Saturday's child works hard (very hard) for her living......

Now I'm working full-time Saturday is officially my day-off! Here's how it went:

7.00 Got up, dressed and at work by...
7.10 Prepare baked cinnamon grapefruit x 3 ( remember to use the correct knife after being told off by the Head Chef yesterday when preparing grapefruit before going to work)
7.15 Prepare fresh fruit salad
7.30 Start Blueberry compote cooking
7.35 Make American Pancakes - as enjoyed by genuine Americans twice in the last month!
7.50 Put coffee on and take out juices, milk and water to the dining room
8.15 Welcome first couple of guests for breakfast (on time)
8.16 Welcome second couple of guests (who were due at 8.30, so suddenly our timing for the cooked breakfasts is thrown out). Waitressing duty.
9.00 Eat breakfast (on the business) - we like it when someone chooses pancakes as there is always some mixture left over which can't go to waste

9.15 Say goodbye to second couple.
9.20 Start clearing guest's breakfast things away.
9.45 Chat to first guests as they get ready to depart
10.00 Off to the village hall to help set up the Hindolveston CIA (Crafts in Action - they are not really spies here in deepest Norfolk) exhibition featuring items made by the residents of the village.
11.50 Pop back home for more exhibits as there are some empty spaces in the hall
12.55 Finish the setting up and labeling of the exhibits and return home
1.00 Start clearing up kitchen (Mike has been busy all morning getting the two B&B rooms cleaned)
1.20 Make lunch
1.25 Thank the lady who has been cleaning the cottage for us in recent weeks (what a god-send! she is) and make arrangements for when she can help out next
1.30 Eat lunch
1.45 Start making two lemon drizzle cakes, one for the cottage guests and one for the B&B guests
2.00 Carry on clearing the kitchen
2.20 Clean downstairs cloakroom
2.30 Add drizzle to cakes
2.40 Have shower and clean our bathroom
3.05 Chat to first guests who have returned to collect something they left behind
3.10 Take cake to cottage and check all is ok there
3.30 Greet new B&B guests (who had sent a text to see if they could arrive early!)
3.45 Serve tea and cake to B&B guests in the garden
4.00 Take phone call from cottage guests advising us they are 40 minutes away
4.10 Have cup of tea
4.12 Daughter phones - chat whilst drinking tea
4.25 Clear away B&B guests tea things
4.40 Cottage guests arrive - give guided tour of cottage and garden
5.10 Have an ice-cream in garden with Mike, B&B guest chats to Mike about his photos
5.30 Requested by B&B guest that their duvet is changed for a non-allergenic one.
5.45 B&B guests go out for the evening, we change duvet, also remove feather mattress topper and pick up loose feathers!
6.15 Realise we've not thought about food for tomorrow for dinner with friends who will be visiting and head to Budgens in Holt. Buy fish and chips for our supper as we're too tired to cook.
7.15 Supper in front of TV
8.00 Work on Anticipated Issues report for my coaching qualification - my anticipated issues are concerns about finding clients but apparently this should be about ethical issues, crossing boundaries and concerns about gender or cultural differences!
9.30 Try (and fail) to stay awake to catch the sports news on TV
9.32 Asleep!

The chalky white milestone has no interest in how far London is from Norfolk

Despite the full on workload I notice from the photos on my camera that there have been some breaks in the period of July and August. A morning here or an afternoon there that have enabled us to slow down to the infamous 'Norfolk time' and let the delights of the area gently wash over us, sometimes literally.

My old favourites the poppy fields started to pop up (if you'll kindly excuse the pun) all around. There was no singularly spectacular field but many corners and half fields that captured the romantics heart. On our route into Holt there was a lovely little tableau, a timeless little scene that could have looked just as much in place a hundred years ago as it does now.
It represents the spirit and soul of Norfolk in such a succinct way. In the background an insignificant road slips over the brow of an insignificant hill and trickles down past a small pond of poppies. Sunken amongst the poppies a large white washed, sun washed milestone stands strong and firm it's roots well imbedded into the verge.
And behind the scene white cotton wool puffs of cloud hang on a fictitious blue sky, there is a feeling of drowsiness in the air. The chalky white milestone  has no interest in how far it is to London, it is of no importance. For why would any one want to know how near they are getting to London?

No it's statement is far more reassuring than that as it simple tells us that we are "122 Miles from London" with a subtext mumbling "and praise be to that!"

More of our recreation later......



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I don't know much... but it is safe to say that I knows me onionssss!

It is late on a Friday night or to be totally correct early on a Saturday morning and I am eeking out the day to quickly fit in a blog update. Time has been at a premium recently and if I don't make time to add to the blog it is likely to be another two weeks before I do so.

Just two months ago we were concerned that bookings seemed to be drying up but that was clearly the lull before the storm as July into August has been probably our busiest period todate. Having added Laterooms.com to our associated sites we have received some extra bookings and this along with a general pick up has led us to have both rooms booked for a significant period of time.

As a result we have had very little time to enjoy that Norfolk sunshine or indeed to get out and enjoy those beaches. We are not complaining, far from it as clearly in our line of business we need to take as much money as we can whilst the going is good.

However I am getting a little frustrated that all the hard work that I literally ploughed into the allotment may well be wasted as I struggle to find even half an hour free time to get down there. Throughout the day I watch the combine harvesters and tractors trundle along our road as they are busy pulling in the harvest of potatoes, peas, barley and wheat. Mean while my beautiful sweet broadbeans that I was eating raw from the pod are growing ever bigger, my cabbages are exploding with size and my courgettes are quickly becoming marrows.
Today went a little like this;-

07:00hrs Got up, fed the cat and started to prep the breakfast (Alison helped before going off to work).
08:15hrs first couple arrived for their breakfast.
08:30hrs The electrician arrives to fit a new bilge pump for my front yard (very urgent, stops flooding).
08:45hrs second couple arrived for breakfast.
09:15hrs first couple finish breaky.
09:30hrs first couple go out for the day.
At this stage having served 4 first courses (3 types) and 4 breakfasts (4 different choices) along with the croissants, tea and toasts my kitchen was somewhat beyond a 'working mess'.
09:45hrs whilst collecting dirty plates, get talking to guests,  a process which gets more involved on each return. They show interest in my photos so I show them my 'collection' book. We talk about their travels and other things and before we know it....... it is .....
11:15hrs They get ready to go out whilst I check the tide times and availability of the boat trips to see the seals at Blakeney Point.
11:30hrs second guestsgo out for the day.
11:40hrs I had breakfast and sit down.
12:00hrs Cleared breakfast table.
               set up dishwasher, washing machine and spin drier.
               Ironed sheets for tomorrows change over of B&B rooms.
13:10hrs vacuumed living room.
13:30hrs Put 'smalls' into wash (life goes on don't you know!)
13:50hrs Carried out room service on the two rooms.
14:30hrs went shopping for top up breakfast items (far more cooked breakfasts than normal).
15:40hrs put shopping away and reloaded washing machines.
16:15hrs went to allotment for first time in two weeks and sythed down the weeds then mowed the paths, oh and weeded the flower bed.
17:50hrs phoned home and asked Alison if she would cook dinner for me.
17:30hrs got back home and helped Alison to clear up the kitchen.
19:30hrs had dinner and then tidied living room as guest wanted to talk quilting to Alison.
20:30hrs more washing and more drying.
21:00hrs met up with second guests that wanted to talk quilting to Alison
22:45hrs second guests go to bed.
24:00hrs first set of guests get home and go to bed.
24:10hrs lay the table for tomorrows breakfast.
24:30 start blog.


And so it goes.

I did manage to harvest some food several weeks back and laid it all nicely out to display for this blogg.................

Onions, Red onions and shallots...... yeppp, I know me onions.

Cabbage, Curly Kale, courgettes, Broad beans, beetroot, cauilflower, new pots, rhubarb etc.

Ok, it is now 01:15hrs and I'm beginning to nod off so I shall have to catch you all again soon.

Tomorrow is a busy day with all of the above plus both B&B rooms needing a change over for new guests and the cottage also requires cleaning, bed linen changed (x 4) .....

I love it but I really want to get out there and take some photos like this sunset at Wells...

Good night.




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A rude absence.............

Not only does it seem like a month but it very nearly is a month since I last wrote a blog and my only excuse is how busy we have been. For the last month the weeks shot by, one minute it was Tuesday and the next it was Saturday, the 1st of July became the 10th in a blink of an eye lid and before I knew it the end of the month was hovering over the horizon.

This is, of course, a good thing as in general busy means income although the allotment has contributed to the workload in quite some fashion. The irony is that July was looking very soft with regards to B&B bookings and so having been putting off joining a 'late rooms' type site we finally got our selves on to one (LateRooms.com). We had researched this previously but had held off because of the admin time that was required to keep the bookings database updated and also because of the commission fees. But as July looked bleak we put our foot in the water and gave it a go.

Alison finalised the massive database set-up and on Thursday a few weeks back and before the day had finished we had received  bookings for both the Friday night and the Saturday too. Subsequently we have received a further three to four bookings via them. At the same time the sun put his shiny hat on and everyone has come out to play and so consequently we have been run off our feet. That along with the self catering cottage being booked up for all of June and most of July it has been a real hive of activity in The Old Bakery.



Several weeks back I had the sad journey back down to Sussex to attend my Aunt Margaret's funeral (see previous entry). Well a couple of weeks ago in amongst this chaos I lost an uncle too. He was one of those very special people that made up a core part of my early childhood memories and as such a tiny part of me felt like it had gone too. My Uncle Dick had lived a full life and apart from being my Uncle I knew him as a loving kindly person, a musician and a Saville Row tailor. He would tease us all, but that is an uncles job isn't it? My overwhelming memory is watching him sit up at the piano to just start playing the most beautiful music without any sheet music in front of him, he could play really complicated tunes but all by ear, as they say, that is he couldn't read a note of sheet music. This fascinated me and still does, Jamie Cullum is the same and I just marvel at how these guys brains must work, extraordinary.

I think the sadness was enhanced when I realised that I hadn't talked or should I say listened to him enough and as a result I found out more about his life at his funeral than I did from the man himself.
I had been told a few years ago by my mother (Uncle Dick's baby sister) that Dick had measured and made suits for all of the Apollo 11 crew, ie the first Guys to land on the moon, Buzz, Neil oh and the other guy who watched them Michael Collins.  At the funeral we heard how he made costumes for a lady called Belita who was a British Olympic figure skater a 1940's film actress and a dancer.
I visited his Tailors shop once with Alison, many decades ago, and he gave us a tour around the building. They had every pattern for every garment that they had ever made stored there and there were rows and rows of military uniforms, it was truly fascinating.

He himself had volunteered to join the Army in the war and no doubt my Grandparents prayed for his safety every single night .

He followed his fathers (my grandfathers) footsteps into tailoring and it was only when my mother was talking about the moon landing 'clients', that we found out that my grandfather was measuring General Montgomery for a uniform during WW2 whilst he (Monty) and Churchill drew up a battle plan on the tailor room's wooden floorboards with his tailors chalk.

Dick had a similar incident in 1976 when he had the chief negotiator from the IMF (International Monitory Fund) strike a deal with the Labour Government in the actual room and whilst Dick measured the guy for three suits. Dick ever the professional told no one and kept the information to himself and Britain received the funds that were needed. Click this link for an article regarding this...

It is easy to stagnate and not make the effort to visit family or to talk to them for many months and yet everybody has something of interest to recall. It is far better to hear the stories from the horses mouth rather than as part of a funeral service where the time to converse has sadly come to an end.

Well done to his two children Melinda and Luisa who represented their father with all the dignity that he would have had.

Dedicated to

Richard George McSweeney

1920~ 2013

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Trying to spare some 'allotted' time.......

Over the last few weeks I have been weeding the allotment as if it were my full time job and tonight I'm sitting watching TV whilst busily scratching away at the many tiny bites incurred.
The trouble with such a large allotment is that whilst your head down plucking weeds out of the cabbage bed there are others sneaking up behind you in amongst the Asparagus.

The allotment takes priority because if I get behind on that then I will simply lose the plot (if you pardon the pun). As a result the garden has a few more weeds than I would want but it is manageable and so I am tolerating it.

It is an odd thing that the weeds are so prolific when there has been practically no rainfall for the last 4 to 5 months. On average we only had 1.6" of rain per month and April only had 7mm (less than a third of an inch) whereas last year the figure was 4". I'm surprised that there is not a drought order on us especially as we had one this time last year. All through the winter everyone else seemed to be getting a soaking, especially Wales but by the time the clouds reached Norfolk they were empty.


Most of the farmers have had to hold back the setting and sowing by many weeks because it was both so cold and so dry and the yields are expected to be a fair bit lower as a result.
So that sets up my excuse for a poor crop in my allotment then.

That said we have already harvested 12lb's of Asparagus and 25lb's of Rhubarb, which is pretty good I suppose. We have eaten, or posted  (see previous blog), most of the Asparagus and mostly frozen the rhubarb so we can use it in our winter crumbles.

I originally broke my veg plots into 3 for a three year rotation but quickly realised that I much prefer the root crops and so used two beds for these thus screwing everything up before I even started.

 Here is the original root crop bed. I know it looks bare but it is very full indeed. In the foreground are about 100 seedling leeks then 2 rows of beetroots.

To be honest I don't 'get' beetroot at all. Alison loves them in a sandwich with cheese.  I'd rather have acupuncture performed on me by a newbie student, with rusty pins.... who was blind than have to eat that concoction.
I use to hate the things when I worked in the Supermarket because they were so messy when they leaked. The fresh ones in the veg dept. simply dripped their blood on all the other shelves and customers clothing more often than not an expensive white jacket. The real bummer was when a jar of pickled beetroot smashed on the floor. Within seconds the vinegar would strip the polish off the floor and then instantly the beetroot would for reasons I have never fully understood stain the floor blue. I know..... what must it do to your gut?
 So I have grown these for love and there can be few more noble reasons than that.


Behind the Beetroot there are two rows of carrots, four rows of Parsnips (a bit thin as I lost some to a mixture of weeds and too little rainfall) and behind them 16 rows of onions. These are made up of white, red and shallots. I have lost several of these down Alice in Wonderland like holes which have been created by troublesome moles. I'll try to replant them and as I push down to firm the earth the onion, the mud and my fingers all suddenly disappear into the ground without a by your leave.

 Ahhh, the potato patch. I bought a couple of bags of 1st earlies, 2 of second earlies and 2 of Main crop potatoes. Concidering they were meant to all be in the previous bed it is all the more frustrating that the next bed was completely filled up before I even touched the Main crop spuds.
Still as you can see these are nearly ready for harvesting and the few that I have pulled have been smashing.

I have never been very successful with brassicas but so far this years crop is coming on great guns.
In this bed
  I have Broad Beans, Sprouts, Round cabbage, Savoy cabbage, Kale, Courgettes, Sprouting Broccoli and bloody poppies everywhere.

At the far end of the brassicas my runner beans lurk.
 I have used the Hazelnut branches that with the help of some friends we coppiced from the trees in our back-garden.


Yes there are some weeds here and yes I'll get round tuit!

The nearest small bed here has Butternut Squash in the foreground and Maize. There is also a weedy piece of Purple Asparagus which I assume is only in it's second year. I will look after this plant for another year or two when it will then be able to be harvested.

The bed behind is the prolific Asparagus plot and then behind that the Rhubarb patch and the orchard.



Right at the back are two strawberry beds which I planted and we have had about 250g of strawberries so far. We are the only plot where strawberries are ripe already, Mmmmmmmmm!

So that's the status of the Plot at this moment in time. One of the mates of the previous allotment tenant keeps taking photos of the plot to show him how much I have done with his old weed bed. I think it might be an unsolicited service!


I'll leave you with a couple of slightly blurred photos that I took of the many Barn owls that are frequently to be seen around us.

They are a magnificent bird and whilst these pictures were taken at dusk most sightings of them are made around mid to late afternoon. Last year Alison & I watched two adults hunting and taking mice and voles to a barn to feed their young, it was just stonkingly brilliant.





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Marsh Harriers at Cley.....

Over the Spring months I have enjoyed watching the Marsh Harriers at The Norfolk Wildlife Trust near Cley. Every year there are breeding pairs at Cley which feed on the small mammals and young wild fowl chicks that abound in these salt and fresh water marshes.
   We are only about 10 miles from the nature reserve which means I can pop up there any time in the day to watch these fascinating raptors.

The Male

Despite the quantity breeding at Cley these birds are recorded as an Amber risk on the endangered species and so it is a real treat to be able to watch them so close.

Whilst there are really good bird hides available the best way to watch them is simply from the paths through the reeds. Sadly my camera is getting old, a little like me, as it struggles to focus on things that are far away, near, oh and right in front of it. So whilst these pictures are not the cracking ones you'll see on Google Images I am still really pleased with them.

The Female

The male is a fair bit smaller than the female and it appears to me that she is very much the 'boss' of the two. (I know the feeling).
Most of our Harriers migrate to Africa each winter but I believe the ones in the RSPB reserve in Elmley near Sheerness in Kent are resident all year.


They nest in amongst the reeds on the marsh and having established where the nest was I could watch them come and go.

Here the female is about to drop down into the reeds with a twig for the nest as she builds it up. I watched them for sometime collecting nesting material from the side of the lake and bringing them back to the nest site.



I also watched as they hunted but to my shame I have no photographs with any prey in their talons. Still they are feeding their young now and so I still have time to go back and try.



Here the male has his eyes on something tasty whilst below the female is making the strike.

The two of them would also play in the air with each other. Male Harriers like to drop their catches in midair as gifts for the partner to catch and they seemed to be playing this game but without the prey.
They were very acrobatic and more often than not the female would be beneath the male with her head twisted at 180 degrees looking up at him as in the photo below.

The V shape of the wings is a classic pose of a Marsh Harrier. The following are a few more pictures of this courtship 'play'.

Then they would breakaway from this play and go looking for lunch. Lunch ideally being one of the small duck, goose or waders chicks way below on the marsh. However it is not that easy and most parents put up a good fight to protect their young. The most determined of these are the seemingly delicate Avocetes whom in a one to one fight I would lay odds that the Harriers would win. The Avocetes however are tenacious in their drive to protect their fledglings so much so that they take the fight to the Harrier mobbing it continuously until it steps down and moves further along the marsh.

Once again an amazing site to watch and here are a few of my photos of the battles....

A sorte of three Avocetes mob a harrier in the late evening.

You'd think that one beat of the Harriers wing and the Avocete would have been gone!

Eventually they chase the Harrier off.

However the Marsh Harrier strikes elsewhere where resistance is not so debilitating....

So there you have it my whistle stop tour of the Marsh Harriers at Cley. They are still there and will be until late September (probably) so if you can then come up and see them sometime ;)





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Blackbirds

Blackbirds

They came to us one April day,

a pair of love birds looking for a place to stay.

ending their search and ending their roam,

Somewhere they could weave their nested home.

She in her clean coat of leather brown

prim and proper with a chest of fluffy down

spritely, sharp, determined and free,

fit as a fiddle a mother to be.

He an out cast, a shabby oily black,

from the wrong side of town, on the wrong track

missing his lower beak with feathers awry

been through the wars and refusing to die

This strange couple seemingly mismatched,

he from the ghetto a fighter as soon as he hatched.

she from the city and so strong that she thrives

They entered our garden and they entered our lives,

A brace, a couple and a mating pair

She full of grace and he of despair,

And in the dark shadows of the sunlit tangled honeysuckle,

their nest hidden and their eggs kept warm with a loving snuggle.

Each taking their turn to cover the clutch and wait

for the tiny oval eggs to warm and slowly incubate

a duty carried out with an ardor so very dependable

sitting there a guardian, a protector and a sentinel.

April becomes May and the time flies by 

high above Swallows start to fill the bright blue sky,

and one by one new life breaks through

Four little blackbirds with nothing to do.

Defenseless and vulnerable to a risk ridden world

cossetted and protected until their wings unfurled

Blind bald and helpless the future unsure,

The parents work tirelessly until they mature.

Then all of a sudden on one designated day

They take the plunge and try to fly away.

Over the brim that's kept them all in

leaving their kin behind safely within

Mum and Dad fluster as their brood departs

you can sense the tension, the beating hearts.

This odd duo working as one,

feeding the fledglings their life begun.

Within the week two chicks are dead

 a bite to the throat and they are bled

No time for sorrow no time to care

the parents now feed the surviving pair

A few days pass and the babes have departed

two lives and two stories now have started

Oily black and leather brown still remain here

I wonder if they're sad or if they even shed a tear?

One day soon they too shall go

leaving just a nest and the status quo.

I watch this disparate pair with admiration

and see a love and devotion in it's personification.

                                                                m.thomas

 

 

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