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Growing your own

Growing your own vegetables Amid all the doom and gloom over coronavirus , the last few days have been warm and gloriously sunny, so Vanda and I have been out in the garden and thoroughly enjoying it. We are still eating leeks, onions, garlic and purple sprouting from the garden. These of course will soon be coming to an end …

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Self Isolating in the Forest of Dean

Self Isolating in the Forest of Dean Like many others we are doing our best to stay at home as much as possible, but the fact of the matter is it is simply impossible to completely self isolate. We retired here 5 years ago so we don’t have family members to help. our children live in Manchester, Southampton Stonehouse and …

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Local Paralympian Mel Nicholls to officially name “Barney” the Tramper

Local Paralympian Mel Nicholls to officially name “Barney” the Tramper  ‘Walking with Wheels’ are delighted to welcome Paralympian Mel Nicholls, who will officially name “Barney”, the all-terrain scooter, on Thursday 19th March,  10am at Forest Holidays at Christchurch near Coleford.   Come along to have a free demo ride on “Barney”, and to meet Mel to find out about her journey …

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Environmental charity calling on local artists to help highlight new  recycling on-the-go initiative 

Each year 250 tonnes of rubbish is removed from the Forest of Dean, costing local taxpayers £457,000 per year to clean up.​ In 2016, environmental charity Hubbub launched its #LoveYourForest campaign, to tackle the issue through a number of interventions which in four years, has seen more than 800 bags of litter collected in the area. Now, in its fifth year, Hubbub is calling …

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Fun lessons at Harts Barn Cookery

Making sausages and faggots Yesterday I met my lovely daughter Lara at the Harts Barn Cookery School for this course. It was great fun with witty comments from the chef and applause when someone mastered the sausage filling machine successfully. We made several different types of sausages and of course some faggots that look scrummy. As they have to be …

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The vegetable garden has been good to us

The vegetable garden has been good to us this year We are now well into autumn and the vegetable garden is still feeding us. We have been eating the leeks for some time now ( leek and potato soup is our favourite ) , we have a shed full of onions and garlic and the freezer is full of French …

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Busy Busy Busy

Well, it is ironic people said I would be bored when I retired. I have had so much to do that my own little blog has been neglected. I shall be putting that right this week with more gardening posts. This last few weeks I have been busy with https://fourgatesofgloucester.co.uk/ that I support , launching a new site for https://charlietaylorinteriors.co.uk/ …

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World Curries at Harts Barn

World Curries at Harts Barn Cookery School Yesterday my daughter Lara and I spent the afternoon at Harts Barn Cookery School where we had a fantastic demonstration by Yvette on different styles of curries and of course we got our hands dirty by the whole class cooking and tasting. If you haven’t been before the first thing you will notice …

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Growing Your Own

Growing your own Growing your own vegetables is a real joy. The quality and taste is far better than anything shop bought, and you know they have not been covered in chemicals. Even the smallest plot can be used to very good effect, as I hope to show you here. I have included a video clip at the end of …

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Enjoy your Garden

Enjoy your Garden At this time of year we are all busy sowing, planting and preparing soil, but one of the chief benefits of your garden is simply sitting down and enjoying it. Usually by about 4 pm we have finished all the jobs and that is the time to open a bottle of wine or beer and sit looking …