Turquoise Water and Mountain Views

Our Greek Island holiday was a bit of a mixed bag, weatherwise. We went to Keffalonia (which has various spellings) It is one of the Ionian group. We have been several times and we love it.

Our villa, in the village of Antipata, was lovely. There were views across green wooded areas to the sea.

On our first day it rained .... all day. It was a bit of a shock seeing as we were quite cold as well. Luckily Paula had suggested that we took more warm clothes. I am so glad we did. And we were stocked up on our favourite food.

 

We had a large covered area so we could still sit outside on the sofa set even when it was raining.

We had rainbows.

 

The following three days were just brilliant thank goodness.

We did a very long walk to Dafnoudi Beach ... a path leading down through a rocky wooded valley, opening out onto a rather stony beach. Glad to have had our swim shoes. The water was delightful. 

We had lunch in the Old Stone House which was the only restaurant in the tiny village but my goodness the food was good. 

I would go so far as to say, the best moussaka I`ve ever had. As you can see I did cut it in half but the whole lot was consumed ..... with relish.

It was a very busy place with people in and out all the time. This proved difficult on rainy days as everyone was squeezed inside.

I highly recommend this place. It is not far from Fiskardo which I understand is very expensive. We got a bit of a taster when we treated ourselves to three cakes here. The price ..... 9 euros (£8.50) I did not even enjoy mine!!

 

But it was a beautiful town .....  tiny clothes shops, souvenir shops, blue cushioned seating in quayside restaurants, moored yachts, flower-decked steps, walls of plant pots, bougainvillea spilling everywhere.

We visited Emblissi Beach on the way home. This location was stunning.
 

Turquoise water, smaller pebbles, quiet, mountain views.

Swimming here is going to be a treasured memory, floating around with the distant peaks topped by cotton wool clouds.

We had another day of rain where we were literally wrapped in blankets, having to sit indoors and turning on the air conditioning to heat .... unheard of.

But we need to remember that the Keffalonians have not seen rain for 5 long months so it was very welcome for them, if not for tourists.

 More next time.

Whipping Round the Walnuts

 Well we didn`t exactly whip round. For a start the lane was closed to traffic yet again so we decided to walk to the walnut field armed with nothing but garden gloves and carrier bags. 

Last evening Anne invited us to pick walnuts with her. So we set off in glorious autumn sunshine taking a short cut through the woods.

This year is a "mast year" which means a plethora of fruit, nuts and berries. The woodland paths are lined with acorns so much so, we were having to watch our step. Bit like walking on marbles.

 

The fungi is also going to be good this year.

 

We found Anne with the two dogs sitting in the sunshine near a walnut tree. There are about 40 trees here and we were harvesting before the squirrels got to them.

 

We chose to pick those with cracks or that had already burst open. We have never picked walnuts before so it was all new to us but I did know that the cases can stain your hands.

 

The walnut itself is encased in a green husk and on maturing, this splits open to reveal the hard inner shell. The shell encases the edible kernel.

We worked steadily round the trees gradually filling our bags.

 

In the past I should imagine walnuts would have been a very valuable food source for winter as they are already " preserved" in a shell, though protection from vermin would have been needed.

We filled our bags and made our way through the woods to the camping field where Anne carried on to the farm and we walked on home.

 

 At home we took off the last of the green husks, washed them and left them in open trays to dry off and mature in Steve`s greenhouse.

 

What a delightful way to spend our morning.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Profusion

 It was time to visit Flowers Green Nursery once more. I love this nursery in Herstmonceux. Me, Steve and my brother James, arranged to meet my niece Hazel there, have a good look round and go for a walk on the marshes nearby.

It was a warm, sunny day and we had the nursery almost to ourselves. The pumpkin display showed an amazing variety. They are grown close by in two fields.

 

 

We had a good look round all the fabulous plants,  such good prices and so healthy.

Here are my choices, in a pink and mauve theme.

But I did get four lovely geraniums at less than half price. I am hoping to over-winter them in my warm greenhouse.

 

We had our picnic sitting on the ancient mounting block on the wall of Herstmonceux Church, wondering who had mounted horses here in the past.

 The wall was over-grown with ivy and ferns.

 

A little further down the lane we cut through from the farm track and set off on a circular walk on the Pevensey marshes.

 

The area is cut through with drainage ditches and the Hurst Haven river. It is mainly used for grazing. It is also a conservation area.

We saw a wary swan with four cygnets and we disturbed a heron which rose from the river edge and swooped off on its huge wings.

The path edges were lined with a positive larder of goodies.

Blackberries, probably a bit far gone ...

 

...... rosehips ....

.... .hawthorn ....

 

...... and sloes.
 

It was baking hot. 

 

We made our way back towards the church through a harvested field of maize.
 

A lovely walk on a lovely day.

Delightful Floral Obstructions

 We most certainly deserved a day like today after the strong winds yesterday. It was beautiful. The sky was so blue.

We approached our visit with trepidation but amazingly, the sunflowers were still standing. A couple needed restaking but otherwise all fine.

I made a start on the compost heaps, having strimmed the path first. So with the smell of strimmed mint in my nostrils, I dived into the first heap, literally. I had to cut nettles back. The contents were pretty good .... three lovely barrowloads in the polytunnel and round the garden.The pallets have rotted away so they will need replacing before we start on the next bay.

Steve removed the shading from the polytunnel and noticed that the temperature inside, went up several degrees afterwards. Overall it has helped over the hottest weeks.

We harvested cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers.

We also picked more apples. 

Lots have fallen and the guinea pigs are having a field day.

Nearly every path is a obstructed by flowers. It is moments like these that carry us through the winter months ... pushing yourself past helianthus and michaelmus daisies smothered in bees and other insects, dahlias bowed down with droopy heads, and coming eyeball to eyeball with sunflowers, angled at 45 degrees.

 During a peaceful teabreak, this 22 spot yellow ladybird landed on me. It is very small but quite spectacular.

I cleared the water trough and removed stinging nettles from the snug area. I had some ideas for planting underneath the seat. We took Gandalf indoors for the winter.

There were a few welcome surprises for mid-September.

After picking sweetpeas and dahlias, we made our way home after a very satisfying morning.