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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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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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Growing vegetables in a tiny plot

Growing vegetables I have said many times it is not difficult to grow some vegetables even if you have a tiny garden like ours, or even if you have no garden at all. The photo on the left shows lettuce and a courgette growing happily on a window ledge. We started off the seeds in a tray in my shed, …

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Planting time and compost

Planting time and compost I have done a lot of early planting this year as the weather has been very kind to gardeners. All my early potatoes are in now ( in containers and bags ) and I have also planted lots of onions in my deep beds. We are just finishing last years leeks and carrots and have started …

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A gorgeous Garden Centre

Leaf Creative This week we drove to Huntley to visit a garden centre we had been told about Leaf Creative . We drove up with a couple of friends on a beautiful spring day. The surroundings are beautiful and so is the driveway. Even the car park was beautifully laid out with planted trees , so an impressive start to …

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Coleford – Forest of Dean

Coleford in the Forest of Dean Coleford is a small market town in the west of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, two miles east of the Welsh border and close to the Wye Valley. When you consider It is the administrative centre of the Forest of Dean district it is a surprisingly small town. It is very close to Cinderford …

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The best Father’s day ever

Father’s Day Yesterday turned out to be one of the best days of my life. My daughter, who lives in Southampton gave me a ring on Saturday to let me know she had booked a table for Vanda and I at the Farmers boy, for Father’s day at one of our favourite pubs. We had a lovely drive there via Littledean …

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Our boy Dan

Our children are all grown up now and have left home. We had some photos from Dan this week that thrilled us so I thought I’d do a quick blog about him. Dan was a typical boy and went through all the usual angst as a teenager, but turned his life around. Vanda and I are particularly proud of the …