April

April 29th 2011 was the date we moved into Nelson House. We had a five year plan to do the renovations, sell and move on but like most plans we've had to be flexible and five years is looking more like six. Sometimes I look round and wonder what's taken so long but a flick through the 'before and during' photographs makes me realise that we Andrew has done a huge amount of work. This is the blog post showing downstairs when we moved in I didn't have an oven, hob or fridge for seven months! But we are on the last bedroom with only the hall, stairs and landing for internal work so I'm hopeful that this time next year...

We were inspired by a visit to some friend's new house and are determined that our new house will be just as gorgeous. I have known Carol since secondary school and she and her husband have just moved to Hampshire after being in their Surrey house for over 25 years. Their new home is a lovely cottage, part of it centuries old and with an enviable walled garden. We took a long weekend over Andrew's birthday and headed south. Hampshire is a county we don't really know and it is beautiful. Our first outing was to Arlesford which is famous for its watercress, we had a walk by the river and did see some watercress beds but I think they may be redundant.

Arlesford watercress bed

Definitely wash before consumption!

We also walked past what must be one of the most photographed cottages in the area, an ancient fulling mill. Fulling (also known as tucking or walking) was a process of the wool industry where wool was cleaned of dirt and oil. It is also the origins of some very English surnames - Fuller, Walker and Tucker.

Ancient fulling mill

Arlesford is a beautifully maintained Georgian town which made it's money from the wool industry. Now it's full of upmarket shops (I was tempted but managed to resist some more napkins!) and smart coffee shops. I did love these door bells.

The area is very dog friendly and we had supper in a lovely pub where Andrew found two new admirers.

Waiting for scraps

The following day we headed to Selbourne to do the zig-zag walk. I confess to being a little nervous when Carol said we were walking up a stiff hill as I've got use to the flat Norfolk countryside but it wasn't too bad and the views were spectacular.

The zig-zag path was created by Gilbert White (1720-1793) whose family home was The Wakes in Selbourne. White was a 'parson-naturalist' and said to be England's first ecologist. We didn't get time to visit the house but hopefully if we're invited back...

Viewed from a distant it looked quite daunting

Mortimer had no problems

The views were gorgeous

The Wakes is on the right

St Mary's church in the village has two lovely stained windows commemorating White's life

St Mary's - Selbourne

and also seems to have a history of fine bell ringers too.

Sadly we had to leave this beautiful county after what seemed a very short weekend.

Back home I had my own ecological task to do. We have a reconstituted stone table which we bought at least two decades ago and I've loved how it has slowly weathered over the years.

The table in April's snow

However the weathering has got a little out of hand and the table had spawned it's own micro world.

This pansy is less than 2 cm high

I finally gave in to Andrew's request to clear the surface when I found that my wine glass was dangerously unstable!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the snow, sleet and hail is behind us now. The bees are very active, too active in some ways as on last inspection they had started to produce drone cells which is one of the signs they are considering swarming. There has been an aerial highway to the nearby rape field (seen from the bathroom window) which is one of their favourite flowers. Rape honey sets quickly so I'm going to have to get it out of the hive as soon as the flowers start to die down.

So that was April. I'm hoping bedroom four will be finished by the next post and we can move on to the outside, leaving the hall and snagging until the autumn. But best laid plans etc. etc...

March

I left you at the end of last month with high hopes for March, but the first couple of weeks were not so good.

We attended the funeral of our sister in law's father, someone who we had known for over three decades. Brian was a generous man who loved, and was very proud, of his family. He enjoyed a good joke and each time we met would try and tempt me, a long term vegetarian, with bacon sandwiches!
Our fondest memory of him, and his wife Pat, were when we were sailing. They'd made several trips to the Caribbean over the years and were visiting St. Lucia when we, unbeknown to them, were in the area (we were aided and abetted by their daughter). Even better, their hotel had moorings just off the beach. We picked up a buoy, dinghied in and invaded their peaceful holiday. Brian (and Pat) could not have been more generous, inviting us to stay for dinner and plying us with rum - it was a magical evening.

The following morning it was our turn to be surprised when Pat turned up at our boat, courtesy of the hotel's tender. Brian had remembered us saying that books were like a currency to cruisers, when you met new boaters the first question was 'what's your name?' and the second 'have you any books?' Brian had remembered this and had sent Pat across with all the paperbacks they'd brought on holiday. It really was a lovely gesture and typical of Brian. He will certainly be missed.

The month also kicked off with a very poorly Mortimer who managed to ingest something toxic. We're not sure what exactly, although there is a possibility it was a daffodil bulb. He had been sick on the Friday morning as I left for the day and by lunchtime Andrew knew there was a problem as Morts was not even keeping water down. He whisked him off to the vet and it was quite a shock when we were told he had to stay in overnight, possibly two, and remain on a drip. Apparently his liver was functioning at ten times its normal level. As you can imagine that night was horrible with my imagination running wild, thinking I wouldn't see him again. Fortunately he improved and we were able to collect him on the Sunday morning, although he was still poorly ( however quite impressed with his diet of chicken and rice). A week later his liver function was still higher than normal but had reduced significantly. Here he is on his return looking sorry for himself.

And here he is, feeling better but also looking out of sorts as Andrew had bought him a waterproof coat. I love the four square planted legs "I'm not going anywhere in this!"

The month did eventually improve. Work continued on bedroom four. We've given ourselves a generous timescale this time, we'd like to finish mid-May so we can then move on to the outside - knocking down part of the garage-workshop and re-landscaping. We are on track and have reached decorating stage, that relentless fill:sand:fill:sand:fill:sand that I think will never end.

I also managed to spend a few enjoyable hours in the kitchen over Easter. I used to try at least one new recipe a week but that has slipped so I thought I'd make a bit of an effort over the holiday break. I am a Pinterest follower and this recipe popped into my inbox and looked interesting. I particularly liked the fact it had walnuts in it as we still have several pounds of our own from last year. Andrew is not overly fond of gnocchi but with this recipe you fry them off which makes them crispy and not stodgy. It turned out to be very tasty (although the recipe photograph is much better than mine- they really are the same dish!) Oh! if anyone is wondering arugula is rocket.

Gnocchi with walnut pesto and rocket

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter break and I'll be back next month.