All the F's - Flowers, Food, Family, Friends, Fledge and a Fotobombing cat (ok I cheated a bit there)

I love Sundays, it's a day to lie in, mooch around, catch up with friends and family and if you are feeling energetic go for a nice long walk.  It started well with clean cat vomit free rugs, thank you Ziggy, got even better with a catch up on the phone with a very dear friend who is coming down for a visit.  She moved away to Norwich last year and is much missed, good friends are to be cherished, especially ones who bring you big bags of pic and mix when you are recovering from surgery.  Thanks B xxxx

I decided to take some photos of my flowers as I am trying to learn how to use the OH proper grown up camera.   I love my iPhone and take most of my photo's with it because I always have it with me, so I don't miss out on those unexpected moments that you cannot catch again.  But a proper camera is good for close ups and long distance so I'm trying to get the hang of it, I find it all too complicated and usually just end up setting it on auto.  Ziggy decided to get in on the act, she often lies on her back, legs in the air catching some rays. Is that normal cat behaviour?

Our eldest son came over and helped out with odd jobs, in return he gets fed, fair deal I think. Home grown new potatoes, haha I love saying that! "Oh, they are home grown of course"  a quiche made with Cornish asparagus, (has anyone else noticed that it makes your wee smell funny?), peppers, courgette and a lovely mild creamy goats cheese from Aldi.  Made with gluten free pastry, which I think I've cracked now by adding an egg and xanthan gum.

 The wood is coming tomorrow for the veg patch so the OH has been digging it out in preparation, much appreciated by the birds who were hopping around looking for worms.  It's going to be 3m by 2m, so big enough to grow some of our favourite veg, but not take up too much of the garden.  I will definitely be growing new potatoes as we love eating them fresh from the garden. I think I have a lot of research to do before I get started, it will be a steep learning curve.  I don't want to waste space growing things that are just as cheap and tasty from the shops.

It is the time of year when the birds start to fledge. Every year we have Jackdaws nesting in our chimney, we know they have arrived when twigs start appearing in the grate.  I hear them squabbling up there which drives the cat mad as she can't climb up the chimney to reach them.

Feels a bit like Springwatch here at the moment, lets hope it doesn't turn too cold.  But thanks for the kindling wood.

Chickpea x

Pride goes before a fall

First of all I would to say thank you to my Bloglovin followers,  welcome to my little blog. I would love to show you photos full of beautiful veg growing in my garden rather than death and destruction......

Now what was I saying about how good I am at growing potatoes?  They are looking very poorly, within days of looking healthy and green and lovely, they are now turning a funny colour and wilting away.  In the past I have mistakingly left potatoes in the pots when I harvested them and they have gone on to grow lovely plants the next year all by themselves.  I think my problem is this year I have been smothering them with care.  It was the same with the childrens goldfish, I bought a lovely little tank for them, kept it clean, put little toys in there for them......and they died, one after another.  Yet the huge goldfish kept in the smallest dirtiest bowl that I used to see outside the pet shop in town, must have been years old.

Luckily the potatoes themselves seem to be ok, so I will have to harvest them all (that is the correct word isn't it? I'm new to all this veg growing malarky).  Not sure whether it would be safe to put more potatoes in the same pots or if they would get infected.

My sugar snap peas and sweet peas in the bargain buckets are still growing, yes I know I called them mange tout in my last post about the garden, I couldn't find the packets, I think I am right this time.  They have some flowers on them so hopefully I might have a pea or two.  The lettuce in the blue pot had to be thrown away, I have never seen so many creatures in my life crawling all over them.  I tried washing them off but there were millions of them and as a vegetarian I didn't fancy eating them.  I am also trying to be organic so didn't want to blast things with chemicals.

We have had some strawberries, very tasty they were too.

There are lots of flowers on the tomato plants, so fingers crossed I will get something from them, tho by past experience I am not getting too excited. The cucumber plant is still alive, and the courgettes just about, but not looking very healthy.  The chilli is looking good.  (did I just jinx it by saying that) Yes I am rubbish at gardening, did I mention that my family call me Charlie 'grim reaper' Dimmock?  But I keep trying.

I have ordered some wood to make my little veg patch ( or should I call that killing patch) in the garden.  It will arrive on Monday and I am debating whether to make one large bed or two small beds, and what to plant in them this time of year.

 I really love looking at all the blogs with their wonderful gardens and veg patches, I envy your green fingers and would appreciate any tips you can give me.

Charlie 'grim reaper' Dimmock x

p.s. does anyone else have a cat who runs all through the house, over tiles and wood floor just to vomit on cream rugs? - every time! What is that all about?

Trevoole, a little gem in the heart of Cornwall

Purely in the interest of research for our new garden, I paid a visit to Trevoole today.  I absolutely love this place, (and I'm not being paid to say this)  It has just the right balance of wild, overgrown areas and semi formal areas, wild flowers alongside formal showy flowers.  Areas that look like they have been abandoned and left alone to do their own thing, but are actually very cleverly designed.  Old buckets in a row, jam jar candle holders hanging from trees, old granite cottages,  and glass houses that appear to have seen better days.  Fans of shabby chic will love this place, but the beauty of it is that they are genuine vintage finds, and there is a little shop where you can buy all sorts of fascinating bits of history.  There is also a plant shop, so I will have to visit again when the garden is finished.

Of course, we couldn't resist the lovely little cafe for coffee and cake. (including a gluten free cake luckily, or I would have been very upset) There is soon to be a new larger cafe which I am sure will be just as lovely.

They also run workshops here, this is where I learned how to make rag rugs.

I had never seen these before, but will be looking for some to add to the garden, such cheerful little flowers.

I love this, but I'm sure the OH would just see it as a load of old buckets making the place untidy

Old Cornish cottages built out of granite are warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  Before we moved to a new house, we lived in a lovely old miners cottage with thick granite walls, it even had the coffin hatch still in the ceiling.

An infants food warmer, no microwaves back then.

Here's a link to Trevoole http://www.trevoolefarm.co.uk  as I have said, I'm not being paid for this, I actually don't even know who owns it.  It's a beautiful place that I don't want you missing out on if you visit Cornwall and like me have a love of quirky little places.

Chickpea x

Planning a new garden

I have been busy looking at other peoples gardens for ideas of what to plant.  I love these elegant beauties.

 The colours of these flowers would brighten up the patio.

We have a small area in the front of the house that isn't much use for anything as it is on a slope and drives the OH mad when he tries to cut the grass, pushing the mower up the hill, and sliding back down.  It doesn't look very steep in the photo, but take my word for it, it's steeper than it looks.  Especially when its wet and slippery and I have ended up on my derriere a few times.   It is also being used by the local dogs and cats as a toilet!!!  

At some stage we will be looking to move, and hopefully tick off 'live by the sea' on my 60 by 60 list, so our house has to have 'kerb appeal', according to the many 'sell your house' sites.  I hoped that getting the front door fixed would be enough, well that's if we ever find someone to come to do it.  We have had a few people come and look at it, say they will give us a quote and we never hear from them again.  But I can see that a little patio area would significantly improve the area in the front, would be a sun trap and would add that extra appeal in a very competitive market.  We have huge new estates popping up all around us, with special deals on mortgages, exchanges etc. so we have to make our house as attractive to prospective buyers as possible. There is the dilemma of how much do you spend on a house, and would it add enough value to cover the cost?  I'm not sure that this would, but we are in no hurry to move, I love my house, I just wish I could pick it up and move it. So it might be a few years before we make the move, in the mean time we would get good use out of it ourselves.  I can imagine myself sitting in this area in the morning when we don't get any sun in the back, it would also be private as we are in a quiet little corner.


When we moved in we had fields next to us, where I could hear foxes playing in the evenings. now there are houses covering the fields, and the whole area is becoming more urbanised.  It suited us when we moved here as our previous home was out in the middle of nowhere with no bus service so I found myself driving the boys everywhere.  Our needs have now changed as they are grown up and have their own homes, so it is time to find somewhere for our needs.  We are entering another stage in our lives.  It has to be big enough for family to come and stay, and have a garden to grow veg, (well attempt to grow veg) and ideally be within walking distance of a beach.  There is nothing like an early morning or evening walk on the beach to lift your spirits.  When we retire we will have the time to make the most of this beautiful county, the beaches and walks.

Anyway, enough dreaming, back to the reality of getting the garden sorted.

The huge holly tree was bought at a supermarket when it was a few inches tall, so I am very reluctant to get rid of it, ( I am very reluctant to get rid of anything which is why my garden is so overgrown) and it has become a bone of contention between us.

 The house and the garage are different levels as is the fence at the side, so it is going to be more complicated than it sounds.  We contemplated doing it ourselves, but being realistic, we wouldn't know where to start.  I'm not able to do much physical work at the moment, and the OH works long hours.   It will involve digging out tons of earth, and laying either a patio or decking, so we got someone in to have a look this morning.

I had drawn some detailed plans, well hastily scribbled doodles on a bit of paper before he arrived

He did a lot of measuring, and agreed that our thoughts on the layout would probably be the best way to deal with such an awkward piece of garden.  He also suggested he could shape the holly tree into a lollypop shape as it would be a shame to lose such a healthy tree.  Yay one to me!!  He will draw up some plans and costs and get back to us.

Watch this space for 'The Great Front Garden Makeover'

Simple food

Todays packed lunch


 On the day I go shopping I usually try to use up any vegetables leftover from the previous week.  Today I had a butternut squash, courgettes, onions, and some very small home grown new potatoes, I also had some eggs to use up.  I decided on roast veg frittata inspired by a Hugh Fearnley -Whittingstall recipe I found last year when I needed a dish that could be eaten cold to take to a party.

My style of cooking is a 'make it up as you go along' method, I look in the fridge/ cupboards and adapt a recipe to go with whatever I have.  Sometimes it turns out beautifully, others not so, but I eat it anyway, as I hate waste, I had it drummed into as a child that you do not waste food  There are so many cookery programmes on the television with huge lists of ingredients, complicated cooking methods, and posh names that it can be really intimidating. There is nothing wrong with simple food, a few good ingredients and simple cooking methods.

The beauty of this frittata is that you can change the ingredients according to season, use up your veg, and it can go towards your 7 a day.   It's all done in one dish so you don't have a kitchen full of dirty pans and needs minimum attention so you can get on with other things while it's cooking.  Choose veg that roast well and cut them into medium size chunks.   Put them into an oven proof dish with a little oil, I used sunflower, salt and pepper and mix to coat the veg, cook on about 190c until softened and turning brown. Beat as many eggs as it takes to nearly cover the veg, season again to your own taste and add some herbs.  I add tarragon (fresh or dried) as I think it goes really well with egg, but use whatever you have. You could also grate some cheese on top if you wish.  Pour it over the hot veg and put back into the oven until the egg is set and it's slightly brown on top, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Don't leave it too long as I did one day when I wandered off to do something else and forgot it was in the oven.   Turned out very rubbery on top!

I had it hot for my evening meal last night, and some for my lunch box today eaten cold.  It's vegetarian and gluten free so suits me, but add whatever you like to it.  It beats buying sandwiches.

Enjoy,

Chickpea xx

To the Lighthouse

Godrevy Lighthouse



Last year after a major operation I could just walk around my garden once, very slowly. Each day I did a bit more, and today I managed a coastal walk of nearly 10 miles.  I'm chuffed to bits.

On my 60 by 60 list I have included 'walk the coastal path all around Cornwall'. We started to walk it a few years ago, we were all enthusiastic for one summer then it fizzled out, other things got in the way as they do.  So now it's on my list and you are all witness to this so I have to do it, and I'll be sharing it with you.  It might take a few years, it's a long way around, but it is absolutely beautiful and worth every aching muscle.

Today we walked along the north coast path between Portreath and Godrevy.  It is an easy walk, some parts of the coastal path are really tough and involve steep coves, but this one is fairly flat (for Cornwall) with just a couple of stiles to climb over, so it is suitable for those of us who need to ease into this.  There were some diversions because of cliff falls after the huge winter storms, but the path still stays close to the rugged cliffs giving us amazing views.

We met quite a few other walkers on the way, all say hello, we're a friendly bunch us coast walkers.

Looking back towards Portreath, there are a few car parks near the path where you can park for free.

There are plenty of wildflowers along the way

As well as wildlife

Inquisitive cattle

Our destination

Shetland ponies grazing on the cliff top

Gwithian beach in St Ives bay.

Seals doing a bit of sunbathing

Godrevy lighthouse, said to be the inspiration for Virginia Wolfs book  To the Lighthouse.  For me it will always be the home of Shooster the dog.  When I was little my dad used to tell me tales of a little dog who lived on the lighthouse called Shooster.  He got up to all sorts of adventures and was always saving people who were in trouble at sea.  We would walk along the beach and dad would point to dog tracks and say that they were Shoosters, who used to swim across to the beach to play at night when we had all gone home.  Happy memories.

This was our view as we ate our packed lunch, pretty perfect!  There are toilets and a cafe at Godrevy, and usually an ice cream van.  We headed back to the car and stopped at Hells Mouth cafe, which is near the path for some Cornish ice cream.

You can see why I love Cornwall