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The Day We Built the Fence, In Pictures - by Cherry Menlove

The Day We Built the Fence, In Pictures - by Cherry Menlove

Saturday was the day that all corners of the family got together to build a wooden fence. We are going to be plotting a vegetable, fruit and herb garden starting late summer and some divisions needed to be made.

The divisions began with this fence. 

We all worked together. 

Ladies, gents, grandparents, siblings, brothers-in-law, girlfriends, husbands, wives. 

Banging, hoisting, carrying, cooking, grilling, babysitting and finally eating, drinking & laughing to the strains of Joni Mitchell. 

We started the day early................

...and we finished late but in possession of a fence and an awesome day to remember.

See you tomorrow morning.

Cherry x

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First Edition 'Noddy' by Cherry Menlove

First Edition Noddy

At the start of this week I mentioned that I'd been surprised by the price of a purchase that I had made. Well this was the cause of the surprise. I had been browsing in the children's section of a wonderful old bookstore in a town about ten miles away and came across a pile of Noddy books. I looked at the price of a few of them and saw that they cost about two English pounds each. Considering them a bargain I grabbed the whole pile, along with some Famous Five and Beatrix Potter and headed towards the till. 

I'd done a brief calculation in my head of what I thought the average cost of the entire purchase should have been and was rather surprised when the total was said out loud. However, having taken so many books I was loathe to ask the young chap to add them all up again with me peering over his shoulder hand on hip so I just thanked them and wandered off a little worried. Of course when I began to check the prices at home I came across a note, written lightly in pencil on the inside cover of the book you see in the pictures, that informed me that this was a first edition. 

Although I've often thought that it would have been nice to have had the foresight to buy a first edition Harry Potter at the time of publication I am very, very happy that my first ever first edition is a Noddy book. My nana owned so many of these and she would read them to us in her bed when we would stay over, after she'd made her morning cuppa of course ("the war was won on good cups of tea"). We would  lay there with the duvet pulled right up to our chins and scream "ANOTHER" when one had finished. 

It is this image that takes me back to those mornings in a rush of nostalgia. I wanted to live either there or in one of those tiny houses in Munchkin Land, Oz. Perhaps that's why I love the fishing towns of the South West of England. They look somewhat like the illustration of Noddy town only real.

Buying this first edition was a serendipitous mistake that lead me to proceed with an idea that had been floating around in my head but had not yet been cemented. 

We have a corner on the landing at the top of our stairs. There is enough room for the small thrifted oyster coloured nursing chair that I bought last summer and a lamp that will sit on a side table. There are shelves that run on either side of that corner and I've decided to dedicate this area to children's literature. I've got so many books from my own childhood and I thrift an awful lot to this day. 

So, from The Tales of Peter Rabbit to Jane Eyre this corner will be my way of taking a child, or children, through literature. A journey that starts with pictures and ends with the classics when they head off on their own and will undoubtedly leave the classics behind for a while and simply read what their friends are reading. 

I had a similar journey. My mum would take me through flash cards at a very early age and I absorbed the process of learning to read with gusto. I remember very clearly being naughty and being sent to be early. I went up not very bothered by this punishment as I knew I had a whole stash of unread books under my bed cover. My dad came in to check that I was suitably penitent only to find me reading. He took the book away and told me I could have it back the next morning. I waited until he'd shut the door and I'd heard his steps going back downstairs and simply brought another one out and continued to read. He busted me again about five minutes later and the same thing happened. In fact it happened AGAIN until he really caught on to me and I had to give up my entire stash and sit out my isolation bookless..........or so he thought!

What he didn't know, until now, was that there was an emergency book at the bottom of the bed and the whole time that I was being relieved of reading material I could feel it with my toes. 

What was my emergency story?

A Noddy book.

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Not Great with Wine, Better with Roses by Cherry Menlove

Not Great with Wine, Better with Roses

I admire people who can smell wine and detect notes of all sorts. I admire even more those who can taste wine and detect even more notes of fruit, oak, blackcurrant , leather etc.

I know when I like a wine and when I don't, and that is as far as it goes for me, luddite that I am. I think that if I spent more time on wine and gave it more attention I would discover more about it and perhaps my palette would improve. Are you born with a palette for wine or do you develop it? I have never known for sure but I'm sure you can develop something of a sense of what the wine is trying to say with its taste.

Roses I'm better with. I can smell all manner of varieties of rose and pick out the various scents that they emit.

These pictures were taken yesterday at the David Austin Rose Garden in Shropshire. We visit at least twice a year and in June the place is absolute heaven. Really. A step back in time to blue skies (if you go on a blue sky day), manicured lawns and a rich syrupy scent that hangs in the air as all the varieties of rose come together to vie for attention.

A walled garden is a fantasy of mine and I was so enthralled by BEING in one yesterday that I had to sit down and have a scone with jam. 

Well, it wasn't only that, there were various other conversations going on that made my adrenaline begin to pump furiously, but if I could have stayed surrounded by those walls forever and not have gotten caught I would have........until the weather changed from delicious to not so delicious and then I'd have wanted to go home with Robert but it was heaven for a couple of hours.

The four of us that made up our group sniffed, discussed and were wowed by the whole experience. I have learnt through bitter experience not to sniff a rose wholeheartedly until you have checked what is inside it. Whoever said that greenfly contain protein if you inadvertently ingest one can take a flying leap as they have clearly never sucked one up a nostril. But hard as I looked there were no greenfly at David Austin yesterday, or at least so few of them that I didn't spot them.

When we were at the exit and had finished paying for our purchases I asked a lady who worked there how they tackle their greenfly. She said that she had Gertrude Jekyll or a Geoff Hamilton, I can't remember, and that due to the warm weather we'd been having hers too were covered in caps of greenfly. Mine seem to have gone for jackets and boots as well as caps of greenfly but I didn't want to moan at the nice lady. She prescribed a simple remedy of washing up water and pulling the buggers off by hand, which I will do with gusto. 

I have a deep admiration and love for family run businesses. I am fascinated by the ones that work, David Austin, and by the ones that don't, Bernie Madoff's sons are probably wishing they hadn't worked for daddy. 

Walking round the gardens yesterday was living proof of a vision that had been fulfilled. One that gave people a chance to experience something that the garden has given us in all it's glory.

Cheers, chaps!

So what did I buy?

Four fantastically big Alan Titchmarsh. Here one of them is. I carry a fondness for Alan Titchmarsh, the man, as I read his How to be a Gardener & The Kitchen Gardener and I discovered that everything he wrote in those books was wholly true and made sense. I have NO TIME for snobbery when someone is as good at their job as Alan and any critics of his really should look at his body of work and then scuttle off back under their rock.

Having said all that, I didn't choose these roses for who they were named after. I chose them for the colour ( a lilac hue that is almost edible) and their scent (fresh, fresh, fresh). They will go in to the ground today and I look forward to trying to keep my greenfly off of them. 

Note the word 'trying' in that last sentence.

See you tomorrow morning!

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It Took But a Month...BUT A MONTH!!!! by Cherry Menlove

It Took But a Month........BUT A MONTH!!!!!!

No matter how you look at this, it is still the same thing.

We have been in this house a mere four weeks and already

one exists.

I found it last night. We have not yet unpacked even half of our boxes and I was thinking about finishing off the kitchen. So, I innocently go to this drawer, I HAD SOMETHING USEFUL TO GO INTO IT, and found this.

*bites quivering lip*

A Man Drawer.

I closed the drawer silently, slowly, in shock. I walked back to the sofa and gently sat down. I realised that this 'thing' had infiltrated the kitchen on my watch and I knew nothing about it. That's when the blame started.

"Where was I when he first spotted this drawer?"

"What was the first item to go in it. Could I have nipped it in the bud?"

"Do you think he'd notice if I emptied it?"

Eventually I made it off the sofa and got myself into bed. Telling myself that there was NOTHING I could have done about this and that it would have happened no matter what. I had a fitful nights sleep full of half finished rolls of tape, nails in all different shapes and sizes and loft insulation, all chasing me down a Dickensian street.

It'll be ok, it'll all be ok.

***************************************************************************************

"Hi folks, my name is Robert, you may also know me as LBH or Robert the Husband. I'm an easy going kinda chap who has an offer for you this morning. 

I have one, over dramatic, SUPER anally retentive & if she did but know it MESSY wife to give away....wait for it....... FOR FREE! 

Please email me at robert @ you will not take my man drawer.com 

if you are interested.

If you come to collect her while she is busy doing other 'man jobs', such as laying turf , she'll probably not even notice she's gone. 

But please leave the cat. 

I like the cat.

If you don't know what a man drawer is then please see this BRILLIANT explanation. You'll then empathise with me completely...although the chances of someone taking my wife may be cut dramatically!

**********************************************************************************

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A Brand New Column - 'Projects with my Dad' - An Introduction

 

Introducing a brand new column - 'Projects with my Dad'

My Dad has offered to help about this place from time to time. We've had conversations recently where I have said that I'd love to put in "an arch here or a bench there" and then stated how expensive these items are to buy.

My Dad - "I can make those, Chel. Whatever you do don't buy them, you'll be wasting your money"

Me - "O.K. Dad, I'll take you up on that offer but only if you let me make them with you. I don't see why these little wooden building projects should be the soul possession of the men in the family!"

My Dad - "You're on"

 

This past monday was a bank holiday in this country so my Dad and I took the day off and worked solidly on our first three projects.

An old style washing line.

 

A wooden trellis arch to go over my garden gate where the clematis will grow.....

 

....and a raised bed. Now is the time to get your pumpkins and winter squashes in the ground so this one was fairly urgent.

 

I was amazed and encouraged by how simple the tools were to use once I'd gotten used to holding them in my hands. I was also very pleased with the simplicity of the structures that we built. Garden centres and home ware stores charge a pretty penny for these things and yet when you see them built from scratch you realise just how much like a simple jigsaw puzzle these things are.

I hope I'm not sounding glib when I assure you these projects are quite simple. I made my Dad promise not to use fancy or complicated equipment. I wanted classic pieces that were incredibly useful and LOOKED GOOD!!

 

In the near future I'll upload LOADS of pictures, lists of materials needed and, of course, CLEAR instructions on how to make some of the items that I have been creating with my Dad.

I can even imagine some of the projects being filmed which will make them even easier to follow.

***************************************************************************************

 

We worked all day, from about eight in the morning until five in the evening. Stopping for lunch and cups of tea. Dad had his first cup of tea in a mug that Jodie and Garry had printed for family members when the twins were born.

I didn't make the tea so hadn't noticed that this was mug he had been given.

It looked like he was enjoying it, like it was going down well, just as a good cup of tea should.

But it was only fair that I point out, as early as possible, that this was the very same mug that I do my pregnancy tests in!!!!!!...................

 

Oh Dad!!!!!!

 

I am so sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut? Who knows.

At least I got it on camera!

;-)

There will be revenge sought by my dad for this, I can promise you. There is absolutely no way that I'll get away with this. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Let the games begin.

I'll see you tomorrow morning. We've been having some herb and plant sales lately and had so much fun setting it all up that I thought you may like to see a sneak peak from behind the scenes.

Have a great day.

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Two of the Effects of Moving House by Cherry Menlove

 

1 - Exhaustion. 
I was preparing a patch for the Broad Beans when the grass suddenly appeared like a feather filled bed in front of my weary eyes.
I was severely admonished for this!

 

2 - Getting stuck behind pieces of furniture.
 I was left there for a while to think about my 'falling asleep in the garden' behaviour.

 

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Moving Home by Cherry Menlove

 

Moving Home
I'm all for making quick decisions but this was fast even for me. Robert the Husband and I had wanted to move a bit further out west for a while. Since we discovered a beautiful part of the world just last summer in fact. We want to start a family and felt that now was a good time to move.

 

I don't like to get too caught up in house moves as they can be heart wrenching if they fall through. But this one didn't, so we're now calling this home. It's old, very old. Just how we like them. It's also very 'English' which I rather like also. Although I'm seeing some 'Hampton's Chic' in there as I wander about.

 

Of course it's wonderful fun, if a little tiring. We have no furniture as yet but its all coming today. This move was so fast that we didn't book the removal van in time for our moving in date. Lots of clothes were bundled into weekend bags and I felt like a criminal doing a runner in the middle of the night!!!

I'm also on a dial-up connection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do they still exist???????????????????????

My photos look funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This means that it takes me approximately twenty five years to write a website or blog post. Bear with me on this as I should be all connected in a few days and it'll business as usual.

Then, my dear friends, the fun begins!

 

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...and like that *snap* it can be over.....

 

...and like that *snap* it can be over.....

Robert and I hit a deer on Friday night. We were on our way out for some supper and driving along one of the most beautiful roads in the world. Suddenly we were both looking into the eyes of a deer who appeared in front of our car at the speed of light. I saw clear liquid splash across the windscreen and then my hands went up to my face and stayed there for a long time. I heard Robert exclaim "Oh God" as he held the car on a steady path until we could stop despite the deer taking most of the front of the car off, travelling over the top of the car and missing the windscreen, and us, by inches.

 

When the car came to a stop I felt Robert's hand on my knee and then I just began to sob into my hands. Hard sobs that just took my breath away. It was too much to bear at that time. We both saw the deer and it's beautiful face. What was it doing there? Why did it just appear in time to be hit by our car?

Our black Mini was still hissing by the side of the road and it had grown dark by the time we were picked up by an awesome man and his enormous flat bed truck. He told us that he had worked these roads for the best part of twenty years and that Robert and I had both gotten off very lightly. If it had hit the windscreen instead of bouncing over the top the story would have ended differently.

 

The next day, Saturday, Robert and I went to Winkworth Arboretum. We are members of the National Trust and have several beautiful spaces to visit right on our doorstep. The place was carpeted by bluebells and we observed the endangered (can you believe that!!!!) Honey Bee working hard as they always do. As we rambled across the acres we spoke about our near miss. We were still here. Together and safe. We couldn't feel worse about killing an animal even though we know that, particularly on that stretch of road, it's almost common place to see them leap out without looking and there was nothing that Robert could have done except keep the car on a steady path until being able to stop. Which he did and did magnificently. If I was driving I'm not sure how I would have done.

 

A near miss is the shake up that our soul needs from time to time. It forces us into the present and keeps us from dwelling in the past or looking too far ahead in to the future. My most common behaviour right now occurs when I'm with the twins.
Look at Truly. She's dancing across the lawn exercising legs that are now carrying her from place to place after only being able to crawl. She'll never be that age again and we'll not get to witness her discover grass and mud after she's discovered it for the first time.

 

And Daisy, there will come a time when her Mummy can't tip her upside down and hear her roar with laughter. She'll be too big and have other things to interest her. They won't become any less joyful but this time won't be here forever. So instead of watching them and holding them and praying into their hair for a baby of my own I'm enjoying them and my own circumstances right now, as the truth is I'm a very, very lucky person, and am now acutely aware of remembering that.

See you tomorrow.

 

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The Season Can Finally Begin!

 

The Season Can Finally Begin!

It was Robert the Husband's birthday this weekend so we headed out into the countryside to celebrate. Robert's birthday also marks the official start of  'the season'.
What season?
The season of being able to snatch a beverage outdoors, THAT season! YAY!!
Although it can get cold again after the 18th of April, more often than not you can usually steal a quick drink outside at least once a week from now until October & there is nothing more relaxing than an English country beer garden after a long hot day's work.

The leaves still aren't on all of the trees yet but as the clocks have changed we get hours more light in the evening than a few weeks ago. I believe that this makes us, collectively, a lot happier and I often point my face to the newly arrived sun to top up my diminished levels (sunscreen lathered on of course)

 

And so, on Saturday evening Robert and I set off, with two other loved ones, and headed for open spaces in which to celebrate. The sun cast a hazy glow upon all that we could see and although I was driving for much of the time I still had to just breathe in my surroundings. Horses grazing at the end of their day, oblivious to how beautiful they looked up there.

 

Villages come fully to life around about now. Cricket greens are mowed and prepped, bikes are dusted off and children feel the air rushing by on bare arms once again. Freedom.

 

For us adults there are more pressing matters and finally our little Mini, having navigated country lanes successfully, pulls into our favourite inn.

 

An old place, very old, but loved by us and all who visit.

 

Ahhhh, amber nectar. I was driving so I was on the diet coke but it was good to see Robert the Husband sipping in the sun. I'll have to swap jobs with him when my birthday rolls around. Read and remember this, Robert!!!!

 

Happy Birthday love. I'm so proud of you and all that you stand for. I love the fact that you don't look at me oddly when I stand with my face to the sun and exhale loudly over horses in a field. I'm very lucky to have had another year with you and so privileged to be celebrating the life of the man I love. It's been a funny old year so far with devastation in one corner and dreams coming true in another. But every morning you are there next to me and my only job is to make sure that I am there for you also. That way we can get through anything - as a team.

See you tomorrow when I'll be back in the kitchen with a salad dressing that you'll be using all Summer long (it's that good, I promise!)

 

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Sister Act

 

Sister Act

This is my sister Jodie.We've always enjoyed hanging out together and apart from the odd childish argument we've always gotten along really well. We've also worked together a lot. Had jobs at the same places throughout different times in our lives and generally laughed and forged our way through our professional careers. Our parents have a rather strong work ethic that manifests itself in them never being able to sit still. That energy has been passed down to us, and our brother Nathan, and although this means that vast amounts of coffee has to be drunk each and every morning it also means that life can get pretty exciting with all the adventures that occur.

It's been well over two years since Jo-Jo and I last worked together and I've missed her. That is why I'm so excited that she has agreed to come and get up to mischief with me again. We are both homebodies and Jodie, like me, finds herself ridiculously excited by new crafty projects, recipes and modern domesticity in general. We both think that creating a good, fun and safe home is the best starting block for so many other adventures outside of 'the nest' so you can imagine how excited I was when she agreed to come and join me in helping out. She is also a mummy to Truly & Daisy, her twin daughters.

Here's Tru.....

 

...and here's Daze.....

 

These girls mean more to me than life itself and it's been a privilege watching my sister and her hubby begin to raise them over the last fifteen months or so. When children enter a family the focus and the goals shift. Suddenly it's about them and their future. What can we do to strengthen them and prepare them for the big wide world? How can they learn to manifest kindness and strength to the people that they meet along their path? Big questions with very human answers.

I was out and about a lot this past weekend, with a trip to Wisley and various jaunts deep in to the heart of West Sussex and it's safe to say that Spring is here in all it's glory. The great outdoors has lost the earthy tones that it has been sporting for so many months and now has a fresh, lime green glow.

New beginnings, both outside and in.

 

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