30th June 2013

30th June 2013.

Dear All,

We have been to Godalming again this week, maybe for one of the last times as they are hoping to move in July. This trip coincided with one of my RHS judging appointments so I thought I would have a relatively easy journey to Wisley for a change as the M25 has been fraught on my last two visits. As it turned out the 15 miles from Godalming to Wisley took 1.5 hours as there was a fatal accident just north of Guilford.

We were mainly assessing new potato varieties grown in “potato bags” an expensive way of doing it but technically quite successful. Lady Christl was the highest yielder at first harvest for the keen gardeners amongst you.

We also had a look at calabrese, onion set and tomato trials so it was a moderately busy morning. The roses in their new bed were fantastic – as they have been most places this year.

 Potato Bags  

 Lady Christl

Calabrese trial 

  

                           Tomato tunnel

In the afternoon we took Amélie to the donkey sanctuary for a brief visit and tidied the garden a little.

 Peep

                                                                       Boo

Our Thursday walk was back at High Cross near Ware. We did this walk in February and several people thought it would be good to see the area in the summer. Plus the fact that the pub does excellent food and Philip, our esteemed leader, is particularly partial to their home made suet puddings!

Philip & Suet Pudding

It has been another good gardening week with a little welcome rain on Friday, Potatoes, broad beans and strawberries are all cropping well.

Kate has been busy looking after Hilda next door as her daughter is away and another ladies cat which lives on a high plain of nutrition including John West’s best tuna!

We had a work party tidying up the cemetery yesterday. A contractor cuts the grass but the narrow strips between the graves, the path and some graves all get overgrown.

 Cemetery Clean up

Ben has been cycling part of the “Tour de France” route and texted to say that he had just climbed a mountain twice the height of Snowden!

Love

Mike & Kate

23rd June 2013

23rd June 2013.

Dear All,

I had a very interesting return trip to NIAB this week as they were showing their new concept of an “Innovation Farm”. The idea is to demonstrate new developments in agriculture either their own or other peoples. There were displays of GM wheat, and new synthetic wheat where they have revisited the historic origins of cultivated wheat and recrossed the ancestors to increase the genetic variation. Multicoloured tomatoes are being used to increase lycopene and anthrocyanin content. There were also biofuel crops, novel oil crops, plants for dye extraction, wild flower mixes for bees, glutin free plants, new grass crosses, cotton etc. Altogether an interesting afternoon. In the evening I had a Garden Club talk at Werrington north of Peterborough – a bit further than I normally go but they were a friendly bunch.

  

High Nutrient Tomatoes

   

Cotton

                                                                            GM Wheat

  

Woad  

  

  

                                                                  Buckwheat

I painted our upstairs bay window this week with Kate at the bottom of the ladder so that I would have something soft to fall on! – as if anyone could fall off a ladder while painting!

Last night of us were at a Jazz music event fund raising for the Lady Taverners. It was held at Teversham at the home of Jonathan Barker (Kate Foster’s brother). It was pleasant but rather posh!

We had quite a decent walk on Thursday starting at Wilden, Beds. just west of the A1. It turned out to be 11.5 miles which was plenty, but fortunately did not begin raining until we were in the pub.

We had a Deacon’s and Wives meal and discussion on Friday evening, a Holiday Club planning meeting yesterday and a bring and share meal today.

John and Sally Lane plan to move into their new Eco home further up Willingham Road today so we gave them lunch yesterday while they were hefting boxes and fixing shelves. Dave and Elly from walking also came for lunch as they have just returned from holiday in Cornwall and were collecting some plants we had raised for them.

Love

Mike & Kate

16th June 2013

16th June 2013.

Dear All,

Mary-Ann and Amélie are staying for the weekend while Andy supervises a stag weekend. They arrived yesterday lunchtime and attended Messy Church which  Amélie had no trouble in joining in.

  

 Messy Church

On Tuesday Esther and Mary-Ann had treated Kate to a Pasta making course at Jamie Oliver’s Restaurant in Clapham. Ben turned up as well and grandpa was entrusted with entertaining Amélie on Clapham Common for a couple of hours. The course seemed to be successful and quite a money spinner as they run 5 courses a day for 10 participants at £30 to £45 a head.

   Pasta making

Clapham Common

Kate finally heard that she was successful in the voluntary job she applied for last October as a “Mental Health Act Manager” and had a training day at Peterborough on Wednesday. It is all to do with assessing people who have been sectioned. The training was for a full day and fairly arduous so her head was spinning when she returned. The whole application process was rather fraught as none of the applicants heard anything for 8 months and promised paperwork never materialised.

Our walk this week started at Cottered near Buntingford in dull but thankfully not wet conditions. We had the first chapel cricket match of the season in the evening so I was not too frisky that night.

The garden is just about full now and we started new potatoes and broad beans this week as well as finding a few strawberries – still I expect they do all those in Waitrose don’t they Graham?

Love

Mike & Kate

9th June 2013

9th June 2013.

Dear All,

We have just waved goodbye to Jonny, Rosie, Charlie and Danny who have been staying overnight after Jonny’s workshop session at the St Neots Folk Festival. They are off to Cambridge and we plan to meet up with them for lunch.

It was the Day cousin’s reunion on Wednesday as most of you will already know. We met at Peter and Annemarie’s in Redhill followed by the traditional Harvester meal and a short walk along the North Downs Way. Gwen and Rob had flown over from Guernsey and John and Muriel were fit enough to attend so it was a full house and a fine sunny day. A full description of everyone’s ailments would explain why the National Health Service is so overstretched!

Cousin’s reunion 2013

Waiting for Compo? 

  

                        Gwen (ex hat designer!!)

 View from North Downs Way towards Reigate

Our Thursday walk was excellent in the heart of rural Suffolk starting at Hawesdon taking in Stansfield and Thurston End. The sun shone and the scenery was British countryside at its best. The appointed leader of the shorter walk did not turn up so Kate (mainly) and I led. It turned into 9 miles and we got back after the long walkers who had completed 11 miles.

 Hawkesdon church

                                           near Stansfield

We had a chapel outing to Ely yesterday to visit the Food Bank  project which is supervised by Cathy Wright (Johnson) followed by a tour led by a local expert and lunch in “The Hub”. The guide was excellent and had access to places we had not seen before.

Ely Food Bank

Ely familiar 

                            and less familiar

There has been lots of grass cutting this week: mine, old ladies and 4 cricket pitches. Unfortunately the cricket club cylinder mower needed a new clutch cable which cost £59!

It has been a good gardening week planting leeks, celeriac, squash, sweet corn, lettuce. Basil and fennel all of which could do with both rain and sunshine.

Love

Mike & Kate

2nd June 2013

2^nd June 2013.

Dear All,

Kate and I have just returned from Birmingham where we have been attending David Kitson’s wedding to Hana. The wedding was in a church at Yardley and the reception in a pavilion at Bournville near “Cadbury’s World”. Hana was orphaned in her early teens and joined the army after school and they later supported her through medical school. She has recently worked in Sierra Leone and they plan to both return there for several months.

                                                       Signing off  

Reception venue

Mr & Mrs D. Kitson

  

Hana 

                                          VIP Guests

We stayed in Bournville and found the house that Kate’s father was born in on the way home this morning before stopping in Rugby to visit Margaret and Andrew – I was at school with Margaret at both Thorpe and Clacton.

On Friday I went to Lords to watch England struggling against New Zealand. It was quite sunny so I came home with a decent tan.

  

Lords

By contrast we hardly saw the sun at all on Thursday’s walk which started at Therfield near Royston. In fact it was back to winter “mud on your boots” walking.

The first chapel cricket match was rained off on Wednesday – I hope it is not a sign of things to come.

Kate met Esther and Natasha in London on Tuesday and visited the Science Museum with them en route to Amélie minding on Wednesday. Coming back on the train is always a rush and she managed to get on the wrong train so I had to collect her from St Neots.

Monday was spent in the garden including planting the winter brassicas – 30 minutes to plant, 2 hours building an anti pigeon barricade!

Love

Mike & Kate

26th May 2013

26^th May 2013.

Dear All,

This week’s cricketing injury was a pulled groin muscle – perhaps someone is trying to tell me something? It was a mixed day having to prepare the home pitch for the 1^st team early in the morning as it had been too wet on Friday. We were working against the clock as a football match was due to start and guess what? - both the roller and the mower broke down.

We were playing away in Chippenham Park, near Newmarket. The sun shone, the surroundings were idyllic and we were thrashed! I did score a few but pulled the muscle taking the first single and the boundaries were huge so nearly everything had to be run.

Kate and I went to the Chelsea Flower Show on Tuesday courtesy of free tickets – entrance fee on Tuesday would have been £65. We sat next to some Australians at lunchtime who had just paid £15 each for a glass of champagne. The conditions were ideal- dry but cool but it is still a challenge to see all the show. It does not change greatly from year to year but you have to admire the quality of the stands even if the show gardens should perhaps be labelled “showing off gardens!” The “driftwood horse” below could be yours for £25,000!

Chelsea

We lead the walk on Thursday that we had recced the week before starting from Waresley. It was much cooler and windier this week with a small shower. The bluebells were still showing up well.

The Duncombe Arms, Waresley

Ben completed the Copenhagen marathon in 3 hours 27 minutes which sounds pretty good to me.

Esther called in after attending a conference on Thursday.

Sorry to hear about Dave and Jens latest break in – have you tried the “Bobby Scheme?”

Love

Mike & Kate

19^th May 2013.

Dear All,

They say “There is no fool like an old fool” and I largely proved that yesterday by turning out for the cricket team as they were short. So short, that I was called on to bowl 6 overs and managed 25 runs as we failed narrowly to chase down 196 by just 9 runs. The painful part was foolishly diving to stop a ball and landing on my shoulder so that I cannot raise my left arm above waist level today!

We are leading the walk next week so Kate and I did a recce on Tuesday starting at Waresley, taking in large fields of free range chickens and bluebell woods on the way to Great and Little Gransden.

 Free Range Chickens

                             Bluebells in Waresley Woods

 The bluebells were belatedly at their peak as were the azelias and rhododendrons at Wisley on Thursday when I attended a radish assessment trial of 49 varieties. The M25 was it’s usual self so that we tool 3.5 hours to complete the 2 hour journey.

Wisley

Wisley Rhododendrons

Radish Trial

We celebrated 42 years of marital bliss on Wednesday with a lunchtime meal at the Golden Ball, Boxworth.

John Law finally collected the tomato plants we have been growing for Moggerhanger on Wednesday evening. It was a relief to wave them goodbye as the cold spring made their welfare precarious in a normally unheated greenhouse.

Moggerhanger tomatoes  

                                                    Wisteria

I spoke at a Garden Club at Needingworth on Tuesday and there were over 80 present – you never know what to expect. Some clubs are laid back and informal others are run like a Whitehall committee meeting with apologies, minutes, plans for the show and next outing etc.

Plenty of gardening this week as things are starting to move – but I expect those who garden know that and those who don’t, don’t care!

Ben is running in the Copenhagen marathon today.

Love

Mike & Kate