ALL CHANGE!

In the autumn we moved house, leaving a country cottage in a small hamlet of twenty or so houses, no street lights, no facilities, and moved to a large, sprawling and busy town. What posessed us? I think that Covid was part of the reason, being unable to freely travel to see family and friends was a new and unpleasant experience. That and a health scare and the realization that we are actually getting old! Anyway, now we are here in busy Bournemouth close to our younger daughter and family and ten minutes in the car to a lovely beach. We are settling in well! My new garden is much smaller and very different, unlike any that I've known before. The main reason for our choice was that this space gives us privacy, surrounded by the mature trees that are growing in the neighbouring gardens. It is former woodland, now a conservation area. The trees mean that the garden is in heavy shadow and I have a lot to learn about how to manage it well. Since we have been here I've been endlessly clearing leaves and cutting back crossing branches. Thinned bamboo canes have been woven into a cage for the leaves so at some point in the future I should have some good leaf mould.