Well, surprise surprise! We are all traipsing off westward. Sue and I also spent a week in those parts because our kitchen is being refitted. We dodged the rain in the New Forest and then stayed 3 days in Lyme Regis, where I lived for a few years while at school and uni. More rain-dodging. But we saw quite a few places and collected a few shells from Studland [one of my hobbies] and I actually visited my old home and the man living there let me take some photos. It's changed a bit in 40 years - but not all that much.
Now we are back and the kitchen refit is confining us to certain parts of the house. Our second bedroom is a makeshift kitchen. But I have managed to find employment for some of the old cabinets as raised planters for herbs etc.
The whole process has taken 3 weeks. I dare say if we had got Wickes to fit it, they'd have brought a whole team in for the intensive work and had it done in a week. But th3 fitters are friends of ours and in spite of the extra time we are glad we have given them the work, not least because it's all exactly as we want it, not a slavish adherence to some sterotypical plan.
Meantime the tatties are going in, I've put in 20 asparagus p[lants and the soil is very easy to work on the raised beds. A few parsnips which had hidden themselves when I dug them up in the winter have sprouted leaves and thus betrayed their whereabouts, so we'll have some unexpected soup this weekend. At last we can start enjoying the great outdoors.
