27^th June 2021

 

Dear All,

Well tough times afoot with football, cricket, rugby, F1. Tour de France and Wimbledon all on it is going to be tricky fitting them all in!

Highlight of this week was an Over Gardening club visit to Impington Mill gardens. A couple took on the project 20 years ago as there was an overgrown area of 1.5 acres but they were not interested in the windmill. However, they have largely restored the mill and created an interesting garden. One feature is their compost area of 12 tilting bins so that the contents can be turned as they pass through the system.

 

 

Impington Windmill

 

 

Mill Cottage

 

 

Pottager Bed

 

 

Turning Compost Bins

 

Lowlight of the week has been my emails being hacked. I couldn’t access them for a day and called in “Stan the Computer Man”. It took him 1.5 hours to sort with two phone calls to BT. He discovered that the emails had been diverted to a third party so were lost to me. Evidently, they build up a picture of you that they can use in a Scam using your identity!

 

Our Thursday walk started at Sturmer beyond Haverhill and skirted Haverhill to Little Wratting, great Wratting, Kedington and back along the Stour Valley Way. It was good conditions for walking but parts of the Stour Valley Way were surprisingly overgrown. One farm yard had experienced a very serious barn fire.Kate came on the walk this week and made it round OK. She is still gradually improving but gets tired every evening and the steroids seem to affect her sleep pattern.

 

The Red Lion, Sturmer

 

 

Stour tributary near Haverhill

 

 

Serious Barn Fire

 

I watched Over cricket team yesterday who fielded a weakened team as one member held a stag do in the Lake District. What are things coming to when cricketers get married in the season? The remnants performed well but lost by one wicket in a close finish.

The theme of the photos in the Cambridge News this week was “Cambridgeshire” and I had a picture of Fleam Dyke printed.

 

 

Fleam Dyke

 

With love

Mike & Kate

 

 

20^th June 2021

 

Dear All,

I have had four meals out this week so things must be getting back to normal? On Tuesday I met up with three walking mates at the White Horse, Oakington for lunch and catch up. One of them, Howell has an interesting life story. He was raised in North Wales near Liverpool but emigrated to USA when he left school. He joined the America army and ended up in the Korean war. After he enrolled in a university and to pay his way joined the Chrysler Motors production line in Detroit as a welder and still has the scars from sparks on his arms. After graduating he started a company with a colleague selling revolving projection machinery for adverts but it did not work out so he took up teaching in Detroit which was hair raising in mostly black schools. He had a spell in the Norwegian merchant navy before returning to the UK as a customs officer, a statistician and a care worker.

In the evening I had a first Garden Club talk for some time at Swaffham Prior and another walking group member Jutta, who lives in the village invited Kate and I for dinner before the talk. She is German by origin and lost her husband 4 years ago. She has carried on living in their home a large converted barn in which she must rattle!

The third meal was at Coton after the Thursday walk. I went by myself this week as Kate had a medical phone appointment. The weather was drizzly and overcast and several degrees cooler than earlier in the week, the route took in Madingley, Madingley Hall and the 800 Wood planted to mark 800 years of Cambridge University.

 

 

Coton

 

 

Madingley Hall Gatehouse

 

 

Madingley Hall

 

The fourth meal on Friday was in Southend where Kate and I travelled to meet Esther, Emma and Emma’s mother Ruth to suss out a possible venue for a get together to mark our Golden Wedding when restrictions are lifted. It was the Roslin Beach Hotel where E & E spent their brief honeymoon. We wanted somewhere south of here to be more convenient for the rest of the family, however we decided it was not ideal as it was a long way, had limited parking, expensive and Southend was not looking it’s best in the rain!

 

 

Southend (Pier in the distance)

 

 

Roslin Beach Hotel

 

 

Ruth, Emma, Esther & Kate

 

I recorded 26mm (over 1” rain Thursday/Friday, we certainly needed it but these days it never seems to know when to stop.

We had a surprise delivery this week of a cheese hamper from Dave & Ellie (who we went to Derbyshire last year) to mark our 50 years.

 

 

Cheese Hamper

 

And I am grateful for the cards and gifts from my daughters to mark Father’s Day – I am unwrapping them slowly to make it last!

 

 

Father’s Day Loot

 

You may have noticed that there is a football tournament going on? I have watched several matches, especially now it has started to rain. It all seems to be following a pattern: England struggling to keep up with expectations, Germany coming good – but you never know!

Kate seems to be responding to the steroid treatment, but it is early days.

With love

Mike & Kate

 

 

13^th June 2021

 

Dear All,

We have just enjoyed a sunny week in Derbyshire – are words you seldom hear, but in this case are true! Kate and I stayed in Darwin Forest near Matlock with Kate’s sister Sue and husband John, who own a log cabin on the site. This is rented out most of the year and they use it for a couple of weeks. The site is 30 years old and well blended into the forest. It is a bit like a less intense Centre Parks with a swimming pool which we used every day, restaurant, shop, bikes, putting course etc.

 

 

Darwin Forest

 

We travelled up Sunday afternoon when it was raining on and off with a particularly heavy downpour on the M1. On Monday we all visited Bakewell market, had a picnic by the River Wye then discovered Arbor Low which is described as the “Midlands Stonehenge”. It is a large circle of stones, now all fallen over, surrounded by a trench. In the evening we met up with Kate’s brother Phil, partner Mandy and daughter Natasha for a meal at the Hurt Arms at Ambergate. We hadn’t seen the females since Esther and Emma’s wedding and Phil for some time before then.

 

 

River Wye, Bakewell

 

 

Picnic in Bakewell

 

Arbor Low

 

 

Phil, Mandy & Natasha

On Tuesday Kate and I went to Chatsworth to view the gardens which we had seen featured on a recent Kew lecture. They are very spacious and some areas outstanding apart from the well-known Cascade and Emperor fountain. The Kitchen Garden is very impressive. After we climbed up to the Tower and lake above the estate which was rather further than it looked!

 

 

Chatsworth House

 

 

Candelabra Primulas and Polygonums

 

 

Emperor fountain

 

 

Chatsworth Tower

On Wednesday Kate wanted to explore home territory taking in Scarthin Book shop in Cromford, her parents graves, Black Rocks and the backstreets of Wirksworth. We met up with Mandy, Sue and John for lunch in Wirksworth then Kate and I did a walk round Alderwasley. The flower meadows were particularly impressive. This was followed by an exploration of the farm and a cup of tea at Bolehill. Kate always finds the running down of the farm and surroundings rather depressing and not quite matching childhood memories.

 

 

Black Rocks

 

 

Ash Farm - overgrown

On Thursday we ventured north to Renishaw Hall beyond Chesterfield, but on the way, we called in at the Red Lion at Kelstedge, where we had our wedding reception 50 years ago. It was the first time we have been back and it had gone upmarket, very smart now with a hotel built on the back. Renishaw Hall is a vast edifice home to the Sitwell family for over 350 years. The gardens were well maintained and certainly worth a visit featuring a Laburnum tunnel, a large lake and endless box hedge borders. In the evening we had a meal at the “Remarkable Hare” in Matlock.

 

 

Renishaw Hall

 

 

Laburnum Tunnel

 

 

Renishaw Hall, Bottom Border

 

We left just after 8am on Friday and were home by 10.30am just in time to prepare the cricket pitch for Saturday. The garden had changed a good deal in a week with mange tout peas, carrots, broad beans and cucumbers all ready for harvest and everything needing hoeing.

 

 

Produce

Kate had been suffering for a week or more before we went away with painful joints which were particularly severe in the mornings. She had been treating the symptoms with pain killers hoping they would go away. Being Kate, she had resisted going to the doctors but after it was obvious that it wasn’t going away and some nagging, she phoned from Derbyshire but when asked if it was an emergency she replied “no” was given a phone appointment 9 days hence. When we arrived home, she was clearly suffering so I phoned the surgery and told them it was an emergency and they arranged a telephone conversation the same day followed by a face-to-face examination. The upshot is that she has been diagnosed as almost certainly suffering from Polymyalgia Rheumatica and been put on steroids. She has to have blood tests tomorrow for confirmation. The tablets are working after only 2 days which is a relief but of course steroids come with their own side effects so she is to be closely monitored.

With love

Mike & Kate

 

 

 

6^th June 2021

 

Dear All,

Absence makes the heart grow fonder – or so it’s claimed, and we were certainly very pleased to entertain Mary-Ann and the grandchildren this week. They arrived just after lunch on Monday and stayed until lunchtime Friday. The garden and pond kept them occupied Monday afternoon as Albert discovered a fossil (apricot stone) and Amélie found newts in the pond. During a trip to the allotments, we were surprised to find a French Partridge sitting on 10 eggs. It was brilliantly camouflaged – worthy of Springwatch.

 

 

Eggs

 

 

 

French Partridge

 

On Tuesday they tested the play equipment on the Green then we went down to the lakes at the Manderson Trust where John Lane guided them through some serious fishing. The lakes are well stocked and they were both successful catching about 14 fish between them including some 1.5 to 2lb carp. The lakes were very peaceful on a hot sunny day. In the afternoon it was back to the river for swimming and paddling. It was fairly crowded with 22 cars and about 50 people milling about. It wasn’t all pleasure as we cleaned both cars which involved some tricky Hove seagull poo removal from theirs.

 

 

Skillful Anglers

 

 

2lb Carp

On Wednesday I filled up Ken Elsom’s garden with spare squash and pumpkin plants then we had an outing to La Pergola an Italian restaurant at Eversden, with an outdoor play area. The service was not very quick but the food was good with several Italians present, which is always a good sign. From there we explored the Orwell Clunch pit with steep climbs up to a cave.

 

 

Clunch Pit & cave

 

 

Toothless Albert enjoying breakfast of?

 

On Thursday Grace and Arthur come round for a playdate then we were pleased to have a visit from Jackie en route to Derby from Beaumont. She was meeting Richard in Derby to have their 2^nd Covid jabs. After lunch we went to the Woodhurst Raptor Centre. They have a good collection of birds and put on a flying display. There is also a reptile area plus Meercats and Tortoises.

 

Mary-Ann, Albert, Amelie & Jackie

 

 

 

Inmate & Handler

 

Friday was Cricket pitch preparation so the children played on the swings etc on the Green. They finally left after lunch but it had been raining heavily further south and the traffic on the M11 and M25 was badly disrupted by a vehicle fire and a multivehicle crash. It took them 3 hours to get to Esther and Emma’s where they stopped for respite. As the traffic still did not clear they eventually stayed in Hutton for the night reaching home about 10am Saturday morning, about 19 hours after they left Over!

As we are off to Derbyshire for the week this afternoon much of Saturday was spent getting the garden and allotment weeded and in a fit state to leave for a while. I watched cricket in the afternoon with Over winning easily: Ely 2nds 85 v Over 86 for 2. It was very warm and enjoyable to watch.

We started new potatoes this week with some Casablanca grown in a pot.

 

 

Casablanca

 

 

 

With love

Mike & Kate