Still Harvesting ...

... beans, beans and more beans. Plus courgettes!

The wild strawberries are still in fruit in the back garden.
And the tomatoes on the back wall of the garage are still going strong.

We harvested the Borlotto beans from the allotment at the weekend.

Whooping Brandywine tomatoes from the greenhouse.

1 lb 1 oz each!

Also from the greenhouse - cherry tomatoes and fiery chillis.

Unfortunately, the greenhouse tomatoes now have blight so we are waiting for the outdoor Plum and Brandywine tomatoes to ripen. If they don't ripen, I will make them into Green Tomato Chutney.

Sorry, no photos of the deliciously sweet Indian Summer sweetcorn from the allotment, we barbecued them and ate them! Too greedy to stop to take a photo!

An Amazing Weekend

It's amazing how much you can cram into one weekend - we were up early each morning and back late each night. I'm only just getting over it!

Before the weekend, Jay and I had another day out, last Wednesday. We went with a friend and son to Lepe Country Park. We sunned ourselves on the beach and walked along the gravel bank that appeared at low tide, whilst the boys body-boarded and hunted for small crabs left behind as the tide receded. The views across The Solent to The Isle of Wight were stunning.

On Saturday OH, Jay and myself went to our favourite place on the south coast. Fay unfortunately had to work (and on Sunday didn't want to get out of bed!)

First we stopped off for a wander around Bosham.

The Harbour

Sailing Club

Bosham church is depicted on The Bayeux Tapestry.

A bit unfortunate!

King Canute's daughter is buried here.

Pretty garden and cat.

Beadazzle - the most incredible bead shop. This photo only shows one half of it. I can't resist purchasing a few beads each visit. OH and Jay leave me at this point - they can't see how I can spent so long in here! I bought some pink and blue beads to make into bracelets.

Our picnic spot at the head of the harbour.

We then moved on to East Wittering for the beach.

After a fish and chip supper (just chips for me) we drove to Bracklesham for a walk along the beach in the moonlight.

Sunday we went to The Forest of Dean to visit my friend L and her family, who are camping there this week. We stopped off the watch the Severn Bore.

And visited Lydney Harbour before arriving at the camp.

On camp we had a BBQ and later went swimming and lazed in the jacuzzi and steam room. I'm glad that I didn't have to go to work on Monday, unlike my OH.

Holidays - Norfolk

For our second holiday week, we stayed with my parents in Norfolk. We were blessed with another week of sunshine and spent a lot of time out walking, visiting old haunts and some new ones.

11th August 2009

Blakeney Esker/Wiveton Down

This was the first time that I had been up here, although I do remember learning about this in geography class at school. An Esker is a ridge of sand and gravel left by a glacial river when it melted. It was a hot day and we had a picnic on the bench in the photo.

There were lots of butterflies - the most that I have seen in a long while.

Blakeney

A favourite place of mine to visit. I would love to live in North Norfolk.

Big Open Skies of Norfolk

A walk on the disused Langham Airfield.

Warham Camp

The best preserved Iron Age fort in East Anglia and a rare chalkland habitat.

Chalkland Flora

Someone's watching you!

12th August 2009

Aspects of Norwich - Part 1
We decided to be tourists in my home city!
I have called this part 1 as there will be more photos when we next visit.

Norwich Cathedral

13th August 2009

The Broads

Treefolk at Salhouse Broad.

Salhouse, Ranworth, Hickling Broads and Womack Staithe

I used to go sailing in a Norfolk White boat, like the one pictured here, but that was before I met my husband ;)

Flora and Birdlife on The Broads

Ranworth Church

Going up ...
89 spiral steps and 2 ladders to the top of the 100ft tower.

The Rood Screen in Ranworth Church is possibly the finest in the country as it was only partially defaced during the Reformation.

14th August 2009

St Remigius Church Hethersett

This church is a special place for me as it has many family connections.

A church was mentioned on this site in the Doomsday Book of 1086. The present church is 14thC with 15thC additions.

Church Farm - this was a walk down memory lane as my grandparent's worked here when I was growing up and I visited the farm many times with them.

Jay decided that blackberries smelled better than the farm!

Great Melton
All Saints Church with the tower of St Marys in the churchyard.

A few of our walks included finding caches. This pirate's treasure trove was the last find of our holiday. Our total of caches found is now 120 - I'm not addicted, honestly!

Holidays - Kent

Hi there, we are back from a two week break. The first week we stayed in a caravan on the Isle of Sheppy in Kent. It was a great base for exploring north Kent. We did lots of walking and sightseeing and I took lots (and lots!) of photos. There were complaints that it always takes us twice as long to get anywhere, because I am always stopping to take photos! Here are just a few of them.

3rd - 7th August 2009

Isle of Sheppy

We did a great deal of our walking here and managed a few geocaches.

3rd August 2009

Whitstable

We loved touring the alleyways of Whitstable.

4th August 2009

Eastchurch & Leysdown

Leysdown the site of the first powered flight in Britain by a British aviator.

Herne Bay
We lunched at Herne Bay, in a very traditional tea shop, and were drawn onto Reculver by the towers in the distance.

Reculver

Fay sat and painted the ruins, whilst we walked on the beach and watched the Sand Martins flying in and out of their burrows.

5th August 2009

Howletts Wild Animal Park

Temperatures reached 35'C at the zoo - the tiger had the right idea, laying in his pool.

6th August 2009

Canterbury

A very beautiful city. I couldn't resist photographing someone's kitchen window, it was very eye-catching with their utensils hanging up.

7th August 2009

The Historic Dockyards, Chatham

My OH chose this outing and I would recommend it. Fay and Jay made a piece of rope at the Ropery and it was interesting to see inside the submarine and ships.