Our abandoned vineyard picnic

September 12, 2017

Remember that cottage we stayed in in Suffolk at the start of August? Well one of the attractions might well have been that it was attached to a vineyard. Maybe. Well, it definitely made it stand out on the bookings website, that and part of the welcome bundle was a bottle of wine from the vineyard. Sadly that didn't work out for us as our hosts upgraded us to a bottle of champagne as the dishwasher was out of action, which was a bit of a shame, but then again... champagne!

In the house information the owners expressly invited guests to look around the vineyard and to picnic there. And when we bumped into them one morning - they lived next door - they repeated the invitation, and so, as it's not everyday you get the opportunity to picnic in a vineyard we did.

Not only did the owners encourage this, they provided some fold-up chairs, picnic-ware - including plastic glasses - and a hamper. They really meant it. So after a cycle into Framlingham in the morning, we packed our picnic and headed into the vineyard. We knew there was an old oak tree in the middle, which is where the vineyard takes its name, but little else.

This was our view as we entered the vineyard.

A look at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

It wasn't long before we found the large old oak tree and spent time admiring its gnarly-ness before choosing the perfect picnic spot. It's funny isn't it, how we all do that. Looking for a spot that's not too slopey, no unexpected bumps and where we think we'll get the most warmth from the sun, that was now hiding.

Part of the big old oak and where the vineyard gets it's name from Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

Knobbly bark and roots of the Oak at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

Perfect spot chosen. The view approved and so the chairs were unpacked. And out came the food. In the distance we could see rabbits hopping through the vineyards, and their quick movements kept catching our eyes. We'd brought a bottle along from the house, but resisted opening it until the sun came out for long enough.

Choosing our position and waiting for the sun to reappear at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

And we waited. But as you can see from the photos the clouds were thick and all promise of the sun disappeared. So cutting our losses - and having lasted it out long enough (another British thing I think?) we packed up, explored the vineyards and headed back to the cottage for a nice warm drink.

My post yesterday reminded me of this abandoned picnic and an alarming increase in us preferring a hot drink to alcohol. I'm hoping this isn't a trend and a result of our optimism. Optimism that the sun will be out, the weather will be warmer and such like.

Looking down a row of vines at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

Admiring the grapes on the vines at the Oak Hill vineyard in Suffolk

But it's not everyday you get the chance to picnic on a vineyard is it, so it was worth trying. Hopefully you've had warmer, boozier picnics than my attempts this summer - please let me know where your best picnic was, I'm curious now...

The allotments at Kingston Lacy

August 31, 2017

It's a bit of an older post today, as you can probably tell my the daffodils in the picture below, and on a bit of a grey day too, which was remarkably like yesterday. It was actually at the end of March - so slightly more excusable for being grey - and is part of our visit to Kingston Lacy while we had that earlier in the year Dorset adventure.

It started looking normal enough just another plot but on the NT's Kingston Lacy

This was our second visit to Kingston Lacy, but the first time that we really explored the kitchen garden and beyond that, the allotments. I'll share more from the kitchen garden another day, but first to confirm the allotments at Kingston Lacy look very much like other allotments. And dare I say it, a little tidier and easy on the eye than our own site...

It was March there wasn't a lot of growing going on at the allotments at Kingston Lacy

It's reassuring though to see similar kit, similar approaches and check to see you're on the right track with our own plot. The compost bins, the ground covered in black plastic were all familiar and reassuring. And so too was this almost sculptural, and yet decaying, artichoke. Striking isn't it?

Almost sculptural artichokes at the allotments at Kingston Lacy

Just when we thought it was a normal looking allotment, we spied the chicken wire man tending his plot.

A chicken wire man at the allotments at Kingston Lacy

We admired him and his wooden reindeer-dog and thought it was probably a one off. That was until we saw the boy with his welly boot dog!

A boy and his welly dog at the allotments at Kingston Lacy

Both very different, both with dogs, and both quite un-allotment like, but fun. I'm guessing we stumbled upon the remnants of a "one man and his dog and an allotment" sculpture competition, and was very glad we did.

I'm not sure I'd be quite so resourceful over on our plot, currently my resourcefulness is focuses on practical matters, like growing stuff and preventing the foxes digging it up again, but definitely food for thought, when I've got the basics sorted!

A cycle in Kent in the sun

August 28, 2017

It's been a while since we've headed out on our bikes and so with a good forecast for the Bank Holiday weekend we found ourselves trying to choose the least warm day for a bit of cycle, not often that happens is it? Usually on a Bank Holiday we'd be trying to guess which day would be least wet...

Indeed.

We opted for Sunday for our ride and while it was warm, Monday was expected to be warmer. I've had a bit of a wobble with my bike lately, since I picked it up from its service. The brakes have been readjusted and are super efficient, I think I'd got so used to them being much looser than it gave me a bit of a surprise!

I've also struggled to get the saddle height right since then too. When we left the shop it was too high so coupled with new brakes and not being able to reach the ground (that's not so good) the cycle home was trickier than it should have been. We readjusted the saddle height but then it was too low and I felt as if my knees were reaching my ears as I cycled, and it was painful too.

We did get it better, I think it still needs some adjustment but I need to regain my confidence with it before we adjust it again. So when MOH suggested a cycle this weekend, he must have been wondering what he was letting himself in for.

He did the sensible thing though and suggested we started with food, and so we found ourselves ordering a cooked breakfast at the Riverside Tea Room in Eynsford seventeen seconds before they stopped serving breakfasts - not bad going - and I'm glad we did, it was a great breakfast.

Full of poached egg, sausage, beans, bacon and toast we set off following one of the routes in the Lost Lanes book, which I've had for a while and which we've often looked at but not cycled any of the routes until this weekend. As we left Eynsford it was uphill and I overtook a walking cyclist in full lycra and if I'm honest, he seemed as shocked as I was.

My bike was the only one with a basket I saw all day, and it did get some looks from those with road bikes and the lycra, but I did ok. I tired towards the end of the ride, and it was only when we got home that MOH let on that there was some debate online about this ride's rating as moderate, some suggesting it should be marked strenuous. Hmmn.

There were a couple of hills - around Shoreham - that I struggled with. My seven gears simply weren't enough. I've discovered I'm better with hills that are more gentle, even if they're longer than those that have a steeper incline. There were two of those that I ran out of gears for and so opted to get off and walk. It was hot too, and the two bottles of water I took were later supplemented by an extra bottle of water, and still wasn't enough.

After Shoreham I really had had enough and made the decision to cut short the second part of the ride and head along the A225 on the more direct route back to the car. It was a busy road, but not that busy, and I was done with hills. There were some of those gentler incline hills on our way back to Eynsford station, but given the road we were on I knew I needed to keep going, and so I did.

Along our route though there were plenty of pretty Kent villages - and considering we were something like twenty five minutes and fifteen miles from home - it was a world apart from our South London streets:

THE MILL TOWER IN SOUTH DARENTH WHICH APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN "CLING FILMED"

ADMIRING THE ARCHITECTURAL STYLE IN FARNINGHAM

So a successful ride, if not a slightly shorter one than MOH hoped for, and a slightly hotter one than I'd hoped for too. And I think I've overcome that wobble I mentioned too, so it's likely that I'll be using it at least a couple of days to get to work this week.

And the rest of the day was spent recovering on a sun lounger in the garden... It would have been rude not to!