Dulcote is celebrating…..

The whole of Dulcote is delighted that its long running campaign to reduce the speed limit through the village from 40 mph to 30 mph has been successful.

New signs went up over the weekend and traffic is running slowly through the village

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the campaign for all of your hard work and perseverance!

 

 

 

Dinder Plant Sale

The annual Dinder plant sale took place on Saturday morning and Rod and I were up bright and early to get there early.  Although the sale is well publicised, the publicity material really doesn’t give a flavour of just how good this sale  is.

With a wealth of choice, the majority of which are £1 a pot (we paid just £2 for a fig tree………) we came away with a boot load of lovely plants for the garden.Already looking forward to next year!

 

 

Changing Seasons

Walking the dog early this morning I heard what initially seemed to be a strange noise. curious, I looked around a little and saw our local farmer, Richard, beginning to cut the hedgerows.

This is a sure sign that Autumn is here, and my blackberry and sloe picking opportunities are over for another year.

Its one of the delights of countryside living, the constant remiders of the changing seasons and time passing.

 

October Fest……

There is so much going on in Wells this month and no matter what your interest, you will be able to enjoy a visit to Wells.

With four festivals running: literary, food, music and art the calendar is packed.

Take a look at http://www.wellssomerset.com/cat1011/wells-festivals-october-in-wells.html?sid=1b79e6d5e050759c5cbb5c39fffa6e6f for more details

And with the City just a 20 minute walk away acorss the beutiful paved pathway across Bishops Fields, remember The White House as your destination of choice!

Lunchtime concerts at Cedars Hall

Now that Wells Cathedral School is back in full swing, visitors wot Wells can once more enjoy free lunchtime concerts at the school.

These take place at Quilter Hall (please click here for directions) at 1.05 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on occasional Fridays during term-time.   I can’t describe well enough how professional these concernts are, and they are an important opportunity for the school’s  specialist musicians to perform their solo repertoire. Doors open 15 minutes before the start of the concert, admission is free of charge, and everyone is welcome.

Check out the website at https://wells.cathedral.school/free-concerts/ for more details

Hot Fuzz Copycat……

We’re all keen Hot Fuzz fans here in Wells and over the summer we had an ex-policeman to stay who used to pound the beat here many years ago. 
We had a lots of laughter around the breakfast table, especially when he confirmed that many of the incidents in the film were based on true stories, including the arrest of the swan. 
Well, I was reminded of this yesterday when Rod found a BBC new event of a swan being arrested inSt Ives.  Would you believe it………… 
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-41305561 for more details.

Finally……

I finally managed to get into the hedgerows at the weekend to pick blackberries.  Its been such a busy period for us, and the weather has been so unpredictable, that whenever I have had time to think about going, the weather just hasn’t allowed it.

But on Sunday I finally got there.  Although I still managed to get soaked (the heavens decided to open just as I got to my favourite spot) I now have a cupboard fully stocked with jam to keep all of our guests happy for some time to come.

 

Vegetables

After the madness of August I finally got a chance to get back into the vegetable garden on Sunday afternoon.
 
Five hours and some really horrid finger blisters later, I had finally managed to make a huge dent.  We now have a freezer full of berlotti beans, a huge number of marrows, pumpkins and butternut squash in storage, and several barrowloads of weeds in the compost heap .  Feedling very smug and virtuous……  After and before pictures below. 
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Sunshine

Hope you are all out there enjoying the sunshine today.

Its been a glorious weekend here in Dulcote and the weather is set fair with high temperatures and sunshine for the next week or so.  With Glastonbury coming up very very shortly, and guests beginning to arrive tomorrow for the festival, its looking like it will be a great event this year.

Enjoy!

Ray’s Playhouse

When we lived in London Ray’s Playhouse was a huge part of our lives.  Originally a council funded playgroup, both Eddie and Lucy attended with their nanny on a daily basis.  And when Council funding ran out, Rod and I stepped in with a small number of other parents to launch a campain to save the playhouse.

As part of this, we met a lovely lady called Sarah Bender who was seeking a really good cause to donate to, following inheritance received with the death of her brother Ray.  We all came together and the rest is history: Ray’s Playhouse was born.

It was a real struggle to make things work, not because of a lack of demand or interest, or hard work on all of our parts, but to overcome council bureaucracy to allow the Playhouse to continue.  But we made it, and although I haven’t been a part of the Playhouse for some time now, it continues through the hard work of all involved.

It is a special place, loved (and needed) by all and now it needs your help.

This year the Playhouse has been nominated to become Sainsbury’s Charity of the year which means that they will receive all proceeds from plastic bag sales and other fundraising.

It is a great opportunity, but they need your help to get the votes.

Voting is simple, you can vote online by going to www.sainsburyslocalcharity.co.uk and selecting ‘Fulham Wharf’ as your local store.

Please help them to win this position.  It will be such a big help to their children’s charity.

And if you could forward to friends/classes/groups or anyone you can think of, it would be simply amazing!

Thank you for taking the time to vote – the children really appreciate it.