Post Comment Love 6-8 August

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

I’ve had one of those weeks, you know the sort when things happen unexpectedly, or the unexpected happens. Driving home from Norfolk a pigeon glanced off my windscreen, a doctor’s telephone consultation turned into a same day visit to the surgery (everything’s ok, it just didn’t suit a phone call) and one of my pigeon holed shelving units fell off the wall. In the middle of a work call, and completely unaided - you’ll not be surprised to learn it made quite a racket. So much so I had to go and investigate as I was also home alone. There’s a bit of damage to the unit, a bit of a dent in the floor but I’m pretty sure my craft supplies are unharmed. Phew!

But anyway, there’s also been flowers. I brought these dahlias home from Dad’s garden - aren’t they gorgeous?

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The home of sticky toffee pudding

Who knew? It’s Cartmel in Cumbria, which just happened to be the closest village to our cottage in the Lake District. Funny how these things happen, hey? And the village shop is where it all happened, and still happens today - and yes, we did stop in and make a purchase.

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And the sticky toffee pudding was good. Since we’ve been home we’ve seen the very same sticky toffee puddings in Waitrose, and they may have slipped into my shopping basket! If you’re looking for them you’ll recognise the Cartmel lettering from the photo above.

But even without the sticky toffee pudding history, the village was picturesque - but first join me on a walk to the village.

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It wasn’t a long walk into the village, but as soon as you could spot the race course you knew you weren’t far off.

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It was a lovely picturesque village, full of cottages, character and views.

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On the outskirts of the village was the village lock up. Lock ups date from the 18th or 19th centuries when rural communities struggled to police burglaries, drunkenness and the stealing of livestock. These were built as places of temporary detention for rogues, drunks and miscreants until they could be brought before the area magistrate. This building fell out of use in the second half of the 19th century, and was awarded listed status in 1970. More recently, in 2018, the upper storey was added and it was repurposed as holiday accommodation.

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But it wasn’t just the sticky toffee of Cartmel that we got to taste. We also tried its beer - also good, and ate at Simon Rogan’s Rogan & Co, the more relaxed of his restaurants in the village. This was the menu.

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My cocktail was pretty special too, complete with nasturtium leaves.

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We spotted this adventurous sheep on one of our walks back, perfectly happy grazing on the top of a wall. Like you do.

PoCoLo

The Garden Year: August 2021

Hello there and welcome back to my garden linky, which opens at the start of each month and stays open for the whole month - meaning you can link up at any time. You’re welcome to link any posts that have a garden theme - this could be your garden, the plants you’re growing or the gardens you visit, or anything in between - just so long as it’s related to gardening.

Once again I’m sharing more from Alan Titchmarsh and collating information in these posts which is widely available in the public domain.

Plants in their prime this month

August is the culmination of months of effort, and as is so often the weather determines how your garden will fare. Very dry weather means there’s little lawn mowing to do, and there’s less weeding too and hopefully there’ll be time to sit and enjoy your garden. If it’s wet, as it has been here, everything - including the weeds - grow more quickly!

Through writing this post I’ve been able to name one of the plants in my garden. The plant came from my dad and he thought it was some kind of South African fuchsia, and he wasn’t far wrong. It’s a Phygelius capensis - exactly, or more widely known as a Cape figwort. It’s flowers are like bunches of bright orange-red tubers, and it’s growing wildly at the moment in our garden.

Japanese anemones, hardy fuchsias and phlox, and of course sunflowers should also be in their prime this month.

What to do in the garden this month

  • Water and feed plants regularly, especially those in pots.

  • Take cuttings from herbs.

  • Cut strawberry runners from the parent plant.

  • Harvest French and runner beans, lettuce, beetroot, courgettes and enjoy!

Watch out for, get ahead and last chance

  • Watch out for slugs and snails.

  • Get ahead by staking tall plants to prevent them being flattened by strong winds.

  • Last chance to finish summer pruning of wisteria.

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“TheGardenYear

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