Its not often I get the chance to spend a full weekend in the garden but that’s just what I did this weekend.  The farmers market in Wells is beginning to build its vegetable plug plant stock and so I thought it was time I got my act together.

So, with much needed advice from my big brother (botanist, ecologist and life time gardener) I began to prep the soil on Friday and after a well timed chat to the farmer next door which resulted in him dropping by with a tractor load of vintage manure for me (more than fair exchange for a jar of home made plum chutney) I had no choice but to finish the job yesterday,

So I’m now feeling very virtuous and looking forward to watching the first of my crops begin to grow.  So, I have peas, two types of broad beans, red and white onions, French shallots, potatoes and  Jerusalem artichokes in.

Watch out for more news over the coming weeks and photographs of progress

On Saturday Rod and I visited the Old Deanery Garden in Wells.  The garden is one of the most ancient and secretive gardens in Wells, dating back more than 850 years.

While the garden is small, all plants grown are those mentioned by William Turner in his writings in the 16th century and is kept by a group of volunteers.  Saturday was the first of a number of open days taking place in spring, summer and autumn and as well as this visitors are able to enter the garden every Wednesday morning during June, July and August.

We were fortunate to be able to buy some seeds and we’ve improvised, turning the old summer house at the bottom of the garden into a potting shed to see if we can manage to get them to grow for us.

I’ll keep you all informed of progress and hopefully by the end of the summer we will have some of the Tudor plants growing in our own garden.

Dulcote, Wells and the surrounding area looked stunning over the weekend with another fall of snow.  It was very different to the fall a couple of weeks ago, with soft snowflakes and not the biting wind that caused the drifts last time

The following photographs give a flavour of just how beautiful everything looked and while I’m happy it wont last long, we really did enjoy our weekend.

The argument about whether to put the jam or cream on top of a scone was taken to new levels yesterday with the BBC website reporting outrage following an advert by the Lanhydrock National Trust.

I’m not going to advise the correct method for fear of reprisals but you can see the full article at the link below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-43363435

Everyone knows that Somerset is Cider making country and one of the largest (and in my opinion) the best brand close to us is Thatchers.

They begin their year early with a traditional Wassail Ceremony to ward off evil spirits and bless the trees (yes, we follow some very long standing traditions around here) and throughout the year they do lots of good work with the local community.

If you are planning a visit to Somerset, then you can’t go wrong with a visit see Cider being made and Thatchers isn’t the only company offering this.

I’ve added a link both to Thatchers and also to a map of all makers close by.  Definitely worth a trip!

http://www.visitsomerset.co.uk/food-and-drink/local-food-and-drink/cider-producers

Our Story

This morning I was still wondering what all the fuss was about but weather conditions have changed quite a lot since then.

If I wasn’t planning a trip to see my daughter Melanie in Manchester tomorrow, it would be quite exciting…..

What fantastic weather we had this weekend.  Although extremely cold we had brilliant sunshine and although our miniature Schnauzer Bob was very happy to lie beside the fire, he was delighted to go on a long walk with me through the woods on Sunday.

It was so pleasurable – twigs cracking under my feet, crunching through surface ice to uncover sticky mud underneath, and sunlight shining through the bare tree branches.

There were loads of walkers out, so lots of folk to say hi to and other dogs to play with.

I didn’t think to take any photographs but a perfect winters day.

I’ve always loved snowdrops.  They are such a cheery flower and the first showing makes you feel hopeful that there  will soon be an end to winter.

We have  loads in our garden (see picture below) and so I was really pleased to see that this weekend, for the first time,   The Bishop’s Palace  are holding a “Snowdrop Celebration”.

As well as  a Snowdrop Walk, the Moat banks are carpeted with snowdrops and the Palace is advertising that you can cross the Willow Bridge to enjoy an Arboretum full of different varieties of spectacular snowdrops. A selection of common and rare varieties of snowdrops are also  on offer to buy and take home to your own garden.

Very tempted…..

On Saturday afternoon we all felt the effects of the earthquake epicentre in Wales.  Quite an eerie experience.  I ignored it as I thought it was just a huge tractor passing the house but Rod actually saw pictures shaking on the walls of the room.

Apparently it was  so strong it was judged as moderate on the seismic monitoring scales and is very rare in England.

Did anyone else feel it?