Wagga Wagga to Worcestershire & back again
After weeks of diligent watering, weeding and a bit of help from mother nature, Adam and have undertaken the first ‘harvest’ in our terrace vegetable garden!
The salad leaves have been the quickest to grow and we’d been watching the little plants get bigger by the day, just waiting for the right time to snip off some buttery soft goodness.
A few weeks ago during a bout of absolutely gorgeous spring weather (read more here!) Adam and I got invited to our first barbecue of the year.
It was in the nearby village of Welland, just outside of Malvern. It normally only takes us 10 minutes or so to drive to Welland from the house Adam and I live in, so instead of taking the car we decided we’d make use of the local public footpath network and walk.
After months of patiently waiting and a few false alarms, I can now accurately report the annual bluebell show has started here in Malvern.
I saw my first glimpse of bluebells en masse over the Easter long weekend when Adam and I went camping in the Cotswolds. It was a pretty magical sight – a sea of tiny purple-blue flowers under a canopy of the sweetest smelling pine trees.
The day after we arrived home, Adam and I took to the Malvern Hills to see if a similar sprouting of wildflowers had occurred. We were in luck.
I love being outdoors but until I met Adam, camping was never really something I did. My mum loves a clean bathroom, comfortable bed and warm shower, so growing up the closest I ever got to ‘roughing it’ was staying in a self contained cabin in a national park!
When Adam suggested we camp over the Easter long weekend with a group of friends I was excited for the experience but also a little worried about how I would handle it all. Adam’s family have a long history of camping holidays and when we arrived back in England there were boxes of his own equipment, plus countless other relatives we could call on for a loan of gear. We took advantage of their generosity and on Good Friday packed up and drove to Thistledown Farm, a camping ground in the neighbouring county of Gloucestershire.
“Whan the sunne shinth make hay. Whiche is to say.
Take time whan time cometh, lest time steale away.”
There’s one thing that I’ve noticed time and time again since moving to England – its residents well and truly embrace good weather. Australia on the whole can generally expect a good few months of clear, warm sunny days every year. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s not (like when it leads to a drought), but that period of delicious, it’s-good-to-be-alive sort of weather is pretty much expected. In fact sometimes the poor ol’ Aussie can get a bit grumpy and peeved off if the sun doesn’t come out for a few days.
Here in the U.K. though the weather’s a little more unstable and a lovely sunrise can quickly disappear into a drizzly morning, then a cool and cloudy afternoon, before clearing again in the evening. That’s why when the sun does shine over consecutive days, people get out and enjoy it.
England has been well and truly blessed with some beautiful spring weather over the last week. This weekend just gone has been the warmest of the year so far and I’m looking forward to sharing what I got up to soon. Today though is all about my first trip to the ‘seaside’.
Last week Adam and I jumped in the car and drove down to the Gower Peninsula in Wales. Adam described the region to me as the ‘Riviera of the U.K.’, a place where there were beautiful beaches and charming villages.
The weather is warmer, the days are longer and all of sudden Adam and I have the urge to garden. I’ve been picking flowers from our little patch of green for a good few weeks now. I enjoy wandering around spotting what’s coming to life and picking out what species I recognise. It feels like every time I go for a look something new has started to flower, or a plant I didn’t notice during the winter is suddenly bursting with new leaves.
While Adam appreciates having fresh flowers in the house, it’s the practical plants that get his heart racing. We picked up some pots of fresh herbs, specifically rosemary, mint and thyme, when we did the grocery shopping last week and they’re now sitting proudly at the window that’s in front of our kitchen sink.
I could tell yesterday was going to be a good day, even before I got out of bed. There was a bright glint creeping in behind the closed curtains and the birds outside were chirping their happy little songs.
The morning was cool and clear and beams of sunlight were falling in just the right places, giving the landscape outside of the windows that magical warm weather feel. Adam and I had decided a few days earlier we’d go for a lovely long walk on Sunday, and it was like Mother Nature was rewarding us for our decision.
England officially went onto ‘summer time’ at the weekend and the sun came out in celebration, delivering the two most beautiful Malvern’s had in a long time. It was almost like nature knew daylight saving was starting and put on a show in response.
The air had that first sweet scent of warmth and the sunshine stuck around all day. I managed to ditch my boots for the first time since Adam and I arrived in the U.K. and get around in a pair of ballet flats. It felt luxurious. There was no need to remember a thick winter coat and sunglasses were genuinely needed. With the first of the spring blooms on show and trees starting to shoot their dainty, fresh green leaves, it was the sort of weekend that left you deeply satisfied and smiling.
The older I get, the more I’ve come to savour and enjoy being housebound for the day. In years gone by staying put and purposely choosing not to go out seemed anti-social and a bit of waste, but now the ability to hide away for 24 hours seems a luxury.
In the last week or so, both Adam and I have succumbed to our second dose of of winter sickness (methinks perhaps neither of us actually fully recovered from our first bout of sniffles, coughs and chills in February). That combined with busy work and full on travel schedules has meant it’s been weeks since either of had the opportunity to just spend a day at home.
Wattle and Ash 