16 April 2025 (Wednesday)

The alarm went off at 6.00am, and after a bit of yawning and rubbing of eyes I was up to start the day.  It was to be a Vanessa day today, for both Richard and myself, and I was hoping that since it’s now Easter break for schools the roads would be a tad less crowded than usual… but no…

As we arrived, Vanessa was coming out of Small Barn where she's living at the moment, holding the pans of her airfryer. Wanting to give us a hug, she accidentally dropped one of them and it transpired that this dented it - hopefully one of her craftsmen will be able to un-dent the dent, as one pan no longer fits into where it's supposed so that she can do her cooking. Currently being a one person band, Vanessa uses the air fryer quite a bit as it's obviously a very handy kitchen appliance for a single person. I think, having watched The Secret Genius of Modern Life (BBC2) and its episode on air fryers, it's something that we’ll look at for the future in our next home.  By ‘our next home’ time I think things will have developed so they're more roomy inside while still being small. 

It was a rather gorgeous day at Vanessa, where both of us had expected it to be grey and overcast as it was when we left London. In the end it turned out to be rather sunny with gorgeous blue skies, The Simpsons' clouds and lots of blossoms looking fabulous.

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The master photographer at work in the young FES heritage orchard.

During the day I did the things that I needed to do in the shop, whilst Richard got on with taking photographs of the dell area of the gardens and also of the heritage orchard, though mainly focusing on the Great Green Barn. We've had a number of events there and photos have been taken at many, and of course we had the Sustainable Wedding photoshoot back in February, though we've had no decent photographs of a bare barn so it was important to get these done as it shows how versatile the space is. Also, interestingly, none of the photos taken so far show the actual footprint of the barn which is a bit of a T shape. It sort of lends itself perfectly to celebrant and wedding ceremonies with a main area between the great doors and a nave leading off from this.

It was a nine hour day at Vanessa, it often is, and I was wrong again about cars on the road - the journey home took LONGER than it usually does…


Weather:  A grey start to the day, and a little chilly despite it being about 6°.  Light rain in the morning gave way to sun, blue skies and fluffy clouds.

Breakfast:  Bran sticks, yogurt, stewed rhubarb, sultanas
Lunch:  Greek Lemon & Chickpea Soup (recipe to come at some point!), and toast with mashed avocado and Isle of Wight tomatoes
Supper:  Crackers, cream cheese, carrot batons and cucumber