Venturing further afield

We returned from our third caravan adventure on Saturday. This time it was to the CCC site at The Millpond, Little Tarrington, a few miles from Hereford. What a lovely place to camp, alongside a fishing lake, edged with a wide variety of flowering and fruiting trees, and lots of entertaining ducks and waterfowl. The first couple of days were OK, with warm and sunny moments, and we had the chance to sit outside in our new chairs. I took this photo on the first evening - the moon reflected in the lake. I couldn't resist another shot, this time of the teasles, with the moon in the background.

However, things went downhill from then, with heavy rain, black skies and thunder. Still, we donned our waterproofs and made the best of it, visiting Much Marcle with its magnificent church and equally magnificent hollow yew tree, estimated to be about 1500 years old! Then on to Hereford where, after exploring the cathedral, and its Mappa Mundi and chained library, we asked a local postman if he could recommend a good pub. 'The Barrels' (ex 'The Lamb') turned out to be perfect (except they didn't do food, so we had to manage on crisps). Faced with quite a choice of beers, we were duly offered quite generous tasters from each pump, eventually settling for the 'Butty' (I think this was its name). Before leaving Hereford we enjoyed a late lunch in the Cornish pasty shop.

It was a bit too wet for enjoyment in Ross-on-Wye, the next day, although we wished we'd found Parkfields Gallery on the High Street a bit sooner, as it was almost closing time. Definitely somewhere I'd like to browse around again. There were some excellent paintings, pottery items, and other works of art, all by British craftspeople.

The following day, we called into Ethos, a fair-trade shop close to the camp site, where I bought a rather bright and wacky necklace (to match up with some earrings I'd bought at Canwell Show) before driving on to Ledbury. Again, we fell lucky with a good pub, 'The Prince of Wales' on Church Lane. The local banter was quite entertaining, as we enjoyed our excellent sandwiches and beers. We called into two little museums, then on to the church, where a wedding was soon to take place. The organ was playing, the bells ringing, and some of the guests arriving, but we weren't asked to leave. I wouldn't have been surprised if we could have just sat at the back during the ceremony, and no one would have noticed us, in this huge church. Still, we opted to stand outside in the rain, and await the arrival of the bride, due at 3.30pm. At 3.45 she still hadn't arrived. One of the guests said that 'Sharon is always late'. It was wet and miserable, so we gave up and headed back to the car park. I hope she eventually made it.

The return journey, on Saturday, was pretty grim on the motorways, with heavy rain and spray. All good experience for new caravan owners. Where will it be next time?

Yesterday - a fine day at last - was allotment day. What happens to those courgettes when you turn your back on them? Well - they grow and grow and grow - into marrows! I came home at lunch time with the makings of a harvest festival. (I'd already given away some of the produce on the way home). As well as the forementioned courgettes, there were potatoes (Rocket), French Beans (Cobra), runner beans (Red Rum and 'Brian's Seed'), squashes (Hooligan), raspberries (Autumn Bliss), carrots, beetroot, turnips, my first sweetcorn and a mixture of tomatoes from the greenhouse. Even the apples (Queen Cox)on the new tree seemed to have grown larger over the past four days, and the plums (Thames Cross) were turning purple. After lunch, it was back to the plot, this time to do a bit of tidying up, weeding, tying in (the squash on the arch, and growing up some wigwams), and dead-heading of the flowers on the front of the plot.

The garden has been taking a battering in this wet and stormy weather. On our arrival home from Herefordshire I was disappointed to find my bright red gladioli, planted in large pots, all bent over double. So there was nothing for it, but to cut the stems and bring them indoors. I won't grow them in pots again as there's not enough depth to take supporting canes.

What we've mainly 'bean' eating

It's a bit of a monsoon out there today, so perhaps this could be an opportunity to do something with the most recent pickings of beans. That is the climbing French, 2 varieties of dwarf French, black-podded, Brittlewax and 2 varieties of runners. The best, in my opinion are the climbing French 'Cobra' with their long, crisp and stringless pods, full of flavour. The flowers are pretty good too. We miss visiting the plot for a day or two and there are even more beans waiting. The plan is to cook some down - possibly by steaming - until they are still slightly crisp. Then I will add garlic and tinned tomatoes (I wish it could be some of my own large toms, but they are very slow to ripen) and pop them in the oven for a short while, making sure the beans still retain a bit of bite. Once cooled they can go into the freezer in small containers. Hopefully this will be more successful than frozen runners, which are, in my opinion, pretty grim. What other plotters do with their vast walls of runners, I can't imagine. I'm thinking of having only one wigwam of of them next year, as the 'Cobra' are so good.

Along with the beans, we are also eating our way through the courgettes. Again, a couple of days away from the plot and the round ones double in size, but they have a good, sweet flavour - we had one, last night, stuffed with left-over spag bol (including some of the pasta, chopped up small), with the addition of a bit of cumin. A week or so ago I made soup from 3 white 'Snowball' turnips (not including the root-fly affected parts!), courgette and onion, with some Swiss vegetable bouillon powder. Once cooked down and liquidised, the result was very tasty and it looked good - a pale, creamy green. Yesterday I repeated the recipe, using the excess pulp from the courgette that I was using for the meal, but as there was none of the courgette skin included, I added a little green cabbage, mainly for the colour. The white turnips add a bit of bulk to what would be a rather watery mixture, and they also have a good, peppery flavour.

On the plot, the sweet peas have continued to flower for weeks. As they deserved a bit of attention I've tidied the plants up a bit, removing dead foliage and seed pods, and given them another feed, with the hope that they'll continue to produce more flowers. Our house smells wonderful.

I don't hold out much hope for the one 'Blue Hubbard' winter squash, as I keep forgetting to feed it, and it is still rather small. Still, on one of the arches, the small squash plants are gradually making their way up to the top, with a bit of help and a lot of tying-in, and the small squashes are beginning to form. As planned, the golden flowers look good alongside the blue Morning Glories. Somewhere amongst all the foliage is a Black-eyed Suzie too.

The rain has been very welcome, as far as the plants are concerned. But now I'm looking forward to a bit of hot, sunny weather, and the chance to spending a warm, summer evening, sitting under the heavily laden grape vine, with a glass of wine and a good book.

Happy Days, but first a grumble

It's been a very busy week and as far as the blog is concerned, there's lots of catching up. But, first my grumble.

Why, given the state of the roads, local and otherwise, has there recently been resurfacing work taking place in a number of minor roads and cul-de-sacs in the Mere Green area? Last week, too top it all, a number of men and their re-surfacing equipment began work on the pavement opposite the shops. No- not immediately outside the shops, but alonside the Lichfield road, where hardly anyone walks. What was the point? This must have been quite a costly operation. In the meantime, motorists are forced to swerve to avoid the ever deepening pot-holes. It's bad enough in a car, but particularly dangerous for cyclists and bikers. While I'm in my 'Mrs Grumpy of Mere Green' mode, I must mention the ongoing saga of the traffic island. From a perfectly reasonable island, planted up with a few shrubs and bright annuals, it was, some time ago, suddenly transformed into a mound of ill-chosen stones. After the local vandals used these as missiles, some of the stones were removed. There were a few, rather sad bedding plants around the perimeter, but it wasn't long before they shrivelled up, only to be replaced by weeds, which remained there for some weeks. (I believe the island was been 'transformed' for 'ease and safety of maintenance'. Oh yes! Now we have a few agapanthus and grasses amongst the arid looking stones. No - it does not look like a designer gravel garden (which, in any case would be totally inappopriate for the location). It looks a mess, and will look even worse in the winter! Moans over, let's get onto the happy stuff.

Wednesday was spent walking in the countryside with my son, A. I was checking out a walk I'd planned for the walking club. We parked at Wetton Mill and made our way up Ladyside Wood, towards Grindon, then on to Ford and Onecote, where we stopped for lunch in a handy bus shelter with seat. I'd added an extra loop, in case the walk was too short, but it turned out to be a bit of a problem as the paths had not been used for some time and was hard to follow, as we struggled through the long, wet grass. So, on our return to Onecote I decided we'd give it a miss for the club walk in September. The countryside was quite beautiful and peaceful, and only met one other couple and a handful of locals all day. We continued across the heather on Grindon Moor, and down the fields to Butterton where we had trouble finding the planned path. However, after making a few mistakes and asking for help from a farmer, we made our way back towards Wetton Mill along the side of the brook, edged by wild flowers and watermint, watching butterflies and birds along the way. A super day with my lovely son.

The following day Mike and I took our grandchildren to Blists Hill. We had a lot of fun and I even got to go on the carousel, which brought back a lot of memories. When I was a little girl, in Liverpool, my gran used to take me across the Mersey on the ferry to Birkenhead, where I loved to go on the carousel, although I felt quite scared, sitting astride the large horse, gripping on for dear life with, apparently, a very miserable look on my face. I think it was just fear. Mike took our grandson (who didn't look a bit frightened) on the carousel and our granddaughter won a prize on the shooting gallery. I can thoroughly recommend the chip shop - the chips, fried in beef dripping, were the best I've tasted for a long time, and the children were taught the art of making a paper cone, in which the chips were served. The 'lads' went off for a ride on the little train into the clay mine, and we girls explored some of the houses and offices. We were all rather tired when we arrived home, but it had been a fun-packed day.

The following evening we had our neighbours P & G round for a meal. They are soon leaving us, to live in Spain and although we have only known them for a short while, we shall certainly miss them.

First thing Saturday morning I was up at the Allotments with my completed entry form for the Annual Show, before heading off to the much larger Canwell Show, where we met up with our daughter-in-law and the grandchildren. This was to be another good day out. It was worth being there for the Cossack Horse display alone. After the previous day out at Blists Hill and wandering round the showground all afternoon, we were ready for a sit, so we found a space on the grass in front of the excellent band, for a while. Then it was home to prepare my entries for our own show, for the following morning.

Sunday morning, and Mike dropped me off at the clubhouse with four of my five entries. This year I didn't try so hard. After all, we'd eaten most of the produce before show day. Then it was back home with some flowers off the plot, to assemble my small arrangement. Last year was my first show, and that was good, but I think this was even better, with some excellent entries. Despite the fact that I hadn't made much of an effort, I won a 1st for my fruit cake, 3rd for the lemon drizzle cake and 1st for the small flower arrangement - and 2nd for the Best Dressed Shed. And even better news that Hill Allotments had come 2nd in all Birmingham this year (we were 1st last year). All our family joined us during the afternoon (apart from our eldest son, who was away on his annual Hillman Imp 'do'). We returned home with A & E, who joined us for a meal of homegrown vegetables and delicious sausages (bought from the Canwell Show). Well done to the organisers of our own show, and may it continue to thrive.

Yesterday we had a bit of a rest, although I did spend some time on the plot, dead-heading and listening to the birds.

The Best Dressed Shed Competition

Sunday was the Best Dressed Shed competition, and because I like doing arty things I thought I'd give it a go. By the time Mike & I arrived at the allotments, Wendy & Carl's mini-shed was bedecked to perfection, in patriotic style, with union flags, and a little table complete with kettle, all ready for a good British cuppa. As for me, well at the last minute I'd had second thoughts about the object of the competition. Was it to be a 'best dressed(up) shed' or just a very tidy looking shed? In the event, we rushed down on Sunday morning, and hastily transformed the boring, green shed into a bright beach hut, with the aid of sheets of red, blue and yellow wrapping paper and just about enough drawing pins to hold it on, hoping that the wind wouldn't get up. My friend had lent me her yellow deck-chair and some seaside postcards, we'd borrowed a bucket and spade from our grandchildren (plus a little sand),plus the yellow sun brolly that already lives in the shed, and a seagull I'd made from card and paper, hanging from the arch. It was all good fun, and hopefully we can have another go, next year. As for winning or not, well it's the taking part that matters, really.

It was good to see Hazel again. I hadn't seen her for some time, but she had been otherwise engaged with her new kitchen extension. I think she would appreciate this photo, which I have entitled 'Spud-u-like'. She was very proud of this large specimen. In fact, Sunday turned out to be a good day for catching up with the 'girls' on the allotments - Hazel, Wendy, Chris, Marion and Sue.

Last night our eldest son and family came round for a meal. Apart from the beef, almost every ingredient had come from my plot - potatoes, carrots, a variety of beans, and rhubarb and redcurrants for the pudding. I'd cooked down the fruit, with sugar, in the microwave. When it was cool, I put it into a flan dish, and covered it with about five layers of filo pastry (brushed with melted butter between layers). Then I decorated the top with pecan nuts. The first time I made it I brushed melted honey over the top layer, but as I'd run out of honey this time, I used melted apricot jam (taking care cover the nuts too). Then into the oven, Gas Mark 5, for about half an hour. Lovely with creme fraiche.