Taming the Garden Jungle

Well, here we are in the depths of rural Oxfordshire. Most of the boxes unpacked, some rooms redecorated and our studios up and running!

We knew that we'd taken on let me say 'a bit of a project' regarding the garden but it was only once we arrived that we realised just how much work there was to do!!

20 years of neglect, unruly hedges, overgrown trees and shrubs, a tangle of a broken rose arch with an old gate hidden in the undergrowth and a pretty apple tree engulfed by ivy require drastic action....

 

Time to call in the professionals and get some help with the clearance! Luckily we have a neighbour who is a tree surgeon, although not much surgery involved here, more of a general chopping down!

Meanwhile in the front garden we are busy at work, and the apple tree is released from it's ivy prison. A little bit of pruning (with help from Henry and my 80 year old mum) and we have a pretty tree rescued from oblivion!

Now it's a haven for birds since we added a couple of feeders and a little bird table. Daily visitors include a family of blue tits, plus nuthatches, sparrows, goldfinches, the robin, chaffinches and blackbirds. This week we were really excited to have our feeders visited by a gorgeous woodpecker. The greater spotted, swinging on the nut feeder with gay abandon! Haven't managed to get him on camera yet - he's quite shy but we're working on it!

A Bunch of Mugs and their Priori-teas...

Moving house at least seems to be an imminent and highly exciting possibility in the Fothergill household, and a year's worth of decorating, sorting, throwing-out and organising is a valuable comfort with the prospect of upheaval and chaos.

However as we munched on brownies, put the kettle on and opened the mug cupboard this morning we were met by an over-flowing and neglected shelf of outdated and accumulated tea & coffee accoutrements. Something had to be done.

Players: 4. Rules: 6 mugs each. Time-span: Sunday morning. Bonus: 1 extra mug. Outcome: success!

Top to bottom [Chris, Gill, Charlie, Henry]

Truffle has a collection too!

It's so interesting how different our collections look (and how eccentric too!). What are your priori-(teas!) when it comes to your perfect mugs?