the garden

Today I did some clearing up of the garden towards preparing it for winter. The day was beautiful, the garden less so, as it gets very neglected. But, despite this, there were lots of things to enjoy. We still have some things to eat coming from the garden and the polytunnel in particular. I gathered runner beans, courgettes, a very few last broad beans, there are tomatoes a-plenty, and there are still a few slightly sad looking sweet peas and calendula flowers out.

We may take Ted on holiday, he doesn't know yet, but is wondering why he hasn't been fed since this morning. It is because, if he can come, he will be very unwell if he has eaten a lot, and only a bit less unwell if he has not eaten for a while.

Sky

We have a little game whereby Sky drops the ball over the stile and then I throw it over for her. I have to be careful there is no-one the other side before I throw it!

courgette

I was not aware there had been any nuclear fallout problems in Cornwall?

Dartmoor

that smudgy thing is a balloon

We visited Dartmoor recently, en-route to see the Devon Open Studios. I fell in love with Dartmoor. We went twice and had fantastic weather on both occasions.

Sennen

We visited Sennen the other day and had a wonderful day, seeing where Jonathan, Simon's cousin has moved to in St Just and we had lunch in Sennen, a favourite place of mine. Whilst there we managed to get clamped in the car park, as we forgot to get a ticket, so preoccupied were we with dogs, sorting out a table in the great cafe/restaurant which overlooks the bay, etc. The clamping man was lovely, very good at defusing any potential angst, although we had no excuse, but I tried the hopeless female rout, it did not work. I did not try it, I was it! He had previously worked in the army, including service in Iraq. He had doubtless defused rather more than angry immobilised people.

The dog in the pictures was mad, he kept jumping up at the sky. His leaps didn't seem co-ordinated with the high waves, perhaps he jumps up for fish when the boats come in, who knows. He appeared to live there.

Previous post

My last entry sounds rather breathless and a bit boastful really, upon reflection. I covered so many topics, just to pack them all in in an effort to catch up, where really they should all have had their own neat section. We will be busy this weekend, there is a wedding locally, a shame the weather won't be nicer. I can recall a wedding, the same time of year, with rather poor weather. Ours! At least these people will be in a proper building, not worrying that their tent may fall down. Then, they are off to Australia, to live.

Where to start?

It is so long since I have made a post on here, that I do not know where to start.

We have had a hectic season, and from now on the busiest times are more restricted to the weekends. Despite the weather, July was our busiest ever and the rest of the summer has been good as well. As we move into autumn, there are more walkers coming this way and there are a few weekend weddings and parties for which people need somewhere to stay.

I just heard from someone who stayed in early July. he was walking from land's End to john O'Groats, so was at the beginning of his travels. He made it, he lost four stone in weight and he recommended Michael House as one of the best places he stayed! So, that was lovely, he also made lots of money for the charities he was seeking sponsorship for.

I recently sold the above picture. It was framed when I sold it, so looks better than this!

We also recently visited the Devon Open studios www.devonartistnetwork.co.uk. I love attending Open Studios. they provide an opportunity to meet artists, see them in their working environment, have a nose at their home and garden in many cases, and get a real feel for what they are doing. We saw about five in all, over two days, they were quite a long way off, over Dartmoor, and we had gorgeous weather, so spent quite some time enjoying that. In the process, we fell in love with Dartmoor, an area we didn't know well, but thought would be wonderful, and it is.

I have some photos to upload, so will do another post with photos soon.