Mushroom magic...

Puffball mushrooms are a magical mystery to me... You can never know when or where they will appear, you can long for one ages and then when you least expect it one will pop up right in the middle of your lawn...




Or at least that's the wish . They never arrive in my garden, but bionic grandpa came home to find an enormous one waiting by his back door - the local farmers know of his penchant for them and some one had left him an anonymous gift!

I only got a few slices saved for me as you can see - but that was enough for breakfast for two...




I fried them in butter then added black pepper and lemon zest - trust me it works....and voila! Seasonal breakfast heaven!



Now I have to work out which field it popped up in and cross my fingers for next year!


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La Dolce Vita...

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to visit Italy. From being a teenager reading A Room with a View to discovering Italian food through Jamie Oliver's obsession with the place I always knew I was going to love the place....and this summer we finally got there, the whole tribe went Italiano..and we loved it...

We had our very own Room with a View...

Surrounded by olive groves...

 

grapevines...

 

 

 

and fig trees ripe for the picking...

 

 

We were in Northern Tuscany, which I can promise you is even more beautiful than any film or book about the area. I was concerned that my expectations might be a bit too high - being twenty years in the making and all that...but I needn't have worried! As we opened the shutters on our villa to the views of the Tuscan hills we knew we'd arrived somewhere pretty magical!

 

 

BH got into the touristy spirit...the holding up the tower photo is a must!

The mini freerangers loved it so much I'm wondering if they are Italian!

 

 

 

 

 

but then whats not to love about sunshine, gelato and Chianti! We are about to begin a serious diet regime to recover from our two weeks of indulgence -I think if we lived there we would have to run up and down the mountains to burn some calories off...or we could end up looking like this fella!

Anyone who know me knows I love Yorkshire, but I have to say Italy is coming a close second now - if they could only make a good cup of tea we'd be emigrating...

 

 

Ciao!

Where did the time go....

Hello again...is there anybody there? The last thing I remember school was breaking up in July, we had a big list of things to do and then what do you know...its September and we're back at school!

We have been busy though honest! I can prove it...

We almost finished the hallway...

Even John Deer is finally in his rightful place,

we made a start on decorating the new build - the room that will one day, finally, be our grown up bedroom!

 despite a dreadful harvest in the garden, the broad beans did us proud...

and this was our best year yet for gooseberries - red ones at that!

 and our dragons egg cucumber - we only managed one, and it didn't taste great but it grew!

and then what with the weather and the kids activities and playdates and packing and unpacking and laundry and putting away...the summer was gone - hey ho!
The plus side for me though is I have time for blogging again - every cloud has a silver lining!

We did have one other big distraction over the summer...I took the following picture there - can you guess?

 to be continued....

Blame it on the Olympics...

I could blame it on the rain, the endless weeks of dreary drizzle. I could blame it on the workload, the schedule or even the building work - there's always the building work... But no- the reason why my garden is running to ruin is that I am totally hooked on the Olympics...


Weeds so high I can't even see where my crops were...peas turned to pigeon food... And I even managed to miss the arrival of my first ever globe artichoke...



But I can't say I'm sorry... I'm completely hooked! I stepped away from the action for two hours yesterday and we got another two gold medals! Needless to say last night the whole tribe cheered Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah every step of the way and while we were watching that we went and go another gold in the long jump!

So today it's Olympic weeding for me...I'm expected to medal but may fail the doping test due to traces of back ache painkillers...I must just have to down tools for the tennis- just for a bit-promise...


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Things that make me go Wow!!!

The oriental poppies I planted last year have started to burst open - and I mean burst! They are eye poppingly bright, completely jarring any attempt at a subtle colour scheme... and 100% fabulous! And there's loads more to come...



The best bit is their blue centres - multiple coloured bees have been spotted after visiting them so watch out!!!




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Aquilegias everywhere...

Aquilegias...I love 'em. I don't plant them, I don't feed them, I don't even have to stake them. As long as I don't accidentally weed them they do their thing...



They crop up everywhere and last and last...



And they surprise me every year with new colours...



And plenty of ruffles...



Yes, I love 'em! All I have to do now is let them run to seed and look forward to next years crop...



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Jubilations...

   

Now the holiday is nearly over Im catching my breath after the nonstop fun I want to ask the big question...

What did you do to celebrate?

We had a bunting festooned dinner..

I made a lot, and I mean a lot of cupcakes for street parties...The red and white ones were already in the car when I took this!

Oh and I got a bit tipsy at our village talent show and sang 'how much is that doggy in the window' backwards - no photos of that one thank goodness...there are some talents that are clearly best kept hidden!

The post Chelsea post...

Blimey where does the time go? One minute I'm counting the days till Chelsea flower show, the next I'm wondering if it really happened, so much has happened since. Weve been awash with bunting and jubilee flags since then...but thats for another post...back to Chelsea...

I think this may be my favourite Chelsea yet. The gardens were amazing despite the cold start to the year, and then the drought and then the rain! Here are some of my favourite moments...

Cleve Wests garden won best in show and deservedly so. More than any Chelsea garden ive seen, i wanted to sneak in and stay in this all day...very secret garden and very magical..

 Joe Swift's garden was also a favourite - he had these amazing redwood arches that made it look like looking through frames, his colours were amazing.

 The Furzey garden created by Chris Beardshaw and the team of young people with learning difficulties was gorgeous, and made me wish we could grow rhododendrons here, but no such luck! I met the family of one of the gardeners there who were telling of how the project had changed their sons life. I'm not ashamed to say I left the Furzey Garden a bit teary eyed and truly inspired by the power of gardening...

and I loved Andy Sturgeons garden. Ive already passed this picture on to BH as inspiration for the steps to our garden - here's hoping!

I thinks The caravan garden was one of my favourites though - I've been planning a garden office for a few years now and I think this could be an answer...

The designer Kaffe Fassett had decorated his own summerhouse for the show, I wish i could have got a better picture. the colours were so much better than they came out here!

 But Chelsea isn't just about show gardens...it's also about shopping and for us champagne. The day ended with our traditional stop at the champagne bar at St Pancras before I jumped on the train back to Yorkshire...you can just see my Bill Wallace Geranium in the back ground, its already found its home in my long border...

And that was it for another year...now how many sleeps until the next one...

Countdown to Chelsea 2012

5 sleeps to go! I've got my ticket at the ready....


heres a Brunnera I bought in the sell off last year doing very well... I wonder what I,ll get when the bell rings this year, maybe Diarmuid's pyramid house...

Of course if you don't follow Chelsea flower you'll wonder what I'm going on about... Let me just say its the greatest flower show on earth and I've got me a ticket!!!

5 sleeps to go...

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Malton food festival ...

So I came home on Friday night sneezing and by the time the kids were in bed I was coughing and wheezing up a storm. Whoever invented the phrase 'manflu' hasn't met me - by bedtime I was convinced I was dying!

I fully intended to wallow under the duvet for the weekend until we realised that Saturday was Malton Food Festival. There was nothing else for it - a double dose of medicine and a woolly jumper and we hit the road...



As did everyone else - it was packed! Not surprisingly though as the produce on offer was amazing...

We bought some delicious Provolone...



Cakes and brownies...






And caught up on some of the demonstrations by visiting food writers...



We caught a bit of Tom parker Bowles and Matthew Fort cooking mackerel and eating Pork scratchings...



It was standing room only, but to be honest it was a great atmosphere with no one pushing or shoving so nobody minded.

After all that hard shopping some refreshments were called for - and there were plenty to choose from...


I had strawberry cider which i could barely taste because of the cold, but i figured as it was the colour of medicine it must be doing me some good!


The minis loved it - especially the chocolate fountain...


We brought back our haul..


The pork scratchings are Pony girls - she loves 'em. The passionfruit curd is most definitely mine!all that was left to was to come home and start sneezing again - anyone got a tissue?


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