Herefordshire Week 117: Tuesday 22 – Monday 28 March 2022

Glorious weather. Mower woes.

8pm and it’s (just about) still light…. lovely.

Beautiful morning Tuesday, so I headed out with secateurs to walk Tremorithic footpaths version, pruning brambles and hawthorn at the stiles as I went: Kerrys Gate – Bacton Stud – Footpaths to Tremorithic – Tremorithic Road – Footpaths to Middle Cefn – Footpaths to Cwm Hill – Abbey Dore – Home. Chatty start and end – P and Alf en route to Kerrys Gate, J and their dog on the final hill home.

Not quite so hectic at work this week, which is a relief. KMCA catch up drinks meant I wrapped up Tuesday work at 6pm, and I made 6.30pm VWW and Family Zooms on Wednesday and Thursday.

Woke on Friday morning to another glorious day but with a muzzy head, not feeling fit to do anything least of all a long walk which had been my plan. So after some very early morning telly, I washed down the small picnic table instead, waiting for the dew to dry off the grass. Then it was time to fire up the Honda mower for the first bit of mowing for the year – around the edges and trees, the greenhouse and the ponds, the daffodils and the wisteria.

First mow - Honda style — First mow – Honda style

After lunch out on the patio I nipped down to The Forge to get petrol for the ride on mower to do the rest. BUT the mower produced a puff of white smoke and a terrible grinding noise when I started the mowing function. 🙁 It’s the first time I’d run the mower since we got it serviced, which in some ways was a relief as it couldn’t really be anything I’d done.

Anyway, Ron Smith were great – one of the mechanics came to see us early Saturday morning, removed the skirting and had a look, ran the motor and the mowing function far harder than I had, and decided it would need to go back to the workshop to be fixed. He knew exactly what the problem was – water in the bearings. Apparently not uncommon with our make/model of mower.

But it did mean that I had to do the lushest grass parts of the garden – grounds? – on Friday afternoon with the Honda mower. Hard Work. Phil saved the day by making scones, and we sat out on the patio with a cup of tea and a scone each, marvelling that We Live Here.

A bonfire, then a bit of R&R before dinner of champions – the mezze treats and Mousetrap Cheese we’d bought in anticipation of T being here this weekend.

On Saturday, having waved off the mower back to Ron Smith’s, I got stuck into painting the small picnic table. Another lovely sunny day. Pottered around the veg beds – the broad beans have finally materialised – planting some marigolds along the edges and repotting the rosemary (although I think it’s a goner), and tidied up the kindling in the garage.

Lunch, then a bit more pottering before dad and Jean arrived – with the trailer carrying the wood store they’ve decided they’ve no room for, and a terracotta charcoal brazier. Having unloaded those dad drove us to Dulas to see the wild daffodils – still beautiful – then back for a tour of the garden followed by tea and scones in the late afternoon sun.

More mezze and cheese for dinner, accompanied by Phil’s first loaf using his birthday baking kit. Yum Yum.

Clocks sprang forward overnight and a slow start on Sunday meant we’d barely finished breakfast before driving into Hereford for various shopping needs and on to The New Barn for Mother’s Day Sunday lunch with dad and Jean, and K & W and Co.

Home via Allensmore for veg and to spend half the Shop Local card on Rowlestone Ice Cream. What treats! A stroll over Thistly Field, then internetting before tea. Guess what… bread, cheese and mezze again. Just tidying up!

Monday was dedicated to getting the Log Store installed in the garage, which entailed unstacking the current stack of logs, taking up the base they were stacked on – an old wooden door resting 0n bricks – moving the log store into position and restacking the logs into the store.

All went swimmingly…

… until we tried to close the garage door. The wood store was too high for the up-and-over door to clear on open/close. We both felt a bit silly for not having checked that.

So, after lunch, we unstacked the logs from the log store, removed the vertical wooden door separating the old stack from the cannibalised chest of drawers and shelves beyond it. Removing the chest of drawers and old shelves provided an opportunity to secure the internal drain pipe (we have a leaky roof) more securely. That done, we moved the log store into the space where the chest of drawers had been. And tested we could shut the garage door. Tick.

Phil then had the brainwave to see if we could relocate the apple racks next to the store, and still shut the garage door. Having plotted out the dimensions with a broom and a cardboard box, we decided we could. So, we took all the 10 drawers out of the apple racks and moved the frame over to stand next to the log store, and tested we could shut the garage door. Tick.

The log store and apple racks in their new location

The final step: putting the apple drawers back into the frame, and the logs back into the log store.

All that took up most of the afternoon, but the garage now feels much more spacious, and we did have a bit of a clear out as we went. I wrapped up the chores by washing my car and tidying up the soil bags.

In the garden, the past couple of weeks of sunshine has brought out the flowers – as the first daffodils start to fade, violets, bluebells, primroses, cowslips and camellias are coming out. There’s buds on the wisteria and on the fruit trees, and my broad beans have finally emerged. With a cold snap forecast, let’s hope the new growth hasn’t arrived too soon.