Preparations.

I'm preparing.

I'm making lists...and occasionally ticking something.

There's a special occasion coming up in August.

Grandchildren are preparing cards.

Food (somewhat special) is being ordered.

Napkins and lovely French tablecloths are ready.

A small group of old friends have been invited to lunch.

Guess what it's for.

Please could we have sunshine on that day??!

Large vegetables.

Is this the biggest Courgette flower?

It measured nearly 9 inches across. The plant hasn't produced much yet, just a couple of courgettes (zucchini), but it has needed rain . The weather is cooler now and we have had a couple of showers, so maybe we will have courgettes also. Either too few or far too many.

We seem to specialise in giant growth. The Marmande tomatoes have kind of melded together on this plant, and I'm not sure what will come from it.

We managed to keep the whitefly out of the greenhouse by underplanting African marigolds throughout.

It seems to have worked well.

Cornish lanes.

In a bit of a hurry the other day, I set off to see a friend on the lovely Roseland Peninsula.

Just managed to get on the King Harry Ferry, which at this time of year is always packed.

Scurried off down the lanes.......

and this...................

...which of course is perfectly normal for the area.

Somehow it always happens, no matter what time of day.

There's no point in worrying about it. Cows take their time.

After all, what's ten minutes between friends?

More on Trelissick

The sale started today.

I didn't go, but I did watch it on my laptop, which was fascinating, almost as good as being there. The auctioneers were incredibly professional, taking bids from the room, the phone and the internet.

This desk sold at £48,000.

In answer to your queries, no, I didn't leave a bid for anything. Just as well as the prices often exceeded the guide price.

It continues tomorrow with much of the beautiful Spode Copeland china.

Trelissick House sale

You have often heard me mention the National Trust gardens of Trelissick, only a mile or so from our house.

The house has always been separate, kept by the family only, and not for public entry.

Now, the contents are being sold.

The family have moved to another house, and everything must go.

A friend and I went to one of the viewing days recently. 

Treasures abounded. Tables were covered with dinner services for ten or more people. China cupboards were full of tea services.
Everything had For Sale labels on.
We both felt a little sad. 

Trelissick House dates back to 1750, but one of the most interesting owners was Leonard Cunliffe, former director of the Bank of England. Sailing by on his yacht one day, he was so entranced by the lovely house overlooking the water that he bought it!

In 1937 he passed it to his stepdaughter Ida and her husband Ronald Copeland, who was the chairman of Spode Copeland, the makers of bone china in Staffordshire.

In 1955 they donated the beautiful gardens to the National Trust.

I came away from the viewing wondering where all these lovely family heirlooms would end their days.

(edit....I have no idea why the font has changed size and colour.....)

Royal baby.

How exciting! Our Duchess has been admitted to hospital where she will give birth to a new royal baby.

Now we wait, and pray that all will go well.
We now know....it's a boy!
What good news.

Watering the garden.

Just a glimpse of my rose, Zephirine Drouin, manfully making her way up the obelisk.

 She is fairly well covered by the beautiful 'Forget me not' clematis that is suddenly bursting out in flower.

Coeopsis, mallow, alchemilla and pink lupins jostle for a bit of space.

As usual, I've planted too close!

 Plants in pots were suffering from lack of water.

But yesterday we had a letter from the water board, to tell us we were £200 in credit! Unbelievable.

So for the first time, we watered the garden with water from the hose, instead of the free water we have collected in water butts.......which has almost run out.

You could almost feel the sigh of relief from the plants!

Pick your own.

Near us there is a 'pick your own' nursery, which specialises in soft fruit. 

This is what I picked yesterday.

4 kilos of gorgeous gooseberries.

They were so big that I picked them in about 15 minutes!

It took longer to top and tail them ready for the freezer.

There will be mousses, pies and maybe a pot or two of jam.

Lovely!

Evening stroll by the water.

Well, I think, from the comments on the last post,  that we all feel the same way about the ghastly 'Prove you are not a robot' photos.

Now on to something else.

It was such a beautiful evening that we drove down to Mylor Harbour, about ten minutes from where we live. Many years ago we had a beautiful wooden sailing boat that we kept here. In those days the boatyard was small, almost a one man band.

Not now!

 It's full of very expensive yachts.

But isn't it lovely?

It was calm and peaceful, with just a few folk sitting outside the bar at a table overlooking the water.

 Here's the little wine bar.

It doesn't look much from the outside, but is very pleasant and roomy inside.

It was a perfect evening just to stroll by the water and enjoy the views.

Captchas (I think they'e called)

Just a little moan about the Word Verification system.

We seem to have gone back a step to the 'word' and number.

So often the numbers are impossible to read. They have maybe been photographed on all sorts of doors or gates, by all sorts of cameras. Some are blurred. Some have to be peered at.

Some....well, you can take a wild guess and sometimes get it right.

 I don't mind people choosing to have this on their blogs. But I do wish that Blogger would put a clear picture on. It's bad enough trying to make sense of the 'word', but if you can't read the number it's easier to just creep away without leaving a comment.

What are your views on this?

The tea rooms by the water.

It was nearly too hot.

Family came to take us out for lunch at this delightful tearoom overlooking the water.

Parts of the cottage date back to the 12th century, and when the present owners took it on it was virtually derelict. It hadn't been lived in since 1922.

Noe it is beautifully renovated, and teas, coffee and light lunches are served on the lawn, with the creek as a background.

Looking down from the lawn you can see this little cove at Tolverne. The cottage used to be known as the Smugglers Inn and was a place where the tour boats stopped for a cream tea. Sadly it is now out of use.

All sorts of hot and cold drinks are available , and a light lunch of a roll and salad seems to be what most people want on such a hot day.

We were warned that the tabby cat would join us and that he liked to take a drink of milk by putting his paw in the jug! Fortunately he just curled up in a shady place under the table.

Back home and ready to stay in the cool to read the Saturday papers.

Scented corner

This is my little scented corner.

There is a big pot of the most deliciously perfumed sweet peas, one of them a white one, apparently the most strongly scented of all sweet peas. My husband grew these at the Horticultural College where he goes to what we cheerfully call 'Blind Gardening' courses.

The Nicotiana, or Tobacco plants, are just opening, perfuming the evening air. 

I often come out just before going to bed, and perch on the wooden bench for a moment or two, just to enjoy the evening scents.

The big disappointment has been the pot of Night scented stock that I sowed.

That's that sad looking pot in the front.

It's now had two sowings of seeds from different packs, and instead of being a mass of prettily scented mauve flowers, it stays sitting at around an inch tall, sulking.

Feed, water, chat makes no difference. It's just not interested.

Sitting there tonight, I looked across at the old apple tree and saw to my delight that the pale lilac Clematis has its first flowers open....right at the top of the tree!

Summer barbecue

Right now my camera is in someone else's home, so no photos of our BBQ, sadly.

But it did recall this previous occasion in France,

also titled

'how many men does it take ......'

When I saw that Money supermarket were hosting a competition

 http://www.moneysupermarket.com/home-insurance/competitions/the-charcoal-challenge/

I decided to enter, as we planned to do a BBQ now the sun was at last shining. They kindly send £50 for one to buy things for the event , and then ask you to write about it.

It's a long time since we had a barbecue, not since we left France, so had to hunt out all the necessary equipment. Pretty French tablecloths, plastic water jugs and glasses etc.

I thought carefully about what to spend the money on, and decided to buy one thing only, with a plan for any left over.

No sausages, no kebabs, no steaks.

I bought one of these.

Opening it up I stuffed it with lemon slices and all sorts of herbs from the garden, parsley, fennel, tarragon. Laced it with butter and wrapped the whole thing in foil.

On to the BBQ it went, cooking slowly.

The garden looked great, roses smelling sweetly all around, and colour from all the geraniums in my big French terra cotta pots.

Add freshly dug new potatoes from the garden (first ones), green salad again from the garden, fresh bread,

convivial friends.....who wants more?

And the plan for the rest of the money?

It will go into our local Food Bank, desperate for food to feed needy local people. Thanks Moneysupermarket.

How does your garden grow?

We have an afternoon of sunshine.

Time to take a few photos of the garden.

I wish I knew how to enlarge photos on my blog. These look too small, but you can click for a larger view.

There are, potatoes, shallots, beans and lettuce all doing well.

It's surprising how much one can get in a raised bed.

I've been so pleased with the different colours of the Canterbury Bells. I've not had a pink one before.

Allowing for the fact that this garden was only landscaped in April, I think we are doing quite well!

The rose is Zephirine Drouin, thornless, very sweet scented, one of my favourites. Nest to it on the obelisk is Clematis Forget me not, all in bud.

Next year it will ll be a bit more established, but for now, I'm happy.