26^th June 2016

Dear All,

Street Pastors last night – hence the delay in this epistle. It was a reasonably quiet night with plenty of high spirits and drunkenness but no violence or even sickness. The number of rough sleepers in Cambridge has risen to over 150 with rumours of some cities giving homeless individuals one way tickets to Cambridge!

Last weekend there were open gardens in both Fenstanton and Swavesey. Kate and I visited 16 in Fenstanton and Kate had visited several in Swavesey plus an ambitious display based on “Food” in Swavesey church. Fenstanton had a special exhibit on Capability Brown as he lived there and it is 300 years since his birth.

Fenstanton Garden

On Monday we drove down to Hove and stayed until Tuesday night. Albert is now crawling and charming everyone with his smile – he seems to be a very cheerful chap. Amélie continues to enjoy school and is on daily countdown to her birthday in a couple of weeks.

On Tuesday we visited the Brighton Police Museum shown round by a retired policeman who was on duty during the Brighton bombing.

Our Thursday walk started at Sawtry and took in Hamerton and Steeple Gidding. We ended up rather damp due to rain and “sauna bath” humidity.

Preparing cricket wickets has been tricky finding dry interludes nevertheless I managed to cut and roll 3 strips on Friday morning and the 1^st XI played yesterday without interruption. At the same time there was a serious heavy in Swavesey and a serious hailstorm in Cambridge. Last night there was a carpet of green leaves under every tree.

I was judging Stapleford Fruit & Vegetable show yesterday. It is the smallest and least impressive show that I judge so it was not too exacting.

Just as we were leaving for Street Pastors last night I noticed we had a puncture, I had never changed a wheel on the Peugeot and it was a steep learning curve with nut caps, security bolts and a wheel that did not want to budge!.

We had a church lunch today to belatedly celebrate the Queen’s birthday. Conversations were dominated by “Brexit” which has divided opinion very sharply.

The following seems to cover the situation:

Love

Mike & Kate

19^th June 2016

Dear All,

The weather has had a fairly profound effect on events this week. On Wednesday the Police cancelled cricket because the weather forecast was dire. On Thursday we got damp walking and our annual Garden Party for the U3A “Just Vegetating” class was rudely interrupted by a downpour. In addition, RHS sent me a photo of a field where we have a trial in Spalding which was under water.

On Thursday we completed the “Lea Valley Walk” that we began in Luton in 2014. The plan had been to walk the last section through the Olympic Park in spring 2015 when the flowers were at their best. In the event this did not happen until last week. We started at Tottenham Hale and walked the tow path to the Olympic Park where we had booked a couple of blue badge guides for a tour. It began to rain more or less straight away so umbrellas were up and down like yoyos. The tour was very good and the efforts to use the park after the games seem very commendable. The admin block is being turned into offices and cafes, the Aquadrome is now a public swimming pool, numerous cycle tracks start from the Velodrome and, of course, West Ham have  been virtually gifted the main stadium. There has been a lot of planting since the games so the site looked very smart even in the rain. Goodness knows how many billions have been spent but it has certainly regenerated a scruffy area.

River Lea near Tottenham Hale

Velodrome

New planting

Aquadrome

Barge below Olympic Park

Canary Wharf Tower

Sky Garden

After lunch on the site we walked via Limehouse to Canary Wharf and the Thames culminating at the “Sky Garden”. I didn’t know that this existed but it is a splendid glass dome covered garden on the first floor of 20 Fenchurch Street, mainly planted with drought resistant plants.

On Friday we had an open garden and meal for 25 from our U3A course. Kate had prepared a splendid array and they had just settled down outside when it began to rain so they all ended up indoors. However it did not dampen spirits too much and it seemed to go well.

Love

Mike & Kate

12^th June 2016.

Dear All,

It has been a good growing week, hot and a few showers, so plenty of gardening prior to members of our U3A “Just Vegetating” coming for lunch next Friday. Yesterdays gardening was accompanied by our local tame Muntjac who seems fairly fearless and comes right up to you if you are still.

I took delivery of a “TomTato” and an “Egg & Chips” this week on special offer – they cannot have been selling too well. The former is a tomato grated onto a potato root and the later an aubergine on a potato.

Help?

Rockery

We pulled up the early over wintered Broad beans this week – they have had a phenomenal yield, I thought the frost would knobble them, but we had very little cold weather so they kept growing. Strawberries have been getting underway and most fruit crops look promising.

I did a Garden Club at Kempston beyond Bedford on Wednesday – they said “good job you were not here last night as we were underwater”.

Our Thursday walk started at Kirtling, south of Newmarket and took in Upend, Saxon Street and Woodditton. It started gloomy but finished in bright sunshine.

Near Woodditton

On Friday evening we had another tour of the RSPB reserve in Over Fen with the warden Hannah Bernie. We could hear Bitterns booming all evening and saw one flying in the distance. The most prominent birds were Marsh Harriers and at least one was in evidence all evening. They are about half way through the project of restoring the pits after gravel extraction, and seem to be doing a good job.

RSPB Gathering

Marsh Harrier

Ben flew off to Fiji on Friday, a 36 hour journey via Australia. We trust he has arrived safely and will stay healthy as the girl he is meeting has had Zica virus.

Love

Mike & Kate

5^th June 2016.

Dear All,

On Wednesday Kate and I had a “Quality Time” day out walking the Colchester Heritage Trail. It started at Hollytrees Museum then to the Castle, Dutch Quarter, Quaker Alley, St Martin’s, Town Hall, Fire Office, St Peter’s, Jumbo Water Tower, Balkerne Gateway, Roman Wall, St Mary’s, Sir Isaac’s walk, St Botolph’s, East Hill, Minories and back to Hollytrees. Although it was my nearest town growing up, I had not explored it in detail and there is, of course, more history than you can shake a stick at. We started to walk to the Hythe while we were en route, but it was too far and eventually we gave up and drove there after completing the tour.

Castle

15^th Century Building

St Botolph’s ruins

The Hythe Docks

We had serious rain on Tuesday, which we needed, but it did not dry out all week. It cheered the garden and allotment up but made wicket preparation very tricky. I stripped the shelving and propagator out of the greenhouse during the downpour and planted peppers in the cleared area. Meanwhile the allotment has been filled with squash and the garden with sweet corn –so no spare land at present!

Kate and I led the walk at Radwinter on Thursday. It was an interesting walk but several of the paths were not very clear with chest high damp foliage. The rain had made bare land very sticky and the path crossed a field with a large bull who fortunately chose to run away.

Radwinter

Bull & Harem

Challenging Undergrowth

We visited one of the church members in Addenbrookes on Friday; Jan Few is a large man who has had a hip replacement. A lung collapsed while he was under anaesthetic so he was relieved to fell as well as he did.

Love

Mike & Kate

29th May 2016.

Dear All,

It has been a fairly busy week -  one of those when you wonder how you had time to go to work!

On Monday we had the Cousin’s Reunion organised by Mary & Graham meeting at Ruislip Lido where we had a bargain meal (carvery £4.59) and a walk round the reservoir followed by tea and chat at 13 Farm Avenue. There were just 8 of us as Guernsey folk did not travel this year and John & Muriel are reluctant go to unfamiliar destinations.

On Tuesday I prepared a cricket pitch, met up with John Law to deliver his post Moldova luggage and discuss the way ahead, met ex NIAB Wrinklies for lunch at Girton, had a discussion at Addenbrookes about arthritic feet, conducted a net practice for the chapel team then hosted the church midweek group.

On Wednesday Kate and I moved the vegetable net to the allotment and planted Brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, kale and cabbage in it. In the evening the chapel cricket team began their season with a narrow defeat to Anglian Water.

Our Thursday walk started at Therfield above Royston. It is a great area for walks with several hills and very rural. Later I had to take the cricket mower to Gog Magog for repairs – it is very sensitive and doesn’t enjoy long trouble free periods!

The Fox & Duck, Therfield

Sandon church

Friday we were walking again as we had to recce for leading next week at Radwinter near Saffron Walden – a good walk but plagued with several areas of vigorous nettles – definitely not a walk for shorts!

Derreck Medlock, a former next door but one neighbour with the large rabbit collection, has been clearing the bungalow this week and called in with Joyce for a drink in the evening. He has been agonising about whether to sell or rent or move back. He still hasn’t made up his mind, meanwhile the estate agent have increased the notional value by £50,000 in a year of being empty!

We were on Street Pastors last night. It seemed a long night, fairly quiet at first but with quite a lot of broken glass and bottles to collect. Later there was the usual clutch of youths enjoying their night out by being violently sick and a couple of fights but nothing too serious.

Love

Mike & Kate

22nd May 2016.

Dear All,

We have been down to Hove for a couple of days this week as Andy was away in Stockholm. We travelled down on Tuesday via NIAB to drop off the Gromwell seed I had collected in Moldova. We arrived at lunch time and after lunch took Albert for a walk along the front to Brighton. He is a good natured youth and spends a good deal of time smiling or copying his sister. He is not built for walking yet but can sort of shuffle backwards!

Amélie seems to enjoy school and goes off happily most days.

Hove

Our Thursday walk started at Debden south of Saffron Walden. It is relatively hilly thereabouts but it was a good walk – everywhere is suddenly much greener. The village pub has been taken over by Yuva a Nepalese outfit and was excellent value.

Debden

Near Newport

I had a Garden Club talk in the evening at Hundon beyond Haverhill. I don’t especially like going out after walking, but it happens sometimes. I couldn’t get near the village hall where the talk was scheduled for cars. I didn’t really think they had all come to hear me – it turned out it was the local cup final next door!

Otherwise it has been catching up with the garden and allotment: digging, rotovating, planting, cutting grass and weeding.

We hope to catch up with some of you at the cousin’s reunion tomorrow.

Love

Mike & Kate

15^th May 2016.

Dear All,

Well there has been what my father would have called “a lot of shanking about” since my last letter: Moldova, 3 days catching up and a visit to Docwra Manor then six days in Yorkshire.

I think I sent you all the report of the Moldova trip so I will not repeat myself. I haven’t had time to sort all the photos yet but hope to put them on Dropbox this week.

The three days back involved a lot of sowing, planting and weeding although Kate had done a good job in preventing serious frost damage. No matter how mild it has been there always seems to be a frost while I am away. In addition, the cricket pitch needed preparing for the first match of the season and we had a chapel outing to Docwra Manor gardens at Shepreth. This is the home of Faith Raven, mother of Sarah Raven who is a renowned garden writer and runs a plant nursery. She is married to Adam Nicolson from Sissinghurst – a descendant of Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West. It is an interesting garden with several distinct areas.

Docwra Manor

The Yorkshire trip was with our U3A Walking Group organised with usual precision by Philip Shaw. We left on Sunday taking Jutta with us, she is a German lady who lost her husband just over a year ago. A few of us stopped en route at Gilling East and walked to Ampleforth School. This has the finest array of sports fields and facilities I have ever seen at a school – truly a site of privilege! Lawrence Dallaglio, the ex England Rugby captain was evidently a difficult former pupil.

Ampleforth School

Most of our group of 36 were staying at Sneaton Castle, Whitby but 6 of us were in B&B nearby. I think we did not miss out too badly as they were not too impressed with their “School Dinner” catering – give them a spell in Moldova I say!

On Monday our first Whitby walk was to Robin Hood’s Bay along the coast. The weather was extremely hot and the views excellent. 10 of us walked back on an inland route eventually clocking up 15 miles.

Near Robin Hood’s Bay

Tuesday both short and long walks involved a railway journey, the longer walk to Danby and a return across Little and Greater Fryup Dales, Glendale Rigg and the Esk Valley – 16 miles this time. This was followed by a meal in the famed “Magpie” Fish Restaurant offering a choice of about15 sorts of fish.

Overlooking Little Fryup Dale

On Wednesday the organised walk was on the coast again but north this time. We had reccied this in February so took the day off taking the train again from Grosmont to Goathland exploring around Goathland then walking back to Grosmont. (8 miles)

Near Malyan Spout

Thursday was the Ruswarp loop walking from the castle up onto the moors and dales above Whitby, meeting up with the short walkers for lunch at Falling Foss only 12 miles making 60 miles for the week.

The Hermitage

The return journey on Friday was direct with no planned stops so we were home by 3.30 pm with more gardening and cricket pitch preparation to catch up. Amazingly we did not have any rain in Whitby while most of the rest of the country – including Over seemed to have been soaked.

Love

Mike & Kate