sunshine which has meant we can just get on. I was out for a 5km run early on and that was nice and steady after almost a month without running due to the pain I have been having in my groin. The doctor says there is nothing to worry about so back on it with the running and not just cycling and walking.

Lots of odd jobs done like mowing the lawn, fixing strike plates in the motor home, the old plastic ones having broken, loading the motorhome for the trip to Eype later and a lovely walk to the woods with Maria and Joseph, Alison and I being in the woods for the first time in weeks. Maria was keen to take some unusual photographs and they enjoyed wading through the stream which is a lot deeper than it would normally be at this time of year. The rain has prevented it becoming a trickle.

Bumper crops

I was in Wimborne to take a few things to the tip, a car battery, broken microwave and so on, which meant it was a good time to visit the allotment following a few days away. Aside from the obligatory strim, I was able to get some weeding done thanks to the continuing rain which seems to fall every day and has made the soil nice and soft meaning yanking the roots out was easier.

The various beds are just full of vegetables at the moment, as well as the sunflowers and other plants such as rosemary and mint, doing well. The courgette keeps producing these lovely fruits but getting them before they get too big is a challenge when you are away for days at a time. The one in the photo has been sliced and roasted in the main with some being spiralized for a salad and the remainder saved for tomorrow. I've done a salad using lettuce from the allotment and tomatoes from the garden and the beetroot got roasted to accompany the salad. I've blanched and then frozen the french beans and we are having runner beans for tea tonight and tomorrow, there are so many. There's peas as well and then the potatoes.

The ones in the photo are from two plants I put in with the strawberries as there was a bit of space left and they have cropped very well. There are leeks and carrots to come, as well as turnip and the usual chard and spinach which are growing nicely. We can pick the greens every day if we like, there is so much.

It's been nice to get out into the garden and to sort out one or two bits and pieces between showers and I've ordered a few more things for the motorhome to go with the recent additions e.g. velcro and suction hooks.

Lyepol 2021 River Ugg near Mortimer's Cross

The third trip of the summer was to the cottage at Lyepol, our second year visiting this isolated property which is miles from anywhere, has no electric and no phone signal. It really is a place on its own at the foot of a steep hill with the river Ugg running along the bottom of the large, sloped garden. The land either side of the cottage is also in the family and they have fishing rights for a mile and more in either direction.

We took the motorhome and spent three nights on board in plenty of comfort and nice and warm despite having Evie for the second night and then both Eve and Amelia for the third. That meant we got to watch a film at bedtime using the laptop before the battery ran out, High School Musical followed by Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang. 

The local fields are full of wheat which is almost ready to be harvested and the children enjoyed walking there to get a mobile signal or to hide in the rows of the corn. The weather was less favourable than last year but the Wednesday was fine enough to encourage the children to get in and make use of the rope swim as well as the unicorn float.

This time the journey saw us remember just about everything we needed other than some headphones for Maria to use but also presented us with Alison's battery dying on her phone requiring a new one to be fitted on return to Dorset. The journey back took us on a zigzag tour of the route as Google Maps did its best to find us the quickest route. It was a busy day on the roads, all of them. It feels as if the roads are bursting at the moment and I wonder how long we can continue with the increasing numbers of vehicles riding roads which are in need of repair and lacking facilities en route such as regular toilets or laybys. It seems anything out of the public purse which serves everybody is still seen as too left wing in the sense that taxes are perceived as 'bad' and a 'necessary evil' which needs to be eradicated wherever possible. 

I'd rather have servies we can take pride in and help us experience daily life to its full rather than feel everything is over-priced and out of reach unless you are wealthy enough to ignore the individual costs.

Trying to be helpful

 I started the day watching the Olympics but was soon outside cutting our hedges for a final time before the autumn cut before getting over the road to our neighbour's. The hedge there is laurel and I'd noticed them paying someone to cut it last year and said I'd do it for them in future.

I got to it quickly and it wasn't a hugely long job but it was nice to be able to do something to help someone else out. They offered to get me something but I asked that they donate to my new Just Giving page which has been set up for the charity walk I'm doing in September.

The walk is for Julia's House and is 16 miles around the beautiful countryside of Cranborne Chase. It is obviously a lot shorter than the 51 miles from May but it is more about the fundraising. Hoepfully I can get a few hundred pounds raised this time.

In my spirit of community service I spent an hour going to the crossroads and back to litter pick which means I am feeling quite smug about being a helpful old man with too much time on his hands.

I then went on a 3 mile walk listening to the audiobook of 'The Lamplighters' before a bit of time getting ready for tomorrow's trip to Mortimer's Cross and Lyepol.

  

Allotment update from Wimborne

I was off early today and at the allotment before 8.30 with the strimmer in hand to quickly tidy the paths up before we are away again for a few days. I don't want the plot to become too overrun during our various absences but I also wanted to get along to check what was ready for picking so we could take some up to Lyepol with us on Wednesday.

The potatoes are doing very well and we are going to have plenty to keep us going and the same is true of the runner beans and courgettes. It will be a case of trying to keep up with them, especially as we have the french beans to come yet. There are also a number of different places where there are greens growing which means a good variety to choose from, even as some of the older plants start to bolt. 

It looked lovely in the sunshine of the morning and was a real joy to be in. I also managed to save two warblers from potential danger as they were trapped inside a netted area in a neighbouring plot. Poor things were terrified.

From there I off to cut the hedge at Joy's where I got the front part done making the place look nice and tidy to anyone passing by. I also mowed front and back lawns and dug up some potatoes for Joy plus some runner beans.

I got the motorhome all clean and tidy, down on my hands and knees sweeping the dirt out, checking the toilet and sink and ensuring all was ship shape. Alison did a great job yesterday in cleaning the cooker and fridge.

We had some of the ruuner beans and greens in our vegetable curry this evening and I got out for a 6 mile ride on the bike before a late evening walk to get to 16000+ steps for the day.

Hedge cutting a bit of ours tomorrow but mainly the guy over the road's hedge, as a favour which reminds me I did a litter pick too and collected a lot of rubbish which was disappointing. Almost all of it was the usual litter from fast food, drinks bottle, cans and smoking stuff. I found it more depressing than usual for some reason.

Ragcity

We loved the weekend at the festival. Ragcity was organised by Glen and his band and it was an amazing thing for them to put this together. The 48 hours on site were just great fun with a wide range of musical styles in evidence. We loved seeing so many differing groups and individuals and there was a lovely vibe throughout.

Joseph enjoyed the freedom of the fields and was constantly playing football and throwing a tennis ball around. We loved having the motorhome parked right up close to everything, had an electric hook up and the rather mixed forecast turned out to be wide of the mark, some strong winds early on but plenty of sunshine too and just a couple of showers.

Already looking forward to the next one.