May Scavenger hunt

Well May has flown by and time to post my scavenger hunt pictures.  Decided to try and get them all from my visit to The Chelsea Flower Show, didn't quite get them all, but here we go...................


Train track LINES on the journey to London

We took the bus from Liverpool Street to Chelsea and went along Fleet Street EC4

Along the route we saw this CONSTRUCTION site.  It always amazes me that there is anywhere left to develop in the centre of London

The bus went along Whitehall and this is the SKYLINE that we saw - The Palace of Westminster and The Elizabeth Tower which houses Big Ben

This Chelsea Pensioner is SOMETHING PATRIOTIC he was happy to have his photo taken by the visitors to the show.

This is the MAP of the showground, we needed it to find our way around, it is a very big event.

Loved this DOOR which was part of one of the trade stands selling stone arches, probably to make your garden look like it has been there for years

i am not sure what these AQUA coloured flowers are called but they looked amazing in the Great Pavillion

WASHING hung out to dry - just wanted to show off my new tea towels from Next!

Everytime I dig on my allotment I find BROKEN glass.  I collect it in this bucket, luckily we haven't been cut by any.  I have no idea why there is so much.

Can you guess what this KEY opens?

The George Cross FLAG fluttering outside our local florist.

Well that is it for this month, off to look a the list for June.  I love seeing what people from other countries have come up with and also photos of familiar places locally.  Take a look at the others Here

Birthday cake

 It has been good to spend some time with my sister, Mum and Dad this weekend.

Here we are with Lottie, my parents black Labrador, only 7 months old, in their Suffolk garden.

 My sister made this wonderful Allotment cake for my birthday -  topped with pink wellies, carrots, peas, cabbages, tomato's and a sack of potatoes.  Mum cooked a roast dinner with roast beef for those that do and my favourite, vegetable risotto, for those that don't.  Dad opened a bottle of Fiz and Mr HH was there as well.  I have never eaten Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and loads of horseradish sauce with risotto , but it was delicious!!  First roast dinner since Christmas!
BUT, there was something missing - the rest of the family - it was strange with only 5 for lunch and not the usual dozen or so made up of my younger sister and her husband (baby now as well) my niece and nephew and of course my children.  All busy doing other things or far, far away.
Looking forward to our next get together in August, when I hope there will be a few more of us!

COW PARSLEY AND WISPY GRASSES

I have wanted to go for years, after watching it on TV, but always leave it too late. Booked the time off work ages ago and ordered my tickets in December.  Then on Thursday we set of to 

London, for the Chelsea Flower Show!

Mr HH by the entrance.

Wow! It was amazing, so big and so much to see.......

The Great Pavilion was huge 

We walked under these Amaryllis that hung down from above

Those leeks were enormous, and the purple pyramid at the front was made from peas

Row after row of Alliums, all so upright and perfect

The Waitrose stand had about 50 large flower arrangements, but on closer inspection you could see that each one included fruit and vegetables.  The most perfect looking cauliflowers in this one.

 

Here am I under an arch of Clematis, I think I saw the Queen walk under this on her visit!

 

Caught a glimpse of Joe Swift preparing to film a piece, saw it last night on the programme!

We also bought some cactus and tall grass seeds- lets see if I can get them to grow.

Outside there were many trade stands and plenty of sculptures to enhance your garden.  Not sure about some of them, would you choose this giant silver ant?

or a skeleton pulling a garden roller?

This was my favourite, a life size lion made out of drift wood.  He was beautiful, up for sale for just £20,000.
It was difficult to see the show gardens as there are so many people trying to get near them.  They are dotted all around the place, I thought that they would all be together.  We didn't get to see them all.

 

This is the Trailfinders Australian Garden by Flemmings won Best in Show.

This is Prince Harry's garden, The Sentebale garden.  It was ok, but seemed to be 3 very different parts that didn't really link up.  Loved the planting at the front, lots of wispy grasses.

Saw the same plants over and over again, and said over and over again "got that in my garden"!!!!  Most of the planting was informal, lots of Cow Parsley, Aqualigias, wispy grasses and foxgloves, beautiful.

This is the NCPCC Garden of Magical Childhood.  a tree house at the back and a teddy bears picnic on the ground.  But should they plant poisonous foxgloves in a garden for children?

 

One of my favourite stands by a florist, strings of flowers all hanging down.  They were past their best on Thursday, so not sure what they will be looking like today.

Can I go again?

 

 

 

Vintage girls!

On Wednesday evening this week me and my "lovers of all things vintage and handmade" friends walked to the end of 

Crouch Street in Colchester.  To this shop

Tea and Sympathy   A little shop that sells handmade and vintage things.  They also have a beautician and other therapists and workshops.  Tonight's workshop was a Vintage hair and make-up make over done by the lovely Betty from Bettys rock and rollers

Drinks were served, while we watched the demonstration

And then we were let loose to have a go............

Getting to grips with Victory Rolls

Not quite got the hang of it yet

Hair and make up complete.

A big flower finishes off the look!

My make-over, Victory Rolls, Kiss curl, eyeliner and very red lipstick!

And here we are all together, not sure what I am looking at!!

When I got home Mr HH looked and said that I looked just like Mrs Pike off the TV programme Dad's Army!!






Ha Ha!!

SPRING FLOWERS

Picked some flowers from my garden this morning

Wall flowers, Euphorbia and Forget-me-knots in my favourite chicken jug from Brixton pottery.
 

MAYDAY BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND

I was soo looking forward to this long weekend, 3 whole days off work, I kept thinking that something would go wrong and we wouldn't have time to do anything.  But no we have had lots of time and the weather has been great, hot even
My arms ache, my shoulders ache  and I am tired now, but happy that we have done so much.  Made great progress on the kitchen makeover, all the rubbing down, filling and sanding has been completed.  The ceiling has had two coats of paint and is done.  The walls have had one coat, and for a change I actually like the colour and don't have to go out tomorrow and choose a different one.  Not quite ready for the big  "TA DAH" yet..........

The allotment is looking good

 started some french beans off in the greenhouse, planted them out today under these bottle cloches.

 One of the muck bins has been filled up, lots more where that came from!

 The rhubarb is looking good, and tasting good too.

 Sprouting broccoli for tea again tonight.

 Last weekend deep trenches were dug and filled with compost ready for the beans and sweetpeas.  Stuck the sticks in and tied them up.  I plant sweetpeas here too, they look lovely growing amongst the beans and encourage the bees.

 This is my flower bed, along the front edge of the plot, it didn't look like this on Sunday morning! Have planted more sweetpeas here, also some crysanthemums will add sunflowers too.

 My beautiful red gooseberry bush, its covered in buds

 Here is a tiny flower bud, soon it will be a delicous gooseberry

 Planted these onion sets in the autumn, red and white, important to keep the weeds down, but have planted these too close to hoe (der..)

 The cherry tree is covered in blossom, hope it is soon going to be covered in cherries

 A strawberry flower, which can only mean one thing..................

Strawberries soon!!