Herefordshire Week 069: Tuesday 20 – Monday 26 April 2021

Socialising and Florence Nightingale-ing (not my forte). More sunshine. Some walks.

Looking south east
Looking south east

Tuesday morning was spent catching up on admin and doing weeknotes, which put paid to getting out and about outside. Still, we met up with T&J after work and did the Riverdale circuit. Lots of chat, and at Canns Hill we coincided with the Vowchurch farmer who’s building a holiday rental on the field at the top of Camp Wood – he told us he’d got planning approval, and also that the sheep we’d seen in that field earlier in the year were Badger Faced Welsh Mountain Sheep. A very apt name as they’d had twin black stripes running down their faces, like overemphasized eyebrows.

Busy week at work as we start an upgrade fortnight next week (which means I’m flexing my days to work a 5 day week next week. Urk). Managed a brief VWW and a longer Family Zoom where the main theme was Herefordshire Council’s approach to Council Tax on unoccupied second properties.

After Family Zoom I went for a walk around the garden, during which time Phil managed to slam into the patio windows between the snug and the conservatory and to fall backwards onto not one but two hefty coffee tables, knocking himself about a bit in the process. A bag of frozen sweetcorn and Bridgerton came to the rescue. Now he knows what the birds that headbutt the conservatory feel like.


Gorgeous day on Friday, which made the run into Hereford for shopping, library and Dinedor delivery all the less appealing, and the traffic jams are back which made the morning all the more torturous.

Perked up by pottering around the garden. Flowers are starting to appear on the clematis and the first of the orchids have surfaced on the lawn …

Spring colours: Green, blue, yellow, pink & purple - Orchids
Spring colours: Green, blue, yellow, pink & purple – Orchids

… and the wild flowers are beautiful – blues, yellows, pinks and purples.

Spring colours: Green, blue, yellow, pink & purple - Cowslips, Forget-Me-Nots & Lady's Smock
Spring colours: Green, blue, yellow, pink & purple – Cowslips, Forget-Me-Nots & Lady’s Smock

And Phil was well enough to make Friday Night Pizza. A Good Sign.


After a restless night cursing Herefordshire Council, I stomped off the grump with a long walk on Saturday morning and did the Bacton Footpaths route. Nettles not (yet) as prolific as I’d feared. Chilly breeze + strong sun = pink arms and face. But my hip held up, and it’s a long walk. I spotted the year’s first swallows at Bacton (which reminded me that I’ve not heard a cuckoo yet), butterflies were in busy along the hedgerows of Cwm Hill Road and I bumped into our Abbey Dore Pod hostess too.

Later on in the afternoon we had the Kerrys Gate neighbours over for drinks – quite a lot of drinks! Fab. Socialising to the Max (Six).

On Sunday the cool wind continued as did Phil’s recuperation, so I spent the morning pottering in the garden and inside, getting jobs done before next week’s work marathon. Did Duffryn backwards late afternoon, then read with a pot of tea and a hot cross bun.

Strawberry plants repotted
Strawberry plants repotted

Monday saw the start of my upgrade fortnight at work….. Keep your fingers crossed on that!


I like this quote from Joanna Lumley:

You can’t be happy all the time, but you should always try to make other people happy.


TV: More instalments in The People vs OJ Simpson; indulged in the first two episodes of Bridgerton on Friday following Phil’s close encounter with the double glazing, Line of Duty on Sunday. Gave up on Uncut Gems on Friday and m anaged 20 minutes of Scarface on Saturday before deciding it would be too gruesome, and switched to The People…. instead.

Podcasts: History Extra, In Our Time, The Life Scientific, Books and Authors, SheDunnit and The Essay.


Photos: Herefordshire week 69 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2021-04-25.