24th June 2018

Dear All,

Last weekend we travelled south with Over Garden Club for five days in Dorset, staying in Bournemouth and visiting six gardens plus a day in Winchester. On the way down we stopped at Greys Court in Oxfordshire which is a National Trust property with an unusually comfortable house and a garden enhanced by a sculpture display. The main eye catching feature was a rose walk.

Greys Court

On the second day we called in at Bournemouth Tropical Garden which did not amount to much and was in need of a little TLC and then spent the afternoon at Compton Acres where the outstanding feature is their Japanese garden.

Compton Acres Japanese Garden

The following day it was Abbotsbury Tropical garden in the morning and Bennett’s Water Garden in the afternoon. The Water garden is a huge area of flooded ex brickwork ponds filled with hundreds of waterlilies.

Abbotsbury Tropical Garden

Bennett’s Water Garden

On Monday we had a guided tour of Winchester which we did not know very well and were very impressed.

Winchester Cathedral

On the way back the scheduled visit was to Wisley which was not a novelty for me but fortunately a meeting of the Vegetable Panel was planned for that day to inspect summer cauliflowers, shallots and aubergines so I was able to save a drive round the M25.

On Wednesday I took some of my cricket colleagues to Lloyds at Letchworth to view pitch mowers. They are the state of the art for cricket wickets but new ones start at £5,000! They offer reconditioned versions for as little as £3,000 so we will have to save up!

Thursday’s walk was rather different from the usual in that we travelled to London and walked the Regents Canal path from Little Venice to Limehouse Basin. It was an excellent walk through Regents Park then Camden Market, Islington to Canary Wharf where we caught a boat to the Embankment and the tube back to Kings Cross. Some of the buildings en route are spectacular especially the gas holder s converted to flats at Kings Cross.

Camden Lock

Kings Cross Gas Holders

Canary Wharf

I was judging Stapleford Fruit & Veg Show yesterday but it was a fairly poor turn out. Both Over cricket teams won again yesterday and the first team are now top of their league.

Love

Mike & Kate

10th June 2018

Dear All,

It has been a week of catching up in the garden and sadly deaths – three friends passed on last week. Colin King was a fellow football and cricketer who contacted motor neuron disease, Valerie McGill had been a member of the U3A walking group and Tom Webster was my old boss at NIAB. Tom had lost a leg after a skiing accident and then gangrene 4 or 5 years ago then had to have the other leg removed last month and did not recover enough to leave hospital.

The garden was almost unrecognisable after our week in Italy as everything seemed to have doubled in size – including the weeds. It is now paying dividends with new potatoes, broad beans, peas, lettuce and strawberries all on stream.

On Thursday we walked the third section of the “Stour Valley Path” from Nayland to Henny near Sudbury taking in Wormingford, Bures and Lamarsh. You do not see much of the river on this section but some splendid rural countryside and crops. The wheat looked really good: standing, uniform and not much blackgrass.

Near Wormingford

Near Bures

 Bures

The Stour at Bures

North of Bures

Near Lamarsh

Henny

Henny

Henny Swan

Ben flew to America on Thursday starting at Denver and heading north, Esther is speaking at a conference in Belfast starting tomorrow and with Mary-Ann, Andy and family back in Stockholm we seem to have the globe covered this week!

Love
Mike & Kate

3^rd June 2018

Dear All,

We have just returned from a week in Italy on the Amalfi Coast. We travelled with “Exodus” in a group of 16 – the group included six American ladies celebrating the 60^th birthday of one of their number. Initially this did not look too promising but they turned out to be the life and soul and made for a lively week! The weather was hot – over 30°C each day and the walking was challenging, as flat land is very scarce so there were many steps or climbs up and down, but the scenery was spectacular. We stayed in a family run hotel in a mountain village called Bomerano, which was good because the coastal towns were very busy. The approach however included some serious Z bends and skilful driving – the bus drivers certainly earn their money. The soil in fantastic for growing being of volcanic origin so it was intensively cultivated the standard of vegetable growing was very high.

Bomerano Garden

The first day we walked down to Almalfi which involved about 2,500 steps and passed Mussolini’s Palace and Sophia Loren’s house. We had a swim to cool off but the beach was too hot to stand on with bare feet.

Bomerano from Amalfi Walk

The next day we started with a visit to a Mozzarella cheese factory then climbed up Mount Tre Calli. This was a challenging climb but we made it with frequent stops and the views towards the Bay of Naples and the Island of Capri were spectacular.

Positano from Tre Calli

Tre Calli

On Tuesday we visited Pompeii and Vesuvius. Pompeii was larger than I expected and was brought to life with a knowledgeable guide. At Vesuvius we were allowed to walk round the rim with a volcanologist. This was a little scary as Health & Safety has not yet reached this part of Italy and the walk involved a narrow crumbling path with a 300’ drop into the crater with no handrails to spoil the view. It is difficult to imagine this being allowed back home!

Pompeii with Vesuvius

Vesuvius Crater

Wednesday’s walk was entitled “The Walk of the Gods” from Bomerano to Positano along the cliff. It was one of the best walks I have ever done with flowers, rocks, sea views and of course 1000 steps down to Positano. We had a swim there then caught a boat back to Amalfi.

Walk of the Gods

Thursday was a free day and the choices offered a visit to Herculaneum, a trip to Capri or more local walks. Herculaneum was expensive and involved a decent bus ride – those who went thought it was better than Pompeii. We opted for a local walk down to the beach at Praiano with four others. This proved to be an adventure as we got lost three times and the descent was quite steep but eventually we enjoyed a cold drink and a swim. Walking back was not an attractive option; three opted for a taxi at 110 euros! The rest of us caught the bus which was not straight forward as the driver said “you need to buy a ticket in Almafi”, “but we are going to Almafi”; eventually we were let on as long as we rushed to a shop to buy a ticket in town. The next leg from Almafi to Bomerano, the bus was 25 minutes late and there was an absolute scrum to get on with not everyone successful. We managed it – it was all part of the experience and the total cost was 3.20 euros.

Walk down to Praiano

The last walk was from Ravello to Almafi. We started with a look round Ravello especially two Villas: Cimbrone and Rufolo which were both worthwhile then the walk returned to Amalfi via lemon groves and a nature park. The lemons in the area were incredible and it is claimed that this year is the best yield for 20 years. We had a tour of Amalfi cathedral before returning the 30 minutes and 50 bends to Bomerano.

Villa Rufolo, Ravello

Lemon Grove

The journey home was a little tortuous: bus to Naples airport, flight to Zurich, 2 hour wait, flight to Heathrow, Hoppa bus to hotel, drive home arriving 11 pm.

Love

Mike & Kate