A table for two please my good man!

Our haven/heaven

And so it begins, the work in the garden started this afternoon and the thought of tea and crumpets in the summer house brought out the rebel in me.

And so, I have to confess to sneaking off work an hour early today, yes I know lots of people have been caught out by putting comments like that on blogs, facebook and other social media sites but hey what does it matter.

Anyway, I happen to know that the wife of one of the directors has a soft spot for me so I know I'm safe.

Coco and I made a start on the seed sowing today, we sowed some Mangetout, and then some Cucumbers and then some Mangetout and Cucumber and then some Peas.

Then we sowed some Mangetout, Cucumber and Peas.

In some of the pots we planted two peas and then in some we didn't, whilst in others we planted twenty two.

We also fixed the fence to keep the dogs in, put the chickens to bed and searched for Eeyore, which is another story.  Anyhow, it was hard work and we deserved a lovely dinner.

Dinner on the terrace

It wasn't intentional, alfresco dining in February, it was just that when I said to Coco "Dinner!" she went and sat outside and that's good enough for me.

We lit the candle, more for my benefit really as a token symbol of warmth, even though it was very mild, but Coco blew it out when dinner was over, so win win in my book!

 It was just the two of us on the Terrace as Nanny Southwellski had a stinking cold bless her, and had retired to bed.

The sunset was lovely, and now of course we have the added bonus of a pond for the sky to reflect in.

First sunset piccy of 2012

We did eat pudding inside though.

We went out for dinner yesterday to some very good friends, I always look forward to seeing them because its just easy if you know what I mean.

Some friendships you have to work at, and some you wonder why you work at them, and then some like with Leigh and Jane are just easy.

It's common knowledge that I (we) thought Leigh was barking when I (we) first met him almost 7 years ago, I mean come on, what sort of bloke honestly believes that countries will run out of money and banks would go bust?

That sort of bloke is Leigh and his 'predictions' are coming true with alarming regularity, so much so that we have taken his advice about storing food for a rainy day and being a little more savvy about where we keep our dosh.

Leigh and Jane run Wideham Farm, its an equestrian centre with a difference, go on google them and have a look, and ask Leigh about the future......... it will make you think about things differently.

Meggie poops, almost 19 and still going strong!

Anyway, we had a wonderful meal, venison and all the trimmings including a red cabbage dish, the recipe for which is now in my possession and will be a fixture on the Southwellski menu sheet very shortly, well as soon as we have grown some red cabbage!

We discussed keeping animals for food, having recently killed three cockerels for the freezer, don't worry Brutus is safe, he is paying into a pension plan!

Another old timer is our Meg, almost 19 now and still going strong.  I think its her new hobby of cat chasing that keeps her going!

Anyway the upshot was that as long as the killing is done humanely, and that's our interpretation of humanely, not the abattoirs, and with respect then all is good.


Nanny Southwellski, quite rightly feels that animals should be killed at home, thereby alleviating the stress of travel.

Whilst I agree with her, I am not sure that I could do it and I would be concerned that we didn't find someone who would do it respectfully and kindly so watch this space.

What, no jam?

Our efforts to be more self sufficient continue and it is now over 5 months since we bought bread.

It's really therapeutic to make your own and a simple white loaf takes only a few minutes of your time, most of the time it's doing it's own thing all by itself and doesn't need watching.

Wherry, Wherry nice!

On the beverage front, our Wherry Extra is wonderful!

I added a few extra spoonfuls of sugar and its turned into quite a dark, strong beer that says 'drink me, drink me now!'  So I do!

And finally, for everyone who has to clean welded on weetabix from their grandchild/child's high chair.

Forget sandpaper, scrapers, blowtorches, TNT etc etc, stick it outside after dinner and bring it in about elevenish and just wipe the crud off, dew is a miracle cleaner!!!!