The herb garden

I received this lovely herb box for Christmas but until now had no free space to plant it in. A few weeks ago I liberated this rather fine tin bath with a quacky duck design from a skip in Wickham Market, Suffolk, and so both the herbs and the tin bath have a new home. I also added a few basil plants I bought from the Southwold farmers market. Lo and behold, a new herb garden is sown. Let’s hope some nice herbage will spring forth and grow.

London Zoo

We went to the animal fair, the birds and the bees were there…

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We recently visited London Zoo. Prior to the visit a bank loan had to be obtained to fund the entrance fee. It was half term, hot and full of pushy tourists. One kind soul kept ramming me with her buggy until I relented and moved both myself and my two year old out of the way. A shame, but we won’t be going back in a hurry.

Dunwich

At its height Dunwich was one of the largest ports in Eastern England. During the 13th century, it was a thriving port and major hub of the wool and corn trade, with 18 parish churches, its own mint and two representatives in parliament. Now all that remains is a pebble beach with a car park, the town having been consumed by the sea. Legend has it that occasionally you can hear the distant toll of the church bells rising from the sea. Despite the menacing Sizewell nuclear power station in the distance, Dunwich is a fine place to kick of your shoes, lay back, and watch the clouds puff on by.

East Anglia Transport Museum

The excellent East Anglia Transport Museum is a gem of an experience. It’s a working museum where you actually get to ride on the most beautifully restored art deco trams, trolleybuses and miniature railway. In addition, there is a street scene of houses and shops, complete with authentic street furniture of bygone days. What’s not to like whether you are two or, ahem, 38?

More booty…

Yes, I have been to the book fair again. Yes, I am addicted to going to the boot fair. J’adore le boot fair.

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How could I not give a new and loving home to these beauties? (That was a rhetorical question, Chris). A fab tea cosy for 50p, a set of gorgeous jugs for £3, a cute cake stand for £3, and an amazing hand stitched bedspread for £3. Vive le boot fair!

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside

Two Gallivanting Goddesses* went for a ten-mile stroll along the coast from Hove to Rottingdean and back again and along the way saw a dog having a cuppa on the sea wall, a young lady dressed up in an inflatable penis on the miniature railway, a misbehaving Noddy and Mister Plod, a giant shrimp and a very eery stretch of coast that had them thinking they were in a Cold War movie.

* The very same Gallivanting Goddesses who completed the über sick joke that was Trailwalker 2006, a 100km trek on the South Downs and from which they have still not recovered.

Downderry Nursery

I’m not sure who named our house Lavender Cottage, but it just added to the general cuteness of leaving The Big Smoke and living in the countryside, albeit with access to Carluccio’s which was also a deciding factor in our (read: my) moving here. So we bought Lavender Cottage despite there being no lavender to be had. I’ve been on a mission ever since to put the lavender back into Lavender Cottage and with the fabulous Downderry Nursery a short and very picturesque drive away, this has been easy to achieve. After losing quite a lot of plants in the very hard winter before last, I replaced them with new plants hardy down to -15 degrees and consequently only lost two plants this year. These simply had to be replaced and with the nursery just having opened for the season, our annual pilgrimage to Downderry took place and we left with seven plants, three of which are a gift, so that’s all ticketyboo then.

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Booty

Today at the boot fair I spent all of £7.20. £1.70 on some Disney Cars, 50p on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, £2.00 on a Paddington Bear DVD, £1 on a Salter pocket balance (I plan on hanging something on it in the garden), and £2.oo on a little framed print I liked. It looks a bit like Mr Gardner and myself praying for the allotment veg to grow.

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Southborough pond

We popped over to the pond on Southborough Common to feed the ducks and to see if the ducklings have arrived yet. No sign of them so far but watch this space…

Boot fair

Praise the Lord, the boot fair is back. I love it as you never quite know what you’ll find. Previous purchases have included a Le Creuset wall shelf, some old British Rail mirrors and a gorgeous tin with birds on for the princely sum of 20 pence.

This week it was books and a stool and £6 well spent:

• Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
• Round the year with Enid Blyton : Autumn Time
• A Ladybird book about knitting
• Garden birds : a Ladybird book
• British wild flowers by Harry Stanton
• The ABC of vegetable gardening by W. E. Shewell-Cooper
• The story of the Indians of the Western Plains by Frank Humphris
• The Snoopy festival and Snoopy classics both by Charles M. Schultz