Putting down roots

We have finally purchased a really interesting 26 acre chunk of land (deciduous woodland and overgrown coppice,rough overgrown pasture and wetlands too) on the Wrexham/Shropshire/Cheshire border of Wales and England.

We are absolutely delighted as it means we can finally finally after five years of a slightly strange nomadic existence in large rented [...]

A social whirlpool and a day at home

I have met lots of great new people here during the past week or so.

We have landed in a rural area near to a small market town which has a definite ‘alternative’streak to it. There seem to be plenty of interesting folk living here,doing interesting forward thinking things and drawing more interesting [...]

A Place in my Country:In Search of a Rural Dream (a brilliant book)

I’ve just read another attitude-changing book,again borrowed from the library but like other inspiring reads this too will be bought for the home bookshelves and most probably as a Christmas present for other similarly minded friends or family.

We have rented a house in the countryside between three English [...]

Becoming a ‘locovore’by using local food and only when its seasonal

My poor little head is too full of too many things to do (an exciting dot com project with my beloved,administrative work for our small internet business,a small babe and two little kids on summer holidays to look after,a house to keep in order,tummies to feed,this blog to [...]

How to Kill a Rat

Hmmm. I’ve just been watching the boldest,chunkiest rat while I did the washing up. He/she/it was waddling around the path in the garden,popped up the apple tree and sat looking at me then waddled back down,had a sniff around the drain and the rubbish bin (no lid and generally [...]

Are rabbits really vermin? No –they’re far too cute!

I’ve got a new veg patch and it has many tender seedlings and young plants growing nicely which I’ve tended to with more care than my own children. We’ve had to ensure it is rabbit proof by completely surrounding it with chicken wire fencing dug deep into the ground as there are loads of rabbits [...]

Inspirational Friends on Skomer Island

This weekend I paid a visit to my remarkable friend Jane who lives on Skomer Island,Pembrokeshire (a large rock in the Atlantic ocean just off the coast of south western Wales).

Jane won’t mind me saying that I was completely humbled by seeing where she lives with her young daughter Martha and her partner [...]

Learning about Ladybirds

Edie and I watched some ladybirds ‘cuddling’last week and photographed them.

Later in the week when we found our newly flowering aquilegas were covered in aphids I suggested we go on a ladybird hunt as they are good at eating all the aphids.

We were both a little surprised to find one who [...]

Potatoes LOVE growing in manure

At the beginning of April I planted my ‘early’potatoes (a variety of spud which is ready to eat early in the season) and ‘main crop’potatoes (a different sort which is ready later in the season –and bigger? I’m not entirely sure yet) in a couple of trenches (about 20-30cm deep) next to [...]

Identifying a British snake

Wow. We had a grass snake in our garden. We watched it,photographed it,video’d it and generally marvelled at how it moved like a snake a bit but also just sunbathed a lot in front of the compost heap where we keep the children’s outdoor toys and I have a water butt.

I LOVE [...]

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