READY FOR THE RUNNERS

Its an Allotment life.

Palpable signs of life this sunny Sunday morning with other holders singly or in pairs hard at it, preparing their ground for an onslaught of planting.

Be a Yurt, the country needs Yurts

I saw several wigwams of canes and wondered if these might be part of a larger initiative to introduce the idea of yurts portable, round tent popular the steppes of Central Asia. 

Aside from the on shed (to store the mowers and strimmer) sheds are not permitted on our allotments and I wondered if the construction of yurts might be a way around this byelaw.

Sian put me right, talking a well-earned rest from her hoeing, she explained these cane constructions where for the runner beans. Phew !

INSECT HOLIDAY INNS

INSECT HOLIDAY INNS

Our gardens are home to a wide range of living creatures. An average garden could hold over 2,000 different species of insect! With all this diversity of life it is good to know that very few of them cause significant damage to our prized plants, fruit and veg!  Every bug needs a place to stay!

Work in progress – here is my idea from hollowed out wood found on a walk the other day!  Insects welcome no booking necessary.

Hopefully I will get a mention on Trip Advisor.

HOMEBASE HOME TO BROWN TROUT

A river runs through it.

A small river called the Wye (High Wycombe) runs past Homebase  in Loudwater. 

Looking over their fence I spotted this beauty. 

It appears (fish tales) there are wild brownies of this size 5 -6 lbs.  The Wye rises in the Chilterns and runs SE through Wycombe and joins the Thames above Cookham Bridge. Polluted for many years this  is now is getting back to being a chalk stream again!

The Homebase Brown Trout

TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

As official artist in residence to Ruth here another modest piece from me.  

Ruth Livingstone is walking around the coastline of the British mainland. She started in North Norfolk, heading clockwise around the coastline, following paths and tracks. 

We pick up the story in South Wales.

http://coastalwalker.co.uk

"WALK 171 Lantwit Major to Nash Point

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Ruth Livingstone

This afternoon I must travel home to Lincolnshire and so today I’m planning a short, circular walk. 

I will be following the Wales Coast Path along the cliffs to Nash Point Lighthouse, and then back to my car via an inland footpath.

I drive down to the beach at Llantwit Major. The weather is still dull, but not as bad as yesterday. I can even see the horizon as a definite line!  "

DUNGENESS: A warm welcome when you have finished gawping

Desperate to get out of the wind we entered the Britannia Inn for an excellent morning coffee and a warm welcome from the Landlord and his Missus.  Quite the cleanest pub on the planet and large (to accommodate the Summer influx!)

The Road through Dungeness

After that and still in the shadow of the huge Victorian lighthouse, we visited the Gallery of who actually has three small huts converted to house a wonderful collection of woodcuts and found objects and post cards.  I spied a copy of Pebbles on the Beach (Faber &Faber paperback) and made a note to get a copy. Trevor bought a print of one of those near-to-collapsing boat huts on the beach.

Not far from a welcome: The Britannia Inn is round the corner

Lunch. Cod and Chips, Jane had the Skate, Trevor the Haddock (they swapped half-way through) as I ploughed through my delicious plateful at The Pilot. The place was full of people like us enjoying lunch and the warmth and welcome.  If you like fish and chips, this is the place for you.

DUNGENESS Another edge of the world

Dungeness: two figures on a shoreline

The Travels with My Architect series continues into 2015 with Trevor and I driving to the Kent coast, to Dungeness, Britain’s only desert.  Trevor’s wife Jane (architect and landscape gardener) joined primarily to see Derek Jarman’s cottage.

It was Jarman’s cottage that started a movement: of some 500,000 people who annually now come to this out of the way, incredibly flat landscape with its two power stations. And last year, so Dungeness Ranger Owen, told us there were 143 film or photo-shoots taking advantage of shingle beach, rusting boat winches and close to collapsing fishing huts.

This is the stuff of art. Some of the houses that line the single road are now galleries and those with taste and sensitivity have breathed on their single-storey homes.

Dungeness a memory of yellows and greys

Grey skies, a stiff breeze made for the perfect weather for this place, which is not without its amenities.

Art House Dungeness: Paddy Hamilton's Galleries