Garden Furniture

I needed to stay over at a relative’s home for a couple of nights whilst caring for them in a post operative role.  I usually enjoy staying there, out in the country with not a sound to be heard etc.  However this time was a bit fraught.  I was helping with all the household tasks, … Read more

We may have turned the corner as far as the shortest day and winter conditions are concerned but there’s still a jolly long way to go before we can comfortably think about sitting outside in the garden – garden furniture needing to be cleaned and teak polished if its wood . . . . .  … Read more

Over the recent festive period I was lucky enough to stay with some friends who live right in the middle of nowhere.  They absolutely love it and it seems that any neighbours in the vicinity are just as thrilled at the prospect of not having anyone too nearby.  Just as it was two or three … Read more

When we consider how much it costs to run a famiy sized house these days, it’s not surprising that thought is now being given in earnest to running our homes more efficiently and economomically.   This will invariably involve the whole family taking a good long look at how they live and agreeing to make changes … Read more

Whenever I’ve watched so many imported home and leisure programmes over the years – not all from the european continent, but latterly from the north american one.  They of course adopted a style of housing that used the local resources available to them when the earliest settlers made their uncertain way to the New England … Read more

This time of year brings peace and serenity to my heart – in a weird windswept and rainy fashion.  Perhaps because I am definitely an autumn birthday person, this has some bizarre hold over my mind, telling me that trees and woodlad look fantastic when just turning to ‘fall’ colours.   Having spent some time on … Read more

This is definitely the time of year to be enjoying the fruits of our gardening labours.  We have to watch out for bugs and diseases that can really kill off some of our favourites.  Blackspot on roses for example – has to be controlled with a special spray because just taking off the affected leaves … Read more

There can’t be anything nicer than being able to go out into our gardens in the height of summer and sit by a nice wall with a flower border along it.  The smell of roses in the morning haze or perhaps during the evening twilight cannot be over estimated.  To achieve this idyll we need … Read more

There are many problems throughout this vast world of ours – industrial strife and factories shutting down through lack of orders . . . .  Youngsters starting to worry about what kind of planet they are inheriting.  It’s very true that our generation has managed to wreck much of the planet in only a hundred … Read more

We have had some truly extraordinary weather this last couple of seasons.  Normally when winter has gone and we get the spring rush of brisk winds and sharp showers, we can then rely on the summer to be mostly dry and sunny.    If last summer is an indication of what’s to become the norm, then … Read more