Retreat to Yorkshire

I spent this last weekend at  Kettlewell, in Yorkshire, with a group of 11 friends who share my interests in knitting, crochet and sewing. We did do some of these things but also spent a lot of time chatting, eating excellent food (I have to have the recipe for lemon pickle and spicy garlic pickle) and even doing some walking.
We stayed in a huge house which can sleep up to 23 people and which had two cookers, two fridges and two dishwashers (we sure did need those dishwashers). The dining room was massive and we were all able to sit and eat around the enormous table.

On Saturday morning I persuaded several people to come walking with me and we walked along the river which runs through Kettlewell and across to Starbotton then back along the ridge on the other side.

A stream looking like a Green Man

Bridge over the river

The village of Kettlewell

On Sunday morning I went for a wander around the village of Kettlewell, which has a river running through it, and its tiny stone church and churchyard.

Early Spring

The spring garden is at the front of the house, and starts a display of bulbs in January, with snowdrops

 ahead of daffodils and narcissi, followed by a carpet of bluebells in April and May. At this time of year it is very exciting to see the daffodil buds coming through.

The roses are also getting started, and some brave hellebores are already in flower.

Indoors, I am working on a crochet blanket. This is a Tunisian crochet project, called Starburst Entrelac Afghan, and it is crocheted from the centre out in diamond shapes. I'm going for an autumn leaves palette which I'm rather pleased with.

At the weekend, following advice from Alan Titchmarsh on Classic FM, I bought some bargain pots of Narcissus Tete a Tete and planted them up on a pot on the patio. I already have quite a few pots of bulbs here and I think they will make a good show in a few weeks!

Recuperation

I'm at home at the moment, recovering from an operation on 10th January. I have been recovering well and my energy is starting to return now, but I still have a few more weeks off work to go.
While I have been resting I have managed to knit and crochet, and I have finished the crochet blanket I was working on last year.

And I've also finished a hoody, with a stripe pattern that I based on a number of other sweaters I have seen around this winter.

As part of my recuperation, I am aiming to go for a walk most days (weather permitting, which has not often been the case these last few weeks!). Yesterday Braveheart and I went out to walk along the Wey Navigation to see how water levels had been affected by the rainfall.
The footpath to the weir was quite wet, and the "lake" that you can see to the left is usually a field with horses in it.

The water on the path was not too deep, so with a bit of care we managed to get through it.

The weir race was higher and faster than I have ever seen it

The water level was high, but the towpath was not flooded and we managed to make our way along it to the road.

It was pretty muddy though!

Bright November Morning

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Woke up to a heavy frost, but the sun is burning it off, now. All the blinds are open to let in as much sun as possible and warm the house up!

I'm on square no 53 of my Crochet Sampler Blanket:

That's out of 64 squares required, so phase one is nearly complete! I am now starting to think about the logistics of blocking 64 squares...

The Roses in June

I do love my roses. This year the roses have flowered late, like many shrubs, so now, at the end of June, they are at their best. When we first moved here, there was a climbing  rose already in one of the flower beds, which I have been gradually training into a fan shape:

The flowers are a deep rose colour with a paler pink centre. I don't know what variety this rose is, but it's very lovely.
I also moved in with a climbing rose in a pot which DS had given me for my birthday one year. This rose is called Handel, and it has pale pink petals with a darker rose edging. Also beautiful.

Then there is this rose, my absolute most favourite rose of all. It is a bush rose called Rosa Mundi and is a very old variety. The flowers are variegated in shades of pink and salmon and white, and it is covered with blooms in June every year.

 Braveheart gave me this rose for my birthday, along with two others which are in the front garden.

This one, which is called Golden something (not literally, I mean I can't remember the second part of its name), and is a lovely bronze apricot colour.

And this purple one, Rhapsody in Blue, does look blue when the flowers first open.

And finally, this rose, which is called Tequila Sunrise, which we bought together in our firs summer here, and which has the most lovely flowers in deep yellow, hot orange and a burnt red.

The Vegetable Garden in June

First of all, as promised, here is my new gardening sun hat:

Despite the traditional British summer weather of sunshine and showers - or maybe because of it - the vegetable garden is doing well. Here's a quick tour:

 In the greenhouse the tomatoes are doing well on the left. At the back, peppers and in the containers, aubergines.

 The left hand raised bed, which I have posted about before, now has a good crop of Lady Christl first early potatoes which, on inspection today, are ready to start harvesting. Next to those are the shallots, which are looking very healthy, and then just in front of the shallots are some winter squashes called Autumn Crown. The frames along the edges of the beds are there for the squashes to climb on once they get going.





This keeps the fruit off the ground and clean, and takes up a lot less growing space. There are giant pumpkins growing on the other side with the same system.

At the back of the garden are sweetcorn on the left and garlic to the right. The garlic are nearly ready, I think, another couple of weeks and we will lift them. The corn are minipops, designed to be cut and eaten as baby corn.

Next to them are two rows of peas, one sown a month earlier than the other. The first row is flowering and already has some pea pods.

These plants are all netted to keep cats from digging up the bed and well, you know...they are a real nuisance with young plants and seedlings.

The right hand raised bed has main crop potatoes at one end. The first two rows were sown a month before the rest because we had cauliflowers growing where they were to go and had to wait till we had harvested and eaten those. At the other end there are beetroot and turnips in containers, they are due to be moved soon and that section will have kale on it for overwintering.

The Garden in June

I've been spending the last week crocheting a sun hat, to protect my hair from the sun and shade my eyes, after a lovely sunny couple of days. Since I started the weather has taken a turn for the worse, but I have persisted and I only have three rounds left to do. Photos in due course.

This weekend we have planted out peppers and aubergines in the greenhouse, almost everything is now sown or planted. I officially have enough salad leaves to make three salads so far last week and more are coming! This evening we had a Greek salad with feta and olives, yum!

Because May was so cold, some plants did not flower until now, so the garden is looking rather lovely at the moment, with everything in flower at once.

In the front garden there are rock roses and roses:

Foxgloves, daylilies and hostas

On this side, needing a bit of a tidy up, but a lovely purple rose, lupins and cranesbill.

In the back garden the pinks are in flower and you can see the fruit cage at the back, as the raspberries and strawberries are ripening.

 and - OMG - we have apples. This is the Braeburn. I've never seen tiny apples before. I'm just so excited!

The vegetable garden is also making great progress, so next time I will show you how that is looking.