all change!

I started this blog just over a year ago, intending to focus on my progress towards redundancy and self-employments. Over the year I have been seriously distracted by gardens and cats and baking and now I actually am self-employed I think I need to focus on the sewing and craft side of my life. However, I have loved writing about the gardens I visit and the marmalade I make and the cute things our two cats do, so I have decided to keep two blogs!

My sewing and crafting 'work' blog and website:

Deerey Me!

and

My garden, cats, baking diary:

Deere Diary

I am sorry to have to redirect you, but there is a link on both blogs to the older posts here. I hope you enjoy the new formats!

the Courts garden at Holt

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow...! Yes, I love a sunny day so yesterday Mark and I headed off to Holt to the National Trust's The Courts. It is such a beautiful place - just the right balance between formal gardens with manicured lawns, ponds and channels of water, strangely shaped hedges etc and wild areas of buttercups and Queen Anne's Lace.

the Courts at Holt

The vegetable and fruit garden is particularly fine; allium and violas snuggling between the rows of veg and blossoming fruit trees. I have long coveted a rhubarb forcer like this one (will add it to my Christmas list).

rhubarb forcer

the Courts at Holt

It was such a lovely day, there were more visitors than I have seen there before - including several extended families picnicking in the less formal areas, and this little fella exploring the gardens and rushing up to anyone who would make a fuss of him...

little black cat

...what a garden to play in!

It was so hot and sunny, I had to do my English rose act in a wide-brimmed hat.

reflections of an English rose

For a little shade, this tree was perfect.

beautiful tree at the Courts, Holt

Even when we left the gardens, plants in the village were competing...this clematis montana seems set on world domination!

clematis montana on a mission

a little piece of art deco gorgeousness

Queen of teapot temptation, Scrapiana, had the most wonderful art deco teapot in her Etsy shop and I just couldn't resist!

art deco gorgeousness in a teapot

art deco teapot and cover

The removable shiny thermal cover is pure genius.

the American Museum at Claverton

As threatened, here are a few photos I took today at the American Museum. I am always tempted by the lovely tussie mussies, but resisted today as I still have a nice vase of tulips.

the American Museum in Britain, Claverton

beautiful views from the American Museum 

Spring flowers at the American Museum

Mark and I never can resist dressing up at museums and stately homes...have you seen this darn varmint?

public enemy number 9 1/2

To round off a lovely day I made my first ever tarte tatin - not hugely pretty, but jolly tasty!

my first ever tarte tatin

all dressed in white

This year we managed to get to Lacock in the few weeks when it is entirely dressed in white. The terrible Winter has meant everything is a little later this year, but oh so worth the wait!

Lacock Abbey in May

Lacock Abbey

The orchard had hints of fairyland about it.

Lacock Abbey orchard

It wasn't all white - the walled garden was a mass of colour!

Lacock colour

The hot house had some very exotic species...

cat in the greenhouse

And Mark showed off his croquet skills.

anyone for croquet?

We also went inside the house. Mark rather took to being a country gentleman, while I seemed more at home as a rosy cheeked scullery maid!

Lacock Abbey

Now this is where I could see myself taking afternoon tea (but instead we went to St John's Hunting Lodge for warm cinnamon lumbs and Margaret's tea).

tea in the withdrawing room

Back outside there was a display of falconry....such beautiful birds.

falconry

Today we are heading to the American Museum, so brace yourself for even more photos!

too warm for gloves?

Well most of the time it really is rather too warm for gloves, but they have other uses...!

glove dog

There are lots of other creatures I want to try, but this one is for a baby, so no odd bits of woolly manes or button eyes; entirely chewable (and washable!).

In the garden the gales have decimated the blossom on the cherry tree, but that gives the apple trees and choisya their chance to shine. I don't think I am the only one appreciating them either...bzzzzzz.

bees in the apple blossom

a Bath garden in May

 Lovely walks with George along the canal too.

faces from the past

My stepmother gave me a bundle of old photos my dad had kept; fond memories and faces of family members some of whom I never even met. I love the way these photos capture the times in which they were taken.

my dad, aged 3

my great aunt Betty, grandmother, grandfather  (my dad in his arms) and great aunt Helen

my dad

family picnic at Burnham on Sea

my great grandmother

my great grandmother, great great grandmother, grandmother and my dad

 My mum still mentions the parties she had on her family's house boat - telling me they never got too drunk because they lined their stomachs with milk! My mum is the one on the left laughing and my dad is standing (in the rather unnecessary seafaring outfit).

boat party

My dad smoking a pipe (my mum made him give up smoking before she would marry him), a family friend and my grandmother looking as I have never seen her before!

Christmas 1951

My dad used to tell me stories about growing up with his twin sisters and the tricks her played on them.

dad with his sisters and my grandmother

on the beach

my mum

Then there is my generation capturing the 1960s and 1970s.

my sisters and cousin

me!

my sisters and me at my birthday party

me...butter wouldn't melt!

days of sunshine

Look, I'm sorry...there have just been too many months of grey dreariness for me not to go out with my camera now the land is drenched in golden sunlight. I can already hear the murmurs of "not more gardens", but you'll be glad of it when it rains from June to October!

I know am a bit obsessed with our cherry blossom and the primroses that pop up in the lawn alongside the violets...but that's just the way it is.

garden blossom

Max seems to be somewhat in love with the garden just now too...

Max

Every year I try to catch the grounds and orchard at Lacock Abbey when the apple trees are in blossom and the wild garlic is in flower and the paths are lined with fields of Queen Anne's Lace. Last year we missed it - there is really only a week or two when the gardens look like the setting for a celebrity wedding - and we are determined to catch it this year. This weekend there are hints of white, but it is still mainly vibrant green, so we will just have to go back next weekend!

The village car park was crammed full, but magically the grounds simply absorb people, so it is stays calm and peaceful. Mind you the Marshfield Farm ice cream place had completely sold out...ppfffhh!

Lacock pond

Lacock Abbey

Lacock Abbey gardens

Lacock walled garden tulips

I cannot promise not to take more garden photos this week, but next week there will at least be sewing too!

there's no place like home

whether it is better to paint or to sew...that is the question

With all this decorating I am finding muscles I never knew existed and keep discovering sploshes of paint that have not come off in the shower; some interestingly coloured freckles to add to the natural ones. The house is really starting to look the way Mark and I want it to (well ok, the way I want it to look and Mark is ok with), but I think I need a break from decorating and I am itching to get back to my sewing machine. I have, therefore, decided that once I have finished the tiles and woodwork in the bathroom, I am going to wait a bit before I start on the three bedrooms (although one of them does need to be done before some very important visitors arrive in August).

beauty on my doorstep

We spent much of our holiday wandering around gardens (and tomorrow plan to see if the orchard at Lacock Abbey is in  blossom), but sometimes it is easy to overlook what is right under your nose. I have plans for our garden: raised-beds, raspberries, more rhubarb, roses and even things not beginning with 'r' - but the garden already has a loveliness all its own and Spring suits it very well.

our garden in Bath

The cherry tree at the bottom of the garden is really showing off at the moment...

our cherry tree

...and the cats are loving sunny days in the garden (although I do have to keep shooing them away from the sparrow hedge - luckily the loud bells on their collars seem to keep the birds safe)

Max and Rio, the cats

Now the part of the garden formerly known as 'the jungle' is clear, Max thinks it is a wonderful place for a snooze. Actually we had intended to put down gravel there and add some pots, but have decided instead to plant spreading thyme and camomile and fill the gaps with chipped bark, so it is more cat-friendly.

Max relaxing

What is more, we are surrounded by beautiful countryside. At the end of our little cul-de-sac you look one way towards the city (the centre of Bath is just a 20 minute walk away) and the other to rolling hills. I really am spoilt, and feel hugely grateful to live in such a wonderful place.

looking towards Swainswick village

the Woolley Valley

George and the horses

This week I walked George the spaniel the loop around and through Swainswick village and was somewhat concerned when, in a narrow country lane with high hedgerow both sides, we met a large horse and rider (only the horse was large). I have only been walking George for a few weeks and did not know quite how he would react to a horse. He has been fine with people, children, other dogs, ducks etc, but we had not met anything as big as a horse. Here, as my Swedish friends throw their hands up in horror, I have to confess to being rather scared of, not to mention very allergic to, horses. I just knew I couldn't be afraid because it would pass on to George (and maybe even the horse) and if the horse reared up it could be quite bad for me and George. The rider seemed anxious too, which didn't help my worries any. However, George quietly sat at the side of the road with an expression that said "horse? what horse?". The rider commented on what a wonderfully behaved dog he was and I thanked her...despite having no right to smugness, George being someone else's dog who I only walk one day a week.

Feeling relieved, we carried on with me fairly skipping along, George's recently filled poo bag, swinging in my hand (I feel the need to make sure people see I am a responsible dog walker who picks up George's...er....little gifts). As we turned a bend in the narrow lane, we came face to face with not one, but two more horses!! Before my heart had time to sink, one of the riders called out "Is that George?". "It is George" I replied, somewhat surprised by his canine celebrity. Clearly my fears were unfounded as George seems to regularly socialise with horses and riders.