The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in an English Country Garden

 So, Chelsea has been and gone; stuff perfection, live with the burgeoning weeds, and let’s just enjoy what nature can give. Nothing on Earth can give one as much pleasure as the first ripe strawberry still warm from the sun,the swelling peapod bursting with heavenly green orbs, baby broad beans no bigger than your thumbnail,…

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Lymes Disease in the UK Right Now

An inelegant photo I know, but I should like to stress the importance of tick vigilance. More and more cases of this are being reported throughout the UK each year. Dogs are getting it, and I know of at least one horse within a few miles of here. All you Americans reading this will be…

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Cooking in Advance

One of the ways we can get our children to housesit for us when we go off for a trip on our boat, is to provide them with vast quantities of food which is ready prepared , needing only minimal cooking or preparation. Faced with rather a surplus of ingredients in the fridge, left over from…

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Midweek Supper

Freshly boiled crabs from the South Coast of England, Oysters from Essex, Asparagus from the Garden, Homemade Mayonnaise from our own hens eggs, Homemade Organic Wholemeal Bread, all washed down with a little French number. Life doesn’t get better than this. I only went to West Mersea today to take the cockpit tent to the…

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Strawberries,the quintessential English Summer Fruit

Phew, I succeeded in protecting these Mara des Bois from the recent frosts, courtesy of an emergency covering of fleece. Do not bother to grow the same varieties that you can buy in the supermarket, but instead go for the wonderful old- fashioned varieties that do not travel at all well, and thus are not…

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