 Corfe Castle 9 - 12 July 2025 (Wednesday to Saturday) Wednesday morning, and we were up early as we were off to spend a few days in Swanage with Vivi (of Vivi's Kitchen Garden) at her Cottage by the Sea. Again, a trip seemed to be coinciding with another heat wave over the days that we were to be away, so I was down at the plot to do some really early morning watering; I thought it sensible to get as much deeply watered as possible. After breakfast, and packing our bags and making a few snacks for the journey, we got into Fenella and after a quick pit stop at our local garage to check tyre pressures, we were on our way, soon wending our way down the M3 and onwards through Surrey, Hampshire and into Dorset. We had a necessary (for me) toilet break at Winchester services, where on the way out I couldn't resist a Greggs vegan sausage roll which we ate in the car; neither roll was as warm as we’d wanted it to be but the taste was rather lovely. Post stuffing our faces, a beautiful butterfly landed on Richard's bracelet as he was sitting in the car with the door open; it just stayed on his bracelet licking his skin, possibly taking either moisture or salts. Even with some gentle blowing encouragement the butterfly didn't want to move, so eventually Richard got out of the car and moved to an area of trees where there was lots of shade, and the butterfly decided it was time to move on… just as we then did, continuing our journey down to Swanage. After much motorway and many country roads, we were greeted at Vivi’s front door with many hugs. Happy Huggy Days!! It was time to unpack Fenella, ensuring she had nothing remaining visible to curious passersby, then we drove up the hill a little bit further and parked in free parking a few streets away. Back at Vivi's Cottage by the Sea and after a cup of tea and much chat, we had lunch which Vivi had already prepared which was a fantastic Greek salad which we had with bread and dips of my hummus which Vivi’d made and also an edamame hummus which was new to me and absolutely delicious - I got the recipe from Vivi straight away, and as it’s just a few swap outs of my own is another easy one to do. Lots of table chatting and garden talk, and then at the end of the afternoon, we popped down to walk along the seafront, had an ice cream and sat down and watched people enjoying themselves, sitting quietly as the Swanage world went on around us. As we sat, I was somewhat surprised to hear some rousing Chairman Mao style music, with a host of voices singing along to galvanising Chinese music… it took me half an hour to realise it was actually British sea shanties emanating from the pirate and Jurassic Park themed Sante-Fe Fun Park behind us, landside of the main promenade road! How our mind plays tricks with us… In the evening, we had one of Vivi’s delicious mild curries outside in Vivi's fabulous cottage garden. The growth rate of the garden since our last visit in May has been phenomenal, with tomatoes way way higher than my own at the plot and growth on plants that I’d given Vivi much stronger than I have at the plot myself. I think the soil must be really good, though also, and MOST importantly, all the genuine hard graft that Vivi’s put in turning a tired overgrown back garden space into a flourishing veg patch with lots of flowers and LOTS of wildlife. Sitting at her wonderful table, the hard graft has to be admired and applauded. When Vivi says she's going to do something she certainly gets on and does it, and with her garden, or rather her producing garden I should say, the effort is really paying off, and in so many ways. We sat out chatting and laughing until the light had gone, and even after this Vivi brought candles out, so chats and star-gazing continued. At the very end of the evening we went in and sat down in Vivi's living room for half an hour or so before getting off to bed… and of course, a few pages of my book.  After the first swim in the sea... Thursday saw me up early, and at the kitchen table having a cup of tea. I didn’t have the knack for the back door, though Richard was up soon after and then Vivi joined us and we sat out at her garden table chatting away, and Richard and myself having a breakfast of All Bran. After breakfast, it was down to the beach again, this time walking farther than we'd walked before, right across the promenade and in front of the beach huts, and then over the groynes which are there to reduce the impact of the waves on the beach huts and cliff, and then to a space on the sand where the nearest person was 200 meters away. It had been very hot on our walk, and I decided immediately to do something that I hadn't really expected to do, and that was to go for a swim in the sea… even though I wasn’t prepared for one! As Vivi was getting her dress off, bending over to undo her shoes, she looked to the side and saw that I was already down to my knickers and vest and pacing off towards the lapping water. Very soon Vivi followed in her bathing costume, and in we both went… cautiously at first, just feeling the temperature of the water on our toes and ankles and shins and knees and thighs and, well, other bits… Once I was up to my waist, and with my face turned towards Vivi in the shallower waters and Richard sitting on the beach, I let myself lean back and fall into the water… and then immediately started swimming as it felt rather chilly… After a few moments, my brain began to realise quite how delicious this whole experience was… and a few metres away there was our Vivi, fully in too and we were both swimming, each finding warm patches, or making our own… We stayed in swimming and chatting and laughing and in my case crying for about half an hour or so. The last time I'd even seriously paddled in water was 10 years ago with mum at Rocquaine in Guernsey, a few days after dad had died… memorable in so many ways, especially it being my 50th birthday. Mum was in her bathing costume and I was up to my thighs in water and we were just walking along the shoreline looking out at the fabulous view of the sea, and then looking back at the fabulous view of Guernsey. It was a moment to reflect, and a moment to treasure. Now, a decade on, and with mum now gone, I was having my first time in seawater since that moment, so not surprisingly emotions rose to the surface… just like my blubber-filled body did as I quietly laid back, floating on the surface of the silently whooshing waves. I hadn't really come prepared to swim, as I hadn't hugely expected to be swimming, but Vivi had come prepared and she and I sat on a towel she’d brought, drying off in the warm breeze and sunshine, chatting away with Richard. We sat there for half an hour or more, with the sun beating down and the salt crystals forming on our skins, and then we packed our things up and started walking our way back to Vivi’s Cottage by the Sea. For both Vivi and myself, this first swim had been special and emotional and essential in so many ways… and we had done it together… which was bloody marvelous! Happy Days indeed!! Back home (note the use of the word home - as it already feels like a home away from home), and still flushed with the joy of having swum, it was time for lunch and Vivi heated up some of her delicious Courgette & Potato Soup, added some grated cheddar, and we had leftover dips and bread with spread for lunch, again sitting at her table out in Vivi's lovely cottage garden, chatting and watching the wildlife fly by… butterflies and hummingbird moths, and bees and wasps and hoverflies, and then of course seagulls and town pigeons and country pigeons and doves and so much else, all with the occasional backdrop of a hoot and a chuff chuff from the railway line, and tinkly chiming bells of the local church striking the hour and half hour. Bliss! In the evening, we decided we’d go out and have chips so we went to Vivi’s favoured chippie, ordered a portion of chips for Vivi, cod and chips for Richard, and haddock and chips for me. With wrapped paper bags filled with goodies in our hands, we made our way along the front to a short pier, which is actually called Stone Quay as it's where local small ferries dock. A bench was free, so we sat down to eat our seaside suppers, with seagulls keeping an eye, and one dive bombing my chips though not quite getting away with one… it's only when a seagull is close up to you and literally flying over your lap and have a wing bashing your shoulder as it passes, that you suddenly realise quite how big, how strong and how heavy a seagull can be!  A labrador helping out at the seaside... Photo courtesy of Vivi of 'What Vivi did next' and 'Vivi's Kitchen Garden'. After our fish supper (a very rare thing for Richard and myself now as we only ever have when we’re at the seaside, as fish never features in any shopping basket) and chippie supper for Vivi (Vivi eats no fish), we watched all around us, enjoying the water, and the sun and the sumptuous air that only a seaside town like Swanage can do; suntanned kids jumping off piers into deep water, others on inflatable paddle boards being dragged out of the water by a tugging labrador, and water lapping calmly and endlessly against any surface it wants. A little walk along the front to Banjo Pier, and then it was back home and back to the table in Vivi's cottage garden at her Cottage by the Sea, and time for a few rounds of Yahtzee. Happy Days!!
Friday morning, and we’d already planned to drive back up the valley to visit Corfe Castle, which you cannot NOT see as you pass by on your way to and out of Swanage. Imposing… ruined… majestic. Richard had wanted to visit it on our first trip to Vivi's Swanage, though there just wasn't time, so this time we made time. So, after breakfast we walked up the remainder of Cardiac Hill that Vivi lives on, across and then up Cardio Hill, which is even steeper. Fenella was patiently waiting a short distance away on the next crossroad, and we piled into her and began our short journey to Corfe Castle. Now, Richard and I are members of the National Trust though we’d forgotten that Corfe Castle was a National Trust property… and also forgotten our membership cards! Despite this, we decided that if we couldn't get in with our membership numbers it was worth the cost just to have a walk around this magnificent castle with so much history. Parking up, and going into the Welcome Centre, I asked about parking and membership and the lovely lady immediately said it was not a problem and that our membership could be looked up at the Ticket Office, which was a 10 to 15 minute walk away. She also gave me a slip of paper with the date of our visit specified, so back to Fenella I popped to put the gifted slip on Fenella’s windscreen, to ensure that we wouldn't get charged the penalty fee for not paying for parking. Delighted, I walked back to the Welcome Centre, met up with Vivi and Rochard again… and in the short time I’d been away Vivi had been scouring the shelves of secondhand books for sale… so back off I went to Fenella to fill her boot with Vivi’s wordy gems. Crossing the road carefully, we made our way along the incredibly white chalk path, glistening with sunshine and shadows, over a brook and then wound our way up around the castle battlements to the Ticket Office. Sure enough, they were able to look up our membership and give us tokens which would give us free entry to the castle… technology can be a boon! The walk was pretty rough underfoot, and the castle always were too, though we had such a fantastic time; sometimes walking and chatting the three of us, sometimes in twos, and sometimes just individually wandering around taking pictures and video and watching the train coming in or leaving Corfe Castle station. Also, there are peregrines nesting at the top of the battered battlements which seems so apt, and two of them were happy to show themselves during the time we were there, both looking down on us and occasionally making the noises that are now so familiar over my allotment. I think we must have spent about an hour and a half wandering the castle, and then meandered back down through the huge gateway and into the cafe garden, where we ordered a cream tea, a savoury cream tea and Vivi had a quiche of some sort, I think it had red onion marmalade in it which also came with the savoury cream tea. We hoped that we'd be able to sit in the garden, in the shade, though there was a Wasp Alert on which was signalled on signs and that we were told about at the time of ordering… so once we had sat down and the jam for the cream tea was noted by the wasps, we decided to move inside and have our food and drink in the cafe rather than in the wonderful garden… even so, a wasp followed us in and stayed with us, flying and feasting on a little bit of jam that had somehow made its way onto Richard’s bag. After our little repaste we had a wander of the little village of Corfe Castle, window shopping, visiting the little museum, then crossing over and visiting the rather fabulous railway station. The station itself is a throwback to yesteryear and I think manned completely by volunteers. The train that goes through is powered by steam and goes down to Swanage and up the other way a stop or two. It always amazes me how the time and generosity of a few individuals has ensured that these historic railways and stations and railway lines remain intact, something I think we often forget, sadly. Walking back along the chalk path to Fenella, who was quietly waiting in the car park, we then drove back to Vivi’s for further chats and laughs and games and fabulous food (Vivi's delicious Fassolada) and an evening outside, at her table, in her cottage garden of her Cottage by the Sea, with candles burning and under the crisp starry sky… listening to various jazz sessions glistening over Swanage as part of its annual Jazz Festival at the start of the British summer holiday season.  Swanage Bay Saturday was another planned day in many ways, mainly as it was the day that we were going to be leaving and driving back to a rather hot and sticky London. However, we’d decided that we’d go for another swim, so after some bran flakes we all got ready, which for Vivi meant putting on her bathing costume and for me and Richard meant just dressing like we normally do… no, I’d not bought any swimming shorts yet as I hadn't seen any that I really fancied… though to be fair, I hadn't really looked either!
Off we went again, down the very short journey into Swanage town, and then left along the beach front to Ocean Bay and then just a bit beyond. It was still early in the morning, around 8:30 or 9 and there were already loads of people bundling onto the main beaches of this fabulous resort. However, and thankfully, where we went it was still pretty quiet; there were a few people between the groynes that we chose to swim from, and some of the beach huts were open or being opened by their owners. As with Thursday, I went in with my knickers and T-shirt and Vivi in her slinky bathing costume. At first, the water seemed a little bit cooler than on Thursday; maybe because it was early in the morning and the sun hadn't been beating down for several hours warming the top few inches or more. However, we were both soon fully in and again paddled and swam away each to our heart's content, literally as swimming is such a good exercise and gets the heart pumping. It’s only on occasions like this, filled with deep joy, I remember how much swimming was a part of my life growing up. From a very early age, as a baby mum would leave me in a pram or pushchair outside the front door of mum and dad's B&B, and if mum went back at 9:15 and I was gone she knew that she had the day to herself to get on with washing and cleaning and making dinner for all the guests that evening. A visitor or visitors would have taken me off to the beach or to town or to wherever they were going for the day. Most often, it was to the beach and for many years the beach was just an intrinsic part of my life… sand, sea, sandwiches, smiles - even then always a sanctuary too. Maybe one day it will be so again, though just now, for these precious moments of Vivi and I being in the water, it felt so right, and so good, and so joyous. Again, we sat on a towel on the sand and dried off a little bit, and then walked back along the seafront where by now the beaches and walkways were just bustling with folk, and buckets and spades and float boards and sandwich bags, and windbreakers and little shelters, and many smiles with the hope of a fun day out. Back at Vivi’s Cottage by the Sea, Richard made toast and the three of us sat at the table in Vivi's cottage garden, enjoying proper toast topped with a spoon or two of Purbeck honey from a pot that Vivi had bought specifically for our visit… it was totally delicious, and another slice or two was had by each of us. The rest of the morning was leisurely chatting and packing and washing-up and watering the plants in the garden and filling watering cans and doing 101 things, and then it was time for the final feast of this visit which was a cheese and tomato sandwich made by Richard. Sitting at the table, with the smell of salt in the air and seagulls above it once again took me back to being a kid, eating cheese and tomato sandwiches on the beach at L’Eree, almost six decades ago; a cheese and tomato sandwich when there’s salt in the air will always bring memories back off the perfect fodder for a beach. The only difference with our sandwich today was that it hadn't trundled its way down to a beach in the Tupperware and sat sweating under a towel in the shade for an hour or two, so our fabulous sandwich was cool and crisp and just the right temperature, rather than warm, and floppy, and tasty and welcomed as was often the case when we were kids on the beach. Happy Days!! It was soon time to wend our way back to London, and with lots of hugs and a little planning for our next visit, I walked up Cardiac Hill and Cardio Hill to collect Fenella, drove her down, pulled in outside of Vivi's Cottage by the Sea and then we packed our bags back in, had more hugs, and started our relatively uneventful journey back to London, where things would begin getting back to normal… including a visit to the plot in the evening to check on how things were doing and to give plants a water if needed, and recording Sunday Chat on Sunday morning… an event in itself! Weather: Sunny throughout, with a slight breeze, and very warm… though quite a few degrees less than the heatwave of 34° in London! Wednesday Breakfast: All Bran and oat milk Snack: Greggs Vegan Sausage Roll Lunch: Vivi’s Greek Salad (with Feta), hummus, edamame hummus, olives, and bread Supper: Chickpea, Cauliflower & Mushroom Curry with bread Thursday Breakfast: All Bran and toast Lunch: Courgette & Potato Soup, Edamame Hummus, Bread, Olives Supper: Haddock & Chips Friday Breakfast: Bran Flakes and All Bran and toast with cherry jam Lunch: Savoury Aft Cream Tea (Corfe Castle Tea Room) Supper: Vivi's Fassolada and bread Saturday Breakfast: Bran Flakes and toast with Purbeck honey Lunch: Cheese & Tomato Sandwich Supper: Broad Bean & Basil Pesto with wholewheat spaghetti and a tomato, cucumber and basil salad
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 Bulgur Salad with crisp Quinoa topping, hummus, and tomatoes. 4 July 2025 (Friday)
No walk this morning, so it was straight to my desk to do some work and some work work. The morning went swiftly, and soon it was time for lunch which I decided, with leftover bulgur wheat in the fridge, would be another Bulgur Salad; doing exactly the same as I did the other day though this time I left out the pesto and added in some liquid aminos and a little bit of lemon juice instead. As I said yes today, with the butterbean smash, this type of recipe is really all about what you have in the fridge and I could have added in some chopped celery, greater carrot, little leaves of baby spinach or even chopped up rubbed kale. Just think about how the flavours go together, obviously you wouldn't put in a tablespoon of honey, or a few handfuls of strawberries because neither really fit in this type of dish. This evening Richard's doing his usual live, and I'm waiting to hear from Vanessa as I'm going to the theatre with her again. I'm waiting to hear what time we're going to meet and while I waited I went to the plot and took out the brassicas I spoke of yesterday. Tomorrow, hopefully I'll be able to get our module trays of beetroot in. Getting back home, I have a wash reader chapter of my book and then see the message from Vanessa that we're going to have supper before the show, which is what she wanted to do on Wednesday though he was so late arriving that it made that impossible. We agreed to meet at six at a restaurant around the corner from the Jermyn Street Theatre. A walk to our local station and on to the Elizabeth Line then onto the Bakerloo Line and up at Piccadilly Circus and then along Piccadilly to the restaurant. I'm about 10 minutes early, which is fine as I think it's really good practice to be a little early rather than a little late. I waited for Vanessa, and at 6pm I joined Richard's Live briefly; I was hoping it would be brief because Vanessa would arrive pretty soon, though actually somebody that I knew from many years back was walking down the road and she and I had a little chat. At about 6.20, I got a message from Vanessa that traffic was terrible… again. It had been on Wednesday when we met and she was an hour late then. Today's message was that she wouldn't arrive until 6.50, almost an hour later than planned… and with the doors of the theatre opening at 7.10 and the show going up at 7:30 I messaged back to say I’d decided to go for a walk and see her at the theatre at 7.25. I felt a walk would be better than waiting on the pavement like a numpty. So, I put my phone in my pocket and walked… along Jermyn Street, up onto Piccadilly, in front of the Ritz, left into St James's Park and right at the fountain, passing behind the rows of green-and-white striped deckchairs and over towards Hyde Park, which I’d decided would be the extent of my walk so that I could get back in time to meet Vanessa for the show. When I got to the extent of my walk, and needed to turn around and wend my way back, I saw that Vanessa had messaged me about ordering her a pasta dish at the restaurant... “any pasta”. The thing is, if I’m meeting somebody for supper at a restaurant and they don't turn up or are going to be hugely late, I don't go into the restaurant myself. I'll wait to eat a snack when I get home. I’d also messaged to say I was going for a walk and would meet Vanessa at the theatre, so obviously I wasn't at the restaurant to order any pasta for Vanessa, so that wasn’t going to happen. Anyway, I turned around and walked back to meet Vanessa who was now waiting outside the restaurant; she was hungry and wanted to have something to eat, though because we literally had 15 minutes the last thing I wanted to do was throw a bowl of spaghetti down me as it would just completely mess with my digestion. So whilst Vanessa had a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine, I sipped on some tap water, we chatted, she ate, and then she paid up and we went to the theatre. Not a great start to the evening… Now the show that we went to see wasn't a show that I’d have chosen to see, though I could see how it might be a show for our audience at the Great Green Barn, or for the audience that we're building at the Great Green Barn. However, despite the musical side of the evening being really top-notch, with a brilliant pianist and fabulous tenor, the whole thing just didn't gel for either myself or Vanessa, and I doubt it’s something that we’ll have at the Great Green Barn in its current format. At the end of the show, after much rapturous applause from the audience, which I think was made up of many family members and friends, we were up the steps, and out of the theatre. Vanessa was driving on to Stratford-upon-Avon, so following a quick goodbye where I said to Vanessa to drive safely, I was on my way home… retracing my steps. Along Piccadilly, down at Piccadilly Circus, into the Bakerloo Line, then the Elizabeth Line, changing trains at Ealing Broadway as the first train did not stop at Hanwell, off at my home station and then ten or twelve minutes of walking, crossing the Uxbridge Road. I got home by 10.25 and then had a small bowl of All Bran and oat milk for a rather late supper, as I know this won't upset my Barrett's. Going to bed after about 45 minutes, I read my book for about 20 minutes and then it was time for lights out, Weather: Breezy, though a little bit warmer as the day went on. Around 26°. Breakfast: All Bran and oat milk Lunch: Bulgur Salad with crisp Quinoa topping, hummus, tomatoes and Ryvita rye crackers Supper: All Bran and oat milk  Heather Alexander as Miss Havisham. Photo courtesy of Peter Mould. 2 July 2025 (Wednesday) Up early, and it was definitely feeling cooler… and what was that? The pitter patter of rain dripping from the unconnected roof guttering! Well, at least it was raining! Up early and our walk will have to wait… as it's too wet, so after a cuppa it's to my desk for a work work morning, and then lunch… Richard’s Quick Roasted Courgettes with a herb crumble… delish!! We had the rest of my Bulgur Pesto Salad too. Off to the plot, and I checked on whether anything needed watering, despite the rain this morning. It was regular and medium-weight rain for a good few hours and most things looked fine, though I gave the squash extra water… and the courgettes. Back home, and I was waiting to hear from Vanessa as we were due to see a show at Jermyn Street Theatre this evening, and I didn’t know whether she wanted to meet before, or just at the start of the show… eventually I found out, and thankfully had had a bath earlier as I needed to leave virtually immediately to meet her around 6.30pm… though in the end the traffic was terrible for her getting in, so we met outside the theatre at about 7.20pm, 10 mins before curtain up! Now, the show… It’s called Havisham, and is a show I’ve wanted to see for some years. The show's director, Dominique Garrard, I know from my Bush Theatre days of two decades ago, and on Facebook I’ve been following (not stalking!) Dominique for ages. Havisham’s about…. Miss Havisham of Great Expectations… It’s a truly fabulous imagining of how she got to be the woman we know… sitting at a dusky, dark dust-ridden wedding feast table in an old house right out on the edge of the marshes. Still dressed in her wedding finery, now all soiled and grimy and stained, having been jilted at the altar many years ago to never recover. But who was she, and how did she get her, and why is that bitter hate so sharp and dangerous? Well, this imaging is truly excellent, and fully engaged me throughout.
The writing is so well crafted, with a totally believable back story that made me want to reread Great Expectations, now ‘knowing’ so more of a pivotal character that we ‘knew’ so little about before. The copy (blurb) reads “This is the story that Dickens left out…” and I have to say, old Charlie boy should have put it in! Next time I see Gerald Dickens, which won’t be too long, I’ll have to ask him if he’s seen Havisham - as if not, he must! Heather Alexander was just superb in the part, taking us through the early years of a lonesome girl, through her challenges with men, and life, and abandonment, into happier times… and then betrayal… though not one of us expected how such a betrayal would come about! Utterly gripping throughout. And what I haven’t said is that Heather wrote the piece too, so beautifully multi-talented. I now want to see her other show ROOM. Havisham’s whole production was superb, and Dominique’s direction, of course fabulous. Both Vanessa and I could see how the show would work at the Great Green Barn, and are both sure it’s one for next year, if Heather and Dominique can fit us in! After a quick meet with Heather post-show (I’m sure she and I have met before - yet I’m not sure how… I don’t think at Kenwrights, though Ray Cooney springs to mind), and it was time for us to all wend our ways back home. If you see the show near you, or within travelling distance, do go and see it, as it is so worth it!!! A quick sideline - I see Heather is doing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year with Becoming Maverick, inspired by the character of Mrs Danvers from Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca - another of my favourite books! This will definitely be worth a ticket!!.. Of course I also LOVED seeing the lovely, fabulous and talented Dominique after so long, and we had a brief catch-up. She’s still doing work at Questors Theatre in Ealing Broadway, so we WILL have a coffee and a further catch-up soon!! My journey in and back was adventurously unadventurous… the Elizabeth Line makes much of journeying into London pretty easy now, and swift, despite this journey time being the same as it would have been without this regal line. As I stepped off the train at Hanwell station, with a darkened summer sky and a cool breeze, the heatwave of just a few days ago seemed miles away. A home, a cup of TV, a catch-up with Richard, and then it was time to get to bed and read a chapter of my new book. Happy Days! Weather: Rain first thing for several hours, then warming, though definitely cooler. Around 25°. Breakfast: All Bran and oat milk Lunch: Richard’s Quick Roasted Courgettes and leftover Bulgur Pasta Salad Supper: Rice crackers, yeast extract and peanut butter  1 July 2025 (Tuesday) A new month, and as Buster Poindexter (aka David Johansen) would sing, “It’s feeling HOT, HOT, HOT!” The high of 34° yesterday dissipated little overnight, and I think we started with about 27°, and it was forecast to get hotter. Richard had opened the windows to let the cooler air of the day in, though they were never going to be open that long. It was All Bran for breakfast, which felt a delight. Despite all the good or excellent food we had over the weekend, it was good to get back to normal, and get back in to our usual routine… one of which is All Bran or Bran Sticks for breakfast. They, and the rest of our diet, keep us regular, in more ways than one! It was a necessary desk morning with work work. catching up a little and also getting on with the usual routines - checking delivery notes, trade prices, our retail price, does anything need to go up, or down… and this week, sadly, it is organic apricots that needed to go up. The wholesale price for For Earth’s Sake has risen by about 80% since we last bought them, which was not a long time ago, and of course if the price we buy at goes up, the price we sell at needs to go up too! We’ve seen huge rises in various nuts over the past month or six weeks; organic Brazil nuts have doubled in price, and we’re only buying broken ones at present, as we just don’t think customers will buy whole Brazil nuts at the price that we’d now need to charge. Chocolate buttons, a high-end and high-provenance favourite have also gone up again… poor harvests and therefore higher costs of the raw product, and also maybe additional labour costs too with the rise in the side of National Insurance employees now pay since the beginning of April, following Labour’s budget changes. Small cost rises are often swallowed by SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises, i.e. companies), reducing their margins, but often now the price just needs to rise… With much done at my desk for both For Earth’s Sake and the Great Green Barn, it was time for a cooling lunch, an hour or so more work work, then time to get to the plot… with the heat now touching 34° again. There was a breeze, which I was grateful for, though much watering was needed; some of the taller tomatoes looked as though they were suffering. Of course, with heat comes evaporation of ponds so I also needed to top up various of our ponds on the plot. Hopefully happy frogs etc will munch on more snails etc. I also finished off Monday’s segment of A Week at the Plot, as when I was filming yesterday, my phone decided it was overheating and switched itself off for safety reasons… so it was hot! With today being no different, even possibly hotter, I kept my phone, which I use to film the segments of A Week at the Plot, very much in the shade when not being used… though even in the shade it was 34°. Back home, and supper needed to be made - a ‘no cook’ meal, though maybe ‘little cook’ would be more truthful as I had to soak the coarse bulgur wheat in boiling water from the kettle, and then give it five minutes in the microwave. Richard opened the back doors as the temperature lessened, and cooling air came in, mainly due to the number of heat sheltering trees and shrubs we have in our garden - I hate to be any of our ‘plastic grass’ neighbours on days like this… or maybe any day! We read things on our phones in the evening, and I started a new book; Peter James I Follow You. I’ve read his books for decades and have usually really liked or loved them, though this one just didn’t do it for me; in fact I gave up on it after only twenty or thirty pages, I just didn’t care what happened to any of the characters. Fortunately, our subscriber Nettie had sent me a book by an author I had not read - Steve Cavanagh and the book is called Twisted. Within the first page I was engaged… I don’t think it’s the last book I’ll read by this new-to-me writer!  Bulgur Pesto Salad I soaked a cup of coarse bulgur wheat in boiling water from the kettle for an hour - ratio one bulgur to 1.5 boiling water. I covered the heat-proof bowl with a dinner plate. I then stirred it and microwaved it for 5 minutes, carefully with oven gloves, took it from the microwave, stirred it, added the plate back on and then left it to rest for ten minutes. I had made enough for two salads so after about 20 minutes of resting time I put half in a plastic container for another day, and the other half I left covered with a tea towel to cool a bit more, pushing the grains up the edge of the bowl to increase surface area (as it will cool quicker this way). After about thirty minutes I then stirred all again and popped in the fridge to chill down. After about half-an-hour, I added a chunkily chopped yellow courgette (use whatever colour you wish - or something else you like!), a few handfuls of frozen peas and one of broad beans that I’d defrosted by soaking in boiling water from the kettle for ten minutes, draining and then drying in a clean tea towel to ensure they had as little liquid as possible in them. I then popped into the bowl a few rounded dessert spoons of bought green pesto, shredded basil leaves (about twenty medium sized ones), a few teaspoons of bought mayonnaise (or use thick yogurt), and about two dessert spoons of lemon juice. I stirred it all together and then chilled again in the fridge for about half an hour. As with many of our recipes, if we don’t have something we add what we do have. A red pepper would have been nice, or even a green or yellow one. Mushrooms finely sliced would be great, and sliced radish… just be mindful of how flavours fit with each other, and don't be afraid to try something out, if it doesn't work out you won't do it again, though I'm sure what you've made is still edible, and you've learned. Weather: Hot from the off, and got hotter through the day. 34° or even a degree more. Overnight was to be just shy of 30°. Breakfast: All Bran, Yogurt and a little oat milk Lunch: Egg Mayonnaise, Ryvita Dark Rye, radish, cucumber and a few olives Supper: Hummus, ‘no cook’ Bulgur Salad, lettuce and olives  Lettuce seedlings of Lollo Bionda and our own saved-seed replacing bolted salad rocket 25 June 2025 (Wednesday) Up early again, and another early morning walk up the canal, though this time it was not raining so we remained dry, if a tad sweaty! A normal Wednesday morning of work work, this time creating a page on the Great Green Barn website for two fitness taster sessions we have in two weeks time - a Yoga session and a High-Intensity Interval Training session. These are part of a new programme we are calling Head, Heart & Health at the Great Green Barn. When new events get added, we always need full information from those involved, and any imagery they have - sometimes the imagery is poor so we have to create what we can ourselves. In this instance the yoga imagery was not of a high enough resolution to use, so I had to create an image for this. Most of the imagery we create, if more than one image is created using Canva, which is an online design package, which I find works better for me than the Adobe version. One of the most annoying issues with Adobe is you can call a new project something, and if it has been a version of something before it will download it as a generic version of that rather than downloading the file with the name you have given that project - very annoying! How a company so huge can have such a glaring error is beyond me! Anyway, webpages were created, including the one for people to buy tickets which is on a separate system, as we use TicketTailor for the majority of our bookings - for non-profits it has really good deals! With all signed off by the yoga teacher and fitness instructor, I could put all live - and tomorrow I will do the socials as I needed to get to the plot to film another segment of A Week at the Plot. It’s a busy week this week with a full weekend, so best get things done as soon as possible. I planted out various rather large seedlings of lettuce we had - Lollo Bionda and our own saved-seed variety; some went in the poly, replacing bolting lettuce I removed to the compost bin, and others went into the bed where we have lettuce, coriander, parsley and some salad rocket, replacing the salad rocket which also was bolting. With the module trays empty I was then able to reuse them, fill them with compost and prick out our seedlings of Morton’s Magic Mix lettuce from Real Seeds. I had sown these on 6 June, they had germinated and grown on well outside, and now were ready for individual pots. They were actually a bit bigger than usual, and could have been planted out, though I am finding it’s better to plant out stronger plants with the slugs that are about, despite the hot and dry weather!
Back at home Richard had made a salad for support, and I had taken a Lidl quiche out of the freezer; it was discounted when I went shopping, so I bought two and froze them both. I find, like batch-cooking, having something in the freezer you can take out and cook swiftly is an absolute boon! We watched a film - Out of Time, a lower budget film than the Denzel Washington one of two decades ago, and a very different story, as is about time travel, one of our favourite topics!. It held us both, so worth a watch - it’s on Prime. Weather: Overcast initially, and a cooling breeze, though still warm. Breakfast: Two Ryvita, ProActiv spread, and yeast extract Lunch: Cottage Cheese, a little cream cheese, tomatoes, olives, radish, cucumber and Ryvita Supper: Lidl Red Onion & Balsamic Vinegar Quiche and Richard’s Grated Carrot, Apple & Walnut Summer Salad |
Paul SavidentFollowing on from A Guernsey Gardener in London, I've decided to try and write a regular blog, and we'll see how it AND 2025 go! Archives
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