29th November 2009

29th November 2009.

Dear All,

We have just returned from Hutton where we have had lunch with Esther and Mary-Ann. M-A has spent the weekend with Esther shopping and preparing for Christmas so Kate and I drove down after the am service. Both journeys were blessed with torrential downpours which made driving interesting.
I returned to walking this week after missing 3 weeks with work and ankle problems. It was a bit painful to start with but improved on the home straight and has been better since. We started from The Crown at Northill beyond Biggleswade and the walk was a good one via Ickwell (huge village green) Shuttleworth and Old Warden.

Old Warden Cottage


Old Warden Church

Another Old Warden residence

I have spent most spare time this week with a chainsaw cutting up our demolished shed and branches from the bottom hedge. It is only a small 14” blade machine so quite hard work for it but it has got through a decent pile so we are set for a cold winter and lit our first log fire last night.
Otherwise I have been catching up on winter digging clearing the runner beans (a record late date), dahlias, gladioli etc.
On Tuesday Kate and I attended a U3A science lecture on “Disease, Experimentation and Physiology” There was a lot about cholera and salt absorption but not as lucid as some in the series.
We had a meal at “The Exhibition” following the cricket club AGM on Monday, Kate told her story at Groups on Tuesday and I watched Over 1 v 1 Gt Shelford on Saturday. We invested in a new “slimline” TV this week to replace the free monster we had before. We celebrated having a working DVD by watching “The Green Mile” last night.

Love

Mike & Kate

22nd November 2009

22nd November 2009.

Dear All,

It was good to see most of you at David’s Septuagintual anniversary. The links between Frinton and old age will be even more strongly reinforced from now on.
I have spent half of this week at Peterborough for the biennial Onion & Carrot Conference which is held at the showground. There were 14 speakers on onions Wednesday and 9 on carrots on Thursday. You forget how much concentration it takes to sit through solid days of presentations. Wednesday was especially stretching as 6 of the speakers were foreign with varying grasps of English. NIAB had a display in the exhibition hall and I attended the conference dinner with our new lady director to help present a trophy, as an onion won the NIAB cup for the best new variety (of all crops in trial) for the first time. The guest speaker was Greg Wallace of Masterchef fame. We had the joy of sitting at the same table as he entertained everyone within shouting distance with his cockney wit and charm.

Nigel Kingston & Tina Barsby


Greg Wallace

Our college visit on Monday was to Girton which is deceptively large both the accommodation and the grounds. There is an ancient orchard with heritage varieties, a Fellows garden in which only they can tread and a large lake from which they dug the gravel to construct the original buildings.


Girton College

Girton Lake

Kate and I have been demolishing the shed at the bottom of the garden as it was decaying beyond sensible repair and have ordered a replacement. We now have quite a large heap of timber to saw up. Kate has been struggling with a cold and had Saturday afternoon disrupted by taking Toni and her two moderately behaved boys to Chesterton Hospital as she (Toni) has a severe chest infection. My ankle is much better but not yet 100%.
There are several interesting exhibits in the garden this week as we have harvested sweet potatoes, fennel, chilli peppers and peanuts.


Sweet Potatoes

Fennel

Chili Peppers

Peanuts

Love

Mike & Kate

15th November 2009

Some photos from Davids 70th attached

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8th November 2009

8th November 2009.

Dear All,

Kate and I have just returned from a couple of days in Banbury courtesy of Tesco's and their voucher scheme. It was slightly marred by the fact that I have been hobbling with a swollen ankle for over a week. It is being treated as gout but is slow to clear this time. We managed to walk/limp the historic town circuit, started some Christmas shopping and explored some local villages by car. Although it is not quite the Cotswolds it is very close with picture book stone cottages and rolling countryside.
Another downside was the fact that my camera lost a vital component – metal fatigue? So although I managed to improvise with a tooth pick I may have to fall back onto archive footage in future weeks!



Banbury Cross



A Fine Lady



Deddington Village


Kings Sutton

Our college visit this week was to Wolfson, one of the newer establishments where the gardens are run by two former NIAB men so needless to say were very good. Sir Vivian Fuchs once lived in the grounds and the weather vane bears an image of his dog sledge and team.


Wolfson College


Medlars at Wolfson

I had to miss the walk this week anyway even if I had not been lame as we had our annual onion open day on Thursday where the great and good of the onion world were gathered. I think that standing up all day did not do me too much good but needs must…


Onion OpenDay

We joined the Thursday church group at Sutton to celebrate Gordon’s birthday. They have purchased an enormous dining table which sat 15 of us on new banqueting style chairs.
We hope to see some of you next weekend at Beaumont, meanwhile have a good week.

Love

Mike & Kate

1st November 2009

1st November 2009.

Dear All,

Kate and I had a strenuous weekend walking in Staffordshire based at Leek. We drove up on Saturday when the weather did not look too promising but it cheered up in the afternoon for a circular tour of Leek led by Aubrey Bould, an ex NIAB colleague who was born there. Like most leaders he is economical with the truth re distances so 5 miles turned out to be 8. We stayed in the Peak Weavers hotel where the wife was an excellent chef, trained by Gary Rhodes.
The main walk was on Sunday starting from Alstonfield via Wetton, crossing the Manifold Valley then Grindon, Butterton, Warslow, Ecton Hill (v. steep), Dovedale and Gratton Hill (also v. steep). Again 13 miles turned into 15.5 miles and being wet underfoot it was a good workout for us old flatlanders!

Butterton


Ecton Hill


Dovedale


Climb out of Dovedale

That evening we ate at Sutton Hall, Macclesfield which is a large house formerly owned by the Lucan family and mercifully was not as expensive as it looked!
On Monday we drove to Oakmoor near Alton Towers and walked the Churnet Valley. This was very different and spectacular in the autumn colours. The distance was about 9 miles and we finished at lunchtime and called in at Bolehill to see Phil, Mandy and Natasha.

Churnet Valley

An interesting feature of our walks was watching our normal Cambridge U3A leader Philip trying , and failing to be lead by others – there is an art to leading and an art to being lead – and he only has one of them!
Tuesday I had to go to the Suffolk coast to harvest carrots that had been experimentally treated with zeolite, this involved three sites at Snape, Sutton and Ramsholt so was quite a long day.
I was entrusted with leading the short walk this Thursday (for those who have dropped out of the long walks due to operations or infirmities) It was round the Fen Drayton and Swavesey Pits so reasonably familiar but as it was not our normal route I did a reccie on Wednesday, the sun was out, the lakes stacked with birds and it was fantastic for late October. Thursday was dry but not so sunny but nevertheless it went OK.
We had another CEEM Moldova planning meeting at St Neots on Saturday, Kate came with me and it was quite encouraging. The lorry paperwork has been passed at last so it has been ordered, meanwhile the load has grown and we are likely to get half a 38 tonner. CEEM are planning a youth camp in Burlacu next year as well as visits by the agricultural, medicine, education and faith teams.
During the previous week our college garden visit was to Corpus Christi, Leckhampton Hall. This is a graduate residence with 8 acres of grass and woodland plus an interesting “prairie garden” another hidden gem.

Corpus Christi PrairieGarden

Love

Mike & Kate