Back in Blighty

Hola! Back from holiday in Majorca and yes, it is still raining. My tomato plants have completely given up and I have had to pull them all up. Luckily friends and family still have some spare so I have rigged up my green house and hoped for the best!

The rocket I planted before I went away is doing well. May have some for my lunch... I also spotted down the lane that the blackberry bushes are starting to fruit. Will keep a close eye on them as I really want to make some cassis since seeing a recipe for it here.

Hopefully the local children will keep their hands off them and I will be enjoying Kir Royale on Christmas Day!

and more rain...

...the rain is due to continue until Friday.  The seeds on the deck are now becoming waterlogged, will have to get them in, if it ever stops!

Going to get started tonight by sketching the design for the back garden and decide which plants will go where.  So back to the drawing board quite literally until the rain stops.

In a brief break in the downpour I managed to get outside to inspect my tomato plants.  They desperately need tying to the canes as all the rain is making them grow at strange angles.  A couple of the plants are beginning to flower, so the rain can't be too bad!

Rain

Rain, rain, rain and more rain...when will it ever stop? The garden needs me!

One month in...

We have been in our new home for one month today! We are settled in now despite being really skint after buying new double glazing yesterday.

We managed to survive the freak weather this week relatively unscathed. Only our back garden flooded which was small fry compared to the houses on the main street. I am desperate to start work on the garden but with rain forecast for the next week it is becoming less likely anything will be done this year.

The tomato plants I put in on the first week are doing well despite the bad weather and I am pinching out the new shoots like Christine showed us! Our raspberries and strawberries are doing less well. They had quite a few fruits on them last week but these have all been washed away with the rain.

During a rare spell of dry weather last weekend I planted some seeds, late I know but I wanted to do some gardening. I planted:

• Sunflowers
• Sweet Peas
• Rocket
• Scented Stock

These are all in seed trays on the decking. There are a few signs of life from some of the seeds but I am worried about them becoming water logged with all the rain which is forecast for next week. May have to move them inside until we get a bit of sun.

Will take pictures when it has stopped raining.

We are here!

At last, we finally got the keys to our lovely new house last Friday. We have just about got over the exhaustion of moving ourselves but now we are unpacked it all seems worth it.

Here is a picture of our new place. We have spent a fortune already on lighting and soft furnishing and have big plans for the garden.

Hobbes went out for the first time for over a week on Saturday. He didn't get off to the best of starts with the cat next door when he caught him coming through the hole in our fence. He is less freaked out now and seems to be happy with the countryside. No dead mice or birds yet....

Not been able to blog since moving as we have only just got a connection to the internet after arguments with BT.

Solicitor stress - but at least there is bunting!

72 hours to go to the BIG MOVE and our solicitor is still dithering about. It is now confirmed that our vendor has indeed gone on holiday for a month (but he has emptied the house so there shouldn't be any problems). We will get a definite moving date tomorrow when our vendor's solicitor is back in the office. Fingers crossed.

On a brighter note I finally got some bias binding so I could begin sewing the bunting for our wedding next February. Here are the results so far...

Will have to wait until after the move before I start sewing them as the sewing machine is packed somewhere!

Hobbes - The Boy Wonder

This is Hobbes - yes after Calvin & Hobbes for those in the know - he is a black moggy with a penchant for pegs, Ikea pencils and pea pods....strange lad!

We entered him in the local newspaper's beautiful pets and despite appearing on the first page, he didn't win a thing. Can't understand it really....

The Chocolate Raspberry Tart

The result of a very wet and cold bank holiday in old blighty. A beautiful raspberry and chocolate tart - dead easy to make - Box of raspberries; a large bar of chocolate; creme freche; and a sweet pastry case.

Bingo! Swill it down with a 'large' bottle of Rose wine. In the words of Gordon Ramsey...Done...

The very first post!

Well here goes....

After 10 long months, we are finally moving house on Friday (fingers crossed, as we were also meant to move last Friday as well. Don't get me started about solicitors!). So with a long bank holiday ahead and a house which is more or less completely packed up I decided to stop talking about it and actually create our own blog.


Although our new house will not need any immediate work doing to it, I want to use this blog to record the progress we have made settling in, decorating and making it into our very own home.


Having always lived in the city, I am expecting our move to the countryside to be a bit like Midsomer Murders but with less drama (and John Nettles) hopefully...... but I can't say the idea of country fayres, WI events and tea shops are exactly putting me off!


I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.


L&S

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