Here we are in Week 4 of Lockdown and the day after the Easter break. This past weekend the weather here in Derbyshire was amazing and so we spent a lot of it in the garden getting those final jobs we have put off for a while done as well as more tidying and planting seeds for summer.
All the trees coming into bud.
We sorted this border at the front of the garden above and also planted some seeds.
This is the border on the other side and we have cleared the space for some new herb plants, the old ones had not done very well over winter so I have planted some seeds and hopefully they will come up.
With the few days of warm weather everything has started to come awake and now looks very green.
Eldest was helping and one of his favourite jobs is to pressure wash the patio stones. The above is what they look like before they are washed.
The above is what they look like when they have been done!!!!
The effect is very bright!!!
The afternoon sun just disappearing behind the trees and the white of our Cherry Tree in full blossom.
I did still decorate for Easter, although it was only the three of us as Youngest is with Girlfriend as they are having to look after her horse, Simon, every day.
Our Easter Table.
This is new this year, bought before the Lockdown (!), an Easter Tree with eggs on although Eldest says it is a Christmas tree!!! I like it as it has little lights on it!!!!
Some Happy Daffodils for Easter.
Yesterday was a Bank Holiday here in the UK although that does not mean much at the moment as we are all in Lockdown anyway. The weather dropped 10°c from 20°c on Sunday to 10°c yesterday which was a bit of a shock to the system!!! However I did get the Boys’ rooms and the main bathroom Spring Cleaned yesterday! Four down, six to go!!! I am hoping to get the rest done this week and next weekend and then I have a few more little jobs to get done.
I am also going to get my quilting sorted and have a go at sewing at my desk as before, I will take pictures and let you know how it goes!!!
They say they are going to review the Lockdown at the end of this week depending upon how the figures are from the hospitals etc so we shall see, although there is some worry now that the general public will be worried about going out, not to work of course, but social things and shopping and I must say I would be a little wary until we definitely know how things are going!!!! We shall see.
We are doing some business work and then I am getting some jobs done at home as well. Today has been a really warm Spring day so I had a walk around our Estate (garden to everyone else!!!!). Here are some pictures, the garden is beginning to really wake up now.
A few of my pots which need filling in a few weeks time.
My little Herb Garden stone which also needs a few plants replacing.
You can see the green coming out in the sunshine.
Shoots coming through.
Treacle taking advantage of the sunshine.
The Buddleia starting to sprout!
The afternoon progressing.
The Perriwinkle coming more into flower.
Primroses and Forget-me-Nots
The Conifers we have trimmed and still need to do a bit more to the Mahonia on the right by the deck.
Pink Primroses
Your Daily Treacle!
Our Home from the garden.
The Peonies coming into bud.
I even managed to sit outside with a cup of tea earlier as it was lovely and warm. Of course at this time of year it is very changeable and it does drop very cold at night. At the moment we have not had too many April showers!!!! Although we had enough rain over the Winter to make up for it!!!!!
Although we have lived in Derbyshire for thirty four years, DH and I were born in Nottingham.
Nottingham is eighteen miles away from where we live but if you speak to people who were born in Derbyshire, Nottingham could be a thousand miles away!!!! We go back regularly to see family who still live there and to shop!
So today I thought I would show you some pictures of our Home Town (picture heavy post!).
Nottingham’s most famous Resident, Robin Hood! There was some talk about he was really from Yorkshire but we Nottinhamians just ignore that! We have all seen the films which have been made about Robin Hood and his fight with the Sheriff of Nottingham well this is his statue which stands outside the grounds of Nottingham Castle. For years when I was a little girl and went to see the statue the arrow was always missing, as people would steal it as a souvenir!! However the City Council managed to make one and affix it in a manner where it cannot be stolen!!!
Nottingham Castle, which is in the City Centre, is always quite a disappointment for visitors as it really isn’t a castle at all. A structure has stood on the rock above the city since 1067 shortly after the invasion of William the Conqueror. It was made of wood but three years later was rebuilt of stone. It was a Royal residence for the House of Normandy to Henry II who was quickly succeeded by Richard I (Richard The Lionheart) Robin Hood’s Time.
Richard was busy with the Crusades and left his brother, Prince John, in charge who had ambitions above his station. He took Nottingham Castle and began to rule the country from here. In 1194 Richard returned from abroad and took control back off John by siege tactics. He stormed the Castle and wrested control of it away from the soldiers loyal to his brother, making it the only time the castle fell to an attacking army!
It continued to be a Royal residence until James I of England (James VI of Scotland) sold it to the Earl of Rutland.
The original Castle was demolished in 1649 and the Duke of Newcastle built a manor house on the site (just like today when they knock an old building down and replace it with a modern monstrosity!). Anyway in 1831 rioters burnt it almost to the ground but it was re-built in 1878 by the Nottingham Council and now houses a museum and art gallery.
It is currently closed and being refurbished inside and out and is due to re-open in 2021.
The Castle and lots of other places in Nottingham City Centre have caves beneath which were used for lots of purposes including tanning of leather and the brewing of beer, as above which at the bottom of Castle Rock in the Brewhouse Yard.
The picture above is of the Brewhouse Yard Museum (you can jus see the Castle at the top of the picture) where staff used to stay who worked at the Castle and lots of jobs were done here for the Castle including the brewing of the beer.
The main entrance to the Castle.
This is St. Mary’s Church, High Pavement and is the oldest religious foundation and largest Medieval building in the City. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book and is belived to hail from Saxon times.
The above picture is Nottingham Council House where the City Council meet and lots of offices to do with the Council are and the Dome houses the Bell, Little John who strikes the hour, quarter and half which can be heard up to seven miles away. If we, when I lived at home, could hear the bell strike it was always going to rain!
The above building was opened in 1929 by the then Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII & Duke of Windsor. The land in front of the Council House used to hold Nottingham’s Goose Fair and today plays host to one of the largest Christmas markets in the country and a summer “Nottingham by the Sea” event.
Two roads, which are now paved, run each side of the building and are named Long Row, above. This stretches for a long way and is made up of fancy shops, restaurants and hotels over the years and was seen as the upmarket side.
This is the other side of the Council House where the new tram system runs and is called Cheapside. This side used to house the butchers and there is a Poulty arcade. There wares used to be in baskets out in front of their shops.
Lots of other roads in the city centre are named after the trade which used to be carried on there. Fletcher Gate – makers of arrows, the feather end is actually called a fletch. Bridlesmith Gate – Bridles for horses. Wheeler Gate – Wheelrights. Beastmarket Hill – sale of livestock.
The Council House from Long Row at Christmas.
The Council House in the summer “By the Sea”
The Dome all lit up for Christmas.
We are lucky in Nottingham to still have some glorious buildings. These three were all built by Watson Fothergill, a Nottingham Architect between 1870 and 1906. He was inspired by the Medieval buildings and churches. The above building fronts onto Long Row.
This building sits at the junction of King Street to the right and Queen Street to the left.
As you can see from the writing on the building this is the oldest inn in England and it is where the Knights used to refresh themselves before leaving for the Crusades, no doubt including King Richard! It is very tiny and gets very busy but when you are in there you have to hold your hand over the drink as the rear of the inn is actually in the Castle wall and it is made of sandstone so you get bits of sand in your drink!!!!!
There are lots of little yards and alleys which connect various road, the above one being Hurts Yard which connects Parliament Street with Long Row. Tiny shops and restaurants are in these areas making them very busy places.
This is Weekday Cross, in the Lace Market, and was the original site of all the markets in Nottingham before they moved down into the centre in front of the Council House. The original Cross was erected in 1529 and the current one above was put in place in 1993.
This is Nottingham Theatre Royal built in 1865 by two Lace Barons John & William Lambert. One of it’s notable claims to fame is in October 1952 it made theatre history as the World Premiere of “The Mousetrap” as part of the pre-West End tour, the play has gone on to become the longest running theatrical production in the World and we all went to see it in London a few years ago! It was bought by the Council in 1969 and underwent a full restoration and was opened by Princess Anne in 1978 and has been open since.
We are also very lucky to have a lot of green spaces within the City Centre this being one of them Wellington Circus off which there are several roads which had some very nice homes built for some of Nottinghams top residents. It’s layout was influenced by London’s Regent Park and the surrounding roads bear some of the names; Oxford Street, Regent Street, College Street and Park Row!
This is one of the Trent Bridge’s which used to be over the river and is still standing, albeit currently in the middle of a traffic island around which the current Trent Bridge goes!!!!!
Finally this building is outside of the City Centre, Wollaton Hall and was built by Sir Francis Willoughby between 1580 and 1588. It was owned by the fmaily up until 1881 and was eventually bought by the City Council in 1925 and is now another museum.
In 2011 it became the home of Batman in “The Dark Night Rises” as Wayne Manor. The Hall is five miles north of Gotham, Nottinghamshire and it is believed this is how Gotham City indirectly got its name!
My Grandfather worked as an Engineer for Nottingham City Council before, during and after World War II and part of his job was to look after Wollaton Hall.
I hope you have enjoyed my tour of our Home Town of Nottingham. Some of the photographs are mine and some are from a great website http://www.nottingham21.co.uk Run by a Gentleman named Ray Teece a former Policeman who has taken a lot more pictures of Nottingham. If you would like to have a look at some more please click on the link above.
DH, Eldest and I socially distanced ourselves around our home yesterday!!!!! The weather was dreadful, cold wind, intermittent generally yuck!!! DH was in the den sorting software out on his computer and tidy things up in general, a job which does not get done in a normal week! Eldest was in his room; his work is closed so all his friends at also at home and the majority of them have XBox consoles and were playing a group game! I am thinking they might not want to go back to work when this is all over!!! I was self distancing in the sitting room watching a series on Netflix!!!! Youngest was with Girlfriend as she owns a horse and he needs feeding and looking after no matter what else is happening outside!!!
So that meant that we did not complete the work we started on Saturday with the garden. I have some pictures.
Where Treacle is standing, the conifers there were planted by us. They are slow growing ones and up to three years ago we took the tops out of them and trimmed them to keep them low and in shape. However because of various things, time, other activities, my Op etc for three years we have not done it and they have grown too big! Saturday it was a sunny Spring day again and not too cold so we got on with trimming these and our other trees in the garden which can be trimmed at this time of year.
Here they are now. If you know conifers they mostly only grow on the ends and the middle bits die off so we thinned out a lot of those, took one away that was dead and brought the height down by at least five feet!!! Treacle loves the new look! I am going to get some shade loving, under tree plants to cover the ground we have uncovered.
Treacle has always managed to get in amongst the conifers but now we can see what she is actually up to!
I am being good, honest!
Of course we are now left with the trimmings!
A very good friend of ours has a farm across the valley in the village and he collects this sort of thing and twice a year has a huge bonfire so he is very kind to let us take it up there for his bonfire!
We also have two pillar conifers at the top of the garden and they had not got too big but again we took the tops out of them.
By trimming the one nearest the garden on the left of our patio we have gained back quite a bit of the garden which had been overshaddowed by the conifer!
We still have quite a bit of trimming to do but cannot until after the plants have finished flowering. There is also a holly tree which has overgrown as well. I think they have all done really well this year because of all the rain over the winter.
Some more Spring flowers are slowly appearing and I have some more seeds to set for plants later in the year.
A tiny purple flower just appearing behind one of the Rhododendrons.
The big star flower of Major Vinca or Perriwinkle, which we have between the bushes to control the weeds where it is hard to get to.
I will continue to take pictures as we progress. With all this time on our hands at the moment our gardens will be pristine this summer!!!!
I hope everyone is doing okay and coping with being inside!!! Gardening is definitely a good thing to do to get outside and in the fresh air, weather permitting of course but if you do not have a garden you can always source some houseplants to bring the green inside. A lot of the grocery stores do sell plants for the home now and of course you can always get herbs to grow on your kitchen windowsill which has a dual purpose!
There have been lots of cartoons, jokes, memes doing the rounds at the moment regarding the situation every country in the World finds itself in. The funniest I have seen is a picture of the Earth and written over it, it says “Mother Nature has sent us all to our rooms to think about what we have done”!!!!! On the back of that how environmental things have already changed by us all social distancing the most notable of which is the canals in Venice have cleared. The situation has rather taken the wind out of Miss Thunberg’s sails!!!!
Loch Ness early morning.
DH and I should have been travelling up to the Highlands Saturday April 4th for two weeks over the Easter break but because of the current situation and the fact we are all social distancing have cancelled. Of course we are really disappointed but have to follow our Government’s rules unlike the thousands of muppets who were out over the weekend in parks, national parks, seaside resorts etc ignoring the Goverment’s rules! No doubt these are the same people who have been panic buying!
I had a lovely day yesterday with my Boys at home and I got some lovely presents. Some sweet pea seeds to grow, a new doorstop for our back door which has the Queen song lyrics changed to “Door Stop me now…… I’m having such a good time….. Holding the door……”!!!! It should be “Don’t stop me now I’m having such a good time, having a ball…” and a new travel mug which says “Another Manic Mum Day”!!! So true. In the afternoon, evening the Boys went off to see the Girlfriends’ Moms for dinner! I did the ironing!!!!!!
DH and Eldest carried on with the building works at the front of our home over the weekend. This is what it looked like after Friday, Eldest had done a huge amount. The skip was changed on Saturday morning for a new one and this is what it looked like by the afternoon yesterday. DH has ordered some stone to go into the hole to bring it up to the level of the tarmac. The trench is for the stones they have taken out to strengthen the wall and also make a decorative feature on the concrete on the house wall. We will then drive on it for a while to tamp it down and then get more tarmac added so the drive will be complete again. We think that we may be able to get four cars on the drive now with DH’s truck just on the pavement!!!!
This is the soil taken out.
I am hoping to get some plants in when it is finished to help with the styling of it.
Our neighbours Magnolia tree just coming into flower.
Wanted to show you this. Normally during the day there is one car on our road but as you can see a lot of people are self distancing by working from home.
Pictures of our back garden. As you can see today is a beautiful Spring day and I think Phil was right in that it is an early Spring.
DH mowed the lawn yesterday, the first of the season, it always makes the garden look better. The big conifers on the left of the picture is the next job we are tackling as although they are slow growing they have over-grown so need lopping and thinning. Hopefully next weekend we can get this done.
The tree with the roots on the deck has come from the front and we will be planting it at the back of the garden next weekend too.
Treacle enjoying the Spring sunshine.
I know I show you this every year but I just love this primula. I love the colour and the fact it is so pretty at this time of year.
It is at the base of the Wisteria which has one chance to flower again this year otherwise I will be digging it up and replacing it!!!!! We gave it a good trim two years ago and since then it has been sulking!!!!
Treacle has found one of her footballs!
“Hi Mom, picture time”!!!!!
The right, above, and left, below, gardens on the patio which are just starting to wake up after the wet Winter.
This side looks dreadful at the moment but will come alive in a few weeks/month’s time.
DH has arranged for a delivery of compost so I will be able to plant some things and I have bought some seeds on line to be delivered too. Trying to do all we can not to go out unless absolutely necessary.
One of the blogs I follow did a post about how she had an online lunch date with her friend. They had lunch in their homes and then spoke to each other on the phone at the same time. She is looking into setting up Skype. I thought this was a great idea to connect with friends whilst still being responsible.
We have been keeping in touch with friends, who are in the vulnerable group, to make sure they are okay and have all they need and our family to just make sure all are well at the moment.
I will keep posting every day with happy things, because as the situation is dire for a lot of people at the moment, you don’t need any more from me. Thank you for stopping by and I hope you find a few minutes of peace here at my Blog. Stay Safe All.
The Spring Equinox is when the day and night are almost equal. For us in the Northern Hemisphere it is today and occurred at 3.49am GMT!!!!! Here it is very sunny and bright but with a very cold wind!!!!! We are due to have some frosts next week and I am hoping that will help with the current situation and kill of this dreadful virus!!! We have not had many frosts this Winter and my Grandmother always used to say some good heavy frosts will kill off all the bugs!!!!! Oh by the way the Spring Equinox information came off my day to day Snoopy calendar!!!!!!
No it’s not snowed since the start of this post!!!! I wanted to show you the front of our home. When we first moved in nineteen years ago we widened the drive to fit DH and my cars on the drive side by side, but we kept a corner of the garden (on the right of the picture) as I think it looks better. However we now have for a portion of the week five cars to try and park which means we have had to take the rest of the garden away. I really didn’t want to but needs must………..
First job was to get all the plants out and moved those to the back garden. One benefit of the current situation we find ourselves in, there is time to get on with these jobs!!!!!
It is also good when you have Eldest who is now fit and fine since his shoulder problems and has been told that he can no longer go for physio or occupational therapy because of the situation, who is just waiting for his work to get it rubber stamped for him to go back to work, and he is fed up so he is loving digging out!!!
The skip almost full!
We are leaving the plants at the top but will be taking the soil out down the side of our neighbours wall and will have a wall put around the plants and against our home to support the side.
Eldest busy digging down and we will move the stones into the back as well.
DH will be home later this afternoon to help out!!!!
When this is done we will get the drive tarmacked and it will mean that we will be able to store our three bins at the side and get three cars side by side and then DH and Eldest’s car at the front and we will then not have to worry about DH parking elsewhere on our road!!!! Of course by the time we have done this no doubt Eldest will then be moving out into his own home!!!! However it will be better when we get visitors as well. When it is all done I will aim to get some more plants in there somehow!!!!
We are going to go to the garden centre tomorrow to get some compost for my veg planter and my pots and some other bits and bobs so that we can get on with the garden!!!!
Gardener’s World on BBC2 is back tonight. Monty Don who is the host and his dogs Nigel and Nelly tell us each week what we should be doing in the garden and shows you how to do various projects. So even if it is raining you get to see some gardens. They are hoping to keep going as long as possible with the program as it is filmed weekly but it all depends upon how the situation progresses!!!
The Chelsea Flower Show, which we went to for the first time last year, is cancelled at the beginning of May and our Carnival which is at the beginning of July has been cancelled too! DH and I are due to got to the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show in July this year and at the moment they have not cancelled it but again it will all depend upon how things go in the next few weeks/months!
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This week has been quite surreal. We are seeing things which at least two if not three Generations have never seen or experienced and I think everyone is feeling a little at sea to say the least. I also think that we are all keen to make sure that we do as the Government are telling us to try and stop this thing in its tracks but what we must do is still do the same two weeks, two months or more down the line and not get complacent. We must not think “well it is not affecting me so I will go out to the pub or the local restaurant” We must try and stop it as soon as possible and if that means we are not able to do what we want, when we want then that is the price we pay for staying safe!!!!
I have seen a news report of where young people are ignoring the advice and going out to the pub as normal every evening! I am sure as with most youngsters they think they are invincible but it will not stop the spread!!!!
As we go into the first weekend of this new norm stay safe and stay busy, Idle Hands and all that!!!
We have had a few days in recent weekends where the weather has been okay for DH and I to get out and do some tidying in the garden. One major job was to put all our tools etc back into our shed, out of the Boys Den, now that our neighbours have finished their building works. This meant that the patio furniture is out sooner than normal but if the weather is still good we need to re-stain them anyway!
The Spring flowers are all flowering and it is so good to see some colour back in the garden after the winter.
These tiny daffodils always do well in the pots and the Violas have flowered again.
The Violas in these pots have not done as well over the winter.
Only eight of the twenty five big daffodils have survived the wretched squirrel!!! Grr
Our Reindeer and Baby have moved to their summer qurters near the beautiful lemon primroses.
It has been wonderful to see the sun over the last few days as well, after all the rain we have had over the last few months.
Treacle enjoying the sunshine. DH cleared up all the leaves which had fallen over the winter.
Shed and my little growhouse and veg planter are out and just need re-staining.
The furniture out and again it needs re-staining.
Sunshine!
Treacle helping us and making the most of the sunshine. The Boys Den also needs re-staining.
Keeping an eye out for the wretched squirrel.
“Is it not biscuit time yet, Mom?”
Treacle trying to blend into the bushes!!!
One big job to do in the garden is to trim the plants/bushes and trees which have had a growth spurt over the winter with all the rain!!! One side DH and I can do but the other side we need the help of the Boys and a long weekend!!! I will show you pictures when we have done those jobs.
Eldest is back in his room that I was camping in as my sewing room! This is what it looked like when we originally did it for him.
Then when we decorated it again and sorted it out in 2011:
This is what it looked like when I was camping in it, as my sewing room:
And now it looks like this:
Kingsize Bed instead of his senior school single bed!
New wardrobe and chest of drawers.
The desk has been shortened a little and turned around.
We are just waiting for some cushions which will be instead of a headboard for the back of the bed.
He loves it. Although this is the smallest bedroom it is, in fact, quite large and I did not think we would get a King size bed in there but we did and it is so much more comfortable for his 6’2″ frame!!!!
Just now need to sort the driveway out so we can get five cars on the drive and we will all be sorted. Of course that will mean when we have done all this he will get his own home and move out!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is now having intensive physio on his shoulder and their aim is to get it stabilised and stronger to hold it in place so he is able to go back to work!!! However whilst he is off he is helping me in the office and light jobs around our home which is a great help and I will really miss him when he does go back to work!!!!
We drove over to Nottingham on Friday evening and it was a very black sky and when we parked it just started to rain!!!! However after about ten minutes it stopped so DH and I set off to Goose Fair! Eldest and Fiancé with four of their friends were also going on Friday night but we did not see them.
Here are some pictures of the famous and great Nottingham Goose Fair:
DH and I queued for the Big Wheel which was taller thant the white Big Wheel!
Going Up!
Here are some of the pictures from our seat on the Wheel.
DH with me in our carriage!
I love this picture above, you can see how many people are there already and this was early!
Below is the Wheel we were on.
This picture above is how they cook the mushy peas on this one stall, which has been there for years, even when I was going as a little girl!!! They are the best! This will freak my good friend FarmQuilter out as she does not like mushy peas at all when she tried them when she was over here in the UK!!!!! I suppose they are an acquired taste! Normally you would eat them with fish and chips but at the fair you just have a pot of them and put mint sauce on them! I think, also, it is one of those foods that they taste better outside!!!!
You know all about the chaos at the moment in the UK regarding Brexit. Well our Government have also decided that all businesses must now submit their VAT returns via their accounting software! This is because some businesses lie on their returns!!! I never have and the old way of submitting the return was great but because of a few we now have to use the new way!! Well today I have spent most of the afternoon on the phone to our Accountant trying to sort it out!!!!!! Chaos reigns! After three hours I finally managed to get my software to talk to the Government software and submit it!!!! I think I now need to go and lie down in a darkened room!!!!!!
I have been busy making jam, particularly Bramble Jam and Strawberry Conserve. I still need to make the chutney’s for Christmas.
My Tomatoes are starting to ripen. I caught Treacle the other day just about to pick one of them off the plant, a ripe one of course not a green one!!!
We have been busy sorting out the plants in my pots as the Summer bedding was just about finished so we have put some Winter Violas in, so we have some colour when it is cold and grey!!!
The new plants we have put in where we have cleared out some old bushes are doing well and hopefully they will survive the Winter!
Over the last few weeks they have been forecasting a really hard Winter with lots of snow and very cold temperatures. However they have said this in past years so we shall see!!!
As you can see Treacle is really worried about the cold weather!!!! She was fast asleep and snoring when I took this picture!!!! The weather over the weekend was quite nice and this week and coming weekend is supposed to be quite warm again, so a real Indian summer! It is great as we can get quite a bit done in the garden getting it ready for winter. One job we have to do is to stain the shed and den again and also re-do our wooden outdoor furniture before we put it away.
I hope you all had a great weekend and a good week to come.
Hugs, Susie xx
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