A little Gromit spotting

In and around Bristol this summer there are eighty Gromits, decorated by celebrities and local artists,and which will be auctioned in September to raise money for the local children's hospital.  While they're on display you can go round to see them all, with a special map and a passport that can be stamped in six locations.  It's the kind of thing that small boys can get quite obsessed with.  We took the bus, which cost £10 for five of us, and in fact with that ticket you can go as far as Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, even Cornwall.

Apparently we saw twenty-four Gromits.  (I lost count after about five).  I promise I won't show you all twenty-four...

One of the first ones we found, named Canis Major, was at the lovely Hotel du Vin.

There'd also been a little themed yarn bombing.

This one was at the Old Vic Theatre.  It's Butterfly by Philip Treacy.  The littlest boy is standing in front of a poster for "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".  Coincidentally.

Along from the theatre is a pub called the Llandoger Trow which dates from the mid-1660s.

I don't visit Bristol much any more, so it was good to be back, and see some of the stunning architecture.  This is Corn Street, the old financial district.  When I go there I always look up.

This one's Hound Dog by Sir Peter Blake, found at the Arnofini Gallery.  He was one of the simpler ones,but he did make me smile.

This was Joanna Lumley's Gromit, Poetry in Motion, outside of the Cathedral.

We walked along to the Central Library as well, somewhere we used to visit regularly.  Inside was Axel Schaeffler's offering, The Gromalo.

In need of a break from the city streets we headed up Park Street towards Brandon Hill.  On the way we stopped at St Georges to see Sir Gromit of Bristol.

It was lovely to have a big green space to run around on for a bit.  We played in the play area, then climbed to the top of the hill and walked back to Park Street to see a final couple of Gromits.  This one, by Nick Park himself, was called News Hound, and is in the wonderful Bristol Museum.

By this time the little people were pretty much worn out.  We trotted down to the bus station and headed for home.  This was my fourth long day out with them in a row, and it's safe to say they were finally worn out.  And I was certainly Gromitted out.  Although there are of course 56 that we haven't seen yet...

Red, white and blue

So enjoying this lovely summer of ours here in beautiful Britain.

Little duckies and dozens of peacock butterflies at Slimbridge.  We took a picnic.

Blackcurrant crumble.  With a few other berries in there for good measure.  Dealing happily with this little glut.  I had some great courgette recipe suggestions in the comments for the last post that I shall be trying.  I may also take to referring to them as zucchini when the children ask me what they're eating.

Even the guinea pigs are getting some summer deliciousness - the peel from an allotment cucumber.  They love it.  If I should find myself with too many cucumbers they'll get a bigger chunk; it's one of their favourite things.

I got a bit of a bargain at the local Sort-It Centre a couple of days ago.  I was after a spade and a fork that I can keep at the allotment.  They had some, but not in the shop area.  But the nice chap there let me choose a fork, and take the only spade, for free!  It really made my day.

Especially as the fork has these magic words on it.

It also says "Unbendable" which makes me happy too.

Enjoying the summer rain, even when it's a bit of a deluge.

Drying onions in between showers.

A little garden inspiration from the library.  The Allotment Folk are wonderful.

It's been a happy busy few days of picnics, parks, pools and friends.  I visited a friend near Ashton Court in Bristol today, where the Bristol Balloon Fiesta is taking place.  At 4 o'clock, this happened.

A flying display by the unrivalled Red Arrows.  It was absolutely thrilling, and we were all shrieking every time they flew over.  Fortunately you couldn't really hear anything over the screaming of the engines.  It's hard to articulate how sensational they are.  I had goosebumps.

Oh I do love Britain in the summertime.

How long was I away?

I went to the allotment last night for the first time in a few days - well, almost a week I think.  Back  in spring I planted an area with squashes, courgettes and cucumbers.  At home the soil is so poor it's a miracle if things take off at all.  But at the allotment the soil is utter perfection, and everything grows like the devil.  The squashes, courgettes and cucumbers have gone absolutely mad.  It's impossible to step between them, they are all completely tangled, and if you look under the leaves it is a terrifying sight.

Squashes, courgettes and cucumbers everywhere.  Now I know that this is the whole point of an allotment, but I should just mention at this point that I am the only one who really actually likes squashes and courgettes.  I can slide some onto smaller people's plates, but only in limited quantities.  And the other half will only put up with them up to a point.  And judging by the above, that point will be reached fairly soon.  I've already done them sauteed in oil, soup, curry and roasted.  In the past three days.  And some of the squashes are spaghetti ones, which the other half will refuse to eat if he identifies them.  I was hoping that he wouldn't notice the odd bit, but I have a feeling that if he has it every day for two months he may well twig.  Any recipes for spaghetti squash gratefully received.  I'm thinking I may be able to pass them off as noodles.

In my defence, had I planted all of the above things at home, I would have been lucky to get half a dozen courgettes.  But the plot is wonderful.  Before I had it, it was tended by the same man for 45 years.  It amazes me that before I was born, and for the whole of my life, the same person has been there growing things and improving the soil, year in, year out.  For a long time it was an award winning plot, in the site competitions.  Towards the end things were harder for him I think, but I still count myself very lucky to have inherited such a gem.  The soil is exquisite, and everything grows beautifully.  Unfortunately this does include the weeds.  And the courgettes.

Next year, all being well, I won't grow so many.  And I'll space them out a lot more.  I'm learning, learning, learning all the time.

I put the biggest courgette in the space at the site where you can leave unwanted items.  There's quite often a few enormous courgettes lurking there, unloved and unwanted.  But they do always find a new owner.  Really, it's probably not necessary to grow your own courgettes at all, you could just adopt the strays.

The things in the middle are plums.  A small branch was down, so I salvaged them.  Something had clearly been eating some of them.  I'm hoping there'll be a few left for me.

Elsewhere there are still mountains of blackcurrants.  The boys and I have de-stalked about six kilos so far.  If I close my eyes I can still see them.  I have discovered a delicious recipe though - blackcurrant Eton mess.  Cook some blackcurrants with sugar to taste, cool, then push through a sieve.  Crush a meringue, drizzle with blackcurrant puree and swirl through some whipped cream.  It's wonderful.  But the absolute top fruit dish I've discovered this summer has to be morello cherries with Greek yoghurt.  My neighbour gave me a tub of them.  I stoned them, cooked with sugar and then put them over plain Greek yoghurt and honestly, it was utterly divine.  Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best.  The ones where the fruit is allowed to shine.

Elsewhere, tomatoes are swelling and ripening.  I always grow Sungold because they are so reliable outside.  I've had far more success with them than any other variety, including Gardener's Delight, and I've tried lots of varieties.

There are beetroots and a paltry amount of carrots.  Why are they so hard to grow?  I have a theory that a rabbit burrowed under the little chicken wire fence I have and ate the seedlings as they came up.  Something had definitely burrowed under the wire.  We like to think it was Benjamin Bunny and Peter Rabbit.  This is all they have left us.

I took the littlest boy with me.  He entertained himself by cutting things down with a pair of scissors.

Then we pulled up the onions together.  I do so love having a little helper.  Maybe one day he'll grow onions for his little boys.

Along with the beans and carrots there are one or two fancier things.

And a few flowers which have been very easy to grow and which I do so love to see on every visit.  The rose I inherited with the plot, and it really does flower from June until right at the end of the season.

After a bit of a wobble I'm back in love with the plot.  It does still give me a few anxious moments, and I still don't know what the future holds but really, I would so love to keep it.  Maybe even for forty-five years...

A Liebster Award

The lovely Leanne at Today's Stuff nominated me for a Liebster Award the other day, and needless to say I was thrilled.  The idea is that I write eleven random facts about myself, answer eleven questions that Leanne has asked, and then nominate three blogs to answer eleven questions of mine.

So here goes, a little about me.

1.   I was a vegan for 25 years, although now I'm just a vegetarian.

2.   I'm naturally a quiet person and I dislike loud noises.  With three noisy boys this is unfortunate.

3.   I would love to visit Venice.

4.   I am fairly impatient.

5.   My children were all born at home.

6.   I love it when things are "Made in Britain".  Increasingly hard to find.

7.   I suspect I have a tiny little bit of OCD.  People should not move my stuff!

8.   I make bread machine bread almost every day, with barleycorn flour, yeast, salt, honey and water.

9.   I used to be a croupier.

10. Right now I have more blackcurrants that I know what to do with.

11. I completed my law degree part-time in the evenings, whilst working full-time.

And now my answers to Leanne's questions.

1.   Are you a morning person?

Yes, totally.  I'm usually awake between 5.30 and 6.30am, and I get straight up.

2.   What is your favourite fruit?

I think I would have to say cherries, they're so moreish.

3.  Are you superstitious?

I try not to be, but occasionally I touch wood.

4.   What is your favourite smell?

So many to choose from!  I'm going to say coconut, it's sublime.  Although the littlest boy and I were sniffing vanilla earlier and that was good too.  Does it say something about me that I'm thinking food and not expensive perfume..?

5.   Rock chick or hippy chick?

I did go through a rock chick phase, but the hippy was always in there I think.  I grow my own vegetables and I've got a wormery, so I'm thinking hippy chick.

6.   Do you have any pets?

We've got three - Lulu and Mrs Armitage are Abyssinian (rosetted) guinea pigs, and Nibbles is a Syrian hamster.  A gerbil stayed last week, but he's gone home now.  He did send us a thank you card today saying that he'd had a nice time though.

7.  What is the furthest from home that you've travelled?

Casablanca.  I cycled there.  From Bristol.  It took a while.

8.   Do you read a paper?

Nope, not any more, no time!  I listen to news and current affairs on Radio 4 while I'm doing kitchen things.  Sometimes it's so grim I turn it off though.  I'm tired of hearing about the economy.

9.   What was your favourite TV programme as a child?

I loved Paddington Bear.  There was a cosy happiness to it, as well as the humour.

10.  Flora or fauna?

Fauna I think.  Whilst the woods are beautiful, there is nothing like seeing a deer or an owl or even a rabbit.

11.  What is your favourite Madonna song?

I'm going to say Borderline.

And now my eleven questions.

1.   Dark chocolate or milk chocolate?

2.   What was your first job?

3.   Is there a book you return to again and again?

4.   If you had an afternoon to yourself, what would you choose to do with it?

5.   Is there something you would like to learn to do?

6.   Do you have a favourite saying or quote?

7.   Is there a naughty treat you love to eat?

8.   Is there a great pub or restaurant near you that you would recommend?

9.   What country would you visit if you could go anywhere?

10.  Jeans or a skirt?

11.  What is your favourite hobby?

The three blogs I'm nominating are:

   Sustainable Mum
   This, too
   Rusty Duck

They are all blogs I really enjoy reading, and well worth visiting.  Thanks Leanne for nominating me, and for your great questions.

Simple pleasures

One of my favourite walks is on Stinchcombe Common.  The views are wonderful, and I love to watch the countryside changing through the year.  Right now summer is in full throttle everywhere.

There were dozens of these moths (cinnabar moths?) on the many scabious flowers along the path.

It reminded me of a line from Mick Inkpen's "One year with Kipper", "... Kipper lay on his back and watched as little things with legs and wings climbed the spindly grasses and whizzed into the big, blue sky.  There are a lot more little things with legs and wings than you would think, thought Kipper".

The walk is around the edge of the high common area, the middle being taken up with a golf course.  The boys like to hunt for lost golf balls.  Other half likes to check out people's swings.  I like the views and looking for the elusive skylarks that you can hear overhead.

It's not too long a walk, even for little legs, with plenty of things to keep them going - bits of woodland, different views from different spots, the odd bench for eating cookies, golfers to watch, a little hut to hide in and nature everywhere.  Also lots of exciting slopes for scrambling up and down.

The woods are mossy and cool, even on warm summer days.  I found this early sycamore key lying in a patch of sun on this beautiful tree root.  I do so love the little details.

Halfway through the walk a corner is turned and a new view opens up, that of the Severn estuary, the river that is never far away.

I've done this walk in all of the seasons, but summer has to be my favourite.  Or maybe that's because summer is right now, I'm not sure.  Whichever it is, I love it here, in the beautiful English countryside, with the pulse of nature everywhere.  The best tonic for whatever ails.