My top 10 posts of 2021

January 4, 2022

One of my start of year traditions is to look at the most viewed posts here last year, and this year is no different. Once again I’m sharing two lists again, the first of which shows the top ten posts created in 2021, the second list is the top ten posts created at any time.

So onto the top 10 posts created in 2021.

1 Eight years (and 1 month) blogging

Last year I was running behind time on marking my blog anniversary, and took the opportunity to reflect on eight things that had changed since the previous year, and how my life had altered during that part of the pandemic. If I’m honest, I’m not sure I thought we’d still be quite so in the thick of it, but we are. Hopefully we are at least on the start of the end.

2 A tale of two desks

After about a year of working from home, we decided to get ourselves a desk each - and here I look at how our desks show our different personalities. I don’t think anyone was really that surprised.

3 A new crochet project

A post sharing my enjoyment of my yarn advent calendar, and the plans for my project. That’s finished, and I enjoyed the box so much I got another one for the advent just gone - more to follow on that one soon.

4 Two footstools and a tassel

This post was based on a visit to the Long Gallery at Blickling in Norfolk, which is as its name suggests long, and full of some wonderful tapestry, which while clearly traditional has modern touches too.

5 Calm and swirls in the Mediterranean garden at Houghton Hall

Another Norfolk post has made it into this top 10, and a visit to a place I think we should go to more often - maybe this year we will.

6 A bathroom refresh

Back at the start of last year we finally acted on plans to update our bathroom and while when I wrote this post there was still a little time to wait, and of course a few twists and turns along the way, we did get our new vanity unit into use.

AREZZO WALL HUNG VANITY UNIT, VICTORIAN PLUMBING

7 City green spaces

By the time Easter came around last year, like many people, we were itching to get out and about. But unlike most people we decided to head into the City of London and walk around and around visiting many places that were common to us when we worked in town.

8 Irony and priorities

Finally in April and not without irony I shared my word of the year - which was in fact priorities - and looking back now had its moments, and was overall helpful, but see what I thought at the time.

9 A fascination with boxes

It’s not a bad fascination to have, well as long as the boxes are pretty! These past few months we’ve been collecting the more mundane cardboard sort for MOH’s mum and her house move. The ones in this post though are much prettier.

10 The Chinese Streamside Garden at RHS Bridgewater

I’m pleased to see a post from the new RHS garden make it into the top 10 - I’m sure I have plenty more to share from there. I’ve realised that photo editing is something I’ve been particularly bad at, which isn’t much use for when it comes to blogging about our visits.

I always find it interest to see which posts make it into the lists, and as I’ve said before as long as my blog reflects my life then I’m happy.

Now onto that second list

This list is posts created at any time but viewed in 2021, the year in brackets is the year it was originally posted - and it’s very similar to this list last year. For whatever reason these posts continue to attract views, I’m glad that some of our garden and our gabion baskets are in there.

Filling our gabion baskets (2017)
My IKEA hack: HOL storage table to laundry basket (2015)
Let's talk Edwardian house decoration (2017)
Softening our gabion seating area with plants (2017)
Sean Murray's Great Chelsea Garden Challenge (2017)
52 Cookbooks #36: Beef in easy tomato sauce (2014)
Three of the six show gardens at the Ideal Home Show (2016)
Fabulous outdoor planters (and more) from Cox & Cox (2016)
Blinds and shutters with Thomas Sanderson (2018)
Circles, spray paint and another plan for my garden (2016)

So there you go, that’s these lists completed for another year. Tradition completed!

The Chinese Streamside Garden at RHS Bridgewater

June 24, 2021

RHS Bridgewater is the newest RHS garden, located in Salford in Greater Manchester, which opened this May. Which for us was rather fortuitous, as we were close by with our rearranged trip to the Lake District. Once I’d clocked this good fortune - thanks Monty and Gardener’s World - I was straight onto the RHS website booking my timed entry, calculating the distance from our holiday cottage and the time it might take us to arrive after checkout. As it turned out, that calculation was right and we arrived bang in the middle of our slot, more by luck than judgement though I’m sure.

When we left the holiday cottage our swimwear was still wet from the previous night’s dip in the hot tub. It was in a bag on its own so it wasn’t a disaster but the idea of leaving it to fester wasn’t appealing - anyone remember school swimming bags which were a special type of ultra thick fluorescent plastic? Yes, exactly. Well when we arrived and parked up, the sun was out and so I spotted my chance to dry our swimwear. MOH almost disowned me, but not quite - the memories of wet swimwear were strong. And so I set about ‘hanging’ out my washing, or rather draping it over our luggage on the folded down back seats. It wasn’t exactly having them blowing from the aerial, but you know, I’ll admit it’s not normal behaviour. It worked though, a couple of hours later when we were back at the car my ‘washing’ was dry, and I was rather pleased with myself!

But anyway, RHS Bridgewater. It’s a new garden on a historic site - so there’s established trees and a period building and a walled garden, and it’s got a lot of growing in to do, but that didn’t make for any less of an experience. In fact, the opposite, it’ll be great to see how the garden develops over the years and it’d be great to go back at some point and see how it’s grown.

Today I’m sharing the photos of the Chinese Streamside garden, and because it was those photos that ‘spoke’ to me as I looked through the photos I’d taken.

The winding path and the reflective stream instantly give that feeling of calm, don’t they?

The garden here at Bridgewater is a ‘novel fusing of the best of British and Chinese gardening traditions’ which has been made possible by a collaboration between the local Chinese community, horticultural experts in China and the RHS. There’s more to come from this garden which is themed around the four seasons.

The stream forms the ‘spine’ of the garden flowing through woodland and meadowland to Moon Bridge Water.

It’s just one of the magical spaces that will, I’m sure, grow into its space - and those lucky enough to be able to visit more regularly than I will will be able to see grow and establish itself. That in itself is quite magical.

If you want to find out more about the RHS Bridgewater garden I’ve included the RHS video below - it’s only short, and definitely worth a view.

Irony and priorities

April 28, 2021

The irony of the timing and my choice of word aren’t lost on me, but as there’s no time like now to refocus and create new habits I’m going with it. I’ve posted here before about choosing a word for the year. It’s something I meant to do this year but never had the time to contemplate in ways I had previously - usually I post this in January, heck one year I even managed December, but here we are scraping in just before the end of April.

Irony isn’t my word for 2021, it is in fact priorities

And yes, I know if I was living my word then this post would have already been posted, but that’s exactly why it is the right word for me, and why I’m posting it now. With some time to think and structure those thoughts (a little) it seemed an obvious word to choose.

Like many people my pandemic-filled year has been pretty full on and busy with my day job, which I was fortunate to be able to continue to do from home. It’s usually a busy role and with Covid it stepped up several gears. Even after recruiting a team of two to work with me it’s still busy, and while I know I’ll never reach the end of my to do list (I’m at peace with that - I’ve realised over many years that there will always be more to do) it doesn’t really look as if it will be dialling down any time soon. So throughout the various lockdowns and whatnots I’ve been mildly annoyed with media suggesting that lockdowns have meant more free time, learning new skills and full of banana bread making and sourdough baking - even though I’ve made plenty of those during the past year, and will more than likely continue to.

I’ve realised that when I’m at work (even at home) I’m fully immersed, and when I’m not working and spending time at home I’m fully immersed there too. Something had to give and as you may know it’s been this space, and that’s not how I want it to be. I’ve been powered in both environments by “just one more thing” - so maybe I’m not totally at peace with not getting everything done, at work and at home, but not here.

But I’ve also realised that I can choose.

Choice - not a contender for my word, but could have been now I think about it - is in my gift, and so are sticking to my priorities, which I know may flex and adapt as life changes and flexes. I’m still working through what it means for me, and how I put that into practice but as Gretchen Ruben says in Better than Before:

Nothing is more exhausting than the task that’s never started, and strangely, starting is often far harder than continuing.

Reading is one of the things I’m doing more of too, and yoga. If I’m honest, I’m better at reading than yoga but I’m sure like most things, with practice, I’ll improve and be slightly less wobbly. That works for my word too, doesn’t it?

So here’s to feeling less torn in so many directions, or at least I hope that’s what it means - and to prioritising the things that are important to me, which realistically could be getting a piece of work out the (virtual) door, or even closing my laptop so that life outside work can take its time as my priority.

I’d say wish me luck, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to need more than luck to make the changes I want.