Restrictions lifting!

Hurrah, the family have been to stay, we haven't been with them since Christmas. Wee One and family arrived first, a phone call on the morning of her birthday to say, "We're coming home!" They wanted to pitch a tent on our lawn, they had bought it second-hand and wanted to check that it wasn't missing any parts.  We got our old tent out of the garage and pitched it up as well, hopeful that they might like to have that as a back-up. We had lovely times camping when the children were small, but now our camping days are definitely over - knees and back not up to spending nights on the ground! Sadly, they were not interested in us off-loading anything much, but the sight of a pair of paddles and the old inflatable dingy, discovered while we poked about in the garage for the camping equipment, brought back happy memories.

Would our grandson be shy, he hadn't seen us for such a while? Not a bit of it. "Chase me, Nana!" Up and down the narrow tracks of mown grass beneath the fruit trees. While it is lovely to run about in bare feet bits do tend to get between the toes!

Even more fun to be had running through the long grass rather than along the narrow paths.

Quite exhausting!

Our elder daughter came home when the others had left and worked from our small upstairs office throughout the week. She is vegetarian and her trip was well timed because the garden is full of produce at this time of year and there is no need to go to the shops for food.

You have to like courgettes. Luckily they are very versatile!

I have two compost heaps in a corner of the garden next to the oil tank. (Rarely used as we have  solar power to supply an air-source heat pump and our general electrical needs.) One of the bays is full and planted with random squash and courgette plants. They will create a dense cover as they grow, far nicer to look at than a random piece of sheeting.

The left hand bay is steadily filling. The delphiniums that have been such a joy have now finished flowering. I've cut them right back to the base and the stems are in here to rot down. With a bit of luck I shall get another display of flowers in late summer.

We had our first outing since early March and went to the local hotel for lunch. First a poke around their walled vegetable garden to see what was growing.

Soil and plant envy as I looked at the neat rows. The building in the photo was formerly the swimming pool changing room. The pool no longer exists  and the building is now used as hotel accommodation. 

Then inside for lunch in the pickle section!