Dragons in the Garden

Hello everyone. 

It's Sunday afternoon, and another week has sped by. We have had some lovely days of hot sunshine and enjoyed meals and coffee in the garden. On one of those occasions, we spotted an amazing dragonfly resting on the top of a garden cane near where we were sitting. It kept flitting away and then returning, so that we could take plenty of photos. 

This dragonfly is a female Broad-bodied Chaser Dragonfly. The males have a blue body. They are common to England and Wales and parts of Scotland, but this was my first close up encounter. It is possible that it had been using our pond as its habitat, so I shall look out for more dragonflies next year. 

While on the subject of dragons, D found this sweet plushy dragon sewing pattern and, after falling in love with it, it somehow landed in a shopping basket. If we have time over the Summer, D and I will try to make him/her up. That should be a fun activity for us both.

Some of you may recall that I was attempting to grow better carrots this year after the previous alien-shaped ones of last year. These are the first new carrots. They are bigger and not so twisted, but not like the ones shown on the seed packet. Still, I'm sure they will taste fine with our meal tonight, along with the first harvest of new potatoes.

Hoping the weather is kind to you all this next week.

Best wishes to you all

B x

A New Gadget To Play With

Hello everyone. 

It has been a sunny and relaxed week in this corner - wherever you are, I hope the weather has been good for you, too.

Last week, I splashed out on a new food mixer/processor/liquidizer machine, and it has kept D and I happy all week.

It wasn't long before D was busy baking. This full-on chocolate cake was delicious, and three happy people enjoyed this latest sweet treat.

To add to this decadent sweet treat, I picked these huge strawberries that had ripened and added them to our dessert, along with some ice cream on Friday. 

While wandering around the garden with my camera this week, I noticed how many pink flowers were in bloom. 

Cosmos

Pelargonium 'Moonflair - Amythyst'

Pelargonium 'Sunflair - Linda Pink'

Dianthus

Cranesbill (Geranium)

Astrantia

Tiarella

Cranesbill (Geranium)

Climbing Rose (Unknown Variety}

This is our lettuce salad bar. 

It sits just outside the back door, and we have been plucking leaves to go with our salads all week: even hubby, who doesn't usually enjoy eating lettuce, remarked on how good it tasted. The seed packet was a 'mixed lettuce bowl'.

I cover the leaves at night with a cloche to prevent the pigeons from eating the lot overnight. We have also avoided slugs and snails, making the lettuce a gourmet snack. A winning crop this year.

However, I've not had much success with beans and peas this year, although I can see a few peas starting to form pods now. The tomatoes are flowering slowly but there is plenty of time for fruits to form over the coming weeks.

It's another sunny week forecast here, meaning we will use sun hats and sun cream daily. Having a spell of dry weather is good, and I shall enjoy it as much as possible.

Have a wonderful week, everyone.

Beverley x

Mayfield House - The Butler's Office

Welcome back to our small corner, and this week, we shall return to our tour of Mayfield House.

Last time, we explored the Lower Hallway, where servants and tradesmen entered from outside, delivering goods and seeing to other tasks around the servants' areas. If you'd like to revisit that part of our tour, follow this link: Back2OurSmallCorner: Mayfield House - The Lower Hallway.

We stand at the main tradesman's door in the Lower Hallway. As we turn to the door on our left, we find ourselves at the entrance of the Butler Office. 

Now, let us knock on his door and wait to be invited inside.

Mr Albert Jenkins is the butler here at Mayfield House. He has served the family for many years, rising through various roles to reach this prestigious job.

This room serves as his office and a space to relax and unwind in those rare moments when all is well with the house.

A bedroom door and a small cellarage can also be seen at the back of this room. Mr Jenkins prides himself on providing the very best wines and spirits for the family.

He is mildly irritated today as the phone on the wall has been ringing constantly: it is not his favourite piece of modern technology. Last time, the phone made him nearly jump out of his skin and spill tea down his jacket, and that will need to be changed before he leaves the office. What a nuisance!

The cat, Sylvester, also demands some attention, making that cosy armchair in the corner a tempting retreat for Mr Jenkins. However, there is still a mountain of paperwork to complete before the end of the day, and the remains of his cup of tea are now cold. 

The other job he oversees is directing Jones in the butler's scullery to clean the family silver.

 

After Mr Jenkins deals with that phone call we will follow him through to the next room. 

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Putting the room together

Like the previous room, I made another false wall to give the illusion of more rooms and spaces beyond the main room. In this instance, one door leads to Mr Jenkins's sleeping quarters while the other shows a part of the cellarage. Over time, some of the bottles have become dusty as the wine matures to the butler's satisfaction.  

I added a small fireplace with some details above the mantelpiece between these two rooms.

The two purple armchairs are very old furniture pieces that I inherited from my nan, and I'm glad to have been able to use them here.

On the wall, there is a small shelf unit with various personal items that the butler owns.

The phone on the wall was a version 2. The first one didn't seem right, and I know it would have irritated me forever afterwards if we had kept it.

As the butler would have been responsible for looking after the house silver, I have alluded to this with the cabinet on the left of the room. I used a few silver beads for this purpose.

Although the desk is messy, I had to add the essential tea cup. I created the letter rack using scraps of wood and card and the receipt spike from a paper clip, bead, and more cards. The ink pot is made of a few black beads.

Initially, Mr Jenkins wore a grey, somewhat oversized jacket, so I made a new one for him. I shall not be doing that again in a hurry - stitching in black on a tiny item of clothing and making up the pattern as I went along. Unfortunately, I didn't notice some of the glue on the front of his jacket which is why it became spilt tea in the tour narrative. To make the room scene more realistic, I positioned the butler doll rising from his chair to answer the phone again!

When we visit Mayfield House next time, we will check on Jones in the scullery adjoining the butler's office.

I'm still hoping for more sun than rain this week, but however, it turns out D and I wish you all a lovely week.

A Week in the Sun

 Hello everyone.

After a week in sunny Spain, my Hubby and I returned home to the UK's liquid sunshine (the rain) and breezy winds. D tells me it wasn't all rain here last week, but it feels chilly for Hubby and me. D did an excellent job on our blog last week and also looking after the house and garden. Thank you for all your kind words of encouragement. I know she appreciates every comment you make.

Our holiday in Salou was lovely and relaxing, where we could unwind and enjoy the sun, sea and sand. The hotel was only a few minutes from the nearest beach. 

Although our room was on the sixth floor, we had great views out to the sea.

Each morning, while eating breakfast, we entertained ourselves by watching the race for the best sunbed spots. We have been on many holidays where sunbeds were snapped up very early, almost at the crack of dawn, where a single towel had been draped over a sunbed and left alone for many hours until the owner eventually returned.

At this hotel, the entrance to the pool area was through a single set of double doors, which opened at 9 am. Despite this, queues still formed, and when the doors opened, a tsunami of people rushed to snap up their place in the sun. A few minutes later, those same people returned through the doors at a more leisurely pace, leaving behind their now lonely towels.

It was fun to watch but must be very annoying if you wanted a poolside spot later. 

Across the road from the hotel was a small mini/crazy golf course we visited several times during the week. We now have tentative ideas to do something golf-related in our garden mixed in between the plants. I will let you know if the idea gets off the ground. Dream big, they say!

We wandered around many areas with beautiful plants and flowers during the week, and here are a few of my favourites.

We had a wonderful holiday: just what we needed to recharge the batteries, and, despite all the negative publicity, we also had no hold-ups at Birmingham airport. Perhaps we were just lucky!

Have a lovely week. I will be around to catch up on all your news.

B x

Blog-Sitting

Hello everyone!

D, here this week. I'm back on 'house and blog-sitting' duty. 

As I post this blog, Mum and Dad will be sunning themselves in Spain.

It's been the school half-term holiday this past week, and I enjoyed the break from work. I got up to a few things, like baking which Mum and Dad both enjoyed before they went on holiday. 

It's another recipe from Jane's Patisserie - Millionaires Cookie Bars. They are like Millionaire Shortbread, except you use cookies instead of a shortbread base. It's very moreish! 

I also went out with a friend for an Afternoon Tea this week, and we had a lovely time. I just about remembered to take a photo before we polished off the yummy treats.

Unfortunately, it's back to work on Monday, but I have had a good week. 

Wishing you all a good week ahead.

D x