Usually I post my monthly catchup posts on the last day of the month, or the first day of the new month in more tardier months. But I’ve surpassed myself this time as we finished the end of the month enjoying some sunnier days in Porto, which we booked relatively last minute, and I’m catching up with myself and typing this (offline) on our flight back, aiming to publish it when we’re back home.

It’s been a good ten years since we last visited Porto and it’s just as good as we remember. The temperatures were at highest 25 degrees, and so a lot warmer than home. It was good to see the city prospering, and notice what had changed. This time we stayed in the Ribeiro area and so that meant exploring some new to us spots, as well as plenty of steps and ‘hill climbing’ to get back to our apartment.

But before I share more about our trip let’s go back to the start of October, and a long weekend away visiting family in Devon. Once again we were lucky with the weather and enjoyed visits to Hestercombe Gardens, Killerton NT, and our first time back at the fully restored, and finished, Castle Drogo (also National Trust).

I love the library at Killerton because you can stop and enjoy the books - and touch them too. The last time I was there I spent some time perusing a paisley book, and I found that one again, but this time it was this gardeners almanac which piqued my interest most. Perhaps I’ll dig out some more photos of the books there for another post.

YES PLEASE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE IRIS RHIZOMES AT CASTLE DROGO

Castle Drogo was magnificent and it was so good to see the refurbishment work complete and the collections back on display. I had a good find in the gardens too as I discovered a trug of unwanted iris rhizomes for sale, and at a bargain price of 5 for £3, so it was very much a case of yes please, thank you very much.

We broke the long drive back with an indulgent night at Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds in a fancy hotel. It was great, and so was the food, although the poor waitress caught MOH’s glass at one point and his red wine went flying, though rather remarkably he stayed red wine free, and I’ve actually no idea how.

our fancy pants hotel in Chipping Campden

Chipping Campden is a great little town with some fancy pants shops, and as we discovered plenty of crockery shops. I left with a second hand flan or quiche dish with the Evesham Vale pattern by Royal Worcester from a charity shop and a vintage Portuguese baking dish. I also persuaded MOH to go for a crystal decanter, so our port this Christmas will be more stunning than usual.

A fabulous 1970s Denby set — ISN’T THIS GLORIOUS?

Then with the good weather continuing we stopped off for an enjoyable saunter around Hidcote National Trust, a garden which has become a regular stop off point on our Devonian journeying.

Back home, we’ve done lots of the usual and mundane stuff ticking off ‘no further work required visits’ at the dentist, though that reminds me I need to book in for the hygienist, which is never as bad as I think it will be. There’s been sewing groups, patchwork groups for me and darts and cycling for MOH, plus we’ve both been enjoying our Reformer Pilates.

We had a night out in Nottingham seeing Huey Morgan, which wasn’t as loud as we expected, but still a very good night - he’s a great artist and very charismatic with it. It’s the second time we’ve seen him in a small venue, and I’d absolutely sign up to do it again.

We’ve started to seriously think about the design of our garden here, and have had a garden designer around to visit to listen to our (my) ideas and see how they can help us make them work, and how they can make them even better. It’s early days but it’s exciting, and after the summer we’ve just had I desperately need to get the plants we brought with us, and those we’ve acquired since out of pots and into the ground.

Though our olive trees are happy, just look at those olives. I’ve a feeling MOH may be trying to make oil from them at some point soon, or sooner than we ever expected.

proper olives on the old olive tree in my garden

My crocheted efforts for the tree dressing next weekend are ongoing - I’ve a few days left to finish my super cute pigs, so they’re ready to join the other garlands I’ve already made, and rather annoyingly forgot to photograph before I left them with the organiser. All is not lost though as I’ll see them on the tree and will remember to take photos then - you have been warned.

CROCHETED PIGS WITH SNOUTS, CURLY TAILS AND GOOGLY EYES

I’ve been enjoying my crochet again so started to wind some of those skeins I’d dyed a while back and more. Of course I quite quickly got into a great big tangle and spent more time than I’d anticipated untangling the mess before finally starting a granny stitch cardigan for myself.

We put our garden furniture away ahead of the first named storm and managed that in a more orderly way so there’s more room in the garage than last winter, so that’s worked well. But it also made me realise that I need to crack on and sew those zipper storage bags I’ve spent the summer talking about. I’ve found a pattern for a much smaller pouch which I’m planning to road test and then road test resizing before I upscale it hugely to get the size I need - watch this space!

I’ve got the next village quilt top ready to assemble and quilt, and I’ve finally assembled, basted and tacked my block of the month quilt too. It was the deal I made myself when trying spectacularly badly to resist adding a new quilt project to my list! That and making progress with my geese, which I’ve also done.

That’s also bad news though as I’ve seen another mystery quiltalong is starting towards the end of November and I’m severely tempted by that one too. I know I’m a hopeless case!

On the cable car with MOH at Vila Nova de Gaia on our way to taste some port.

But let’s finish the month in Porto where we did all the things, drank - and tasted - quite a few ports in various port houses (Kopke. Quinta do Noval, Fonseca and Grahams if you’re wondering), ate pinchos, bacalhau cod fish cakes/fritters, plenty of ham and cheese and obviously multiple Pastel de Nata.

I photographed more doors and tiles than I care to count and picked up a few tins of sardines (both the chocolate and fishy sort) in duty free on the way home. We even successfully navigated the EES entry/exit scheme, though more easily on the way home, but the queues were loooong.

Tins and tins of sardines at Porto's airport

Portugal, I know we’ll be back - it’s just a matter of when. But first I need to spend time as usual catching up with myself, and reacclimatising to this more seasonal weather we’ve returned home to.