17th August 2025

 

           Dear All,

Another week without rain, it is amazing how well some things have cropped. Tomatoes and Cucumbers have been exceptional as they are watered in the greenhouse but French Beans and recently Runner Beans have produced well and Figs have been outstanding with about 70 harvested so far.

After our crowded swim on Monday it was too hot to work outside so I worked on my Biographies talk for this year on Capability Brown.

Our privacy loving neighbours planted a hornbeam hedge a few years ago then husband departed and they have struggled to contain it and it grew to 8 feet which has had a serious effect on our garden. This year mother and daughter decided to reduce it but the trunks had grown too thick for them to handle so they trimmed what they could then left stumps hoping to find someone to finish the job. After a couple of weeks I decided to get out my chain saw and have a go. Initially my chainsaw was too blunt but after ordering a new chain it was an easy job to finish with Kate hanging on to the step ladder.

 

 

Hedge Pre-trimming

 

 

Post Trimming

 

Our Thursday walk started at La Pergola an Italian restaurant and pub at Harlton and took in Great and Little Eversden. Fortunately it was not as hot as previous days but still warm enough. It is incredible that by the second week of August harvest seems complete with no sign of any standing crops and most fields cleared of straw as well. Some of the lanes were littered with fallen leaves like a premature autumn and there was a remarkable white horse decorated with love hearts and messages so I guess there was a story to tell?        

 

 

Ascent from Little Eversdan

 

 

Post-Harvest fields

 

 

Pre-mature Autumn Leaves

 

 

Little Eversden Blue house

 

 

Serious Cracking

 

 

Decorated Horse

 

 

Path above Harlton

 

 

Bale Collection

 

We have a chapel picnic arranged for Sunday afternoon and so far about 40 have signed in so there has been a certain amount of preparation and shopping during the week.

On Friday it was funeral time again this time for Tony Hewitt who was Elsom Seeds vegetable manager, so I knew him from that and also we travelled down to Wisley together when we served on the RHS Vegetable Panel. The funeral was at Surfleet Crematorium, just north of Spalding and the reception afterwards was in the old Spalding Courthouse.

 

 

Spalding Old Courthouse

 

 

Interior

Best wishes

Mike & Kate

 

10th August 2025

 

           Dear All,

 

Highlight this week has undoubtedly been the visit of Esther, Emma, Amelie & Albert. They arrived Sunday evening and were only here until Tuesday evening but they packed quite a lot in. The weather was not promising on Monday so we were home based. Albert helped return the show boards to Rampton then helped pick Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Runner and French Beans, Courgettes and Raspberries. After we planted lettuce and resowed them. We then invented a new game on the Green involving the Zip Line and a football. Meanwhile Amelie was finishing off the drawings for a cartoon book which is fantastic and could easily be taken for a professional job.

 

 

Albert Zipping

 

 

Amelie Composing

 

On Tuesday we took the Guided Bus to Cambridge starting at Weatherspoon’s for lunch then off to the river for a punting session. Hiring a boat and a punter has risen to £250 for an hour! So we did our own thing which was an adventure as it is about 40 years since I last punted and the river was very busy.

 

 

Punting Adventure!

 

 

Better

 

 

Alright for Some!

 

 

Amelie, Albert, Mike, Kate, Esther & Emma at the Allotment

 

The official Thursday walk was from Thaxted which is an hour away for us so we did a local recce round the ever changing scene at Northstowe. We discovered the allotments, sports facilities and the new scenic lakes. After we planned to look at the historic features in Willingham church but it was locked up so we retired to the new café opposite which I christened spectacularly by knocking my Latte over the table, wall and floor!

 

 

Northstowe New Community Centre

 

 

Northstowe Little Boxes!

 

 

Northstowe Lakes

 

My craft activity this week was painting the garden table green to match the seat.

 

 

While Kate has turned some of our excess Tomato crop into soup.

 

 

Tomato Soup

 

Saturday evening we were invited to join a vast gathering at Over Community Centre to celebrate Peter and Carol Smith’s 50^th Wedding Anniversary. Peter was cricket captain, rugby coach and school teacher so knew many people and most of them turned up for the celebration. I met several folk that I had not seen for 20 years or more.

 

Best wishes

Mike & Kate

 

3^rd August 2025

 

           Dear All,

The Over Produce Show has been the main preoccupation this week. This year the Show expanded to take in Arts & Crafts which proved very popular with 122 entries so the number of people competing increased from 37 last year to 64 this year and the number of entries rose from 276 to 395 which was a big boost for the Show. With the difficult growing season the number of vegetable entries dropped a little but the standard seemed reasonably high. If you force me to tell you how I got on – well I had 11 x 1^st, 8 x 2^nd and 4 x 3rds and won the Vegetable cup, the best vegetable entry cup (a Marrow), and the overall Show cup. Kate won with her Bread and got 2nds for flower arrangement, raspberries and another loaf of bread.

Being on the committee is hard work as we had to tabulate all the entries on Thursday night and write out all the entry cards. On Friday we had to collect display boards from Rampton and in the evening erect all the benches and boards and as the room at the Centre was being used for blood donations we were not able to start until after 8pm. Then of course everything had to be dismantled after the show.

 

 

Preparation

 

 

Handicraft Knitting

 

 

 Runner bean entries

 

My Winning Rhubarb

 

 

Kate’s Winning Bread

 

 

My Winning Veg Collection

 

 

Onion & Carrot winners

 

 

Kate’s Flower Arrangement

 

 

Smug Smile!

Other highlights this week include the walk on Tuesday and cracking a tooth which was mended rather more painfully than I anticipated as the dentist removed the old filling with a drill which felt like a road drill!

The walk was local from Willingham through the Fen to the River Ouse at Aldreth then back to the Porterhouse in Willingham. We just escaped the rain and the pub was one of the most efficient we have visited recently.

 

 

Climbing to the River bank

 

 

River Ouse at Aldreth

 

 

 

Rampton Road, Willingham

 

We are expecting Esther to bring Amelie and Albert up for a couple of days tonight as they are staying with Esther and Emma for a week.

 

Best wishes

Mike & Kate