Ducks and daffs in Derbyshire

What a lovely Easter Sunday. We walked round to R & S's in the warm sunshine, to join our family and S's parents for a wonderful meal, with added entertainment from the grandchildren. We finished the evening playing Wii games. I'll never make a driver! In the meantime, our youngest son had driven down to Gloucester to bring E back from her friend's hen 'do'.

I managed to get down to the plot on Bank Holiday Monday, where I filled a large plastic container with a mix of composted material, bought compost, sharp sand, and some fertilizer, before scattering carrot seeds on the top, and covering with a couple of layers of fleece. The replacement batch of broad beans were planted and temporarily covered with a fleece tunnel, which I'm hoping to remove in the next day or so. At home, there are more beans on their way up. All the other seedlings are coming on well too. Before leaving the allotments, I gave four posts (thanks Peter) a coat of green shed paint. These will be knocked in each side of my two arches, for extra support.

A & E were due to join us for a meal on Tuesday evening, as we hadn't seen them on Easter Sunday. Our friends D & D had just returned from a long weekend in Paris, so we asked them along too. Anticipating our forthcoming holiday, I couldn't resist the Greek theme. So we started with 'big beans', followed by slow roasted lamb with lemon potatoes and briam, then ice cream and cherries. I was rather proud of my briam, although not yet quite up to scratch. Poor A, who was still feeling rather rough after a bout of sickness, made a good attempt at the meal. It was the first time we had had a full contingent around our new table, and I hope we'll enjoy many more happy times around it in the future.

How beautiful Derbyshire looked yesterday. The walk began at Ilam, and took us through Dovedale where it was good to see so many families enjoying themselves alongside the river, children playing along the stepping stones, dogs chasing sticks, and people just sitting admiring the views. All along the banks there were splashes of colour from the wild flowers. I have to make sure I'm not left behind in my enthusiasm to take photographs, but I couldn't resist these wild violets. Lunch was taken at Milldale, along with even more people, and ducks.

A steep and heart-racing climb eventually brought us to Alstonefield. Today we are enjoying a clear, blue sky, but there's special about a Derbyshire landscape, with the limestone rocks, steep Spring green slopes and hilltop stands of bare branched trees, when the sun is glancing out between a few large, white and grey clouds. The resulting shadows, cast on the landscape, to me, bring a whole different dimension to the scene. I feel the same about the trees in my gardening. It would never look the same without the diffusion of light through the network of branches, lighting up and focusing interest on different plants and sections of the garden at different times of the day.

Although our leader, M, was a bit disappointed (this being her 'daffodil walk') that the daffs were not fully out, they were bursting into flower in the cottage gardens and along the lanes. The snowdrops had been late this year, but I swear they have been better than ever, so maybe it will be the same with the daffodils. The fields were full of sheep and lambs, and we were fortunate to be walking past a mother with her newly born triplets. We stood quietly for a few moments, concerned about one lamb in particular that wasn't moving, but nature knows best, and we left them to it. Through the woods, alongside the river, on our way back to Ilam there were large patches of wood anemones and enough wild garlic to keep all the trendy restaurants happy. I tested a bit. Very fresh and crunchy and just perfect for a salad. The taste stayed with me until we reached Ilam Hall, where we stopped for tea and cakes, and I enjoyed a very good, light as a feather scone.

Must get out. There are jobs to be done on the allotment, in the garden and the greenhouse.