Tesco Coffee

Just another quick coffee recommendation – Tesco Original Beans.

Nice taste, not to strong and very cheap (half the price of other beans).

Yum!

New gate

I took our side gate off recently to give it a coat of paint, however upon close examination it fell apart….it was kinda old. So I decided to make a new one and have finally finished & installed it – was a bit worried that I might have over engineered it as I could only just lift it!

The gate is a match for the front door of the house – the trouble is now I want to modify the front of the wooden garage to match the curved elements of the gate and door

Ducks

The ducks around here have gone a big mad, it being spring and all that….these two chaps have taken a break from chasing the ladies around our garden to have rest where they can keep an eye on the area, on our roof!

Garden

Just a quick flowery update We’ve managed 7 weeks without rain and most of that time has had wonderful sunshine too. Our garden (now we’ve thinned the weeds) has had a constant display of colour as different flowers come out, fade and then are replaced by others. It’s become apparent to us that a number of years ago someone took a lot of time to plan the planting in this garden so that there is always something in bloom – we are currently enjoying the aubretia, end of the tulips, the wild borrage, various daisies, cherry blossom, periwinkle, end of the bluebells, and the lilac. Soon to flower is the lilly of the valley and possibly our strawberries.

Thurlton & Norton Festival

4th, 5th and 6th of May was the Thurlton & Norton Festival – our ‘local’ show.

We dropped in on events on the Saturday and Katherine took part in the May Queen’s procession from her school to the festival ground. After they crowned the Queen the day opened and various music and dance acts started including a brass band, Morrismen, line dancers, maypole dancing by the village children, Elizabethan dances, Tudor dances and finally Elvis….yes really, and no he didn’t work in the chip shop.

Game & Country Fair

Throughout the spring and summer in East Anglia there are a huge range of different country shows to visit. Recently we went to the East Anglian Game & Country Fair. The show was interesting with a lot to see (and buy!!), and the day was extremely hot.

Katherine had a go on a climbing wall, and a big bungie bouncer whilst I sample some coffee (surprise!) and various cakes. Nat was very restrained and reserved her spending for a very nice wrought iron table and chairs for the garden…..

The animals on show ranged from Alpaca, to trained gun dogs, through various sheep (complete with an NZ sheep shearer…..), on to otters, racing ferrets, dogs pulling carriages (BIG dogs..) and culminating geese following a Frenchman in a micro-light – typical country life I guess

A parachute display team brought the day nicely to an end.

Raveningham gardens

In the next village to ours is the wonderful estate house of Raveningham. The house is still used by the family of Lord Bacon but the gardens are open to the public, to raise funds for a local charity.

Recently we paid a visit to the gardens and had a great day just mooching around the grounds, having a picnic and admiring the the work of the gardeners in maintaining the huge estate gardens including a large vegetable and fruit walled garden. The nice thing about the gardens is that they are used, and by that I mean that the vegetables grown are used in feeding the household, the pasture lands are full of cattle, there are chickens in their own run e.t.c

The Victorian garden conservatory was like stepping back in time, full of huge roses, jasmine, grape vines, elegant tiled floors and some very unusual flowers! Well worth a visit.

Are you sweet enough?

The next time you make a brew of your finest coffee don’t reach for the demerara, or whatever other sugar product you use (assuming you do sweeten your coffee…), instead try a spoonful of honey. The coffee does not become sickly sweet so don’t worry about that – I’ve just tried it, as a result of running out of brown sugar, and must admit to liking the change.

Ooops

Argh! Not been posting lately (bad blogger, bad) as we’ve been a bit busy – not much of an excuse as it’s not as though I have a real job or anything…..

Normal service will resume shortly