Oops.

More a sign of rotten posts on the bridge than a sign of bad driving. And no, Bella, I had not been drinking. 

With help from our neighbour, Pete, it was soon back in working order. 

The trees that have been swings and climbing frames have gone soft so time to remove them. 

The plan is to plant a woodland in this area and have swings near the summer house / pig sty. 

An amazing Family Gathering Weekend.

8/11

Eight of us gathered on the decking - amazing that it can hold us all!

We are in age order -Kay, (Gail), (Nick), Chris, Andy, Francis, Gregory, Zoe, (Simon), Matthew, Luke.

And a ton of others too. Including all seven grandchildren. 

The bouncy castle was a great success - thank you Abbi and Carl

As the sun rises on another beautiful day....

I am off on a Quaker day. 

But here are some photos from yesterday.

After the visitors.

Roger and Judith have been here for a few days so not much work has been done - but a fair amount of eating and drinking has. 

The tump has been shaved and will get tidied up. 

Down at the club layout I have been working on the canal bank. 

And general tidying of the grounds has happened. 

More work.

Things are getting done. 

Fencing has been repaired. 

The pond has been cleared - and just in time as the kingfisher has reappeared. 

The apple tree has been pruned - it improves the view. 

And figs have been harvested - yes, figs. Brown figs on the front of the cottage and in the greenhouse. 

There has even been time for a little light modelling. 

Hard at it.

There has been much mowing of grass and clearing of paths and the flowers are still blossoming. 

Clearing the road less travelled. 

Even the wilderness is a riot of colour. 

Tidying up for future visitors.

We have visitors due this week and next week and a big do at the end of the month so clearing up is the order of the day. 

The yard is the first to get a spring clean. 

It's been a while.

Sometimes there's nothing to say and sometimes it's just too busy. 

We have had visitors and been busy at Glyncoed preparing for new tenants. 

Here are some photos to catch up.

Grass cutting at the cottage. 

As these dahlias have been a success in the polytunnel I have bought more and created a dahlia bed. 

The visitors helped cut the grass. 

We had a day out t the Eisteddfod. 

The onions are now waiting for a dry, sunny spell.

And we had a willow that was growing in the middle of the stream blow over. I have topped it off and left it to see if it sprouts again. 

All better now.

The new part arrived...

And was fitted...

And now it all works again.

But then it rained! Never mind, there is always the strimmer. 

The tree house has been clipped and the arch is growing nicely. 

Shoddy workmanship!

We made these fence panels in 2008 for the show at Chavenage. After the show I took them to Glyncoed where they have been serving as garden fencing.  A couple of them have suffered and needed repairing but the bars are still fine so have been reused. 

Other jobs at the cottage have mainly been painting walls. 

The weather here has been hot, hot, hot. But good grass cutting weather which is why a bracket on the tractor broke meaning I can't make hay while the sun has shined. 

But the flowers continue to grow. 

Playing Catchup.

No not a new computer game, but too busy to blog. 

After our week in Cumbria it has taken a while to get on top the garden and the cottage. In fact the grass has me defeated a bit - the football field was too wet to cut before we went away and is now too long to dry properly for the mower so it will have to be done manually next week.

So things are getting done at the cottage and other gardening jobs too.

The fruits are coming on nicely and wrapping a couple of branches on the cherry tree has produced the first cherries we have ever had off it - the birds and the squirrels have taken them all previously. 

Gooseberries

Apples

Cherries. 

And some work on a bridge for the layout.