Author Archives: Mary Harris

Nesting Season

Over the past few weeks we have had sparrows nesting in the roof just next to our kitchen door.  They have been very noisy little birds, driving their parents nuts with their constant demands for food.
Well this morning they have fledged, the  next is empty, and the kitchen as a result is very quiet.
But before they left I took a recording and would love to allow you to hear but  my web hosting site won’t allow upload

and this is when I start to get boring……

Really getting the gardening but this year, and having great success with my seedlings.  This is a first time for me and definitely won’t be the last as next year I’m going to try to grow my vegetables from seeds instead of plug plants.

Can’t believe the success of them, especially those I bought from the Old Deanery Tudor Garden.

And absolutely delighted to see that my asparagus has also started to germinate – how exciting is that!

asparagus tudor seeds

Rhubarb Gin

A few weeks ago I shared that we had made some rhubarb gin.  Well, we had a little taster last night and its absolutely delicious.

We’ve tried it with tonic and also with ginger ale and Rod and I have both agreed the ginger brings out the taste best.

It was so easy to make, thinking about buying more rhubarb plants.  Hic………

gin

Progress in the vegetable garden

We had another lovely weekend here in Dulcote with more progress in the vegetable garden.
 
We now have berlotti, edamame and French beans added to the crop along with garlic, leeks, more broad beans, kale and another speciality cabbage that I can’t remember the name of…..
 
So far we have no weeds and hoping that by regular hoeing I can keep them under control this year!vegtables

Wells Stonemasonry Festival

Last week I wrote about this fantastic event and thought I would share an image of the grotesque we secured at the public auction that took place afterwards.

I originally shared this was a gargoyle but have since found out that gargoyles have a water spout and a grotesque doesn’t

We are planning to place it on our barn and think it will be a welcome addition to our family!

Would love your feedback…

grotesque

The trouble with wild life……

Last year we had a guest who arrived at The White House extremely late.  She apologised and explained she had been stuck on the M3 for 3 hours while the police tried to catch a swan on the motorway.

Well, can you believe it happened to me earlier this week!

It was a totally crazy adventure on my way to Reading on Monday.  The car in front of me in the fast lane suddenly slowed and swerved and my own response was obviously to do the same.  Imagine my urprise when a swan then jumped out in front of my car from the central reservation.  I just missed it (also missing the central reservation by a couple of millimetres) and looking in my rear view mirror with my heart beating rapidly, the whole of the motorway had stopped because it was just sitting on the road looking at the cars and refusing to move!

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Apple Blossom

It so lovely to see the garden come back to life and one of the loveliest areas at the moment is our mini orchard at the bottom of the garden.

I took the photograph below of the blossom on our Katy apple tree as I think it looks stunning.

apple blossom

Wells Stone Carving Festival

We have yet another first for Wells with a brand new festival taking place between 5th – 7th May.

In the Bishops Barn the Wells stone carving festival will take place and with free entry this is one to recommend.

In the Autumn we restored the old well in our garden and our stone mason Paul is masterminding this festival which will show case the work of craftsman in the area.

we will certainly be there and hope to see you.stone masons

 

 

 

Wells Theatre Festival

We have another first for Wells with the announcement of the Wells Theatre Festival, taking place from 12th – 15th July.  With Judy Dench and Richard Eyre acting as patrons of the Festival, a number of venues around Wells will host both performances and workshops both indoors and outside including the Cathedral Green, Wells Museum, Cedars Hall, Wells Almshouses Chapel, Little Theatre, The Globe Inn and The Bishop’s Barn

As well as classic drama the festival will also showcase new talent It will present classic drama by well-known artists alongside exciting, emerging theatre-makers. The festival will feature a community production of Romeo and Juliet, performed on the lawn in front of Wells Cathedral on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th July.

Take a look at the website for a flavour of what is going on at http://wellstheatrefestival.co.uk/

 

Ciderthon

We are all quite excited here as we have a new event happening next weekend.

The Ciderthon in Wells (which I first heard about on the Chris Evans show on Tuesday morning….) combines a half marathon with cider tasting.

So, in essence, you run for just over 13 miles, and taste a different variety of cider for every mile that you run.

The only other similar event is apparently the Medoc Marathon in France, which has been running annually since 1985 and attracts over 3,300 participants from more than 50 nations.

Lets hope it does the same for Wells and if you have time to spare, then why not come down and join us?

Almost tempting me to take up running!

See the link for more details:

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/ciderthon-wells-everything-know-far-931988