Nearly May.

We seem to have missed the drought and the rain (?) that the rest of the country has had over the last month and have been able to take advantage of the dry , sunny weather to try and restore a little order in the garden.
Did I mention we had a wood stove installed before Christmas? What a difference it makes to the house!
This was our first winter with this stove so we hadn't laid down any wood supplies and had to buy a load to start with but ultimately we hope we can keep ourselves supplied from the field garden.

There is something strangely fascinating about building the stack to season. 

 

This is a photo taken from the bottom of the garden towards the house  before the garden tidy up started.

 

This is another looking uphill where we have been clearing. It has all been mown since this was taken.

Remember how we had work done last summer rebuilding the river wall?

Well we were totally unhappy about the wall not being built as high as it was before the 2009 floods and have had nearly another year contesting it all, but today we see that plans have finally been passed for the wall to be raised.

 You can imagine the relief that is for us! It is like a sack being taken from our backs!

Work should be starting by the beginning of June. Once the wall is done the fence can go back on and the road surfaced properly.

 

Remember the little fairy from earlier?
I can show the whole quilt now and am delighted to say that it won an Aurifil suitcase and some Fabric Freedom fabrics as First Prize in a competion in Patchwork & Quilting magazine. :o)

 

This is a snippet of one I am working on just now.