28th April 2024

 

Dear All,

Highlight this week is news that the seed which we despatched last Saturday in a dodgy minibus has arrived safely in Leova. It seems these minibuses collect all sorts of items from Moldovans working in the UK and apparently sail through customs with minimal checks. This one had a large stack of hen’s eggs on board.

 

Parcels safely delivered.

 

Less good news is that our car developed an apparent fault in that a red warning light came on with the message: “High Engine Oil Pressure – stop the car immediately” The first time we were just joining the A14 at Ipswich and although the engine cut out it restarted and we reached home thinking it was a warning light failure. However, on Wednesday night it happened again and our friendly local mechanic known as “Diesel” advised not to drive it until fixed as it was a “wet timing belt fault”. Unfortunately, he cannot fix it as he is between workshops and he did not get back until the garage he recommended had knocked off early for the weekend.

Plenty of gardening this week between showers to get ahead while in Moldova. Sowed cucurbits, leeks, sweet corn, Brussel sprouts and calabrese all a little earlier than usual. Planted out parsley, thyme, basil x 5 varieties, some late potatoes surplus to Wimpole Hall (where a friend volunteers) and filled tomato house.

I had a trip to Berrycroft Stores on Wednesday to buy Growbags and pots for Norman Foster’s tomato crop – he was humming and haring about growing any this year as he is over 90 but Rosemary was adamant that he should!

Thursday’s walk started at Chippenham near Newmarket and took in Red Lodge and Kennet. Chippenham is a very smart village once all in the Chippenham Hall estate. Red Lodge is the opposite – a sort of inland Jaywick with a fine selection of vehicle breakers yards! The whole walk was on very light sandy land and quite flat so even though it was 8.5 miles it was not too bad. We crossed the new Anglian Water pipeline bringing water down from Lincolnshire – a 50 cm pipe seems to need a land swathe of about 30 meters! It is 57 Km long starting at Elshan near Brig and ending in Essex planned to transport 265 m litres of water a day.

 

 

Chippenham Village Pump

  

A week-old foal

 

 

A Red Lodge Breakers yard

 

 

Anglian Water Pipeline

In the evening there was a meeting of the Over Produce Show committee with the usual 23 items on the agenda!

The Burrell family arrived 9.15 am Saturday from Norwich and are staying for the weekend.

  

Nathan, Matthew, Arthur, Rachel & Amazing Grace!

 

 Regards

 

Mike & Kate

 

21st April 2024

 

Dear All,

On Monday swimming was followed by working down land after rain then packing. Kate and I booked a couple of nights away in Woodbridge as a spring break! On the way on Tuesday, we explored Felixstowe where Kate had not been previously and I had not visited for many years. My memories were of a rather dull town with a very stoney beach but both these proved to be wrong as the seaside walk in sunshine was quite attractive and there was much more sand on the beach than I remembered. Highlight however was spotting a pod of dolphins swimming someway out to sea. The only downside was Kate damaging a knee while climbing a step and caused her some pain and she was limping for the rest of the week.

 

 Felixstowe North Beach

We were staying at The Bull Hotel in the centre of Woodbridge next to the Shire Hall. It was very old but comfortable with cheerful staff so a good choice apart from the cramped parking space..

On Wednesday we headed for Sutton Hoo to visit the burial ground. Although most of the treasures are in the British Museum, they have replicas and have made the most of what they have. We had a good conducted tour of the grounds after viewing the Exhibition centre. The main surprises were the size of the boat that was in the burial mound – 26 metres long and the fact that the famous helmet was found in dozens of pieces and was initially assembled in the wrong shape!

 Model of Burial Boat

 

 Famous Helmet

 

 The Royal Burial Ground

 

Ornate Buckle

 

In the afternoon we travelled to Hollesley to visit the Suffolk Punch Trust. Apart from the horses there is an interesting museum and several other animals. The main attraction in the afternoon was a demonstration of assembling the full harness and obedience to various commands.

 

Harness Demonstration

 

NOT a Suffolk Punch! (Shetland Pony)

 

On the way back to Woodbridge we had a short walk in Rendleshan Forest.

 

On Thursday we explored Woodbridge then walked via the marina to Woodbridge Museum and Tide Mill. While waiting for the museum to open we noticed “The Longshed” and inside there were several men building a full-size reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo ship. They started with 8 oak trees and have made 26 ribs using 3,598 rivets and aim to complete the job in 2 years.

 

 

Reconstruction

 

The museum was small but well presented and the Tide Mill well worth a visit. We had toured it before with the Covenanters about 30 years ago!

 

 

Tide Mill

 

Low Tide on the River Deben

 

 

On Friday it was a billiard ball haircut, Tesco’s coffee at the Fenwick’s to thank Richard for watering while we were away then sorting Moldova talks and gifts. More planting and sowing on Saturday morning then watched Over 1 v 2 Cambridge University Press in a very good game decided in the last minute. In the evening seed and two laptops were despatched to Moldova via a minibus courier – a new method so fingers crossed!

 

 

Moldova Bound

Regards

 

Mike & Kate

 

14^th April 2024

 

Dear All,

Started the week with an ear syringe to remove wax so can hear what you are thinking perfectly now! Dug much of the lower part of the garden to encourage drying. Mary-Ann, Amḗlie and Albert arrived at lunchtime, Andy had to work and stayed in Hove. First activity was an Easter Egg hunt in case they were suffering from chocolate deficiency! Over playground is currently out of order as it is being renovated so it was off to Willingham which has an excellent playground. The star evening game was “Taco” which enables anyone under 13 to thrash everyone else especially if they are over 70!

 

 Willingham Zip Line

 

On Tuesday I was helped by willing volunteers/slave labour sowing Runner Beans, French Beans, Courgettes, Mustard & Cress and bean sprouts.

Amḗlie presented me with a birthday painting.

  

Artist, Painting and Recipient

  

 Seed Slaves

Esther & Emma popped in after work for a serious evening of games and model making.

On Tuesday John Lane entertained the children at the Fishing Lakes. The fish were not biting very voraciously but Amḗlie caught a couple and no one else at the lakes appeared to catch anything.

 

 

Hopeful Anglers

 

After we travelled to La Pergola Italian restaurant at Eversden. The children managed 3 courses and the adults just one!

 

 

 Pizza demolition

 

Mary-Ann had discovered an abandoned Wormery and brought it up for Kate. They ordered worms on line and these arrived on Thursday so it was set up.

  

Wormery

  

Active Ingredient

 

The Russell’s departed after lunch on Thursday and Kate and I visited Adrian to remove a mattress from his recovery bed.

Friday it was Cricket Pitch work again cutting x 2 and rolling. This was followed by scarifying and cutting again yesterday to try and help it to recover from the damp spring.

In the afternoon it was an exciting outing with Geoff Pake to collect the Firemen’s uniforms which had got as far as Sandy and transfer them to Market Deeping in a box which Geoff had specially built. The destination was Deeping Direct a vast storage unit with 200+ portacabins for collecting good before dispatch. Unfortunately, the charity we are working with only owns 3 of the portacabins and they were all completely full so our box started its journey to Moldova on the roof of a cabin exposed to the elements.

 

 Transport Vehicle

 

 

Resting Place

Saturday was a heavy morning rotovating Adrian’s Garden followed by dismantling my Germination cabinet and planting a few more tomatoes.

In the afternoon I picked up Dave who is currently without a car to watch Swavesey 2 v 3 Over Res.

Regards

 

Mike & Kate

 

7^th April 2024

 

Dear All,

Gardening this year has been like they do in Egypt: as the Nile retreats and leaves dry land so they cultivate. With no meetings this week it has mainly been gardening and home-based activities. On Monday it was dry enough to dig the winter brassica patch at the allotment and the parsnip area here, then I emptied one of the compost bins and planted half the tomatoes in the greenhouse. News then reached me that Dave Harrower the friend who I go to football with had wrapped his car round a tree after a temporary blackout. The car is a write off and he was lucky to escape with a black eye and blurred vision in one eye which turned out to be dried blood.

On Tuesday I scarified the lawn again – it is surprising how much thatch you collect then mended and painted the outdoor table that Dad helped me build. We then had a call to say that Esther and Emma were 10 minutes away having made an work call in Lincolnshire. We were of course pleased to see them but we hadn’t enough time to line up the usual series of jobs for them!

Adrian had an operation on his back Tuesday morning to remove cartilage which had grown in some of his vertebrae causing a deal of backache. He stayed the night before at Merv and Pat’s who took him in to Addenbrookes. He stayed a night in hospital then returned to theirs afterwards. Let’s hope it does the trick but at present he is still rather sore.

After a trip to the dentist on Wednesday I called on Dave Harrower then later visited Adrian so a day for bedside manners! In the afternoon Kate and I took the Guided Bus to St Ives to begin stocking up for the Moldova visit.

On Thursday the walk began at Nuthampstead a small hamlet beyond Saffron Walden where there was an American Bomber Unit in WWII. As it had rained heavily the night before there was plenty of standing water and a return to familiar mud scenes! The walk looped through Barkway and Reed and the first bluebells were just blooming in the woods and several hedges were lined with blackthorn flowers.

  

Blackthorn hedges

 

First Bluebell

 

 

Soggy Sorghum field

 

 

A Damp Patch

 

 

Three wise-ish Men

After Tesco’s on Friday, it was more gardening including planting red onion sets and on Saturday I managed to sow Parsnips, Beetroot and Carrots before watching Cambridge University Press 1 v 2 Over in an end to end if slightly windswept game.

Amḗlie returned home safely on Saturday from her skiing trip to Andorra in good health and with no broken bones. We look forward to them all coming here on Monday.

 

 

Safely Back

 

One I had prepared – just in case!

Regards

 

Mike & Kate