Heat, feet and my happy place

Don’t worry, there aren’t any pictures of feet - but mine, or rather one of my toes has been giving me some gyp this past week or so. Instead, you’ll be relieved to know I’m including photos from the flower garden in Greenwich Park, aka my happy place. My toe is improving with the antibiotics, but I suspect it has a little more in store before it’s totally fixed. That along with the high temperatures, and life generally have conspired to keep me away from my laptop for longer than I intended.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Since the middle of June - in fact the day we had all our tree work done - the temperatures here have been warm, and warming up with a red weather warning and temperatures of 40 C forecast a month after this. I’m not sure it made it to 40 C where we are in London, but it was pretty close - and extremely warm!

Our garden has suffered since the tree work was completed. The grass has turned straw like without the canopy the trees provided. We expected it to bounce back pretty quickly with some rain (and still do), but so far the rain hasn’t shown up. Instead it’s got warmer, much warmer. But as you know a garden waits for no one and so I’ve been pottering about in the garden aiming to keep it tidy. I’ve also been picking up many, many branches which appear where I’m sure I’ve already cleared, while timing this pottering outside of the hottest parts of the day.

TREES IN THE FLOWER GARDEN, GREENWICH PARK

On those two hottest days, it was like nothing I can remember experiencing in the UK. I know 1976 was warm, but at 9 years old my experiences and memories were understandably entirely different, and the temperatures were four degrees cooler. The first day I ventured out, briefly, fully sun-screened up and with a rather glamorous large brimmed straw sun hat. Both destinations - the local supermarket, and the dentist - were air conditioned and appointment booking me was very impressed with managing to coincide an air conditioned appointment with a very hot day. Glossing over the fact that it was still the dentist!

Our house got warm - the warmest we’d ever known it, and so a change of tack was required the following day. As well as keeping the curtains shut, being awake early meant we could open the bifold doors into our north facing garden, until it started to warm up around 7am. Then they were closed for the rest of the day. MOH ventured out onto our patio briefly at lunchtime quickly coming back in declaring that it was “like Barbados out there” - and he wasn’t wrong.

A STUNNING BLUE MOPHEAD, GREENWICH PARK

Even late into the evening it had that warm air feel you get when you’re on holiday, and so we spent the evening in the garden under the umbrella. Some very welcome but only a few drops of rain appeared, but they had almost dried before they reached the ground, and no way enough to make any difference to our grass!

ECHINACEAS, GREENWICH PARK

It’s clear that our houses and infrastructure in the UK just aren’t designed for these temperatures, and will need a rethink if the temperatures continue as is predicted, as will government policy. I expect we’ll see more houses adopt shutters like those in the Mediterranean do, whether they’re internal or external. I think it’s something we’ll seriously think about when we move (no news yet!), as while retro-fitting isn’t easy, retro-fitting in a decorated and ‘finished’ space is even harder.

I did feel a bit cooped up those two days though, and that’s where my happy place comes in. With the temperatures a whole ten degrees cooler I was keen to get out, and so I did. I realised that it had been far too long since I’d been to Greenwich Park, and so headed out to the flower garden, a place that from these photos is easy to see why it makes me smile.

COSMOS, GREENWICH PARK

So much colour too, and while the grass there is a similar shade of parched as ours, the flowerbeds were being kept watered. The grass around those noticeably greener. And it was good to get out, strangely these two days felt much worse than lockdown when we were each allowed out for an hour a day. I’m not sure why, perhaps because then, while it was warm, the garden was still a relatively cool spot - that tree canopy worked obviously playing its part.

With a walk to Greenwich Park and then various errands and a trip into town for dinner and the excessive temperatures behind us (for now) all was good, mostly. That’s when my toe started to swell. It had swollen slightly the week before, and was brought down by ibuprofen - that wasn’t working quite so well this time round, even after a weekend of doing very little and sitting with my foot up and iced it was still twice as toe-sized as it should be.

CROCOSMIAS, GREENWICH PARK

Cue an emergency doctor’s appointment, some bright red antibiotics - thankfully not the same ones I had recently for my tooth infection which I had a reaction to (yes, I’ve been in the wars a bit lately - I’m putting that down to stopping work, seriously). The swelling is reduced, but not gone and similarly for the pain. It’s remains red and has been likened to a cocktail sausage rather than a toe, and there is definitely some likeness.

I’ve still some of the course of antibiotics left to take, but I think there’ll be another doctor’s appointment before it’s well and truly fixed. But I know this for sure, enforced rest isn’t all it’s made out to be, but hopefully there’ll be good toe news soon!

Silly Greens on tour

This post contains items gifted from Silly Greens.

Did you know you can receive micro greens to grow at home by post? Me neither, but you can - and that’s where Silly Greens comes in.

Silly Greens post seeds that grow straight out of the box, the micro greens, which are seedlings of herbs and veg, and they add a burst of flavour to your meals. They’re short-lived crops, which cut and come again and arrive through your letterbox ready to go, no need to do anything other than open the box.

And it really was as simple as opening the box. In your first pack there’s a leaflet explaining more about the seeds, and the seaweed jelly that they grow in - that helps keep the seeds in place during their journey, and keeps them hydrated too - when they arrive they are well on the way to germinating so you don’t have too long to wait to see them spring into action. And when your micro greens are finished the jelly shrinks back and because it’s natural it can be composted, and the packaging can be recycled.

Radish, Rocket and Turnip

My box of micro greens arrived a week or so before we headed off to my brother’s wedding in Yorkshire last month, and so to get the most of them they came with us. Of course they did! MOH wasn’t sure I was serious to start with, but then remember he knows me well and realised I was serious. In the wedding hotel, they happily sat on the window ledge. They moved on with us when we headed for our week in the North East and were a great way to pep up salads, and even in our burgers - in fact, with less condiments available than we’d have at home it was a great way to add some zing.

The seeds in my first box were pungent, peppery radish, a classic rocket and an unexpected inclusion, turnip. The picture below was taken three days after they arrived, and as you can see they’re well on the way to growing into proper micro greens. You can probably also see some root hairs, or fluff - don’t worry - the booklet explained simply that “root hairs were good, mould was bad” so all is well.

Not unsurprisingly the radish were quick to get growing, much like when you plant them in the garden or vegetable plot. They’re a quick cropping crop which is why you can grow them alongside slower growing crops there.

The advice that comes with the seeds is to keep them covered until the seeds lift the card, and suggests you can also weigh down the card. I didn’t believe that the little seeds would be able to lift the card. However I trusted the advice and even so was surprised when they actually did. Isn’t nature wonderful?

For me the rocket was the slowest growing, and as you can see on the card above it suggests covering it over will help it stretch - I kept mine covered the longest of the three, but had the least success with the rocket, but even so they still grew, just perhaps not quite as long (or tall) as I thought.

Each box is £5 including postage and packing (which is all recyclable); the boxes change each week and there’s details about each micro green on the Silly Greens site. If you’re wondering why you’d want to grow these at home, that’s a fair point. Apart from their ease of growing and their versatility, growing them at home means they’re fresher than buying them ready cut from the supermarket - plus you get to see the seeds grow, and to see them lift that card (they really do!)

We enjoyed adding these to our meals, mostly sprinkled over the top of salads - which worked well for us. I like salads, but I do get bored of them quite quickly so I’m always looking for new additions to change them slightly, and these worked for us as they kept on growing for a couple of weeks.

My second box arrived yesterday - and this month’s box includes a heritage pea mix, coriander and amaranth and a spicy mix. The box is opened and the card is waiting (and weighted) to be lifted. I’ll share how I get on with these.

With thanks to Silly Greens for providing this box of micro greens for the purposes of this review.

A week in the North East

Well, where to start?

As you may have guessed from the title of this post we’ve been to the North East. It started in Yorkshire for a family wedding, one that was on its third date - thanks Covid. But this time it happened and it was great. The journey there took us a little longer than we expected, and it did for quite a few guests, but that was pretty much forgotten once we saw the view looking over Robin Hood’s Bay from our hotel room.

The hat bought in 2020, only slightly just before the pandemic, finally got its outing - though it was pretty windy outside so I mostly held it, or held it on my head, just in case. My dress had cape sleeves, and luckily they were attached, but during my reading I’m sure they were making a bid for freedom.

I told you it was a stunning view.

OVERLOOKING ROBIN HOOD’S BAY

Northumberlandia: The Lady of North

Once we’d caught up with family, friends and the newly weds over breakfast and said our goodbyes, we had an overnight stop close to Morpeth. We didn’t have much planned and it wasn’t until the next morning we realised we were staying right next to this large land sculpture. It’s the largest in the world - and in our defence it wasn’t visible from where we were staying!

It’s really quite enticing and shows a reclining female, with viewing points and paths around and up and down the sculpture. I’ll share more on this in another post, but it really was quite a lovely thing to find and to explore, and if you’re close by it’s worth a stop.

Cragside

Our plans for the day, before checking into our accommodation for the week, was to head up to the National Trust’s Cragside - billed as Britain’s original smart home, being illuminated with hydro-electricity and powered by hydraulics. It was fascinating, and beautiful too - and lots to see, and share!

After learning more about how the hydro-electricity system powered the house we headed through the woodlands and approached the house over the iron bridge and up through the rock garden, which made for quite the entrance - a more usual route is also available! Inside the house there was so much to see, so much that I’ve struggled to choose the photos to share with you in this post.

The kitchens are, for the time, high-tech but there’s also the traditional butler’s tray and so many copper moulds, and some so, so tiny!

In the dining room they had what looked to be a very patriotic table, but one which extends to sit many more than you’d think. Out in the hallway, and an entrance hall that was added later on are arts and crafts style tiles, which wouldn’t look out of place in a modern day home.

And still there was more to explore, and so we headed off towards the formal garden with its Edwardian glasshouses which are currently being repaired. There were some surprises in this part of the property too, but I’ll save that for a fuller post.

The Treehouse, Beacon Hill Farm

Cragside was slightly north of where we were staying for the rest of the week, so after a stop for tea and cake we were able to jump back in the car just as the rain started. By the time we arrived at Beacon Hill Farm after a quick shop for supplies the rain had stopped, which made unloading the car into the golf buggy a lot easier task. It was great to get a lift down to the Treehouse, but it actually wasn’t that far we discovered quite quickly!

The treehouse was stunning, and just as we expected it to look. It was much warmer inside, which was a pleasant discovery and useful throughout the week where the weather had everything: wind, rain, hailstorm and even some sun. While we got out and about, we did spend quite a bit of time mesmerised by the views and on cow-watch.

Alnwick Castle

I was keen to get to at least one castle on our trip, and we did. And if you’re going to chose a castle then why not Hogwarts? And so that’s where we went. It turned out to be the only castle on our trip, but I’m sure we’ll be back to this part of the world to visit some of the others - there are many!

Alnwick Garden had been on my list to visit too, and even though they’re next door to each other, each was charging its own entry fee - and both were pretty steep, but I couldn’t help but try and sneak a look at the gardens as we walked past. In fact of all the places we visited on this trip Alnwick, while great, is the place I have the most criticism for. The double entry fee which I’ve already mentioned, without even a discount for visiting both felt a little too one-sided and grabby. I know these places must cost a small fortune to upkeep, and the past few years have been tough, but even so.

In the Castle pictures weren’t allowed in the State Rooms, but you could buy a guide book for £5 and throughout the rooms there were banners promoting their new book. I’m pretty sure that the pictures I’d want to take wouldn’t be in the guide book, so it’s a shame not to be able to have taken any.

The gates though, on part of the garden boundary, were pretty spectacular.

Barter Books, Alnwick

Now this wasn’t on my list before we arrived in the North East, but it is one of the Alnwick attractions and I’m glad we went. The bookshop is in the former train station and has pretty much every genre of book you could ever want. And there’s model trains running overhead, and much more. Definitely visit here if you’re in Alnwick.

Wallington

My photos might show bright sunshine, but we arrived in a torrential shower. One so heavy that I was surprised that the National Trust man came out of his hut to share information and zap our membership cards - we were happy to have waited, we waited before we got out of the car in any case, and were grateful that our walking boots remained in the car.

You wouldn’t believe how quickly the weather changed, and how quickly it started to dry out - by the time we reached the Walled Garden, having decided to head there first in case the rain came again, the sun was out and the warmth was so welcome.

The walled gardens were spectacular, with many more plants than you’d expect from the shot above. I’ll definitely be sharing some more from the gardens so look out for those. Back in the house the dining room was set for an afternoon tea party for the upcoming jubilee, which made me smile.

It was a lovely house, with the rooms set around a central hall and the decor was simply stunning. The ceiling in the Drawing Room took my breath away, MOH was rather taken with the library and I’ve a feeling he’s keen to have one in our new house!

The painted panels in the central hall were also stunning, and there were at least twelve panels each one different.

After seven nights away we spent Friday travelling back south, knowing that we’ll be back to explore the North East at some point again. There’s so much to see, and our four nights there meant we only scratched the surface. If you’ve been to Northumberland where would you recommend?