General Chat

I went to Arlington Court many years ago AnnG. My interest was in the horsedrawn carriages, as with my first OH we built a few 2 wheelers from old coachbuilding plans and restored a small one. One carriage we built went to America and I spotted the one we restored at Windsor Horse Show a few years later. Husband did the woodwork and metal work and I did the upholstery and coachpainting. Happy days but sadly a full time job didn't leave much time for doing it! Whenever I see them now I want to get my paintbrushes out. lol. That nice red sunset bodes well for tomorrow's weather.

Oh Vera, I never just drop in on anyone without ringing to ask if it's ok first, even if they say to just drop in. It can be really inconvenient otherwise. Never mind, but it's a shame the rain came when she was ready to go, but at least you had a good catch up! Gadding off to the tip again I see and prompting me that it's time we did some clearing of stuff to take. Your folding frame sounds like a good idea and easy to store.

Off to bed now. OH has a meeting at his only city school tomorrow, the first not on zoom since the first lockdown, so he will be armed to the teeth with sanitiser and masks. I've read that the Indian Variant has reached the city and is linked to travel from India. None of the teachers at the school he's going to have had covid yet so hopefully they are being very careful.

We had checked the forecast and decided to go to look at Arlington Court NT which was just about twenty minutes from where we are staying. We booked for 10.30. Arlington Court has been in the Chichester family for 500 years. Unfortunately Covid restrictions means the only the ground floor is open so we didn’t get to look at the bedrooms. I am pretty certain that non members were not paying a reduced entry fee. We visited the gardens first, not very big but lovely rhododendrons, then we went to the national carriage collection which was very interesting, a huge selection of carriages all sizes and types from one an attached baby carrier to a hearse. Interesting house but wouldn’t rush back. Drove back to a pub we had passed for a snack lunch at Old Station Inn. It was very well organised with partitions between the seats but there were not many in there when we went in. I had a very nice prawn jacket. Drove back to Combe Martin, it was now raining but had been dry all the time we were at Arlington Court. Drove down to look at the bay and pottered around the shops. Probably a very pretty bay if the sun was out.
Back to the cottage to read and for Lyn to change my dressing.
Evening meal was a fry up and very nice. And there was a lovely sunset straight in front of our lounge window over the sea in the distance. Pudding was raspberries, blueberries and strawberries and clotted cream. Mmm!

o dear Vera that certainly mucked your plans up what a shame she turned up when you had your day all planned out. I think tomorrow should be a better day. What a good idea for a folding frame I had'nt thought of that.

My thumb is not so sore today as I have been loading it up with vasaline.

Thanks for the photo of Verity, AnnG. I vaguely remember reading about it in the paper at some point but I never realised it was so big. It must be quite a talking point locally and probably attracts a few more tourists to the town.

Mandy, I hope Lewis soon recovers from his cough. It’s such a nuisance that everything has to stop for the whole family till test results are through but you can understand why it’s necessary.

I hope you are successful sorting out your netting for the blueberries and other veg. Mel. Years ago OH made me a cage for my blueberries that folds flat so we can store it up the side of the garage. It comes out every year as soon as the green berries show any signs of ripening or the birds wouldn’t leave us any. Funny thing is that they never seem to go for the guava berries.

This morning I washed some bedding, went to the tip and delivered a birthday card. I then planned that after lunch I would have a shower and dry my hair with the hairdryer to try and give it a bit of a style. Then if it was dry I intended, if my backache allowed, to plant up some more troughs and pots before coming in to prepare our dinner. Well, the best laid plans and all that...before I even got to the shower a friend arrived. She came in and I felt I had to offer her a cup of tea. Then just as she decided it was time to go the heavens opened again so she had to stay till it stopped raining. I eventually got in the shower at 5.30, my hair got left to dry itself again and I had a rush to get our dinner cooked. I’m not really complaining as I'm happy that people feel they can just drop in at any time, but why do they always pick the wrong time? ;-). Still it’s lovely to get a bit of normality back after all the time when we couldn’t have people in the house.

I hope everyone has a good night tonight and wakes up bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow. Perhaps it’ll be dry tomorrow.

Ann I have sent off for small cue seeeds but they hav'nt arrived yet so I shall be very late with mine but I am going to have a go as I just love home grown cues. Velcrow is a good idea for the window Ann thanks for that.

3 pictures to finish now, are we going to get a gallery to look at when you have finish them all? I hope so. :-D

Poor Lewis getting that awful croup again. He does seem prone to it dos'nt he. Such a shame when it puts everone else in the family out. Is it half term for them next week Mandy?

I have been faffing around this afternoon trying to find the old frame in the shed. I hate it when I put things away and then forget where I put them. I did find most of the old frame and a little bit of the VERY old frame so Imay have enough to make a wider one for ,y blueberries. Oh had a good idea too to make another bigger frame fromt he old sheep netting like he made for my bean tub and I can put the netting over that. Will see what materialises..........Watch this space.

I have a lot of plant sausers to wash that came down from the potting shed yesterday so I am going to do that now and then make a coffee to have with some naughty chocolate cake and watch tipping point.

Afternoon All,

No rain yet but it keeps coming over all black so the washing is still in the basket.

It was the pastel class this morning, a lone tree against a sunset sky to practice our blending of colours. That's 3 pictures I need to finish off now! AnnG I managed to do both classes while we were away in between having no internet!

With Mel and AnnG it's become an interesting, educational week! I had never heard of Verity by Damian Hurst so looked it up. It's a huge statue but agree it isn't a thing of beauty, more thought provoking really.

Ouch Mel, those cracks can be very sore, so keep your gloves on. That's a good idea to cover things with the mesh. I used to use old net curtains but haven't had any for years now. It should work well on your window too as I covered our caravan windows and ventilator with it for when we went to the south of France. I fixed it with velcro and it was perfect at keeping the flying beasties out and meant we could sleep with all the caravan windows wide open at night. As it was a boiling 40degrees that week it was great to be cool at night. What a palaver with pills and they don't even let you know when they make these changes do they. You have been busy planting I see. I must get on and plant some more seeds and need to see if I can get a cue plant this week. I was looking online at seeds that were for some dwarf ones that are on dwarf plants yesterday and wondered whether to send for some.

No rain here yet Vera! I could have got my washing dry. You will just have to console yourself with your Dorset Apple Cake which sounds delicious! ;-)

That's a shame your beans bending with the weather Mandy but the new shoots are quite tender. Poor Lewis getting the croup just now when tests for Covid have to be done. It really affects the whole family too and income with waiting for test results.

OH has 2 meetings this afternoon and we may go out to look at new tvs down the road at Curry's near closing time when there shouldn't be many people around.

Afternoon all, SUNSHINE with a few clouds. It seems quite warm also, I have had the window open in the lounge and the conservatory door open.

Tony has cut his lawns today. I have phoned Barry to come and do ours. Last time they were cut was when Lewis came up and did them.

Ros is out with Carolynshopping. She is bringing in a small chicken for dinner tonight. It will make a change as we haven't had chicken for ages.

Sorry I haven't red any postings AGAIN. Stay safe, xxxx

Afternoon all ,

Quack Quack lovely weather for ducks again ,its pouring here ,we went and got son and dil some shopping as Lewis has a croup cough again and he had to take a covid test yesterday so all the children had to come home from school and son and dil couldn't go to work ,they are waiting for result ,when we dropped the shopping at the door he seemed fine today, he gets this cough every so often .

Ann they are lovely photos of the lodge it looks nice inside and the views are great , it looks a nice peaceful place to stay.

Not a lot to report here as the rain has put play to doing any outside jobs ,I have put the hoover round and done a wash but that's still in the basket .

Oh Mel what a shame you can't get in your big green house ,I bet you've had some lovely grapes in there over the past summers, wasps would have had a field day with them .

When the rain does stop and we get some nice sun again the blooming weeds will be
knee high ,the poor runners didn't like the wind i noticed the wind has bent the tops of a couple of them .

O yes Island why don't the slugs and snails eat the bindweed? I have quite a bit of that up in the border and its a devil to get out as its right against the stone wall.

I have just bought some fine white netting to put over my cabbages in tubs and make a cage for the two blueberry plants as the blackbirds eat themn otherwise. I have had fleece over them in past years but the wind blows it about and makes holes in it. It was'nt very dear either so I hope it works. I may even put a bit over our bedroom windown in the summer when we have it open as we get a lot of flies in there and midges. I shall stick it on with double sided tape. Hoping that will work too.

I seem to have a lot of greenfly this year on strange things that don't ususally get it. The little clemetis on the end of the patio to the decking has it this year and its never had it before.

All wiped down and put away. He came really early this morning.

Suns gone in a bit and we had a few spots of rain but oh is still out mowing the west lawn.

Ah..... bunnies and other diners Mel :-( I thought white butterflies and blackfly were bad enough. It's a constant battle with these unwanted guests! Then there's the bindweed which slugs and other beasties just won't touch grrr!

It's a pity 'bob a job' is a thing of the past - a pack of scouts would soon have those brambles gone. Those were the days - and you got a sticker for the front window saying 'job done' :-D I think my dad used to save up the pop bottles so the scouts could take them back to the shop.

Morning Vera and Island and all,

We have a grey morning but its light grey and there is a bit of watery sun at the moment.

I do wish oh would not turn the telly on and then go out in the garden. I don't want it on.

Big wipe down this morning so I am nearly ready for the big push as my dad would say.

I still only have two tom plants inthe little greenhouse as I hav'nt taken the other two in there yet with it being windy again I thought if I lost those two I still had two safe in the shed to be going on with. Two of them are just showing thier first flowers in tight bud.

Yesterday my dwarf short beans arrived by post. Its my favorite one Ferrari and I sowed some right away. I only grow in post as the rabbits eat everything in the garden and the deer so it all has to be on the patio up by the house. I popped in the potting shed yesterday on the way back from the docs to see if there were any more half seed trays. The whole of my big greenhouse (53 foot long) is covered in brambles and is all dark and spooky. What the grapevine in there is doing I do not know as there is no way I could get in there now.

Morning Vera
I feel the same :-( I only got up early because I felt so cheesed of with the sight of another dull day so needed to distract myself. Apparently the weather is forecast to improve now.
It'll be another week before I can plant the beans as the beds are too soggy to dig over. Fellow veg growers are all dismayed by the wet weather.

Not much to report otherwise :-(

I just got the error message three times. Then when my post finally went through it appeared - four times! Must be the weather. :-S

Good morning all

Same old story today - rain, rain and more rain :-(. It’s been wet overnight and still raining now. Horrible weather for those of you on holiday. We were originally going away this week too. I’m pleased we decided to put our break off till September.

Just having a CoT before deciding what to do today.

Only left my gloves off for a few mins and handled something dirty and now I have a lovely big crack on my thumb just above the knuckle on my right thumb.

I think it is clever but not sure I like it. But it was good for photos. Brilliant sunset here tonight.

Sowed some seeds this afternoon and found all the old connecters off a netted frame I made for strawberries years ago. All the pole have rusted and some of the ends are still in the plastic connecters so iit may be a job for oh when he gets time.

They sent me the wrong plant food. I wanted the granuals and they have sent the plug things for big pots. I may use them in the big troughs with the clematis in but that still leaves me without for my potting compost.

Then at 5pm oh said to me do I have to go another day without my p[ills? I had said I would go and get them this afternoon. Anyway they don't close till 6.30pm so off I went. The girl at reception told me I had been taken off the shop list and thats why they were'nt there. Now she has put me back on the list for collection at the Shebbar shop. She said I had'nt had them there since April to which I said we are only in May now. I do wish they would get their act together. They seem to be so into these corvid jabs everything else goes out the window.

Moan over. Sounds like you had a good day out round Ilfracombe Anng and lunch out too. Nice. That statue is huge is'nt it and showing her baby inside and all her muscles in her are and the top of her leg.

Another winner from G then Ann. He's quick off the mark as usual. Perhaps the little holiday has sharpened his brain even more!!!!

My white plastic netting has arrived and I want to try and make a cover for my blueberry bushes. think I need to have a look in the shed and about the garden to see what I can find to do it with. I may even have to go up the potting sheds.

The washing up can wait or I shall have pouring rain coming down again. Its been on and off all this morning and the Mole Valley driver walked down with my order on a sack barrow and before he got to the big arch it fell out of the sky. He makes such a mess of turning around down here he always walks down now.

Just found this post I did'nt post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Again. What am I like.

It’s black as Newgate’s knocker outside. The heavens are going to open again at any minute. The first heavy downpour we had this morning was just after I had hung out a line full of washing so I wasn’t pleased. It’s happened on and off all day and the courtyard outside keeps being flooded. The drains can’t cope. Oops, here it comes again.

It’s interesting to hear about the mining in Devon and Cornwall. I knew about some of it but didn’t realise so much had been mined. The gold “fern” looked amazing.

Thanks for the pictures of your holiday lodge Ann. it looks a good place to stay, nice and quiet and lovely scenery. Your OH’s funny comments do make me smile.

We have a bit of excitement planned for tomorrow. We have an appointment at the tip. It’s to get rid of all the stuff OH forgot to take last time we went.

Our neighbour has just called with our Monday treat. Today we have Dorset Apple Cake. Looks yummy.

Rain is still coming down in sheets and I thought I saw a lightening flash. Think I’ll go and get a glass of wine to cheer myself up.

Yes Mel have spent so many holidays in Cornwall and Devon and with T being born and bred in South Devon know only too well about all the other mining that went on, just not the silver, and also not heard of the gold ferns which look beautiful

Annx did you do any drawing or painting while on holiday? Hopefully it won’t take too long to catch up with the washing.

We had a good day today in Ilfracombe, interesting to walk around and look at the little bays and the very rocky inlets. It stayed dry until we returned to the car after lunch which was late around 2pm and was calamari fried in batter with garlic and a shared bowl of chips. S in L had a bacon bap. We had coffee by the dry harbour, very low tide, in the sun and lunch in the theatre cafe. We were going to go on down into Combe Martin bay when we got back but it was raining so we have stayed in. That is ok, plenty to read but SiL is a great footie fan and always manages to find a match to watch on IPlayer.while in Ilfracombe we took photos of Verity although fascinated we were not sure what to make of her.


Verity is a 2012 stainless steel and bronze statue created by Damien Hirst. The 20.25-metre (66.4 ft) tall sculpture stands on the pier at the entrance to the harbour in Ilfracombe, Devon, looking out over the Bristol Channel towards South Wales.[1] It has been loaned to the town for 20 years. The name of the piece refers to "truth" and Hirst describes his work as a "modern allegory of truth and justice".[1]
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Photos later?