13t^h June 2026

 

           Dear All,

Not too much to report this week and we are off to Sutton Bonington and Derbyshire tomorrow hence the earlier posting. We are invited to our old college at Sutton Bonington because they are planning to pull down their 1700s Baptist chapel and build bigger. We are part of the history as when we were undergraduates we helped dig out the baptistery which had been filled with brick rubble during a quiet time for the church.

We are going to then join up with Kate’s sister and brother-in-law at Darwin Forest Country Park, near Matlock.

We have been picking Strawberries and Raspberries most days and now well into new potatoes. I also picked our first tomato but as it was less than 1cm diameter I will not be bragging about it!

The news from Moldova about Marius the lad we have been supporting through leukaemia treatment was not so good as the Turkish hospital wants another 50,000 euros to complete his treatment. However people have been incredibly generous so far.

We did a local walk on Tuesday renewing friendly conversations with Burling’s hybrid Stabiliser bulls.

 

 

 

 

The rain has been very welcome this week and everything in the garden looks more cheerful.

Esther had a second eye operation on Thursday at Southend. The operation is to put a film over the cornea to make it smoother. She says this time it has been more painful and she is off work for a few days.

I attended the last session of the U3A Travel writers group on Friday where the book for discussion was “Mirrors of the Unseen” by Jason Elliot written in 2006 about Iran. It was a very interesting insight to the history, art, architecture and daily life of the country but plenty long enough at over 400 pages. Some of the architecture is incredible especially as it so old.

 

 

 

 

Best Wishes

Mike & Kate